Must say, I'm quite surprised that this is getting as much response as it is :D I love it! This story is only 7 chapters long, and doesn't go into much detail about how the others react to Fang, other than some Vanille, and almost an entire Serah chapter.

Sorry this is getting posted so late, I almost forgot about it xD

Hold Me Tight
Chapter 3

It had been a week. A week of constantly getting sick, and never knowing quite when it was going to hit her. She had been sitting at her desk at the barracks, going over paperwork for new recruits when it suddenly hit her. It was the first time she'd been hit with the nausea at work. Trying to be as inconspicuous as possible, she made her way into the ladies bathroom. After checking that she was alone, she locked herself in the last stall to get sick. After what felt like an eternity, her stomach finally stopped spinning and she was able to get up to rinse her mouth out. But, when she stood up and exited the stall, she found she wasn't the only one in the bathroom.

"Are you alright, Captain?" The young woman dared to ask as she watched Lightning go to the sink to cup some water into her mouth.

"I'll be alright."

She tilted her head to look at the woman, then chuckled. "If you weren't married to a woman, I'd say you were pregnant."

Lightning forced out some laughter to play along with what she'd said. But, the whole time, the young soldier's words sunk in slowly. "It's just a bug, Sergeant, it'll go away I'm sure." After rinsing her mouth out, she splashed some water onto her face to relax.

"If you need anything, let me know." She nodded to the blond before leaving the bathroom.

Lightning remained behind for several more minutes to allow the Sergeant's words to sink in. 'If you weren't married to a woman, I'd say you were pregnant.' The Captain could feel her heart rate increase at the mere thought. It couldn't be true, could it? After she regained her composure, she made her way back to her office. Once securely behind the closed door, she sat at her desk. What if she was pregnant? That would change everything… everybody would find out about Fang. Everybody would treat her differently.

With trembling hands, she pulled out her personal day planner from her bag. How would Fang react? She slowly thumbed through the pages until she found what she was looking for. As meticulous as Lightning was, she always marked her cycle in her calendar. She forgot how to breathe as she thumbed back and forth between three different weeks… she was late… by more than three weeks. She couldn't stop her hands from shaking as she just stared at the pages that possibly sealed her fate.

Without a second thought, she gathered up her belongings and went to speak with her commanding officer. It wasn't often that Lightning requested an early leave for the day, but apparently, when Amodar took one look at her, he could see how pale she was. If only he knew the real reason for her being pale – she was terrified.

She made a quick stop on the way home for a pregnancy test. It felt awkward to buy one, thinking that it could never happen. They had both been so sure that Fang was sterile. She smiled weakly at the clerk who rang up her purchase before hurrying back out to the car to go home. Fang and her had never been careful ever since they first started to sleep together. Lightning's mind had been running in so many different directions, she wasn't even sure how she'd managed to make it home in one piece.

With her bag in her hand, she made her way inside. After a quick check of the time, she knew she had about 45 minutes before Fang would arrive home. She pulled the box out of the bag and read the directions while she was walking up to their bathroom.

XXXXXX

"You're home early, Sunshine." Fang called out as she entered the house. "Not feeling good again?" She kicked off her shoes at the door and made her way further into the house. Fang frowned when she heard some soft crying coming from the living room. Cautiously, she made her way into the room and found her wife curled into a ball at the corner of their sofa. "Hey, love. What's wrong?"

"I'm so sorry Fang." She hugged her knees tighter to her chest as she cried some more. She just knew that Fang was going to hate her. She had hated herself for letting it happen.

"Honey, you're scarin' me." Fang sat down and pulled the smaller woman onto her lap to cradle her. "Talk to me."

Lightning shook her head as she rambled. "I don't know how it happened… I hope you won't hate me."

"I could never hate ya."

After taking a deep breath, Lightning handed over the pregnancy test to Fang. She prepared herself to be pushed away, and yelled at. But it never came. She could hear Fang's breath hitch in her throat. Several more moments passed by before Fang finally spoke, "you're sure?"

Lightning nodded, "I took three of them…" she bit her lip.

The Pulsian reached out to place the test onto the coffee table before pulling the soldier even closer to her. "Wait… it's mine right?"

"Of course it's yours, Fang!" Lightning looked offended. "I would never do that."

"This is incredible." Fang pulled her even closer and tucked her face against her wife's neck. "I… I didn't think it was possible."

Lightning continued shaking against her wife, she was terrified. "I didn't think it was either…"

"Why are ya upset about it, love?" Fang shifted to be able to grasp the soldier's cheeks with her hands.

"I'm scared." She admitted softly.

It was so rare to hear Lightning say something like that, that Fang wasn't even sure if she had heard her right. "You're scared?" She asked softly.

The blond nodded before more tears escaped her eyes. "What will happen when people find out?"

Fang wasn't exactly putting everything together as she held her wife close to her. "Well, I think they'd be happy for us."

Lightning shook her head. She knew their friends would be happy, but they'd also be very confused. "We'd have to tell people about you, Fang."

Realization quickly dawned on Fang. She understood why Lightning had originally gotten so upset. "Hey, look at me, Claire." She waited until the soldier looked up to meet her eyes. "We'll figure that out when we get to it. Our friends won't think any different of me, or you."

"What if they do? Not even your own sister knows Fang. Can you imagine how Vanille's going to react to this?"

"I'll talk to her first… before we tell anybody else that you're pregnant. Alright?" Lightning nodded. "What made you get a test?"

"I got sick at the barracks… Another woman overheard me and jokingly said 'if you weren't married to a woman, I'd say you were pregnant.' So I checked my planner…" She left it at that, and Fang quickly caught on. "I never pictured myself having children, Fang… what if I'm not a good mother?"

"Stop that." She brushed some hair off of Lightning's face before leaning in for a kiss. "You'll be incredible. The Lightning Farron I know wouldn't back down from a challenge." Her heart melted for a moment when Lightning chuckled. "It'll definitely be a challenge, yea. But ya know what?"

"What?"

"We're in this together. You and me. I'll be there every step of the way… startin' with a real doctor's appointment."

Lightning smiled softly. "I already made one, it's tomorrow morning."

"Well, alright then." Fang pulled her wife in close to her before whispering, "we're gonna have a baby."

"We're having a baby." Lightning couldn't hold back the smile anymore. She'd been a giant mixture of emotions the entire day, but being in Fang's arms helped her to figure out her emotions. The happiness far outweighed the fear that she felt. When she saw the positive test, she'd become happy, then sad, then worried beyond belief. Now that she knew Fang didn't seem worried, she knew she shouldn't be worried either.

XXXXXX

"Fang, what're you doin' here?" Vanille opened the door and was quite surprised to see her sister standing there.

"Was hopin' ya had a minute, Van." Fang had been thankful when she arrived at the apartment building, Hope's car was not there. She wouldn't be able to deal with her sister and her sister's boyfriend. It would be hard enough just telling Vanille. She stepped into the apartment when the shorter woman moved aside.

"Everything okay? You and Light have a fight or somethin'?"

The older Pulsian laughed before shaking her head. "No, I just needed to talk to you about something." She made her way to the sofa to sit down. Fang waited until Vanille was seated beside her before she continued, "I need to tell ya something."

"Okay, what is it?"

The older woman took a deep breath. She'd practiced on Lightning the night before, but it wasn't the same because all the soldier could do was laugh at her nervousness. "I just hope ya won't think of me any different, Van."

"Fang, I'm your sister, why would I think of you any different? What's goin' on?"

Fang bit her lip as she looked down at her lap. "Claire's pregnant." She expected confusion to come from her little sister, but instead, she felt a set of arms wrap tightly around her neck.

"You're serious?"

"You… you don't seemed shocked?" Fang was confused by her sister's reaction to what she'd just told her.

Vanille just laughed, "I'm not. The way you guys go at it all the time, surprised it didn't happen sooner."

The older Pulsian blushed for a few moments before it finally dawned on her, "wait… ya knew?"

"Well, duh. I am your sister. I knew when we were kids, I mean, we did grow up together… well, then ya got all quiet and secretive about it," she shrugged, "figured you'd talk about it when you were ready."

"Hope everybody else will react this way to it…" She looked down at her lap again. Her and Lightning talked about it the night of her doctor's appointment. Both felt worried about people's reactions to it.

"Well, if they can't understand it, screw 'em."

Fang cracked up laughing, she couldn't help it at Vanille's words. "Not that easy… we're only tellin' our friends and family that it's actually mine. As far as everybody else needs to know, we were tryin' medically ya know." Vanille nodded in understanding. "Figured it'd be better that way."

"So… Lightning's really pregnant?"

Fang slowly nodded, "yea, went to the doctor and confirmed yesterday."

"How far?"

"9 weeks."

Vanille threw herself at her sister again. "I'm gonna be an aunt!"

Fang laughed as she wrapped her arms around her little sister, "yes, ya are. Vanille, ya gotta keep this between us right now. Just 'til we get a chance to talk to everybody else."

"My lips are sealed. Promise."

"Good, cause if anybody else learns of it before we tell 'em. We know where it came from." Fang playfully pushed her sister away from her before smiling. One down, four more to go.

Let me know what you think. I apologize for it being a little choppy. I do have a small idea for a prequel sequel for this story, as well as a possible sequel. I have to see how long I can keep this writing bug I have.