Disclaimer: I do not now or before and most likely not in the future, own Final Fantasy, Square Enix or any of the characters.

A/N: Important message: The baby name contest is now closed. My daughter drew the name of the winner and will be announced in the next chapter. I must say that my daughter will be 8 this summer and is special needs, just like my oldest son, and she thoroughly enjoyed being involved with the contest. I was hoping to have a baby in this chapter, but it just didn't work out, sorry guys, but I promise there will be a baby in the next chapter, I am writing it right now!

(I don't really remember where the monster that I have in this chapter is located in the game, or the attack that it uses, so please just go with what I've got here. Consider me just taking a little artistic license with it.)

Also thank you for the review chocobohugger! Sorry I didn't say anything in the last chapter, but better late than never!

Thanks to my wonderful beta SubZeroChimera!


"Wisdom is the quality that keeps you from getting into situations where you need it." –Doug Larson

To You I Give My Heart

Chapter 26

~A Bad Week Made Worse~

All week was nothing but Cloud escaping Zack's every attempt to jog her memories and it only served to heighten his anxiety. Then there was the fact that she was literally dodging him; once she went so far to avoid any contact that she bounced off the wall in the hallway twice with a quiet squeal and a grimace before she passed him and got to the kitchen.

Standing there and watching his angel dash, ungracefully, away from him, around the corner and into the kitchen was too much for him to bear. Biting his lip, he turned back, passed the kitchen and grabbed his sword. Taking a deep breath, he held the sword in front of him, feeling the piercing blue eyes watching his every move behind him, he flipped the sword to his back and pushed his way out the door. That was when he noticed the pinned up chocobo that he had been neglecting because of his own self-pity.

Petting the soft white feathers on the chocobo's side, his forehead rested on the side of her neck as he meekly described his heartbreak, "I don't know Marshy, it's been a week now, she just doesn't know me anymore."

With a coo, Marshmallow nuzzled her beak to the top of his head.

"I wonder if she will ever remember." Filling up the food bowl, the chocobo moved sideways, trapping the former Soldier between her large body and the wall, "Whoa, Marshy! What's up with you all of a sudden?" Marshmallow's intentions were shown when she nuzzled her head into the side of his neck and warked. Chuckling, Zack petted her and pushed her back a little to free up some space for him to breathe, "It's okay Marshy, I still love you too! You will always be my number one feather-covered girl!"

"Zackary, are you going hunting or would you like for me to go this time?"

Patting the feasting chocobo, Zack slowly recalled how he ended up outside this morning to begin with. The thought of being in the house any longer with a woman that didn't want to be around him did not appeal to him, "Nah, I'll go." Tilting his head, he talked to Red behind him, "I need to give her some space I think."

"Hmm, I think you are correct, but do not think of it like that. If you do, it will do nothing but create a blackness in your heart and that is just not you," Hearing a shuffling behind him, Zack pictured the peaceful creature sitting and shaking his head, "Don't forget, she loved you at one time, those feelings are still there, they are just filed away." Quickly adding, "At least we were able to convince her to stay."

"True," Making his way out of the pen, Zack locked it and looked at his friend with a raised eyebrow, "I just want to help her and she won't let me," Crossing his arms, he lowered his eyes, "She won't let me touch her at all, you know, to measure her belly, take her blood pressure or pulse like Sharna told me to, she is putting herself in danger," Shaking his head, he finished, "She has also been in an especially bad mood the last couple of days."

"Like you said, give her a little space, she is still scared and doesn't know what is happening to her own body. Didn't you tell me something similar happened to you while you were being held by Hojo? He was giving you injections, some of the procedures he did, and so on. I know, I've been through it also. Think of it that way, be the positive person that you were born to be, not the morose person you are turning into, that is who she is seeing, not the positive person she knew before." Rising and going back to the house, Red called over his shoulder, "Don't forget that note that Sharna left in the last delivery, 'Tell Zack to keep his chin up.' I do not want to be the one who tells her that you are not doing what you are told."

Being left out in the yard with a starving chocobo who was noisily scarfing down food behind him, Zack looked around at the serene scene that surrounded him. The house, the dense trees, the sprouting garden on the side of the house, the sound of birds chirping and the feelings of fatherhood looming, he took a deep breath and whistled an optimistic tune as he walked to the edge of the forest, ready to hunt for his family.

…Several hours later, the cheery tune that he was whistling had turned sour as he was no closer to finding and killing anything that was edible. First, there was the large pink flower that almost swallowed his leg, and then the swarm of Slaps that he stumbled upon that had chased him almost a mile before he lost them, but not before they 'slapped' him several times, leaving welts on his arms and back.

Giving up on the hunt for a moment, maybe throwing a little temper tantrum was just what he needed, so he picked up a stick, swung it and hit a bush, the leaves and berries tearing loose and flitting to the ground, berries rolling down the small incline, he felt like he did when he was small. The rebellious part of his personality set him up as though the stick was a baseball bat, aiming for a low hanging apple in a tree. With a thwack, the apple soared and hit the backside of a grazing Gagighandi.

Jaw dropping, he remembered that he had not brought any softs with him since he had left the house in a distracted state of mind. With a growl, the monster turned and Zack muttered, "Oh shit…" as he stepped back and prepared to run. As predicted, the monster leaped over the bushes and chased after him.

Tree branches, thorns from bushes, and vines that littered the ground and tree trunks scraped at his skin as he broke out in a sweat from the cool but humid air. Hurtling over a ridge of rocks, he dashed to the side and went down an animal path, toward a small fresh water stream all the while the Gagighandi was right on his trail. Heading down the stream, hoping for the creature to lose his scent in the water, he glanced behind him and failed to see the upcoming drop.

Tumbling down the few feet onto the wet flat rocks of the stream, he stood quickly in the knee-deep water just as the monster attacked with stone breath. Ducking down, Zack threw himself to the muddy bank and rolled out of range. He was fixing to take off running again, but the monster slipped on a moss covered rock, leaving it vulnerable.

Unsheathing his sword, he glared down at the creature as it struggled to right itself and Cloud popped to his mind. Being held down by straps on the operating table in Hojo's lab, the way she cried and looked at him with the same look of despair in her eyes that the creature now looked at him.

"Ahh, shit!" Stepping forward a step, the creature flinched at his movement and a low whine seeped from its throat. Lowering his arms, the tip of the sword clinked on the rock next to the head of the blue-colored monster. The pointed ears lowered flat to the side of the head and Zack cursed, "Son of a bitch!" Waving his free hand, he yelled, "Get out of here!"

Slowly rising, the Gagighandi shuffled to its feet and in the process, it kicked at Zack, knocking him over into the mud again and into a fallen tree trunk before it ran off through the trees, "What the hell? I'm letting you go and you freakin kick me?!"

Getting to his feet, he shook his hands and arms, sloughing off a layer of thick, stinking mud. "Well this is just great…!" Stepping over to where his sword lay in the taller grass, "I won't be so forgiving next time." Deciding to call it a day, since his streak of problems that he'd had so far, he sheathed his sword and sloshed through the ankle-deep mud back toward the house.

Taking quick inventory of his injuries, he noticed that he wasn't really badly hurt, sore muscles, but his ego was what seemed hurt the worst.

From a distance, Zack could make out Red on the porch with Cloud sitting in the newly repaired porch chair. A girlish giggle caught his ear and angered him to the point of boiling over into rage. Adding insult to injury, the toe of his boot met a rock the size of his fist and he sent it flying with a firm kick and it hit a nearby tree, bouncing off and smacking him in the chest, rending him breathless for a moment and catching the attention of his two housemates.

Clenching his fists, his jaw ticked and he straightened his back, determined to not let their curious eyes disarm him. He realized that covered in mud, hair stuck to the side of his head on one side and no dinner in his arms, they would ask questions, but he stood his ground in his mind.

Quickening his pace, he hoped to get past them before they could ask, but it was too much to hope for, "Zackary, what happened to-"

He cut Red off, "Don't ask!"

Piling his muddy clothes next the wall, he glared at himself in the mirror and almost chuckled when he noticed that half of his face, neck and most of his hair was covered in the greenish-brown mud, but he stifled the urge to laugh, he needed to be angry right now.

He let the hot water hit his tense body, everything hurt after his failed hunting of the day. Ducking his head, the soapy water flowed through his hair until it finally ran bubble-free. Lifting his head, he stared up at the ceiling and closed his eyes so that he could picture Cloud's smile. An urging, a longing that he felt stirred within his fiercely beating heart, one that he felt coursing through him frequently, the need to be needed, he wanted to be wanted again.

The feeling of his hands on his stomach sent chills of desire through his gut, without thinking, his hands roamed down to his newly heated flesh. Closing his eyes, he let his thoughts float away to days when he was happy. When he would watch Cloud while she practiced her kata before weapons training, the way she would bite her lip and crinkle her nose just before she climaxed, the way she cuddled with him on the couch during a scary movie, watching her unflinching determination while trying to keep up with the other cadets on the track; he let a soft moan pass his lips.

It was then that he let it sink in, his entire world revolved around her, but hers did not include him, at least not anymore. Releasing his still hardened flesh, he put both of his palms on the cool blue tiles of the wall and fought the stinging tears of anger that threatened his composure. If there was anything more painful, more difficult to realize, to live through, this was easily more painful. His breath hitched and a sob that caught in his throat came out with a cough, the humid air warmed his mouth and nose with the smell and taste of fresh lilac shampoo, Cloud's favorite.

His fingertips inched across the tiles, clenching tightly into a hardened fists, until he heard the door to the bathroom slam open, "Zackary, it is Cloud, come quickly!"

From behind the shower curtain, he heard Red run back down the hallway. Turning off the water, he opened the curtain, jumped out, and chased after his four-legged roommate, uncertain of what he was about to walk in to.


A/N: Thanks to everyone who reads, favorites, subscribes and/or reviews, I appreciate your time and I dedicate all of this to you. To quote another author, "Getting reviews makes me feel all warm and squishy."

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