Ill Wind

“You were quite right, Miss...er...Kerri,” the doctor said. “You are indeed pregnant.”

“How far along am I?” she asked.

Dr. Edra consulted the papers in front of him, then replied, “Six weeks.”

Reno and Kerri looked at each other knowingly. The child had to have been conceived the first time he made love to her after the rape. “Is everything normal, Doc?” Reno asked.

“Fine. Mother and child are both perfectly healthy,” the doctor said, smiling.

“Do you know yet whether it's a boy or girl?” Kerri asked next.

“No. We won't know that until you are eighteen weeks along. There are tests that can be done earlier, but there is a risk of miscarriage with those. I prefer to wait, and so do most parents,” he answered. He handed them a thick folder. “These are pamphlets about prenatal care, diet suggestions, activity limits. Basically troubleshooting guides.” He smiled again at the young couple. “You should have nothing to worry about. You are in excellent physical condition. I'd like to see you again in, say, three weeks. You can make an appointment with my receptionist. Now, do you have any other questions?”

“Yeah,” Reno said at once. “How much longer can we keep having sex without, uh, hurting the kid?”

Kerri blushed, but Dr. Edra just laughed. “That's a very common question, and I'm afraid that there's no one answer to it. Every woman is different. But unless sex becomes uncomfortable, I would say up until the seventh month.”

Reno sighed in mock exasperation. “So that means I have to go two months without getting laid.”

“Reno!” Kerri snapped, embarrassed, but Dr. Edra, who had heard similar statements many times before, and not always expressed with such good humor, merely smothered a laugh.

“Is there anything else?” the doctor asked.

“Yeah, one more thing." He flashed a quick grin at Kerri, who cringed, knowing he was about to embarrass the hell out of her. “She likes it rough sometimes, doc. Is it safe for me to give it to her that way?”

Kerri just dropped her face into her hands.



She was still seething when they returned to Shin-Ra Headquarters. “Lighten up, babe,” Reno told her in the elevator. “How was I supposed to know unless I asked?”

“You could have phrased it differently,” she said. The elevator stopped at the office level and Kerri got off, followed by Reno.

“C'mon, don't pout. You knew how I was before you got involved with me, yo. If you wanted polite you should have been chasing Rude instead of me.” Reno grinned, waiting for her reaction.

“What? I chased you?” she exclaimed. “Have you taken a blow to the head recently?”

Reno draped an arm around her shoulders and walked with her that way toward Rufus's office. “You wanted me from the start. I saw how you'd check out my ass if I bent over in front of you. Not to mention how you felt me up when I was sleeping that one day. You're just lucky I didn't file sexual harassment charges, yo.”

She glared at him until he winked at her, then burst out laughing. “Go to hell, Reno.”

He pulled her to a stop in front of Rufus's door and kissed her. “Just trying to keep you from getting nervous about telling the boss about this. It worked, didn't it?” The redhead gave her another quick kiss before knocking on the president's door.



“Pregnant,” Rufus repeated, as if he'd never heard the word before. “You are pregnant, Kerri?”

“Yes, sir,” she answered, trying to keep her voice from breaking.

“Just how did this happen?” Rufus Shinra asked, looking from Kerri to Reno.

“Well, you see, boss, about six weeks ago, I put my penis in Kerri's vagina and ejaculated...”

“Reno!” Kerri moaned, in an agony of embarrassment that he should say such a thing to their boss. Rufus intimidated her too much for her to mouth off to him, but Reno had no such problem.

“I do not appreciate the flippant answer, Reno,” Rufus said. “You know very well what I meant. Why were you not using protection?”

“We were, sir,” Kerri spoke up. “I was using birth control pills, but when I was...attacked, the doctor prescribed antibiotics. I forgot that antibiotics can cause the pill to become less reliable.”

“You were careless,” Rufus said. “I despise carelessness, Kerri.” She winced as he raised his voice slightly, knowing that in any other man the words would have come out in a furious shout.

“Wait just a minute, yo,” Reno said indignantly, ignoring Kerri's frantic head shaking. “Don't pin this all on her.”

“I had no intention of it. Why did you not use protection?” the president asked, rounding on Reno.

Reno shrugged. “Because we both thought the pill was enough. And we didn't need to worry about diseases; Kerri was a virgin and I'd just had our regular checkup.”

“I am most displeased with both of you. How am I in good conscience supposed to send the parents of a child on dangerous assignments?” Rufus said.

“Because this is our life. We know the dangers and we accept them,” Kerri answered. “We've already discussed all the options, and we want the baby.” Reno nodded his agreement.

“Hmph. Be that as it may, as of now you are on office duty only, Kerri. Reno, no more lone assignments.” Rufus glared at them both. “I hardly need to tell you that this is a bad time to have one of my Turks out of commission, another on restricted duty, thanks to your little accident.”

“It wasn't an accident, yo. It was a surprise,” Reno said. His tone was mild enough, but his eyes dared Rufus to contradict him.

“Really? But I assume that this is the reason that you disappeared after visiting Kerri in Kalm?” Rufus asked.

Reno shrugged again. “It was a shock, yo. I got a little scared.” He looked at Kerri, smiled softly, and said, “But I know what I want now.” Kerri reached out and took her lover's hand, forgetting for a second where they were. Rufus, seeing the expressions on their faces as they looked at each other, finally knew just how strong their attachment was. Trying to put an end to the relationship would be a waste of time. For the first time in his life, he surrendered. “Just get out of my office,” he said, “before I fire you both.”

“Turks don't get fired,” Reno said with his cocky grin.

“Turks don't get pregnant, either, but...” Rufus gestured toward Kerri.

“Point taken, boss. Let's go, babe.” Reno helped Kerri to her feet and led her out of the room. Once outside, he turned to her and said, “That went well, don't you think?”