Evolution of a Turk

MPREG. Cussing.

Disclaimer: The Final Fantasy VII characters, locations, etc. are all property of Square-Enix. I own nothing, I just do this for fun.

*************

"Can't you fly any faster?" Elena asked, and not for the first time, either.

Rude said nothing, just tried not to let on that he was getting annoyed with her. He was as worried about Reno as she was, and as far as he was concerned she needed to shut up and let him do his job. They'd get to Mideel when they got to Mideel, and hopefully it wouldn't be too late. At least not for Reno. Rude had pretty much accepted the worst when it came to everything else -- men weren't designed to have kids, after all. He doubted Reno would be too terribly upset over the loss. Elena would take it the hardest. Tseng would've too, if he wasn't...

"Rude?" Elena called out his name, obviously curious as to why he hadn’t replied to her last question.

"How's he doing?" was Rude‘s only response.

Elena looked at Reno. Still unconscious, but he didn't seem to be in too much pain. She put a hand to his forehead. "He doesn't look so bad, but he's still so warm, and he won't wake up."

"Hmm," Rude paused, thoughtfully. He was feeling vindictive, almost, as he egged Elena on, suggesting, "What about your sense materia?"

"Oh!" she exclaimed. "I forgot about that. But what if...?"

“What if what?”

“What if I don’t...sense anything?”

"Then I guess it means there isn't anything there to be sensed," Rude said, roughly. In a slightly less harsh way, he offered, "It was just a suggestion."

"A suggestion. Right."

"Like how you keep telling me to fly faster."

"Sorry. I'm just worried, I guess."

"Yeah."

The shine of Elena's sense materia was quickly replaced by a much brighter light; Reno was glowing -- he was literally glowing. Though it enveloped his entire being, the light was, not surprisingly, emanating from Reno's middle. Looking down at her luminescent boss, Elena let out a breathless, "Something very strange is going on here..."

*************

It was late evening in Mideel. The Turks had arrived around dusk and headed immediately for Dr. Harte's. Reno had been hauled in on a stretcher, with much shushing and murmuring in the background. At present, Dr. Harte was the only non-Shin-Ra employee who knew the specifics of his condition. However, the nurses and receptionist were often heard musing about Reno, convinced he had some horrible disease. Such a shame, because he was so young, and pretty easy on the eyes, too.

As Reno was wheeled down a short hall, Elena did her best to explain things to Dr. Harte. "He just ran out of the elevator. Sneaky little-" she hissed. "When Rude found him he was fighting with three armed guards. He ran into the person who...you know, and confronted him. Then he..."

"He was attacked?"

"We don't know, really," Elena admitted.

"He was already fighting them when I showed up," Rude intervened.

Dr. Harte nodded. "And how long has he been unconscious?"

Rude looked down at his watch. "Eleven hours. Give or take."

The doctor shook his head. He allowed Rude to open the door for him, but insisted, "You'll both have to stay out here. Depending on how bad it is, I may be forced to divulge the details of your friend's condition to some of my staff."

Rude nodded and Elena offered a quick, "Understood."

Elena's PHS rang, forcing her to step outside and away from where she and Rude stood in wait for any kind of news on Reno's condition. Rude and Elena had waited patiently for the most part, though it seemed like Reno had been in there an awfully long time.

It all left Rude wondering just how long it took someone to miscarry. He shrugged it off, and decided he’d take Reno out drinking as soon as he was up for it. Elena would be horrified by his current thought process, but Rude told himself, and would tell Elena if need be, that this wasn’t about her. It never had been, and it never would be. It wasn’t like Reno was one of her closest girlfriends and had chosen to share with her all the excitement of having a baby. Reno was a coworker. Reno was a guy. Reno hated kids. Reno certainly didn’t ask to be experimented on. He hadn't asked to be experimented on, or coddled in the aftermath and expected to do the impossible henceforth.

The door swung open and Rude was greeted with a familiar face and a simple, “He’s awake now."

Rude nodded.

“He's fine. He seems to be in excellent, if highly abnormal condition. It was probably stress. I'm putting him on bed rest for the next few days just in case,” Dr. Harte explained.

Rude gave the man an odd look. “You mean he didn’t...?”

“Didn’t?”

“He’s still...?”

The doctor nodded.

Rude uttered a contemplative “Hmm.” That certainly wasn’t the news he was expecting. He could only imagine how Reno had reacted to it all. It was a wonder he hadn’t heard his ranting. Because surely Reno had ranted. He had to have.

“Where’s your friend?” Dr. Harte asked, suddenly, once he noticed Elena was absent.

“She had to step out,” Rude answered, and in an unreadable manner, added, “She’ll be happy to hear everything’s okay.” She’ll be happy, and I bet he went ape shit, Rude thought to himself. After a long pause, he said, "Thank you."

*************

Elena sort of chewed on her lower lip, and finally let it slide free so she could pout at the man before her.

From his bed, Reno rolled his eyes at her. He was doing much better, but not well enough to be free of his motherly co-worker's concern. "Don't fucking look at me like that," he muttered, as he sat up slightly.

"How are you feeling?" she asked, sounding hopeful, but looking worn. She frowned slightly and continued, "Rude's hardly said a thing this whole time."

Reno managed a small chuckle. "You really that surprised?"

"It's different. He doesn't seem like himself. And you aren't yourself-"

"I haven't been myself in a long time," Reno interrupted, bitterly. "Fucking Hojo."

"I asked Dr. Harte what was going on with you."

Reno locked eyes with Elena, waiting for her to continue.

"He would only tell me so much."

"Like he even knows," Reno muttered.

"All he would say is stress."

"Asshole."

"Reno."

"Something happened," he said, and paused to collect his thoughts.

"Being attacked by those men..."

"They didn't lay a hand on me. Tried, sure, but come on. I'm gonna go down against some fucking Shin-Ra grunts? I don't think so."

"Then it was seeing Hojo. It must've gotten you too worked up..."

"That's not it. Something else happened. To her, I think."

"Her? The Ancient?"

Reno nodded.

"What?"

"I think she knew."

"Knew?" Elena asked. She gave Reno a questioning look and inquired, "About this?"

"Yeah."

"What do you mean she knew?" the blonde wondered, suddenly.

"Knew. As in past tense," Reno clarified. "I think she's dead."

Elena nodded, allowing herself to absorb the information. The idea of Reno being some sort of clairvoyant...well, it was out there, though no more so than the fact that he was indeed pregnant.

"If she's dead," Reno's voice faded to a whisper for just a moment. It came back full-force as he finished his statement. "Then damn her for dying. I was gonna force this thing off on her the first chance I got."

"Oh, Reno," Elena murmured. She tentatively reached out to him, to his belly. The small bump that had, quite literally, popped up out of nowhere was calling to her.

"You touch me, I'll kill you in your sleep."

Elena wasted no time at all, just swiftly withdrew her hand, almost as soon as she'd dared to extend it toward Reno. She sort of wrung her hands together after that, and finally very softly told her hot-and-cold colleague, "Heidegger's sending me up north."

"What the hell's he doing that for?" Reno asked.

"To look for Avalanche, and Sephiroth, too. We know they were headed for the Forgotten Capital," she reminded Reno.

"So where are they now?" Reno demanded, his tone beyond professional. Though he may have been in bed, wearing a t-shirt and pajama pants in the middle of the day, there was no mistaking his dedication to his job. Just another reminder of how much Reno loved the extremes, and how effortlessly he could jump from one to the other.

"They haven't come back south yet, so I'm to assume they've continued on north. Icicle Inn. They must be hiding out there."
Reno took in the information. "How long you and Rude gonna be gone?"

"Rude's not going," Elena said, with a crooked smile.

"What?"

"Someone's gotta stay behind and take care of you," she joked.

"Kiss my ass."

"Heidegger wants me to handle this one by myself," Elena explained, as she produced a small stack of papers. "Well..."

"What is that?" Reno asked, his expression somewhere between boredom, skepticism and annoyance.

"Since I won't be here..."

"Ah, hell. If this is more of your bullshit pregnancy propaganda-"

"It is not propaganda," Elena said, sternly.

"But you agree that it's bullshit?"

"Reno Tarshil, you're impossible sometimes!" Elena shouted. "No, I take that back. You're impossible all the time!"

Reno shook his head, a very 'oh, fine, since you're gonna be a wuss about it' look on his face, as he reached for the papers.

Seeing that as a victory, Elena happily handed them over. “It’s the pregnancy-by-week calendar. I printed the whole thing out.”

Reno's eyes zipped back and forth, skimming over the type. He remained silent for a moment until he loudly declared, "That is fucking disgusting!"

"What?" Elena asked.

"'Week fourteen,'" Reno began. "Blah blah, bullshit propaganda. Okay, here we go: 'your baby is now producing urine and actually urinating into the amniotic fluid. It can also practice breathing the amniotic fluid in and out of its lungs.'"

"I‘ve read it all before. What about it?"

"What about it? Like this wasn't already bad enough before. Now I have to go on living knowing that this little monster is drinking its own piss inside my synthetic man-uterus!"

Elena let out a stunned little gasp, and once her shock had diminished, turning, instead, to anger, she crossed her arms. "All I have to say to that is that I hope you've both calmed down and cleaned up your mouth before next week."

Reno put a hand to his head as he shook it. Rude would've at least laughed at his outburst, but not Elena, no way. Rude would've laughed, and agreed hands-down that the oral consumption of urine was sickening whether one was in the womb or out in the real world.

Somehow knowing Elena wasn't going to back off until she could either lecture him or show him anything and everything related to what her tireless research had taught her about the appropriate week of pregnancy, he groaned and posed the question, "What the hell is so special about next week?"

"Week seventeen. Loud noises can startle the baby," Elena said, very matter-of-factly.

What, had she memorized this shit or something? Reno couldn't help but wonder. He was tempted to ask just that, but knowing Elena, she wouldn't just leave it at that. She'd have a suggestion, or maybe just a fun little fact for every damn week, and parenting tips for after that.

"Duly noted," Reno finally mumbled. "Now get the hell out of my face."

Elena headed for the door.

Just as she put her hand on the knob, Reno called out, "Hey, take care, alright."

She nodded. "I will."

"Give 'em hell."

"I'll do that too."

*************

It was weird without Elena around. Quiet. Too quiet. It just didn't feel right without the overeager blonde rattling off facts and figures, or scolding Reno for drinking too much caffeine, or now that Reno was all but over his morning sickness and his eating habits had returned to normal, snatching various food items out of his hands and telling him, "You're eating for two, Reno, not twenty five."

The last "nourishment" related discussion Reno and Rude had, had gone something like:

"Lunch?"

"Okay."

"Eat here or pick something up?"

"Doesn't matter."

"We could order in."

"Alright."

"Pizza?"

"Fine."

"Burgers?"

"Sure."

"Both?"

"Whatever you want, Reno."

In a way, Rude wished he'd been the one sent up north, and Elena had stayed behind in Mideel. He didn't know what the hell to do with a pregnant girl, what the hell was he supposed to do with a pregnant guy? And it wasn't just any guy, it was Reno. He didn't know what the hell to do with normal Reno half the time. Normal Reno...if that wasn't contradictory, Rude didn't know what was.

How was he supposed to deal with it all? He'd decided the best thing to do would be to treat Reno like he always did. That, of course, meant limiting the amount of time spent with him. If he stuck too close to his partner, he wouldn't be able to help but treat him differently.

He’d already done too much, showed too much interest, and paid the price. Even through his sunglasses, Reno had caught Rude looking at his stomach. The redhead's eye twitched, and he snippily inquired, “You wanna poke at me too? Or are you content to just stare?”

Elena called whenever she got a minute, updating her coworkers on her mission: "He just dropped. Right there in the snow. Like a ton of bricks. Didn't even try to dodge it! Can you believe it? I knocked him out cold!"

She also gave them plenty of do's and don'ts; Rude got the do's, and Reno got the don'ts.

*************

"I was right," Reno said, simply, and glanced at Rude as he put away his PHS. "Elena told me...the Ancient's dead."

Rude just nodded.

Reno's face turned. Rude had time for only one thought before the redhead snapped at him: hormones. "You want to say something to me, Rude, say it. You've been treating me like some kind of infectious disease and I'm sick of it. Can't say I blame you, but I'm sick of it." He spoke casually, but dangerously, nonetheless. But that was Reno, both nonchalant and confrontational at the same time. A living, breathing mass of contradictions. He never did what he should, and was always doing things he shouldn't.

"Why are you doing this?" Rude asked, plainly, his demeanor indicative that he was Reno's complete opposite in almost every respect. Cool, calm, collected. Rational. Robotic, almost, at times.

For once, Reno was the silent one.

"You want to do it?" Rude asked, a barely detectable amount of disbelief present in his voice.

"Go fuck yourself," Reno spat.

Rude nodded. "Didn't think so. So he ordered you to go through with it?"

"Tseng?" Reno asked.

Rude nodded.

Reno shook his head. "Nope."

Rude said nothing, but the look on his face conveyed plenty.

"He asked me to," Reno said.

"Tseng's not here."

"No shit, Rude," Reno snapped.

"He's-"

"Yeah, I know."

"You don't have to."

Reno shrugged. "No, I don't."

"You don't want to."

Reno snorted a little, and bitterly agreed, "Sure as hell don't."

"Surprised you haven't killed it, the way you do everything," Rude mused.

"So am I."

"...it'll probably kill you."

"Wouldn't be surprised if it did. Or maybe we'll both bite it."

"Then why are you doing it?"

"Because he asked me to."

*************

A/N: Thanks for reading, as always, and I'd be thrilled if you'd leave me a review telling me what you thought.