A/N: Hey guys! I just want to say thank you so much for the comments that you have left so far, it is much appreciated, and I am glad you're all enjoying the story so far! Without further ado, here's chapter 3!

"Aerith, you need to wake up now, please."

"Mom?"

"It isn't your time yet. You need to wake up."

Aerith groaned as she slowly opened her green eyes, looking around the room as best she could now. She didn't remember much of anything that happened since it was all a blur. All she really remembered was praying at the altar and then everything went dark. Aerith groaned as she tried her best to ignore the pain shooting through her body and attempted to sit up, only for a hand to gently stop her.

Aerith looked up to see Cloud's blue eyes staring down at her.

"Be careful. You had a number done on you," he says, helping her sit up where Aerith finally noticed the white gown that she had been wearing and took note that she was in a clinic.

"What happened?" She asks, her voice hoarse as she stared at him.

"Sephiroth tried to kill you. I …we almost lost you," Cloud says, taking her hand in his, "and almost losing you made me realize something."

"Oh? What's that?" she asks, her heart skipping a beat as he gave her hand a gentle squeeze.

"That I need you," he says, putting his head down close to hers.

"I need you too," she says softly, pressing her forehead against his before finally hesitantly pressing her lips to his own.

Cloud hadn't been expecting the kiss but after the initial surprise, happily returned it. The two pulled away and stared at each other, blue eyes meeting green.

"How long have I been out? Where are the others?"

"You've been out for three days, and the others are at the hotel. I can go grab them if you'll be alright?"

"Yeah. I'll be fine."

Cloud nodded and got up, leaving Aerith alone while he went to collect the others. Aerith looked over as the curtain moved out of the way and Doctor Sheiran entered the room, giving her a kind smile as he saw that she was awake and alert.

"How are you feeling, Aerith?"

"Sore but I'll manage."

Doctor Sheiran nodded, "I see that Cloud fellow finally left. He stayed here day and night, not sleeping, not doing anything but watching over you. Hopefully, he's finally gone to get some sleep now that he knows you'll be fine."

Aerith almost melted hearing that Cloud was so watchful over her for the last three days. Aside from Zack years ago and her own mother, no one had ever cared about her that much.

"Well, he's very sweet."

Doctor Sheiran smiled and nodded before briefly looking away and approaching her. Part of him was unsure how to deliver the difficult news that he had next. Sure, usually when he had to deliver the news of a pregnancy it was very wanted but something told him that this would not have that reaction.

"Aerith, when your friends got you here, you were close to death. Realistically, you should not have survived."

Aerith shrugged, "I guess I got lucky."

"Right. Well, we ran some tests and noticed that you had some Jenova cells."

"What? That's impossible. Ancients don't have Jenova cells," she says, giving him a perplexed look as she sat up in the bed more, intently listening to what he had to say next.

"I know and I don't know why that is, but there's more. Your HCG levels were off the chart."

"My what?" she asked, confused, and hoping that he wasn't telling her what she thought.

"You're pregnant."

"That's impossible. I've never done that, and I don't even have any symptoms."

Sheiran sighed, "Aerith, you're eight weeks pregnant according to the tests. You had to have had symptoms. Any fatigue? Nausea? Missed period? Anything at all?"

Aerith thought for a moment and the more she thought about it, the more it made sense. The last few weeks she did find herself more fatigued than normal with some minor nausea, but it hadn't been anything to raise alarm bells. Then there was the fact that she had missed the last two periods, but she had just assumed it was stress due to all the travel and tracking of Sephiroth they had been doing.

"Okay, but that doesn't change the fact that I haven't done that before."

"You're sure? No one took advantage of you at all?"

Aerith thought long and hard over the last eight weeks, trying to find any scenario that she had been in where she could have been taken advantage of. The more she dug through her memories, the more distraught she had become as a vague memory surfaced.

"No," she croaked out, remembering when she had been in Hojo's lab. She remembered that she had been drugged or knocked on conscious and had briefly come to a cold, metal table. The rest was blank, and she didn't remember much else.

"I'm sorry, I'll let you be alone to process things. However, I do want to remind you that you have options."

Aerith barely nodded to acknowledge him, just wanting to be left alone.

Aerith watched Doctor Sheiran leave, hearing the older man talking outside the curtain with some others, voices she could faintly make out as Tifa and Yuffie. Aerith wiped the tears from her eyes, not wanting her friends to be worried about her. She wasn't sure what she was going to do about this, and she especially didn't know how she was going to break this news to Cloud.

Aerith was taken out of her thoughts when Cloud came in with the rest of the group.

"Hey girl! You had us scared for a second!" Yuffie says as she gives her a hug, earning a small groan from the cetra.

"Doctor Sheiran says you should be okay to leave tomorrow, and we already have a room for you at the hotel to recover in." Tifa says, sitting on the edge of the bed with a bag she had in her hand, "oh and I almost forgot," she adds, reaching into the bag and taking the dress out.

"You fixed my dress," Aerith says with a smile, taking the dress and looking it over and almost forgetting the news she had been told just moments earlier.

"Yeah. Tifa spent all day trying to fix it when we got here," Barret says, giving Aerith a smile as she hugged Tifa.

"We are glad that you're okay, Aerith,"

"Well, I appreciate all of you and I'm sorry to keep this short, but can I get some sleep? I'm feeling tired suddenly."

"You all heard the lady! Clear out!" Yuffie says, ushering everyone out of the room and Cloud had been about to leave as well when Aerith grabbed his hand.

"Stay."

Cloud didn't have to be told twice as he took his spot next to the bed again.

"I can't believe you stayed the whole time,"

Cloud shrugged, "like I said. I need you and I need you to be all right."

Aerith smiled and moved over on the bed, patting the spot next to her. Cloud hesitated, not wanting to hurt her by also climbing in the bed but something told him that she wasn't going to take no for an answer, and he carefully got into the bed beside her.

Aerith curled up next to him as best she could without causing pain or discomfort, his presence calming her as she cuddled up next to him. Cloud initially tensed up at close contact but calmed down again and put his arms around her, using one hand to play with her hair as she drifted off.

The merc soon realized just how tired he was and allowed himself to close his eyes, falling asleep for the first time in three days.