Chapter 5

Tifa sobbed in her bed, it was one thing to know that Sephiroth had some undisclosed lover and picture a pretty and kindly woman where she, herself was in a situation where she couldn't pursue an actual relationship with Sephiroth. Be it to cultural or for religious reasons, but this. How could he be with someone so vile! Scarlet cared about no one but herself. She was Tifa's enemy and had tried to kill her, yet he hadn't even warned her! Scarlet! It was such an insult to her as a wife!

But then she had been forced to reflect that he had only offered her a marriage on paper and had initially refused her every overture at forming a relationship with him. He had been as prickly and cuddly as a cactus at first. He had established his boundaries and she had gone out of her way to leap over them. She wanted a real relationship with him, she wanted him to be a father to children in every way, as well as legally, in case the alien DNA that was currently inert in him came out in their innocent children. He was mainly human (not that chilly ass acted like it) and she was thoroughly human.

She had been so sure he was in love with her. Had she been wrong? It was based on so many certainties, how he had gotten their home built in record time had at least indicated a fondness. It was whole bunch of small things that had led her to that conclusion and now he had gone to Scarlet right after they made love for the first time. She sniffled and then answered the door where a tentative looking Yuffie held out a paper bag.

"I got your favorite, sardines with chocolate ice cream. Oh Tifa, come here" she said hugging her. "How are you holding up?" she asked her.

Tifa still wasn't aware about the scandal as she had been in bed all day long and hadn't read the paper. "I'm so confused. I guess Vincent told you, Sephiroth and I had such a horrible fight. We...we made love and then. Oh I was so stupid. I should have known better. I knew he wasn't ready to say the words but I wanted to hear them from him after we… I all but beat him over the head demanding he say he love me. Fucking pregnancy hormones, one second I want sleep with him, the next cling to him and never let go. ...the next, I want to give him a brain enema straight up his ass with his stupid sword. I mean who has a seven foot katana anyway? He's dull, he's annoying and sometimes I want to punch his damned smirking head in. I hate him. I think" she sniffled, her thoughts all over the place as she ate the fish laden ice cream directly from the carton

"Wait you two finally had sex? How was it?" she asked her.

"Magical, he was so gentle that I was almost moved to tears, that rotten bastard!" Tifa sobbed. "Then he went to fuck his mistress. He's fucking Scarlet, that skank bitch. I hope he is deloused, has a flea dip, and gets his entire body autoclaved and wears three condoms before he attempts to come near me again. I miss him" she sobbed.

"Of course, everyone knows Scarlet is his lover" Yuffie said with a frown.

"She told people?" Tifa asked.

"No it was in the paper today. You don't know about the article?" She explained. "Now Scarlet is giving interviews, those kind of "mistress tells all, types"" she concluded.

"It will ruin him" Tifa suddenly said.

"So let him be ruined" Yuffie asked her.

"He's my husband. His rank means so little to him, but he's worked so hard to reestablish himself more so as a person, not a title and not a thing. I can't let this happen. Cheating asshole or not, he's still the father of my children, no matter the circumstances. Scarlet is just wanting his title." Tifa said.

"Always routing for the underdog, eh Tiff. What do you want to do?" she asked.

"I need to see what I can do legally" and she went and called Dexter.

"You can sue for defamation of characters but if it's true..." Dexter said.

"It is" Tifa admitted.

"Oh Tifa, that's horrible" Dexter said, okay technically he was Sephiroth's lawyer, but that didn't mean that he had to like him all the time. "There is another way, but we would have to do this and today to minimize the damage. Are you willing to go on TV up against Scarlet?" he asked her.

"I think that my boxing days have been put on hold" she said.

"I meant verbally" he said.

"You set it up" she said and in less than an hour, wearing a power maternity suit and looking every inch the respectable young housewife, she smiled innocently into the camera.

"Mrs. Crescent, thank you so much for being with us today, and you too Scarlet" the kindly interviewer said to them.

"Thanks for letting me clear the air regarding my husband and myself, please call me Tifa" Tifa said to the interviewer, Rhonda and rubbing her belly and smiling demurely.

"Scarlet, I understand that you have been involved with General Crescent for the duration of his rather abrupt marriage" Rhonda said to her.

"I have been lovers with him for just under a year" Scarlet said.

"Oh our rather abrupt marriage! I know it was so naughty of me to steal my husband's sperm sample like I did. It's a good thing he was so understanding and married me" Tifa said and everyone seemed to ignore Scarlet.

"Yes that is a very novel way for a great love affair to begin" Rhonda agreed.

"Great love affair? She was trying to get another sample and got them mixed up" Scarlet objected.

"I lied, I knew it was his all along" she said. "Things haven't always been candlelight and roses, Scarlet has been trying to break us apart since, like whenever" she said with distain in her voice.

"How dare you, that is not true" Scarlet objected.

"So you haven't been trying to seduce her husband?" Rhonda asked her.

"I had a long standing relationship with him long before she was in the picture" Scarlet snarled.

"Rhonda, you have to understand that when the General was reinstated, he was still in a dark place and probably needed some support and there was Scarlet to at least pretend to be doing that, while only using him for her own personal gain."

"That's not true. I loved him and then you came along" Scarlet said, going well, scarlet in the face.

Tifa just looked at her in sympathy.

"I pity women like you, all you ever worry about is what prestige a man can bring you. Had General Crescent, my husband been the General's driver or a male nurse or held a position more menial, you wouldn't have bothered with him. You're not in love with him, you might worship him aesthetically, but you're really not concerned with the man. To love someone, you know of his quirks and foibles and accept them. Did you know that his favourite colour his blue? How he takes his coffee? That's he's secretly addicted to chocolate to the point he keeps it in the desk drawer of his office in a box labelled "untested materia"?" Tifa asked her.

"What does that have to do with anything?" Scarlet demanded.

"That's what separates someone who truly loves him, from someone who just wants to screw him" Tifa said, looking at her like she was something she caught happily munching in her vegetable patch.

"So you and the General are still together?" Rhonda asked her.

"We're stronger than ever and looking forward to the birth of our children" Tifa said, stroking her belly again and looking poignantly at Scarlet.

"I bet you're not even sleeping together" Scarlet said.

"Think again, you've seen the way my husband looks" Tifa said with a smile and a pretty blush.

"Then what was he doing coming over to my place to sleep with me?" she asked Tifa.

"We had a silly fight and I demanded he give you up for once and for all, so he went to see you in a rage. I'm sure you had a little fight of your own" Tifa said.

"We had sex all night long" Scarlet corrected her.

"Oh really, what did you think of love bite I left on his inner thigh?" Tifa asked her sweetly.

"I thought it rather sexy" Scarlet said.

"I didn't leave a love bite anywhere on his body and never have. Only trashy skanks do that, it's so tacky. You never slept with him last night, you're a fraud. Your expression gave you away. You haven't been with him for over a month. General Sephiroth Crescent is married only to his rank as General, his people support him and me. I support him and we don't have time for people like you" Tifa said standing up.

"He's mine" Scarlet cried.

"Not anymore" Tifa said. "Here's a parting shot for you; stay away from my husband" she said and with a right cross to her jaw. Scarlet collapsed on the ground.

"Sorry Rhonda, I didn't mean to get carried away" Tifa apologized.

"That piece of trash is the reason I divorced my last husband" Rhonda said. "You want to help me drag her into the back and we can both work her over?" she suggested.

"No I'm okay" she said.

Dexter met her to take her home. "Well done, I contacted the paper and they are going to run a retraction in tomorrow's paper. I thought you said your boxing days were on hold?" he asked, holding the door open for her and then offering her his hand to help her ease her hugely pregnant body into the limo and it broke her heart as this is what Sephiroth normally did.

"Once a fighter, always a fighter" she said and then wondered where Sephiroth was.

Zach was eating this up. "Hey kiddo, I'm your uncle Zach and this here is your disgruntled uncle Cloud" said as Vincent brought Sephiroth out from the testing lab with a lollypop in one hand and holding Vincent's hand with the other.

Sephiroth blinked at Zach like he was slow.

"I don't recall the professor saying that my mother had brothers" as he stared the two down with his unnerving glare.

"Kid's still a total asshat" Cloud mumbled.

Zach slapped the back of Cloud's head.

"Dude, he's just a kid!" Zach said caught up in the moment.

"That is 6'5, extremely powerful and doesn't have those honed filters yet, can will a 7ft katana into existence, oh and can cast magic from his body" Cloud again corrected, deadly serious.

Sephiroth had that look like they were calling him an 'it', it showing in his saddened demeanor. Vincent slapped Cloud almost through a wall from the back of his head.

"Let it lie Cloud, we get your point. All we've done is made more worry for Tifa in our handling of things" Vincent stated.

Cloud rolled his eyes and huffed, but didn't deny that fact. Sephiroth was hurt and she hugely pregnant. Terrible timing.

"That's a bad word, asshat" he interjected in his his childish tone of voice.

"Sephiroth this is Zach, as he stated. He's going to put on your seat beat and then we will take you home." Vincent said.

"He can talk like a 10-year-old, but not put on a seat belt? Sigh priorities Hojo…" Zach teased.

"He's the mental age of four, just be glad he isn't demanding a car seat" Vincent said with a sigh and pulled out his PHS to call Tifa to say he was bringing Sephiroth home and he wasn't quite himself.

"Do I have to go the lab?" He said with fright in his voice, eyes larger than they had any business being.

"No you'll be staying with your wi… a nice lady named Tifa and if you can't stay there, you'll come stay with me, unless Zach would like to..." Vincent suggested.

"Forget it, I'm not changing his diapers" Zach snapped.

"I haven't worn diapers since I was one" Sephiroth proudly said.

"Oh man, too much information" Zack groaned. "Come on sir-Seph, stop kicking my seat" Zack complained.

When Vincent said "not in his right mind", NOTHING could have prepared her for this.

There, slightly cowering behind Vincent, was Sephiroth staring like he was accessing her, which he probably was.

"Are you my new caretaker then? You're pretty but why are you so rotund in the center? You also have those strange growths on your- "Sephiroth was silenced by Vincent's hand, to which he licked it and giggled.

"I can take him back to my place until he has recovered. I know that this is Cloud's, Zach's, and my fault. He was being just so disagreeable and what he'd said. . .I. I just couldn't accept it. I can see him well…" Vincent was interrupted by Tifa.

"No, no I will take care of him. He's my husband and I will not harm him, you know that is not my nature" Tifa said. "Sephiroth would you like to stay here with me? You'll have your own room, plenty to eat and we have a pool to play in and we will find lots of fun things to do together" she said to him.

"Can I stay with the pretty lady?" Sephiroth asked Vincent, turning his newly innocent eyes on him.

Vincent caught the pretty part. "Of course you can, this is your home too" he assured him and watched as the trusting child Sephiroth latched onto Tifa.

Vincent didn't say anything else to her, but did nod his understanding. But spoke to the 'child' Sephiroth. "You've no idea what glimpse you've given to me, Sephiroth. Maybe one day when you fully remember what I have said, you will understand" and with that he hugged Sephiroth as if his life depended on it, Sephiroth settling into the hug and hugged him back.

As Vincent was leaving, he heard him speak in a voice where only he could hear it, "I knew it was you all along" Sephiroth said in his soft baritone voice. It had been so clear, so purely adult that he'd thought the man cured, but as he whipped around, he saw Sephiroth holding Tifa's hand skipping and chattering in the way only a child could. Vincent turned back around, leaving the house still with a lighter heart for it all. He was glad that he had convinced the suddenly young Sephiroth to shower at the hospital so that there were no bloodstains on the man-child that might have caused Tifa to take out her annoyance out on them, at their mutual "idea" for revenge against Sephiroth.

Seeing Sephiroth so free was jarring initially. Through all the times she'd ever met the man, was socially inept and emotionally constipated. What that meant was her heart hurt, was it had been killed when he was young. He had apparently felt before and deeply as any other human. He was just as inquisitive and smart as a whip. Would their children be this way?

"Lady, I am hungry" Sephiroth complained.

"You can call me Tifa" she said.

"Tifa, I'm hungry" he repeated.

"Let's go to the kitchen and make you something to eat and then would you like to go for a swim?" She asked him, he eagerly nodded. "Do you know how to swim?" She asked him.

"Sure" he said. Tifa stole a glance at Sephiroth to where he was sitting at the table, looking curiously around.

"How about a turkey and Swiss cheese sandwich?" She asked him.

"I would like that very much please, it's my favorite! " he said excitedly and she smiled, some things never changed.

"What's wrong?" She asked him when she put it in front of him.

"There are crusty pieces" he explained as he wrinkled his snowy brow and nose.

"Let's take care of those" she said handing him the knife, forgetting the circumstances for a moment before he reminded her.

"I'm not allow to touch sharp objects just yet. The professor has been training me with a wooden nodachi" he said and wondered why she was laughing and hugging him but it was acceptable feeling, so he allowed it.

"Okay let's go play in the pool" she said.

She gotten changed herself into her bathing suit and went to dig out some swim trunks for Sephiroth when he suddenly blurred past her, naked as the day he was born, jumping into the pool screaming "cannon ball", giggling the whole time.

She blushed and dropped the trunks on the floor.

"Is there something wrong?" He asked her as he'd climbed out the pool, staring at her with worry that he had done something wrong.

"No, no go and have fun. You didn't do anything wrong and I will be right with you," realizing he was just being his physiological age at the moment and it wasn't as if she hadn't seen him naked before and followed him. Wishing that her pregnancy hormones would shut the fuck up as she followed the tall, very attractive and very naked figure and watched as he did another cannon ball into the pool and splashed her, giving her an irresistible, mischievous grin that caused her to smile back. She joined him and they had a splash fight, Sephiroth laughing the whole time, sounding like music to Tifa's ears.

Cloud knew that it wasn't really any of his business, but rode his bike towards the mansion that apparently was owned by Sephiroth. He watched as they sat on the porch swing together and he found himself studying them. Tifa was laughing at something and brushing Sephiroth's bangs out of his face while he smiled down at her and suddenly hugged her and her own arms came around him. Cloud couldn't believe how easily she was touching the biggest jackass that he had ever met. She stood up, showing her hugely pregnant belly and Cloud couldn't believe it that it was actually true.

Cloud had pictured Tifa being completely unattended to due to the nature of Sephiroth's and her relationship.

Yet, here she was in a mansion, actually of her choosing, well fed and happy and decently clothed, a with few servants here and there and wondered; was it possible she was happy with her ex-enemy or was it just her motherly-self responding to the child in him?

Tifa waited respectfully for Sephiroth to dress in a t-shirt and sleep pants and tucked him into bed and read him a chapter from her favorite book as a child.

"Goodnight Sephiroth" she said giving him a hug and a kiss on a cheek. The child him was really cuddly to his adult prickliness and aversion to touch and she welcomed the change.

"What are we doing tomorrow?" He asked her drowsily.

"I'll fix us some breakfast and then we can work in the garden and I'll show you how to make flower crowns" she promised him.

"Where are you going?" He asked her in a sad voice, slightly panicking.

"I'm going to my room as normal" she said.

"But I'm afraid of the dark in strange places. I hate sleeping alone when that's the case. I am scared of being alone as I don't know where I am…very well yet" he said, talking under the covers where he had buried his head.

"Come on then, you can sleep with me" she said and brought him to her bedroom, and he helped her arrange her nest of pillows that her growing body made necessary for sleep and he fell asleep draped along her back as they never had before.