A/N: A date scene is coming up around the bend, and in the flashback here. This is not the entire date, and so I'll do a sort of flashback cliffhanger here. Do read and review would you kindly?

Time until Vincent's life expires: 29 days, 5 months…

After twelve hours of deliberation, Vincent almost completed his list…and so he reviewed it clearly…

List of things to do before dying:

Explore the depths of Wutai's port

Taste best wine in the world (money is of no consequence!)

Parachute off of the Highwind into Nibelheim

Visit peak of Mt. Nibel

Look for mom's clinic, and save it if possible

If mom's clinic does not exist anymore, at least build memorial to her

Pick Yuffie's pocket

He then considered other things he wanted to do…until he heard the door slamming open. "Vince, are you done with your list yet?" There she was…even pregnant, Yuffie was beautiful…a shame he would not get to see it after roughly five months. "Almost, love…almost. Are you okay for this? I understand that your airsickness…"

She giggled…oh she really was her mother's daughter…it really brightened his day, even if death would be knocking on his doorstep. "Don't worry Vince…Reeve set me up with a tranquilizing nutrient—my body will go night-night all while our pretty little princess gets to enjoy something good without any side-effects. Because I figured, since you're doing this list, I may as well join you."

The surprise was evident in Vincent's face when she said that…"You—what was that Yuffie? You're joining me?"

"Yeah. I figured that since you're going on this trip, I may as well do some stuff with you. Help me get my mind off the pagoda…and the damn mood swings…and…and…"

He saw the tears behind her eyes—no, she was crying, and it was his fault…a man who made a woman cry, especially such a beautiful woman like Yuffie, deserves to be lumped in with parasites and bums…a quote by his father that was upheld by Vincent as law when dealing with people of the fairer sex. Oh he deserved to be lumped in with the parasites that his father so detested, sickness or no. However, his thoughts were turned to the woman in question, and he ran his hand slowly through her hair before slowly brushing his fingers past her ear to lift her gently by the chin. "I understand. We'll do this as you want to…I want you to enjoy this too…please don't cry—it makes me feel like I am helpless to help you…and I really do, and you have to do this especially for our little girl."

She started to calm down, but the sobs still wracked her body. "It's just…no matter how I look at it, there's no way we can avoid this Vince…this could very well be the last time I hold you…to kiss you…to love you…"

"Don't worry Yuffie…I'll always be there for you…if not in body, then in spirit. Now, let's see that list of yours…"

She simply smiled. "Only if I get to see yours."

Vincent rolled his eyes. "I should have known there was a catch. Fine…it's not done yet, but I'll add one more thing to it by the time everything is over."

Flashback…roughly four years ago…

The Golden Saucer was a good place to visit at any time of the day, even in broad daylight. However, the fact that there was rain now instantly killed the mood…Vincent said that he'd be meeting her here at this particular coffee bar, but he was nowhere to be seen. Just what did he call her here for?

"You can turn around you know."

Yuffie jumped upon hearing that voice…that oh-so-sexy voice that always made her wet…that voice that she loved to say her name even out of the act nearly three months prior. "How long have you been here?"

"Since you've left the restroom…I'm surprised that you didn't notice me next to you as you passed by."

"Okay…now that I'm here, what was with that call?"

"It's about that day…I'm sure you remember…even today, I can't forget about you calling my name…"

"Vince…get to the fucking point."

His eyes slightly widened in surprise…normally, in the Wutainese culture regarding manners, a woman would have been hit for a foul mouth like that…but according to what he read in the papers, since the war, Wutai had started becoming a slum of sorts that relied upon tourism, and so when the spirit of the people was crushed, so too were their manners. Although he found himself not being surprised—for this was Yuffie, his White Rose of Wutai…she was never meant to be a conventional flower, and so he relaxed himself. "I kind of felt bad about that day…I was—not a very good first time then, especially given our condition then. So…I decided to ask you to come on over here to the Golden Saucer—because I practically owe you a date."

"Seriously? You called me all the way out here just so that we can date?"

"Of course, if you don't want to, then…"

"Are you fucking kidding me Vince? It's great! It's so sweet of you! So what are we going to do first?"

"Well, I thought since this date was for you, I figured, you should get a pick of what you want to do, and because of my inheritance from my father, money is of no object for this moment…and it would appear that you can start picking out what to do in the park now."

"Why's that?"

Vincent said nothing as he pointed to the window behind Yuffie to emphasize his point…it had already stopped raining, while the sunlight started peeking through the clouds. Oh she was overjoyed when she let out that 'squee'! The first thing she did was to grab Vincent by his right hand, and drag him running throughout the amusement park…so many fun things to do, and it was a fortunate thing that he had booked a room in the haunted inn…otherwise they would both be too tired to bring Yuffie back to Wutai.

The first stop that Yuffie made was at the Chocobo Races…the two of them bet on different chocobos; Yuffie on bird number 6, otherwise known as "John", while Vincent bet on number 3, or "Maya". The race had begun, and neither of their birds won the race, and the two of them re-matched on Yuffie's request…it was John that won the race, and she stuck it to his face. The next stop was an ice-cream stand where Vincent paid for two vanilla swirls in waffle cones before the two of them settled down on a bench. He had to pull down on the collar of his cape to eat it properly…it was then after several more licks on his treat…oh, it had been so long since he enjoyed the sugary delight that was vanilla ice cream when his mother had taken him to a fair once…it brought back pleasant memories before the sickness consumed her. It wasn't long before he noted that Yuffie was staring at him; she hadn't even finished her ice-cream.

"What is it? Is there something wrong?"

"No, no, it's just that…I never really got much a chance to actually see more of your face, all things considered…and for some reason, it…you know what, forget it…we're supposed to be enjoying this date, so let's go!"

"No Yuffie, something's bothering you. What's wrong?"

"Nothing!"

"Yuffie…"

"Okay…looking at your face reminds me of something…I'm not sure myself why, but for some reason, I always feel comfortable around you…I'm pretty sure that it'll come to me as to why…it's just that I don't remember."

"If you're not well, then maybe…"

"No…no, I'm fine. Thanks for the thought though, but really, I'm fine."

Vincent looked at her suspiciously. Oh she was thinking something all right…but what it was, he had a pretty good idea what, but he'll just have to see it for himself in order to confirm it.

"Very well then…so, where else do you want to go?"

"Ooh, how about that ride?" As he watched where she was pointing, Vincent saw the 'ride' that Yuffie was talking about…it had to be the most ridiculously large rollercoaster he had ever seen in his entire life.

"Are you sure about that, we just had a bit of ice cream…maybe we should…"

"Hey, should've, would've, could've! Who cares if we get sick on it?"

"But Yuffie, I don't think it's such a good idea with your motion sickness and all…and if you do that, people are going to be mad at you…and coupled with the fact that we just ate ice cream, and you could very well be making a bad impression on people…besides, I wouldn't want you wearied out and with a bad taste in your mouth for what I have in mind for tonight."

"What do you mean 'for tonight'?"

"It's a secret…which I will reveal if you can go through the day without emptying your stomach out through the mouth. Do we have a deal?"

Yuffie smiled, and shot her hand out to shake, and he inwardly smiled as he took her hand in his and shook…only for her to strengthen her grip on his hand, and drag him around again…this time their next stop was at the Battle Square. The two of them battled to the top until they squared off against each other—to the crowd, it looked more like a dance than anything, and it actually entertained them…little did they know that Dio was watching the entire match…and like the crowd, he was loving it—the dance-like movements that Valentine complemented his use of the gun while Princess Kisaragi gracefully dodged the swings of both the claw and that triple-barreled revolver that Valentine wielded while taking advantage of each dodge to wind herself up for a counterattack. Valentine, given his history as a Turk, and his apparent lineage, dodged each swing easily…although he was a bit slower than the younger fighter, he fought smart, and gracefully like a dancer would even after he ran out of ammunition he simply used his claw to parry the strikes from her weapon and then counter with a slash. The match ended in a draw with both contestants tiring themselves out…because it was an AVALANCHE member fighting an AVALANCHE member, the crowd had raved even louder than before…never before had Dio seen such a spectacular match. Normally, he wouldn't give consolation prizes as he really didn't like ties, but this particular match was so exciting that when the two contestants got up, their consolation prize was a trophy with both of their names on it, and a prize of roughly 10,000 gil each.

After the two of them recuperated enough, Yuffie was simply at a loss for what else to do. "Perhaps we can go to a woman's clothing outlet…I know of one," he said, "hopefully it should still be around."

"Why?"

"Because the last thing we're going to do on this date before we retire for the night is to go to a place that I know of…you may want to dress nice for it. I'll give you my half of the prize money to help you purchase the dress…my outfit is already back in the inn. Afterwards, we can go to any place you want."

She was psyched…something that required a nice dress…wait a minute…she was Yuffie! She was the White Rose of Wutai! A ninja! Why should she dress nice? Although it did make her go all girly to go out dress shopping and it IS a date after all, so maybe she could make an exception. Before she could think more on the matter, she found herself looking at a clothes store titled "Madame Rousseau's Fine Clothing". She simply stepped in and found herself looking at a plethora of colors in so many materials: Midgarian cotton, polyester from Edge, Kalmese vinyl, even Wutainese silk!

"Hello, welcome to Madame Rousseau's how may I help you?" The speaker was a blonde woman in her thirties with chopsticks holding up the bun tie on the back of her head…something that would not be out of place for someone of the upper class, but judging from her skin type, she was likely in the upper middle class with very good measurements on her body—better than Yuffie's banana shape, although she too had a long way to go.

"We're here to do some dress-shopping for the young lady here," said Vincent, before he moved in closer to her ear to whisper, "I am escorting her to her first visit to 'that place'." The woman blushed and giggled before looking back at Vincent with a bit of confusion. "What place are you talking about sir?"

"You know what place I speak of…I'm talking about 'that place'."

It was then that the receptionist realized what he was talking about! "Oh! Oh yeah! 'THAT place'! Very well then sir, if you'll let me borrow your daughter…"

"She's not my daughter."

The woman looked at the two of them in bafflement—but then again, who was she to say if this couple preferred each other? "Well then sir, if we'll just borrow your friend, we'll be out in a jiffy." It was Yuffie's turn to be dragged around, this time by the woman at the front—oh, she found herself trying on various dresses until she found the perfect one! She wrapped it up, and followed Vincent out the store, and into the inn to stash her dress before going back out to find something else to do…only for the next funny thing to happen: As they were walking down the street towards their next destination, Yuffie took her hand off Vincent oh-so-briefly only to find him missing, and wearing a dress while starring in a recreation of Sleeping Beauty…in fact, he was tied down and playing sleeping beauty against his will, and with the everyone in the audience (men included) having hearts in their eyes. Oh she glared daggers at everyone who looked at her gunman that way…although she herself saw how funny it was that he was dressed up like a girl…okay, so it wasn't funny, but it had to be one of the sexiest things she had ever seen…by the time the play was over, the two of them rushed back to the inn because Vincent had seen the time, and apparently, it was getting late.

Present day…

It was not easy to heave Vincent onto that wheelchair—apparently, without the leverage that the wheelchair provides, his height makes him rather heavy. It took Cid roughly five minutes to pull him onto the chair, and then seat him into it because his last coughing episode had weakened Vincent's legs and arms.

"Leaving so soon?" asked a voice from the doorway. It was Dr. Edwards, with an amused and knowing look on his face as he leaned in the doorway with his arms crossed in front of his chest.

Cid simply glared at the doctor…it was bad enough that he had to ditch his cigarette just as he was about to light it upon entering the hospital, but the way he was smiling was just making his day worse. "All right, listen you fucker…I don't care if you're a doctor, or whatever, this guy needs to see what's left to see in this world before he leaves it. And if you think we're letting you stop us I'm…"

"Who said anything about stopping you? I was about to pull out the needles from Mr. Valentine's body and to give him a prescription."

Cid's jaw had hit the ground at this point. "Eh…what?"

"I figured that treating him now would be helpless unless I have more information…I have the samples I need, so I'll do all the research from here on out. In the meantime, I normally wouldn't let people out of my hospital this early, but seeing as it's possible that we won't be able to save him, we may as well make the last few moments of his life good ones. But before you go, I'm going to infuse some more blood into him—it's likely he's going to be coughing up more blood, so in addition to your medicine, I'm going to grant a bit of an extension just for safety's sake. Once that's done, I'll give you instructions on the medicine to help postpone his expiration date for a bit longer."

Yuffie looked on in wonder at the doctor…normally, they wouldn't discharge a patient this early, but this one seemed very sympathetic to their cause. "You'd do this for us?"

Dr. Edwards sighed. "I know how much he means to you Mrs. Valentine, so I'm willing to do this for you. Besides, I wouldn't want him to miss the coming of that little girl inside of you."

That said, it took an even longer amount of time to heave Vincent back into bed for an extra dose of blood…soon, it will be a green light for his last few months to begin…

A/N: My, what is Vincent going to be putting at the end of his list of things to do before dying? Perhaps we'll find out at the next chapter?

Songs Played:

"Ameagari Sanpomichi (Descendant of Shinobi Remix)" by Nobuo Uematsu—Vincent and Yuffie's date at the Golden Saucer.