Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, its characters or storyline. This story is mine, as is Dr. Kim and Yvonne. Just a sort of fun chapter this time around to introduce some of the new story arcs. Enjoy.

..:-X-:..

046 – X's and Y's

"Yes…No…No…Yes…I don't know…Maybe?...No, definitely yes…But—"

Dr. Polly Kim sat patiently in her seat, once again holding the wand of the ultrasound receiver against Tifa's belly while the couple argued. But that patience was drawing thin.

"Again, I feel compelled to remind you," She finally interrupted. "That you don't have to decide today. You still have four months."

Leon looked to Tifa. "It would make names, colors, and clothes much easier."

Tifa frowned, "Since when do you care about colors and clothes? And I thought we decided green? Besides, don't you want to keep some mystery alive?"

"Not when it comes to our baby, I don't." Leon said firmly. "I want to know everything I can so we can be prepared."

Tifa pouted, awkwardly folding her arms over the bump of her belly. "You're no fun."

Dr. Kim retracted the wand and put the machine away. Both Leon and Tifa looked at her.

"We hadn't decided yet." Leon prompted.

"I know, but I figured out the gender of your baby for myself while you were arguing." She said, adjusting her glasses. "Now it's just a matter of me telling you."

Tifa plugged her ears, "Leon, if you want to know, be my guest, but I don't."

Leon deadpanned and tugged one of her hands away. "I don't want to know if you don't want to know…but I really want to know." He bounced a little in his seat.

Tifa smirked at that, but remained resolved. "No. Listen, I'm reading up all I can about the whole labor and delivery experience, to eliminate as many what-ifs as possible and be as prepared as I can...But that's all for health preparations. Not knowing the gender is not going to hurt anything." She tried to reason with him.

Leon looked on the verge of pouting, but instead looked to Dr. Kim for help. The doctor chuckled and lifted her shoulders. He looked imploringly to Tifa, who shook her head, and then finally deflated.

"Fine, tell me." He looked to Dr. Kim, and then to Tifa, "You can just cover your ears if you want to."

She stuck her tongue out at him and plugged her ears again, even closing her eyes so that she wouldn't accidentally read their lips. Her thoughts immediately darted where they always darted. They had finally started on the nursery a few weeks ago. By 'started', they had really just dusted the vacant room, removed the boxes since the room had turned into a storage area, and picked a color for the walls.

She could already picture where the crib would go and what other furniture would go in the room. There was a wooden floor, so it would be easy to clean, and the room was right next to their master bedroom…though in all honesty, the crib would probably in their room anyway for the first little while.

Leon tapped her knee with two fingers and she opened her eyes, unplugging her ears. He looked, for lack of a better word, giddy. And that made her feel giddy, just for the look for sheer excitement on his face. But everything about this baby excited Leon.

"I take it you approve?" She laughed.

He bobbed his head, glancing at her middle before back to her.

She did her habitual climb off the exam table. They said their habitual thank yous and goodbyes to Dr. Kim, and did the habitual walk across the parking lot to their habitual spot. However, as soon as the door closed...

"Tell me."

Leon looked over at her, having just turned on the Jeep. "Tell you what?" He said with a wide grin. "Surely not that thing that you said you didn't want to know?"

Tifa glared at him lightly. "I changed my mind."

Leon lifted his chin, "Well, maybe I like knowing something that you don't about our baby. You know when HE or SHE moves and sleeps and all sorts of stuff."

"Really? You're jealous of me throwing up every morning for three weeks and craving pickle and peanut butter sandwiches?" She lifted an eyebrow. "Tell me and I will tell you where the missing chess piece is."

Leon's eyes widened. "I KNEW you did that on purpose!" He pointed at her.

Tifa smiled devilishly. "And if you don't tell me, then you'll never know where it is. Your chess set will forever miss one pawn, making the sides uneven. Asymetrical. Wrong." She taunted his OCD.

Leon twitched. "I hope she doesn't inherit your cruelty."

"Aha!" She pointed at him. "You said she!"

Leon smiled. "Yes I did."

It sunk in.

"We're having a girl?" Tifa said. "A daughter?"

Leon nodded again, and Tifa twisted in her seat, grabbing him into a hug. He wrapped his arms around her as well, and they just sat there bouncing in their seats together in excitement.

And finally: "So where is the pawn?"

"Oh, Duke ate it." Tifa squealed happily, "You'll get it back in a few days."

..:-X-:..

047 – Oh My God, Becky…

"On three." Yuffie had to yell, even though Rinoa was sitting at the bar right beside her, over the blaring music of the club. "Three!"

Both women lifted the shot glasses to their lips, tossed their heads back, and downed the alcohol. With a hard swallow, Yuffie slapped the glass back to the bar and shook her head.

"Whew!" She exhaled.

Beside her, Rinoa choked and nearly gagged on the drink. Yuffie laughed and slapped her once on the back.

"Ugh, that is disgusting."

"Oh, you don't know disgusting." Yuffie cackled, flagging down the bartender. "Two tequila shots!"

Rinoa wiped her mouth, looking to Yuffie. "I thought that WAS tequila?!"

Yuffie shot her a playful look and bounced a little in her seat as they waited for their drinks, glancing out at the bustling dance floor. It was a big, shifting mess of bodies, sweat, glitter, and spilled alcohol. On a Friday night after a grueling session with the Council of the Alliance, this place was a beautiful sight. Returning her eyes to the bar, she made eye contact with a man farther down the bar. He had a working tan and biceps that only came from being too obsessed with how one looked in a mirror. He winked at her and lifted his beer bottle in a toast.

The bartender set the shots on the counter, and Yuffie took hers up, lifting it in a reciprocal toast to the man. Then, keeping her eyes on him, she provocatively slid her tongue around the rim of the glass, licking the salt away from it before downing the shot in one swallow. Feeling it burn down her throat, she plucked the lime slice off the glass and sucked on it, winking back at him. Then, just as abruptly as the flirting started, she turned back to her other side, where Rinoa was looking warily at her own shot.

"You just gotta do it. Don't think about it." Yuffie said, indicating the shot.

Rinoa scrunched her nose. "If you say so."

"I do say so." Yuffie bobbed her head.

She watched Rinoa mimic her, licking the salt and downing the shot. Rinoa clenched her eyes closed as she swallowed difficultly. Making a strained noise, she straightened and gave Yuffie a pained look.

"Now the lime." Yuffie gestured.

"Ugh, really?" Rinoa groaned, but popped the lime between her lips, squinting her eyes again at the sourness.

Yuffie spun around and hopped off the stool, "Okay, now let's go dance."

"Yuffie, I don't know if I can even stand—"

"Then find a guy who can hold you up while you grind on him—"

"Yuffie!"

"What? Some guys like that." Yuffie shrugged, scouting already. Spotting her prey, she grabbed Rinoa's hand and tugged her to her feet. "C'mon, I promised you a fun night."

Steeling herself, Rinoa staggered to balance. "You're right. Okay."

It didn't take much effort to convince the prey in Yuffie's crosshairs—a thickly built man with stubble and flaming red hair—and his buddy—another lumberjack of a man with a shaved head—to escort them to the dance floor. After all, she and Rinoa had dressed to kill, and it was a Friday night. They were close enough to being drunk that they felt sexy as all Hell, so Yuffie just went with it. Rinoa had a little harder time 'just going with it', which surprised Yuffie.

Yuffie and her red haired lumberjack didn't bother with names, and they were soon just dancing away. His hands went around her hips as she pressed her back against his chest, swaying with the thundering bass of the music. She looked over to Rinoa, who was staring right back at her with wide eyes that screamed 'what do I do?!' as her dance partner tried to dance up against her.

She winked at Rinoa and rolled her spine with the beat of the music, baring her neck and sliding her hands up her body and into her hair. The other woman looked like she was trying to mimic her again. Yuffie chuckled; why was Rinoa being so awkward about this? She was acting like she'd never been to a club before…

Then, before her eyes, she almost saw it click—maybe not in her head, but in muscle memory—and Rinoa fell into the rhythm of the dance. Yuffie beamed, proud of her little apprentice.

"Unleash your inner slut, baby!" Yuffie yelled over the music and was heard by no one.

They danced through the duration of the song, and as the next song started to transition into a slow one, Yuffie detached with a wink to her partner.

"I don't do slow dances." She said playfully.

He smirked. "Aw, I'd make it worth your while." He winked.

Yuffie snickered and looked over to Rinoa, who was looking all too comfortable with her own slow dance with her dance partner. Yuffie pursed her lips, canted her head, and offered her hand back to the red haired man.

"Well…I guess one slow dance never hurt anyone."

..:-X-:..

048 – Cats and Dogs

"Thank you so much for this."

Aerith barely heard the woman, lifting the grey cat from the box. "Oh, you are so fluffy." She chortled at the feline and looked to the woman. "Hm?"

Yvonne, one of Beverly's employees at Traverse Town, nibbled on a fingernail. "I just can't keep her anymore. My little brother has an allergy, and I didn't want to drop him off at the shelter—"

"Your brother?" Aerith teased.

Yvonne sighed, "The cat. His name's Bosco, but you can change it if you want. He doesn't respond to names anyway. Sorry, I never got around to training him to do…anything." She fidgeted. "But he has all of his shots."

"Great, great." Aerith said, nuzzling up on the cat's fluffy grey fur.

The cat made a low mewling noise in the back of his throat, and Aerith couldn't tell if it was a purr or a snarl. Aerith looked to Yvonne. "I'll take good care of him."

Aerith walked with the cat in her arms from where she had met Yvonne to pick him up outside the Gummi Hangar. She hadn't…quite…talked to Rinoa about bringing a pet to the apartment. When she had talked to Rinoa that morning, the other woman had been severely hungover and spent the morning bowing to the porcelain god in the bathroom. So Rinoa's garbled 'yeah, sure, whatever' had probably just been code for 'leave me alone to die.'

For that reason, Aerith decided to waste time around Radiant Garden until Rinoa had recovered enough to have a real conversation about this. If it turned out her roommate was allergic to cats also…she would figure something out. She doubted Rinoa would be against having the cat if she wasn't allergic. They dog-watched Duke for Leon and Tifa all the time, and they both adored that dog…

"What should I name you?" Aerith chirped as she stopped at the Borough. "Bosco sounds like a dog name…" She pondered.

She popped into Merlin's house and found no one home. Sitting on the couch, she set the cat in her lap and took her cell phone out of her pocket. The cat immediately climbed off of her, scampered to the entire other side of the couch, settled down, and glared at her.

Aerith snorted. "Fine, be that way." She texted Rinoa to verify that it would be okay to bring a cat home and waited for a reply.

She then looked to the cat. "Jewel…Ruby…Toby…Angel?"

At the suggested names, the cat seemed to growl and turn his body so that his back was facing her. Aerith snickered and reached out, petting him anyway. The cat tensed and then got up, hopping off the couch and instead going to curl up on the recliner on the opposite side of the room.

"How about Cloud?" Aerith chuckled at the cat's behavior.

The phone buzzed beside her and she picked up.

"Hello?"

"My clothes don't fit." Tifa greeted flatly.

Aerith canted her head. "Well…that does tend to happen with pregnancy."

She heard Tifa exhale on the other end. "Most of my shirts are getting tight, but all of my pants are just…blugh."

Aerith pursed her lips, well aware of Tifa's affinity for tight pants. Well, if Aerith had child bearing hips like that, she would too…Irrelevant.

"Anyway, I'm going shopping tomorrow for official maternity clothes. You want to tag along?" Tifa prompted.

Aerith squinted one eye, going over her mental schedule. "I'm sorry, I'm in meetings all day tomorrow for negotiating more funding for my department." She paused. "Do you know if Rinoa is a cat person?"

There was a pause.

"She's a dog person. Why?"

"I…sort of just adopted a cat."

"Sort of?"

"Well, I already bought him a collar and I'm trying to decide on a name."

"Uh huh…I hate cats."

Aerith huffed. "Well, then you don't have to help me name him."

"Tch, fine, you won't get to help me name my daughter."

Aerith balked. "I never said I hated babies. You said hate, not me!...Daughter?" She sat up.

"Got the news yesterday!" Tifa chirped. "And no, name is still not picked out. Leon apparently wants to traumatize our child with an embarrassingly creative, weirdly spelled name."

"Oh surely it's not that bad. This cat's original name was Bosco."

"Well, there's a coincidence…"

..:-X-:..

A/N: I hate cats. I'm a dog person. Don't try to defend cats to me. I just don't like 'em.

I kept thinking of the ballroom scene of FFVIII while writing 047. I always figured Rinoa knew how to shake it, but only in a structured dance kind of way: tango, waltz, that stuff. Just jumping out there and gyrating—which is pretty much the club scene nowadays, in my experience—would be a new thing for her. As opposed to Yuffie, who just follows the mantra of 'just dance like you've got a wedgie and are trying to fix it without using your hands.'

In other news, if you've read any of my stories that mention or take place down the road for the Restoration Committee, Leon and Tifa having a daughter shouldn't be a surprise. If you haven't read them…surprise! XD

Preview for next week: "A person does not live and die by their name. It doesn't need to be this overly artistic, unique, weird title with unnecessary y's in it. Our daughter will be perfectly capable of being unique and awesome all on her own, not because of what her name is."