Elira chewed on her bottom lip, her eyes scanning the same sentence of the book she was reading for the third time. She glanced up as Vincent slipped into bed beside her, giving him a quick smile. He gave her a nod of greeting, pulling the blankets over his legs and settling himself.
There was something she'd forgotten. Elira thought over the evening procedure of closing the shop, making sure she could remember putting the furnace out, locking the door, turning the sign from open to closed. She frowned, tapping her fingers on the hard back cover of the book. The next day was the start of the two-day weekend celebrated in North Corel, so the money had been carefully locked away in the safe in the forge; the floors had been swept; the tables had been wiped down. She'd even sent the government tax forms away on time and remembered to pay her employees without having to be reminded. Her frown grew deeper. There was definitely something she was forgetting to do.
Benita. Her eyes widened. Benita had wanted her to call her tonight. With an inward curse, Elira dropped the book and pushed her legs out of the blankets, slipping hurriedly off of the mattress. Vincent, she noticed, became alert as she moved toward the door. She turned to him with a reassuring smile. "No, I'm not going to vomit. I just forgot something I have to do."
"Oh." Vincent relaxed visibly and sat back against the headboard again. "What did you forget?" he asked with conversational interest.
She shrugged a little as she ducked out of the door, saying over her shoulder, "Just to call Benita. She gets mighty angry when I don't." Just like a mother... Elira thought in warm amusement.
Elira picked up the receiver of the phone in the living room of the apartment she and Vincent shared above the weapons shop they'd started in North Corel. It was a small three-roomed place with white-washed walls and a bluish gray carpet, but Elira had done her best to make it home, shipping some of her old furniture over when she'd gathered the funds. The only things missing now that she really wanted were her sofa, her coffee table, and the wall unit that had been in the apartment in Neo-Midgar since the previous gunsmith had owned it. She glanced around in the darkness for a moment before reaching over to turn on a small lamp. And then she set about to dialing the Neo-Midgar shop's number. It would still be open now since North Corel was about three hours ahead of the city.
The phone rang twice before it was jostled into a hand and up to a mouth and an ear on the other end. "Maddison's Weaponry Station, how can I help ya?"
"You still haven't changed the name from Maddison?" Elira asked as if incredulous that the store was still under her persona after nearly six months of it being under 'new management'.
The business-like tone of the person who had picked up changed immediatly. "Lir! Ya 'membered to call me, I can't believe it! I was thinkin' 'bout dialin' yer place, but I figured it was kinda late."
"Not that late," Elira admitted, running an idle hand through her curls. "It's only just after ten here. We finished supper about half an hour ago."
"Ah. And how're y' feelin'?" Benita questioned, a little concern sneaking into her forced casual tone.
"Fine, Beni, don't worry. The morning sickness seems to have calmed down this week so that it happens only once in the morning."
Benita gave a grunt of satisfaction. "Tha's good. Yer takin' it easy, too, I hope."
"Yes," Elira said, a little weary of hearing Benita say that every time she called.
"Yer not forgin' any guns while I'm not around, are ya?"
"No," Elira sighed with a smile. "Beni, you're almost as bad as Vincent, you know that? I had to threaten to jump from a window out of cabin fever before he let me come down just to sit in the front room of the shop. He was treating me as if I had some contagious disease or something." But Elira was still smiling as she said this. The way he doted on her was charming, if somewhat annoying. And she could understand it. When it had first been discovered that she was pregnant, Vincent had reacted fearfully as if she'd said she had the plague. After some coaxing, it had eventually come clear that Lucrecia had been pregnant when he'd known her and that, because of the experiments done on her and the baby (who had become Sephiroth the Mad), her pregnancy had been very painful and had eventually led to her death.
Benita chuckled. "How sweet. Wish I was there ta see it."
Elira scoffed. "I'm glad you're not. Then I'd have two people running around to do things for me that I am perfectly capable of doing myself." She glanced up as Vincent wandered out of the bedroom in his pajama bottoms. She made a face as he looked at her, a little irritated that he'd followed her out as if she was incapable of making even a phone call. He only raised his eyebrows in a silent argument of his innocence before walking into the darkened kitchen.
Deciding to switch the topic since Vincent had come into hearing range, Elira asked, "So how are you and Barret doing?"
Benita gave a small, embarrassed chuckle. "We're doin' okay, I guess. He's asked me ta move in wit' him. I'm considerin' it; Marlene's the sweetest li'l gaffer on the face a the planet an' she's already started callin' me 'Mom'." Benita gave a wistful little sigh. "Never been called Mom before," she muttered softly.
"Yeah." Elira's ears perked up as she heard Vincent rummaging around in the kitchen. She wondered suddenly how it would make her feel to be called 'Mom'. She'd always been called Elira, or various shortened versions of it, since both her father and Vincent were too straight-forward to have ever used pet names. Even Eagan in all of his creativeness had never called her by anything but her name. 'Mom' would become her name as much as Elira. She couldn't help the smile that twitched her lips at the thought of Vincent being called 'Daddy'. "So, how're those new employees coming along?" she asked, realizing that she'd gone silent for a few moments.
"Oh, jus' great," Benita responded immediately. "They're really catchin' on fast. Not nearly as fast as Vince did, but they're doin' real good. How 'bout yer employees? Happy wit' 'em?"
"Oh yeah," Elira answered. "No complaints to speak of yet, though I plan on talking to one of the younger ones about banging the dirt off of his boots before he comes in. He keeps leaving tracks along the floor."
Benita laughed. "Ah, the joys of ownin' a business. And speakin' a that, I guess I'd better get back to it. Customer jus' came in. I'll talk to ya later, okay Lir? Take it easy."
"You too."
Elira placed the receiver back onto the cradle gently before meandering over to the kitchen to see what Vincent was getting himself into. She found him hunched down and peering into the fridge, his right hand pushing things aside as he made a show of looking for something to eat. Elira knew it was only an excuse, however, for having followed her out. Crossing her arms over her chest, she walked over to him, the hem of her nightie brushing against her shins. As she approached, he stood up and closed the fridge as had become his habit. He then turned to look at her.
She pursed her lips, unimpressed. "Vincent, I'm fine. You don't have to trail me around the apartment."
Vincent didn't reply for a moment. "I just want to make sure you're taking it easy."
Elira sighed, raising her hands up in a defeated gesture. "I am taking it easy. I've been taking it easy for two months. You don't have to worry about me. I'm a big girl and can take care of myself."
Vincent said nothing, but something flickered over his expression momentarily. Elira smiled and touched his right arm, running her hand over the long forearm muscles there. "You don't have to worry, Vincent. Seriously. This pregnancy is going to go without a hitch, you'll see. I'm not Lucrecia and I'm not dating an evil scientist behind your back."
Vincent didn't show any amusement at the remark. Elira sighed, gripping his hand with her fingers. He returned the pressure. And then he gave a short sigh through his nose. "I am content in a way I have never been before and I think I am almost expecting it to be taken from me," he said.
Elira shook her head chidingly and drew closer, putting her arms loosely around his waist. "So little faith. Me and Baby aren't going anywhere." She slid her hands up to his shoulders and pulled him down into a light kiss.
His attention moved a moment later from her face to the barely noticeable swelling of her belly. He ran his right hand over her abdomen gently. "I never thought this would be possible for me," he confided softly. His gray eyes found hers. "It wasn't possible. A second chance was never possible for me before I met you. You were my catalyst."
Elira smiled and drew him into another kiss, this one deeper. After a moment, however, Vincent broke the kiss. Elira frowned up at him. "What's wrong?"
"I want you to take it easy," he said, though his voice was more than a little husky.
Elira shrugged one shoulder, running the fingers of one hand teasingly through the hair on his chest. "I'm not tired. And it's been almost a month since we've..." She smiled a little, surprised by the heat that still came up to cover her face after all of the time she and Vincent had lived together. "...been intimate."
Vincent caught her hand to keep her from continuing to stroke his skin. He cleared his throat. "Elira..."
"Fine." Elira stepped away from him, tugging at the thin hemp rope that tied the collar of her nightie closed. "I feel like sleeping in the nude tonight. You can sleep on the couch if it bothers you. If not..." She cast him a sly glance. "...you can join me." And then she disappeared into the room.
Vincent caught her nightie in the doorway as she threw it at him. And then, with a shake of his head, he followed her in.
Author's note: Hey avid readers! Don't mind that last line there. It's a joke between my brother and I insulting FFVII's inadequate ending. You notice how at the end of the game it shows what's happening 500 years in the future...yet, means nothing? Well, my story took place ten years after the end of the game, so it's 490 years later! Ha ha ha ha...ha...boy, that was lame. Well, anyway, I guess we made it through to the end of this fanfic. Please email me and tell me what you thought of my cheesy little story. I love feedback! I hope everyone liked the ending. Well, that's about all I have to say. Thank you for reading my fic. You were the ones who kept me writing it!