Picking up the Pieces

Thanks to Debzi for her review, t’was great to get praise from someone other than my Beta! And another Debbie no less!
I’m glad you like the story so far. I hope you enjoy this chapter 0_^

Special thanks go to Dr. Scientist for beta reading. *Hugs* Love you, honey.

Anywho… Enjoy!


Chapter 7: Child of Love

Cloud opened his eyes slowly, his vision tainted green by the viscous liquid he was floating in. Groggily, he reached out and touched the glass wall of his prison, the specimen tube he had spent five years of his life in, deep in the bowels of ShinRa Manor.
Realisation filtered through his daze, …how could he be here again? He had escaped with Zack, lost Aerith, fought Sephiroth, saved the world, met Reno…
Panic rose in his chest like a caged bird and he kicked out, fruitlessly trying to smash the glass. His boot bumped feebly against the clear surface, his strength useless. He turned and twisted, lashing out at the walls, trying desperately to find a weak spot in this Gods-forsaken glass prison.

His thrashing was interrupted by the sound of faint bumping to his right; he paused and pressed his face to the glass, peering at the tube beside him. Zack floated inside the other vessel, concern etched on his face. Cloud tried to call the other man’s name, but the words stuck in his throat and his vision blurred. Suddenly he was falling and everything went black. He fell for what felt like years before a hand reached out to him in the darkness, and he grasped it gratefully. He was pulled upward at an alarming pace into a blinding white light. When he opened his eyes, he was in a familiar bunk. He was in the SOLDIER barracks, Zack snoring beside him.

Disorientated, he looked at the sleeping man next to him. Black hair tousled and a smile pulling at his lips even in sleep. The scene was so painfully familiar he could almost believe that their grim future had all been a nightmare, that they would have a second chance.
Cloud reached out cautiously (noticing how skinny his sixteen year old arm was), placing his hand on Zack’s shoulder and shaking gently.
Zack’s eyes rolled open, the amethyst irises dead and glazed over. His smile widened into a grin, black blood pouring out from between his teeth in a thick stream. Cloud yelped, pushing himself away and pulling the blanket back, revealing the bullet holes that riddled the other man.
They covered his entire body like scarlet blossoms, squelching obscenely when the thing that used to be his lover started to edge toward him, lecherous grin never leaving its face. Cloud peddled his legs and fell backwards out of the bed. He hit the floor hard and screamed, inching as far away as possible until he hit a wall. He drew his knees to his chest and watched as the Zack-thing reached the edge of the bed, its glassy eyes focused on him. He buried his head in his hands, trying to block out the grisly scene in front of him.

Then someone was shaking him, shaking him and calling his name. He sobbed and tried to shrug them away, sure that it would be Zack, bloody and wanting revenge. They finally stopped, and he hoped that they would go away, but then he felt something cold and metal press against his arm and a powerful electric shock shot through his body, knocking him onto his back.

~

Reno had been enjoying his sleep, enjoying having a warm body to hold close, when he had been pulled rudely from dreamland by a blood-curdling scream and the sound of Cloud falling onto the floor. He had been up in seconds (all that Turk training wasn’t for nothing after all). He had expected there to be some kind of threat in the room, something to justify the other man’s scream.

He stood naked as the day he was born, and ready to fight, but there was nobody else in the room, just him and Cloud. He could see no cause for his lover’s distress. Confused, Reno looked at the blonde curled up on the floor, his hands on his face and sobbing. Cloud’s breathing was ragged and fast, he sounded like he was having a panic attack.
He tried to get some kind of response from Cloud, he set about prying the other man’s hands away from his face but the blonde was too fucking strong. He tried shaking him, soothing him, even hitting him, but nothing seemed to work. His eyes fell on his EMR, lying innocently on top of his clothes. He got up to retrieve it, keeping one eye on the hysterical, floor bound blonde as he went.
He turned the dial to stun, and he wondered if this setting would even work on someone as strong as Cloud. He pressed it against the other man’s arm, who didn’t give any indication that he felt it, pressed the button and watched the blonde shoot backwards. Landing with an “oomph” on his back.

“Cloud?” Reno asked cautiously “You okay?”

He winced when he saw the other man’s face; he was deathly pale, the skin around his eyes red and puffy. He looked like he’d been scared half to death. He knelt beside Cloud, pulling him into a sitting position. Cloud finally looked at him, his eyes were confused and swimming with tears, he blinked a few times and some sort of recognition seemed to filter through.

“Reno?” he asked, blinking again and looking a little more together. “Did you shock me?”

“Yeah” Reno laughed shakily, “C’mon, yo. Lets get some breakfast into you, you look like death.”

After pulling on some clothes, they headed downstairs. Reno made sure that Cloud let him take care of the food, the blonde still looked quite pale and he didn’t want to worry about him fainting. He rummaged in the cupboards and the fridge, eventually deciding on pancakes. They only took a few minutes to prepare and when they were finished he covered Cloud’s stack with a particularly large dollop of syrup.

Cloud wrinkled his nose when Reno set the plate down in front of him. “Do you know how much sugar is in that?”

Reno raised his eyebrows and pointed his fork at the blonde menacingly. “You need sugar, you look like a fucking ghost. Stop being ungrateful, yo”

Clouds sighed in surrender and started to pick at his food, he ate less than half of it before he got up and grabbed an apple instead. “I feel fine now, Reno. I just had a bad dream.” Reno had to admit that the other man did look a lot better now (well, at least he didn’t look like he was going to go splat on the floor at any second.) Cloud slid back into his seat. Reno watched him bite into the fruit, an expression of pure satisfaction gracing the blonde’s pretty features. Reno felt arousal roll in his belly, and he swallowed thickly. Nobody could enjoy an apple that much, could they?

“You’re doing that on purpose, aren’t you?” he accused

A sly smile formed on the blonde’s face, “Doing what on purpose?” Cloud teased.

Reno stared at the blonde, a little shocked at the other man’s change in demeanour, but he wasn’t going to complain. He ducked under the floor length tablecloth and onto the floor beneath the table, positioning himself between the other man’s legs. Unable to keep the smirk from his face as he unzipped the dark jeans, revealing that the blonde was bare underneath.

He grasped the straining erection in his hand, squeezing gently and running his tongue slowly up to the head, Cloud moaned above him and spread his legs further. Reno took Cloud deep into his mouth until soft blonde pubic hair tickled his nose. Reno slowly worked his way back up the other man’s length, swirling his tongue expertly. His head bobbed up and down in the other man’s lap until Cloud was left moaning and quivering on the brink of release. He dragged his teeth gently over the blonde’s head, sending him over the edge, he gasped and bucked in his seat and the redhead swallowed hungrily.

The breakfast of champions, he thought to himself with a grin.

Just as Reno was tucking Cloud back into his pants and re-zipping his zipper there was the sound of voices in the bar. Both men froze.

“I thought you said they wouldn’t be home til’ later!” Reno hissed.

“They weren’t supposed be home until then” Cloud answered. “Stay under the table”

Reno sulked and looked forlornly at the neglected bulge in his own pants. He sighed and pulled his knees to his chest, he was too tall to sit under here comfortably and his neck was craned painfully forward. He watched four pairs of feet enter the room from under the hem of the tablecloth. Two kids and two adults by the looks of things. He almost wished that they would find him; this hiding crap was getting old.

“Oh, Cloud! I didn’t expect to see you here, haven’t you got work?” said a voice that Reno recognised to be Tifa.

“No” Cloud replied. “How come you’re back so early?”

“Reeve got called into work, something that the director has to take care of personally apparently.” She paused. “Cloud, are you okay? You seem a little flushed.”

Reno almost burst out laughing, and clapped his hands to his mouth, doubting that Cloud would be able to explain away the mysterious, laughing tablecloth.

“I’m fine, Tif’.” Cloud replied, his tone stiff.

She started chatting about the inane things they had been doing in Reeve’s and Reno sighed internally, it looked like he was in for a long wait.

~

After dropping Rufus and Tseng off at Rosalind’s house, Elena had returned to the ShinRa building, and had been more than a little pissed off to find that neither Reno nor Adrian had showed up for work yet. Right now, she was trying to get through to Adrian, who didn’t seem to know how to answer his phone. After an eternity her call was finally picked up.

“Hello? Adrian’s phone” the voice on the other end was high and feminine, definitely not Adrian.

“Yuffie?”

“Yeah, who’s this?”

“It’s Elena, can you put Adrian on?”

“He’s in the shower, he should be out soon.”

Elena frowned and looked at her watch, it was ten thirty and he wasn’t even ready for work?! “It looks like he’s turning out just like Reno,” she said with a sigh.

“What do you mean?” Yuffie asked curiously.

“He goes off gallivanting with you and is late for work... Reno goes off gallivanting with Cloud and is late for work, you do the math”

There was a pregnant pause at the other end of the line before Yuffie spoke up, her tone sly.

“Why would Reno be anywhere with Cloud? Cloud hates Reno”

Elena realised too late that Cloud must have decided to keep his liaison with Reno a secret from his friends, or at least Yuffie.

“It’s not my business to tell.” She said quickly.

“But-“ Yuffie was cut off and Adrian came onto the line. “Elena? I know I’m late, but Reno hasn’t turned up to fly me back.”

“Fine. Just wait there, I’ll call him.”

~

Tifa stood in the kitchen making coffee, Denzel and Marlene had gone upstairs to play and Barret had gone out to get supplies for the bar. She looked at Cloud out of the corner of her eye; he was sitting rigidly at the table and hadn’t moved for the last twenty minutes. She shook her head and smiled, he was so strange sometimes.
She was startled by the sound of a phone ringing upstairs; it’s ring tone unfamiliar.

“Is that your phone, Cloud?” she asked. The blonde nodded stiffly but made no move to go upstairs and answer it.

It rang several times before she spoke up again. “Well, aren’t you going to get it?”
He stood up slowly and left the room.

~

Elena hung up the on Adrian and pressed the speed-dial for Reno’s phone. It rang off the hook three times before it was answered on the fourth.

“Hello?” it wasn’t Reno. Elena had really had enough of people answering other people’s phones for one morning.

“Cloud, where is Reno? He is late for work and he’s made Adrian late as well.”

“Reno can’t come to the phone right now.” He said simply and hung up.

She stared at the phone in her hand in disbelief before storming off to get a company car. She’d pick Adrian up herself if she had to, and make a stop off in Edge to find out what was keeping Reno.

~

Cloud hung up on Elena and hurried back downstairs, hoping that Tifa hadn’t decided to look under the table for whatever reason. If she discovered the redhead lurking under there, especially if he wasn’t there to explain, there would probably be a fight and he doubted that Reno could hold his own against Tifa.

Gods, in a fistfight she could probably take me down, never mind Reno.

He entered the kitchen and it took all of his will power not to react when he saw Tifa sitting at the kitchen table, sipping her coffee. It would seem that Reno had managed to avoid her legs, and therefore, detection. He sat down in his seat, feeling a hand curl around his calf and squeeze angrily. He fought the urge to kick the man under the table and turned to Tifa instead.

“So, what you doing today, Tif’?” he asked, hoping that his voice didn’t betray the fact that his heart was in his throat.

“Nothing really. I had arranged for the bar to be closed this evening since we were supposed to be at Reeve’s, but now I don’t know what to do.”

Cloud scrabbled for a way to get her out of the house without just plain telling her to leave. “You and Barret could always take Marlene and Denzel out… maybe to the chocobo farm?”

“That would be nice.” She sighed. “Would you come too, Cloud?”

“I’ll follow you out there, I have some paperwork to do.”

She smiled and downed the rest of her coffee, getting up and leaving the room, presumably to round up the other three residents. He sighed and slumped in his chair; lifting the tablecloth enough to see Reno crouched underneath. He didn’t look happy.

“They’ll be gone in a few minutes.” He whispered.

“They better be, or else I’m gonna fuckin’ jump out and say boo.” The redhead threatened.

Cloud smiled apologetically and got up to see the others off at the door. They piled into Barret’s truck, Marlene waving to him from the back window. He waited until they turned a corner before he headed back into the house. He found Reno sitting on the kitchen table, a cigarette glowing between his lips.

“You shouldn’t smoke that in here, Reno.” He scolded.

The redhead just raised an eyebrow and exhaled a thick plume of smoke. “They’re gonna find out anyway, yo. Why don’t you just tell them?”

He didn’t answer, how could he? When he didn’t even know why he hadn’t already told them. He was being ridiculous, really, and childish. He shouldn’t wait until one of them caught him in a compromising position with the other man (like they almost had this morning).

“Fine, I’ll tell them tonight, after I get home from the chocobo farm”

~

Tseng sat on the couch in the living room of Rosalind’s house. It felt so good to be in a clean suit again, to have his hair swept back into a severe ponytail, his tilak neatly painted on his forehead.
With his hands folded in his lap, his face impassive, he was the perfect example of calm composure.
Rufus on the other hand, paced the room nervously, constantly running his hands through his hair, messing up the usually neat strands and babbling about all and everything that could go wrong when they brought the baby home.
The blonde plopped down on the couch beside Tseng, resting his head on the other man’s shoulder.

“How can you be so calm?” Rufus sighed.

Tseng just smiled down at his lover, planting a kiss on his brow and lacing their fingers together. He chuckled softly when Rufus squeezed his hand nervously. Truth be told, Tseng was just as nervous as Rufus, he was just better at hiding it. If he started panicking there would be no controlling Rufus, he would just accentuate the other man’s nerves. He glanced at the clock. Twelve p.m. They had been waiting for more than five hours now, and he wondered how Rosalind was doing.

~

Elena had picked up Adrian (Yuffie tagging along as well, saying she needed a lift to Edge.) and was now on her way to find Reno. Adrian and Yuffie chattered constantly for the entire drive, and Elena couldn’t help but smile despite her irritation, they were so cute together.

The drive from Kalm to Edge was a short one; there was very little traffic on the roads these days, since all vehicles with mako engines had been decommissioned. When they pulled up in front of the Seventh Heaven, Yuffie jumped from the car and ran to the door, Elena and Adrian following at a more leisurely pace.

The ninja pounded on the door loudly as the two Turks joined her. There was a lot of noise from inside before Cloud answered the door, peering out suspiciously.
He grunted in surprise when Yuffie pushed past him and looked around the room.

“Where is he?” she asked Cloud.

The blonde reacted as though he had been slapped. “Where’s who?” his tone unconvincing.

“Re-no” she said in a singsong voice.

Cloud’s face went an alarming shade of red. He stammered and tried to come up with some kind of excuse when he was interrupted by the sound of footsteps on the stairs, it was Reno. “Looks like the jig is up, babe” he said, not sounding disappointed in the least.

Yuffie stared at Reno, her mouth hanging open. “Did you just call him babe?”
Reno looked at her for a few seconds before turning to Elena, as if he hadn’t heard the ninja’s question.

“’Lena, what brings you and the fair Adrian all the way out here?”

Elena scowled and Adrian rolled his eyes. It was the brunette who answered. “You were supposed to pick me up at eight this morning, Reno.”

The redhead shrugged. “I was a little preoccupied, yo.”

“Well, that’s not the point. It’s the big day today, Reno” Elena said, not wanting to mention the birth of the baby in front of the two former terrorists. Reno blinked dumbly for a few seconds before he realised what she meant by that vague statement and he broke into a big grin.

“I’ll just go get my things, you two go ahead. I’ll take the chopper.” He said, heading for the stairs.

Elena nodded and said goodbye to Cloud and Yuffie before leaving, Adrian kissed Yuffie, nodded to Cloud and then he followed Elena out the door.

~

Cloud tried to avoid Yuffie’s gaze but he could still see her out of the corner of his eye, she was sitting on the bar and grinning at him strangely. Reno came running down the stairs and headed for the door, stopping to pull Cloud into a deep kiss, earning a wolf whistle from the ninja, and then he was gone.

“So…” Yuffie spoke up, her smile was predatory. “When did this happen?”

Cloud sighed heavily and ran a hand through his hair. “The day they came here asking about Tseng.”

“Do the others know?”

“Vincent knows. I was going to tell Tifa and Barret tonight.”

“Well, I think you’re both very cute.” She teased.

Cloud frowned at her and cleared his throat uncomfortably. “I have to go meet the others at the chocobo farm. I’ll see you later.” He left the room before she had a chance to say anything else, going outside and mounting Fenrir.

~

Cloud pulled up beside Barret’s truck just outside the chocobo farm. He could see some of the big yellow birds running free in the corral, he recognised one as his own and gave a low whistle. The bird separated from the main flock and came to stand at the fence he was leaning against. He stroked the feathers on the bird’s head, its black eyes closing as it warbled in pleasure.

“I thought that you’d forgotten about your birds” came a voice from behind him.

He turned and he recognised the kid who worked here, what was his name again? Something like Bobby or Buddy or Billy, he couldn’t quite remember. “I have my bike now” he replied gesturing over his shoulder at Fenrir. “It’s a lot faster than a chocobo”

The kid didn’t look convinced. “You’re friends are in the barn, my sister is showing the two young ones around.”

Cloud nodded and thanked the kid before heading over to the barn. He found Tifa and Barret by a stall at the end; they both smiled and waved when they saw him.

He spent the day getting reacquainted with the fine art of chocobo riding, it didn’t take long for him to get used to it again and he had to admit that he had missed some of his birds. He almost wished that he had somewhere to keep them back in Edge, but he knew that this was the best place for them. Plenty of room to run around and all the greens they could eat.

As the sun began to set he brought the bird he was riding back to the stable, a large silver female that he had named Argento. She had always been his favourite and he closed the stall door after her sadly, giving her one last pat on the beak before he left.

Cloud arrived back at the Seventh Heaven before the others, his bike easily overtaking them on the road. He unlocked the door and went inside, Yuffie was in the kitchen and he warned her against saying anything to Tifa and Barret about Reno before he had a chance to speak to them about it himself. He went upstairs to the bathroom, grabbing a quick shower to wash away the smell of chocobo and kill some time while he waited for the others to get home.

Standing under the spray of water he wondered how Tifa and Barret would react when he told them, he supposed that Barret would probably just make fun of him but he knew that Tifa didn’t like Reno. She had voiced her opinions on him and his flirtatious behaviour numerous times before.
He washed himself quickly and stepped out of the shower, he could hear the faint sound of conversation from downstairs. He dressed as fast as he could, his heart pounding heavily in his chest and tried to swallow his nerves.

Downstairs he found Tifa, Barret and Yuffie in the kitchen. He gave Yuffie a look, trying to tell her to leave them alone to talk, but she just smirked at him, obviously not wanting to miss the show.

He cleared his throat and Tifa and Barret both looked at him curiously. “I have to tell you something.” He said quietly.

“What is it, Cloud? Are you okay?” Tifa asked. He blushed at the concern evident in her voice.

“Yeah, Tif’, I’m fine. I just wanted to tell you that I’ve started seeing someone, and that they’ll probably be around here a lot, coz they live far away.” He said it as fast as he could, and the words ran together, but at least he had said it.

Now that he had started there was no turning back.

Tifa and Barret shared a knowing look and for a moment he thought that Yuffie had already told them.

“Well that certainly explains the strange way you’ve been behaving the last few days!” Tifa said with a giggle. Barret was also smiling and he looked relieved.

“Strange way?” Cloud asked, perplexed.

“You bin’ actin’ all happy” Barret said.

“So.” Tifa chirped. “Who is it?”

Cloud swallowed and looked down at his hands, which were fidgeting with his belt. He forced them to his sides and took a deep breath. “It’s Reno.”

His statement was met with silence and he looked up slowly. Barret’s mouth hung open, Tifa was wide-eyed and Yuffie just looked smug.

Tifa was the first to speak up. “Reno? How? I thought you hated Reno?”

“That’s what I said.” Yuffie piped up.

“Yeah well, I don’t now.” Cloud replied, feebly.

“How long dis’ bin’ goin on?” Barret asked.

“Since he came up here with the other Turk.”

“His name is Adrian!” Yuffie cried. The others ignored her.

Barret and Tifa mulled over that information for a moment, before Tifa’s brow furrowed in confusion. “But the only time you were alone with him that day was when you were out back…”

“Being questioned.” It was Yuffie again.

“Eh… Yeah.” Cloud replied. He could feel the blush burning in his cheeks.

Barret started laughing then, a full hearty sound that Cloud knew wasn’t mean-spirited. “Each to ‘is own… bu’ you tell him ta keep dose fuckin’ cancer sticks outa mah house.” He got up from his chair and clapped the smaller man on the shoulder affectionately before heading into the main bar.

Cloud looked at Tifa, he sighed in relief when he saw that she too was smiling, in fact she looked like she was trying to hold back her own laughter. She rose from her seat and pulled him into a fierce embrace, her hand playing with one of the longer strands of his hair. She pulled back enough to look him in the eye.

“Cloud, if he makes you happy then he is always welcome here.” She kissed him on the forehead and he smiled back at her gratefully. “There’s no accounting for taste though.” She said, sticking her tongue out at him playfully.

He laughed and hugged her tightly, and he wondered if she knew how much her approval meant to him.

~

It was getting late, almost seven p.m., and Tseng could tell just by looking at Rufus that the anticipation was killing him.

“How long does it take to have a baby anyway?!” Rufus cried.

Tseng smiled at his lover. “It’s not exactly a walk in the park, Rufus. Just be patient.”

Rufus scowled at him and continued his pacing, looking every bit the spoiled child that he used to be.
They had to wait a further three hours before the doctor reappeared, a big smile on her face and a tiny bundle in her arms.

Rufus leapt up from the chair, Tseng rising slowly after him, as he almost ran to the woman. She handed the baby to Rufus; Tseng watched how his lover’s blue eyes widened when he looked down into that little face. Tseng looped his arm around the other man’s waist and looked down at his child, he couldn’t help but smile when he noticed the raven hair and bronze skin, typical of a Wutain. Indeed, if he didn’t know otherwise, you wouldn’t think that the baby was anything but full-blooded. Gaia knows how many generations spent trying to preserve the fair ShinRa looks, down the drain, and all thanks to him.

Rufus’s father must be spinning in his grave. He thought to himself with some satisfaction.

“Boy or girl?” Rufus whispered

“A healthy baby girl.” The doctor beamed.

A big stupid grin broke out on Rufus’s refined features then and he turned to Tseng.

“Aiko ShinRa”

----------------------------------------------------------

Introduction of another OC, though she obviously can’t do much at the moment… being a baby and all.
Those of you who are wondering what a “tilak” is. It’s the ‘dot’ that Tseng has on his forehead, a sign of the Hindu faith.

You may have noticed that I gave Zack purple eyes, that’s because I’m not really sure what colour his eyes are supposed to be. Square-Enix don’t seem to know either.

They’re purple in Before Crisis, Last Order and his original concept art by Nomura, but they’re blue in Advent Children and Crisis Core.
So I was faced with a choice: purple or blue? I chose purple to contrast with Cloud (It’d be kinda boring if they had the same eyes, no?), …and also coz’ I just love the colour ^_^

Ratings and reviews are much appreciated.