Chapter 8 - The Talk
"Len, Rin!" Cloud called as he came in. "I'm home!"
The twins came running over, followed by their sitter, Shera. "Cloud!"
"Sorry it was longer than I thought, Shera." Cloud apologized between hugs. "I didn't mean to be gone this late."
"It's alright. You called, which is better than last time." Shera replied. "Cid said he'd be over to get me in a bit, anyway."
Cloud nodded. Three months had passed since he'd taken the twins under his roof, and while they were mostly used to having to stay home on days with bad weather, Cloud still preferred to have someone at least check up on the kids, or be over to help them cook if he was going to be gone over dinner.
"So, why couldn't Elena come over?" Shera asked as she got her twins ready to go home.
"The baby came." Cloud replied. "About a week ago, and she gets to come home today."
"Elena had her baby?" Rin asked.
"Yeah." Cloud replied. "They're supposed to come visit tomorrow, so you'll get to see the baby then."
`~`~`~`~O_O~`~`~`~`
Elena laughed as Rin and Len gently touched little Rita's hands. The twins were so enamored by the little girl that waved at them and blinked her huge blue eyes.
"She's so little." smiled Rin.
"Um, Cloud, where did she come from?" Len asked, finding the other in the kitchen.
Cloud looked at him. "Elena had her."
"But how?" Len asked.
Reno saw the flustered look on Cloud's face. "Oh, this is gonna be priceless." he said with a grin.
"Uh, well, um . . ." Cloud could see there was no way out of this one, given the double set of expectant blue eyes staring at him. "A guy and girl . . . they do things . . . if they have feeling for each other, and, um, well, things happen, and the girl gets pregnant and has a baby."
Len figured there wasn't going to be any better explanation than that out of Cloud, so he just shrugged and took it as that. He grabbed a banana off the counter and peeled it before going to step out of the kitchen. He blinked at Reno, who was trying not to kill himself laughing at Cloud's explanation.
"What's so funny?" Len asked.
"That had to be the most pathetic excuse for sex-ed ever." Reno snickered.
Rin looked at Reno, then back at Cloud. "What kind of things to the guy and girl do?" she asked.
Cloud felt cornered. "How should I know?" he asked. "I got my explanation from a friend who got his off the backside of a bathroom stall."
Rin raised an eyebrow. "Really?"
"Zack wasn't much for explaining things." Cloud replied.
"Should I ask Elena?" Rin asked.
"Better than asking Tifa." Cloud said. He followed Rin out of the kitchen, cringing at the next line out of the younger blonde female's mouth.
"What does a guy and a girl do to get a baby?"
Elena looked over at Cloud. "Oh, Cloud." she called. "Why is she asking me this question, and not you?"
"Because my explanation had more holes in it than a wall after Barret shoots it." Cloud replied with a sigh.
"Didn't your mother go over this with you?" she asked.
"Nope. I left home before she could."
"And you've never had a girlfriend?" Reno asked.
"Kinda just got one." Cloud replied. "She works at the WRO."
Elena sighed. "So, no one ever told you about sex?"
Cloud shifted, a little uncomfortable with the way the conversation was going. "I got my explanation from Zack." he said, looking a bit nervous. "You know how that relationship was."
"I remember." said Reno. "Seeing you do the shuffle-walk at drills wasn't fun."
Elena rolled her eyes. "So, no, you were never told what sex was." She sat Rin down and looked over the back of the seat. "Len, get in here. You should here this, too."
Cloud tried to make an escape, but Reno grabbed him by the shirt collar. "Nu-uh, Cloud. You have a girlfriend, you should know this stuff, too."
The blonde whimpered, but sat anyway. This was going to be horrifying . . .
. . . Len and Rin looked between them at Cloud, who was very white-faced and wide-eyed. "That was more than I ever needed to know." Cloud muttered.