Adult-FanFiction.org : Final Fantasy

Kittens	By : sephcounttheways Category: Final Fantasy VII > Yaoi - Male/Male Views: 1380 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy VII, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 7
- 8
- 9
Warning : Boys birthin’ babies.

The red alert plan was in full swing by the time they arrived at Shin-Ra Headquarters.

Zack got the idea from an old fashioned movie about a talking dragon and a knight. The two became friends and struck a deal to make money by having the knight heroically “slay” the dangerous dragon over and over again in different villages. The dragon faked a death every time, and the knight became rich and famous.

Wally wasn't exactly a dragon though, he was a summon... in a manner of speaking.

Zack found him in Gongaga when he was a Sergeant and thought that the materia was a dud. Hundreds of strange types of summons and summon materia could be found all over the world. Some were made by hapless widows trying to summon their dead lovers from beyond the grave, others were created by people trying to inject their own souls into the materia so they could live forever. And sometimes people got creative and attempted to make up a God all for themselves.

Usually casting them resulted in a little bit of bad weather and perhaps a headache, but they were fun to keep around for posterity.

Then one day upon a bout of Zack's frequent boredom, he got drunk and decided to level the dud summon materia up and see what happened. In a few hours, the orb's power had grown exponentially, which wasn’t something that happened with fakes. Before Zack knew it, he had a summonable god in the palm of his hand. Not just something stupid made by man, but a brand spanking new God!

Turns out, Wally was a Tyrannosaurus Rex. Zack was the first to ever summon him in a hailstorm of dirt and lava, and he burst from a cluster of molten rocks.

But he was only about three feet tall.

After the fanfare dispersed, Wally waddled towards Zack in excitement and fell right onto his little sharp-toothed face. Although the baby God was powerful, he possessed very little grace. Zack passed the materia around between the ranks, and Wally soon became the mascot of the Shin-Ra army. Everyone from Turks to SOLDIERs to grunts wanted a chance to equip him and play with him, level him up or just frighten new recruits.

Wally quickly got bigger, and became a six story high, ferocious T-Rex… who loved to have his belly scratched and give dinosaur kisses. But once he began to blossom into his true power, the damn labs confiscated him. And that was the last anyone saw of big, dumb, loveable Wally.

That is, until Aerith stole him back.

Wally had already been briefed on what he had to do. He was going to be summoned, and he was going to take out the East side of the Shin-Ra building in a fit of Godillza-esque rage. Zack was going to lead the troops in subduing him with the help of Shiva, who was also in on the plan.

Shiva, a hundred SOLDIERs, a raging fire, and a young Tyrannosaurus Rex on a furious rampage... that might have been enough to distract the building from the sight of the very pregnant General Sephiroth in a lot of pain and with very little capacity for stealth.

When Cloud arrived, he drove right past the epic, destructive duel between ice and fire to the secure entrance of the building, which was deserted except for Aerith and a wheelchair. She came up to Sephiroth's door and he dropped down onto it with as much poise as he could muster.

Once he was seated he was marvelously calm, and almost seemed bored as Aerith wheeled him into the labs. "How long is this going to take?"

"Not long, hopefully," Aerith told him, hurrying with Cloud on her heels. “Have you two been timing the contractions like I told you to?”

“About four minutes apart,” Cloud supplied as he skittered behind them through the empty lab. The entire staff had vacated to watch the violent scene outside, Hojo and his team leading the way to retrieve the dinosaur back into captivity.

“Did his water break, yet?” Aerith murmured, speaking in hushed tones just in case there was someone still in the lab.

“I don’t think so,” Cloud frowned. “Does he have water?”

“Who knows?” Aerith shrugged.

They quickly made their way to a very remote and secure location in the lab. Even though Aerith didn't have the authority, she sealed off the entire hallway with a secure passcode. Only Zack knew the code, in case there was some sort of meltdown and he was needed to rescue them all from chest popping aliens.

Of course, this was only a precaution at Sephiroth’s insistence. She only hoped that Hojo or another high-level lab director didn't try to come down that way and be denied access, therefore arousing questions and suspicion.

Sephiroth's delivery room was at the end of the hall. It was large and bright, and Aerith had prepared everything they would need for a safe delivery, plus some extra equipment she thought might have been useful. They had everything from incubators to oxygen tents, supplies to help them for healthy babies or demonic ones.

She even had put on gentle music. The key was to keep the new fathers as calm as possible, and classical music was one of the best ways of –

“Turn that stupid fucking noise off,” Sephiroth hissed immediately.

So much for that.

After switching off the offensive Mozart, she and Cloud helped Sephiroth up onto the bed. When he was settled, he held out his wrist to Aerith. By habit, she reached out and checked his pulse.

His eyes narrowed. "Drug me."

"Oh. I will," she promised, petting his hand. "But not just yet."

His extraordinarily calm demeanor began to crack slightly. “…I want it now, though.”

She became uneasy. “Sephiroth, I can’t give it to you, yet. We need to know some things first…how far along you are, if you’re dilated yet, and if you’re going to be able to push if you’re drugged. I don’t want to make this any harder on you than it has to be.”

Cloud sat next to him on the bed, putting his arms around Sephiroth’s shoulders. “As soon as they’re on their way, you’ll be able to relax. Okay?”

Sephiroth’s breathing sped up a little bit. “Don’t just stand there, then. Do what you need to do.”

Aerith smiled and began to dress in a surgical gown and gloves. She pulled back her hair and tucked it under a white cap. Cloud did the same, although his hair refused to be trapped beneath the hat, so he threw it across the room in frustration.

While Aerith hooked Sephiroth up to numerous monitoring devices, Cloud helped him disrobe and slip into a more comfortable version of a hospital gown.

It was far from comfortable for Sephiroth, however. He felt absolutely naked, and nearly growled when Aerith approached him from the foot of the bed with stirrups of all things.

“I’m really not going to put my legs on that,” he gritted out coolly despite a brand new contraction on its way.

Cloud waved at Aerith, “If he doesn’t want them, he doesn’t want them. But Seph, you still need to open up so Aerith can look.”

Humiliation flared on Sephiroth’s face when he realized that the fresh faced, green eyed, pink-lipped bane of his existence was going to be staring up his asshole. The girl smiled in an effort to comfort him. “Seph, it’s okay. It’s just me.”

“This is far from okay…” he disagreed as he uneasily moved his feet apart on the bed. He looked up at the ceiling to avoid this reality as much as possible, not wanting to look down and see what would surely be the most disturbing sight ever. To his very minor relief, Aerith’s hands were small and touched gently.

While she inspected him, Sephiroth closed his eyes and bit the inside of his cheek. The pain was coming back like the icy breath of death, Aerith’s fingers were up his ass, and to add to the horror of it all, one of the monitors began to beep rapidly with the increasing intensity of his pain.

“Sephiroth, you’re about to contract,” Aerith announced, as though he didn’t already fucking know it.

He would have said something smart, but the pain swept his words away. This was easily the worst pain Sephiroth had ever felt, utterly uncontrollably and indescribably intense. It stabbed at him from the inside as though each egg was wielding a hot knife. He closed his eyes and kept his mouth shut, trying not to alarm Cloud who was already a stone’s throw away from becoming hysterical.

When he felt it begin to fade back once again, he let out a breath of air and opened his eyes. He realized he was pressing his face against Cloud’s neck, and pulled away.

Cloud gazed intently from a kissable distance. “…Are you alright?”

Sephiroth didn’t have the heart to be upset with such a sweet face, even if it was his stupid cock that got them into this mess in the first place. He leaned forward slightly and kissed Cloud’s lips briefly. “I’ll be fine… once I’m drugged. Hello, down there? Will you drug me now?”

Aerith finally came up from between his legs, taking her gloves off to retrieve fresh ones. “Well, we have an issue.”

“If you don’t get me drugs, I’m sending Cloud to the barracks to buy some for me,” Sephiroth grumbled.

Cloud giggled behind his hand. That was supposed to be a secret between the two of them.

Aerith calmly pulled new gloves on. “That contraction lasted almost a full minute. This is progressing incredibly fast, but your cervix isn’t dilating.”

“Shit. Why not?” he groaned, wincing.

“Because you don’t have one,” Aerith said matter-of-factly. She took the blanket off of him and took his thin hips in her hands, inspecting his body from the outside. Cloud stayed where he was, but looked on nervously.

Sephiroth shifted. “Well, what does that mean?”

“It means that this isn’t going to be easy. But we can get through it. It sometimes happens to women – ”

“What do women have to do with it?!” Sephiroth growled, then let out a short breath of pain.

“This isn’t the time to worry about verbiage Sephiroth. Sometimes pregnant people’s bodies don’t dilate the way they should...in your case, you can’t.”

Cloud’s voice shook. “But Aerith, he’s got a completely different setup from a wom… I mean, pregnant person. I mean… is this gonna…?”

“Will you two shut the fuck up?” Sephiroth suddenly roared, causing both of them to jump. Then he took a deep breath. “Look. Do what you need to do, but drug me, Aerith. Cut me open, tear out my plumbing, whatever. I really… don’t… care at this point. I want to… not feel what I’m feeling right now.”

She rubbed her forehead, “Okay. If I’m gonna do a cesarean on you, I’m… I have no idea where to cut… where to begin…”

“Figure it out!” Cloud crowed. “You’re the doctor here!”

“Cloud, you’re not helping anything!” she hissed, then rubbed Sephiroth’s calves as she spoke gently to him. “This is new for all of us, but we’re going to get through it. The best thing that we can rely on here is you, Seph. Your natural instincts are vital right now.”

“Drug me. That’s my instinct,” he said blandly.

“That’s what we’ll do,” Aerith nodded. With a little help from Cloud, Sephiroth sat up and waited impatiently while Aerith cleaned an area on his lower back and inserted his epidural. “This should start to feel a lot better immediately.”

The pain machine began its crescendo of horror, and Sephiroth gritted out breathlessly, “How long will the drugs take?”

“You should already be feeling it,” Aerith frowned.

“I’m not,” Sephiroth looked alarmed, and gripped the sheets throughout the contraction. “I still feel like shit.”

Aerith swore a blue streak in her mind, but did her very best at maintaining a calm demeanor. The epidural tube was attached to a reservoir of intense pain medication, and it should have been giving Sephiroth constant relief. She checked that it was inserted correctly, and that the medicine was moving through the tube.

The contraction finally passed and eased its way back into the depths of his body, ready to strike again at any moment. Sephiroth growled. “Get me better shit.”

“Seph, this is morphine. Are you sure you’re not feeling at all better?” she asked again, double-checking the entire setup.

He made a face. “Maybe I went from an eleven on the excruciating pain scale to a nine point five. I’d love to hover around a three though, if you can manage it Dr. Gainesborough.”

Aerith decided to turn the other cheek. “So you are feeling a small relief, right?”

“A… minute amount,” Sephiroth gritted, and the machine monitoring his contractions beeped again.

“Can’t you give him more?” Cloud prodded.

After a moment of hesitation she nodded, and upped the dosage to the highest amount she was comfortable giving considering there were five children still inside Sephiroth’s body. She watched with empathy as Sephiroth suffered another fierce wave of contracting pain. On the small screen, she noted that the contractions were causing the eggs to almost line up, preparing a queue to exit.

The entire situation threatened to break Aerith’s ability to deal with crazy bullshit. But just almost – she was dating Zack after all. And of course, she was a Cetra and all that jazz. A pregnant dude was no big deal.

With this in mind, she encouraged Sephiroth to relax and breath during the worst of the contraction, and to her surprise he took her advice without any smartassery. Cloud paced around the bed, trying his best to help.

It was roughly three minutes before the next one, and the one after. Then they began to come closer together by about half a minute. Both she and Cloud were glad at least that part of this delivery was predictable. It must have been absolutely terrible, because the pain was becoming so intense that the waves left Sephiroth trembling.

Cloud tried to be supportive, “Okay, it’s over for now. It’s not so bad in hindsight, right?”

“I’m going to murder you in cold blood,” Sephiroth growled. “When the fuck is this gonna be over… oh my God.”

“What?” both Aerith and Cloud chirped.

Sephiroth brought his knees together and looked away. “…I’m sorry.”

Aerith eased Sephiroth’s knees back apart and found a small smattering of fluids beneath him. It was unlike anything she’d ever seen before, and was glad she’d packed towels heavy on the bed beneath him. She lifted the soiled ones and rolled them up. “You mind if I keep this for research, Seph?”

“My crap? Yeah, knock yourself out.”

She laughed, “It wasn’t crap. Your water just broke.”

His eyes lit up, but his voice remained unimpressed, “So it’ll be over soon?”

“I hope so,” she smiled.

Cloud kissed Sephiroth’s cheek. “You’re almost there. I know it.”

“Usually after the water breaks, it’s only a few more hours!” Aerith nearly giggled. At least the breaking water gave her some sort of frame of reference for this. “Do you feel any changes, Seph?”

Sephiroth didn’t answer. Aerith turned around to see him looking like a pale mannequin on the bed. He also wasn’t blinking or moving, and was barely even breathing.

Cloud touched his hand, “…Seph?”

She hurried over and began to check his stats. “What is it, Seph? What are you feeling?”

“Um,” he attempted, his throat bobbing as he swallowed heavily. “I think I…”

Cloud shrieked loudly as the bed between Sephiroth’s legs began to slowly blot with blood. “Seph!”

Aerith yanked his arm and pulled him close to whisper against his ear, “You’re not allowed to shout like that again. Prepare to see some blood, if you can’t handle it I’m sending you out. This is your only warning, okay?”

Cloud nodded just as the contraction machine began to beep rapidly. Sephiroth still wasn’t reacting though, and was barely wincing. Aerith pulled his legs apart and began to wipe around, attempting to keep him as clean as possible. “Sephiroth, talk to me. Tell me what’s happening, okay?”

“Dunno,” he mumbled, then took a breath. “Should I… should I…?”

Aerith and Cloud looked at each other, before she answered enthusiastically, “Should you what? Push?”

He didn’t like the sound of pushing, but he tried it and immediately regretted it. A staggered gasp left him. “Oh shit. I really don’t wanna do that.”

The machine was going crazy. Aerith looked all of Sephiroth’s stats over, and decided that they were completely useless. She checked the rough ultrasound, and the eggs were most definitely on the move. “I think you need to try pushing again, Seph.”

“I really don’t want to,” he repeated quickly, his knees coming together as his eyebrows knitted with rebellion.

“Please?” Cloud asked, keeping his hysteria at bay. “This will only take longer if you don’t.”

Aerith pulled on one of his locked knees. “C’mon Seph, we’ve practiced this, remember? Relax your lower body and push!”

“Think... of…” Sephiroth took a deep breath. “A different…word…”

Cloud roughly pulled Sephiroth’s knees apart, “Sephiroth, stop being a crybaby bitch!”

Sephiroth growled, “I’d love to see you like this!”

“Well, tough shit! Let’s get this show on the road!” Cloud ordered.

“You little motherfucker!” he roared, but Aerith could see his stomach muscles contract in an effort to let go of the matter inside of him. This definitely wasn’t the relaxation and Lamaze techniques they’d practiced, but it seemed to be working out.

“I’m a daddyfucker, thank you very much,” Cloud smiled, hunkering down when Sephiroth seemed prepared to lunge forward and kill him.

But instead Sephiroth propped up on his elbows and gave it all he had – for approximately five seconds. Then he collapsed back in defeat. “This sucks! This sucks!”

Cloud gripped both of Sephiroth’s knees. “You have to do this! Once you do it, it’ll be over!”

“I can’t…” Sephiroth muttered miserably, his voice scratchy with pain.

“Yes you can!” Cloud wailed. “Gwen Stefani did this!”

Sephiroth came out from behind his hands reluctantly. “I could easily kill that skinny, pale bitch.”

Cloud nodded enthusiastically. “In half a second!”

Aerith stayed back and let the two of them psyche each other up in their own way, staying silent and ready for anything. Cloud watched anxiously as Sephiroth’s throat tightened into a series of stuttered shouts. His hands gripped the sheets, pulling up the sheet from the mattress and his knuckles going white.

Aerith’s heart was racing. “Sephiroth, you’re doing so good!”

“Shut the fuck up!” Sephiroth growled from above.

Cloud was nearly bursting from within himself, and Aerith was convinced he was going to be the kind of father to pass out. But he didn’t, he reached forward and helped in the only way he could think to. He used his fingers to stretch the tightest part of Sephiroth’s body out.

“Careful Cloud,” Aerith warned, touching Cloud’s arm. “We don’t want him to tear.”

Cloud leveled her a look. “I’m nearly a professional at this area of the male body. Seph isn’t going to tear. But I’m guessing if this helps something going in, it stands to reason it’ll help something coming out.”

“I hate you!” Sephiroth declared.

“Well, I love you,” Cloud answered, continuing to gently work his body.

Sephiroth mumbled what sounded like a return declaration of love, but it was cut short by a gritty growl.

Aerith and Cloud could barely stand hearing Sephiroth’s normally smooth, controlled voice in so much obvious pain, but could do nothing about it. Aerith was powerless even in her effort to ease that pain with medication. She was tempted to up the dosage yet again, but half of the vial of liquid was already gone from the IV, and it seemed to be useless.

Time felt too slow. Sephiroth was a wreck on the bed, and most of the towels beneath him were soaking through to the mattress almost as quickly as they were being changed. Aerith busied herself with changing out the towels, attempting to keep Sephiroth clean and comfortable, and to make sure Cloud wasn’t going to pass out.

He had managed to work four fingers inside of Sephiroth, and suddenly pulled his hand away as if it had touched something hot. He gawked at Aerith for a moment, and they both watched in shock as something pushed against Sephiroth’s opening from the inside. The tip of a smooth, pearly blue ellipse peeked out.

Cloud touched it with his gloved fingertips. “Holy shit, Sephiroth! Don’t stop!”

“Shut up!” Sephiroth roared petulantly and his entire body seemed to quake as he pushed hard enough to lift his hips off the bed.

A huge push from Sephiroth sent the first egg squeezing nearly halfway out, but it seemed stuck at its widest point. Aerith grasped Sephiroth’s knee. “Ease up Seph, stop pushing for a second!”

Sephiroth let out a ragged, masculine scream of anguish, “Fuuuck!”

“Breathe,” Aerith told him calmly.

Cloud chirped in agreement, “Breathe, please!”

Sephiroth obeyed, but it took all of his willpower and might not to scream again. While he breathed, his entire body shook, and finally widest part of the egg slowly and naturally squeezed past the threshold.

“Alright, Seph, push!” Aerith nodded, patting his knee in encouragement.

He was only too glad. As the egg came into existence, he felt such a fierce relief that he couldn’t contain another throaty shout. Cloud screamed too, at a decided more frantic octave. Aerith even got caught up and her sparkling soprano joined in and the room was filled with a fully assembled chorus of pain, wonder and horror.

Then, it was out.

Cloud caught it in his hands before it slid down onto the bed. His gloves were covered in blood and various debris from the inside of Sephiroth’s body, but the little thing in his hands was absolutely the most breathtaking, beautiful, perfect thing he’d ever seen in his life.

“Oh my God,” Cloud whispered, his voice strained from screaming. “Seph…do you want to hold it…?”

“Smash the little fucker,” Sephiroth growled from above, falling back onto the bed as his body strained with the feeling of another egg readying itself inside. He shuddered and gripped the headboard, clamping his eyes and utterly unconcerned with whatever had so rudely exited his body.

Aerith had a hot towel at the ready and took the egg from Cloud’s hands. His blue eyes were glued to it, and he immediately tried to follow Aerith when she moved away with it. “Cloud, I’ve got it. You help Seph get ready for the next one.”

Cloud blinked slowly, and nodded when his mind caught up with the situation. They had to do that four more times.

Four more times? Tears slipped from Cloud’s eyes. “…Oh my God.”

Aerith didn’t have time to console either father, and quickly took the little egg to the receiving area. She dipped it in hot water, clearing the debris off of the smooth surface, and then packed it away snugly in a little nest of heating pads in the incubator, set to Sephiroth’s inner body temperature. She then attached a sucker pad and listened for any sign of life from inside. She distinctly heard a tiny heartbeat, and was satisfied enough to leave it in the nest for the time being.

Before she closed the warm little environment, she took a sharpie and carefully wrote the number one on the surface of the egg. She then turned back to see Sephiroth looking pale, and Cloud staring between his legs in disbelief, murmuring encouraging words while waiting for the next egg.

Aerith took off her soiled gloves and began to check Sephiroth’s vitals. He looked up at her, his green gaze soft and imploring. She leaned down to kiss his forehead, unable to do anything more – she didn’t dare to risk holding his hand.

“…Can we try better drugs?” Sephiroth asked her on a breath of air.

Her heart broke to leave him in such pain, but she shook her head. She expected wrath, but he only held her soft gaze and nodded.

She touched his cheek before she rejoined Cloud down at the foot of the bed, and there was a similar tremor through Sephiroth’s frame as before. He shuddered and groaned almost angrily. “How many are coming out again?”

“Four more,” Cloud made the mistake of answering. Sephiroth nearly revolted against his own body, and twisted pitifully on the bed.

“Fuck! Goddamnit! Shit!” He went through the entire dictionary of curse words one by one, each time giving a tiny push until a pearly blue egg pushed from the inside.

Tears streaked down Cloud’s face in empathetic misery with his beloved. “Seph, it’s almost here. Just a little more, okay?”

Sephiroth let out a shaky breath, and pushed half-heartedly. Cloud rubbed his thigh. “Give it some more, Seph. You can do it.”

“No I can’t!” Sephiroth declared, and covered his face with his elbow.

Cloud implored Aerith with exhausted blue eyes. She touched Sephiroth’s thigh. “…Know who else had a baby? Reese Witherspoon!”

“Who the fuck is that!?” Sephiroth roared miserably from behind his arm.

“Angelina Jolie!” Cloud recovered quickly. “The bitch had a million of them!”

Sephiroth seemed somehow comforted by this and gripped the sheets, giving a gut wrenching push. Like before, Aerith urged him to let the egg slip free naturally. He gave it one more push and the little thing slid out of his body along with another small pool of blood. Cloud held the weight of it in his hands for a moment before passing it along to Aerith.

This time, there was absolutely no respite, and the third egg impatiently followed. The tip was already out before Aerith even returned from securing the second egg. Sephiroth began to openly sob. “Cloud!”

Cloud kissed his knees and gazed up at him. “Seph, you’re halfway done. It’s gotta be getting easier, right?”

Sephiroth sent a feral snarl his way. “No! It isn’t, actually!”

“Do it anyway!” Cloud shouted at him.

“Fuck you!”

“Fuck you!”

Another deep groan from Sephiroth broke into a pained shout, and Aerith hurried back to watch yet another egg slowly clear the hurdle of Sephiroth’s body.

As the egg slid free, Sephiroth began a tirade of threats onto Cloud, “I’m gonna shove my fist straight up your little ass, do you hear me?”

“I’ll let you!” Cloud was glowing as he watched Aerith clean off their latest arrival and add it to the snuggly nest. “After this we’ll get a bottle of that white stuff you like and you can do whatever you want to me!”

Sephiroth laid back against the bed almost in a mockery of relaxation. The fourth egg seemed to be taking its time, and Cloud unsnapped his gloves and went to his exhausted lover. Aerith immediately prepared a cool towel and gave it to Cloud, letting him lay it on Sephiroth’s forehead while she went back to guard the foot of the bed.

“You’re almost done,” Cloud said to him, dabbing it onto his flushed face.

“Almost?” Sephiroth’s eyes seemed to refuse to focus. “There are more?”

Cloud swallowed and laid the cloth on Sephiroth’s forehead, and kissed his cheek. Sephiroth was too focused on keeping pain at bay to reciprocate, so Cloud returned to the foot of the bed where Aerith was cleaning off the insides of his thighs. There would be more mess to come, but if there was a comfort she was able to give, she’d give it.

She caught Cloud’s eyes and smiled reassuringly. “He’s gonna be okay, Cloud.”

“Don’t talk about me like I’m not here,” Sephiroth stated confidently, before another groan of pain slipped out. “I’m fine. I just… is there any way I could maybe…”

Aerith rubbed his leg. “What?”

Sephiroth sighed shakily. “Any possibility of postponing the rest until later? Like tomorrow? Or maybe a couple days from now?”

Aerith snapped on fresh gloves and handed the box to Cloud. “Bad idea. If we leave them in there for longer, they’ll only get bigger, right?”

Sephiroth acknowledged her attempt at a joke with a husky sigh. “God.”

“Only two more,” Cloud murmured, his hands reached up past Sephiroth’s penis to rub his significantly flatter stomach. Aerith looked at the small token of affection and smiled, bemused with herself as her eyes swam with tears. She’d delivered babies before, but this was completely beyond her experience of comprehension. Nothing in her short medical history or her time in med school could have prepared her for this.

She put an arm around Cloud’s shoulders. The small man was trembling, and leaned on her gratefully. Sephiroth was beyond being comforted, and had both arms crossed over his head.

The General whimpered slightly and it stretched into another miserable groan. “Okay. Okay.”

“Okay,” Cloud answered, leaning forward to cover his lover’s knees in kisses.

Sephiroth and Cloud continued their chant until another wave of fierce contractions hit. Sephiroth’s fair face was blood red at this point, and he took the towel off of his brow and hurled it at Aerith. “Bitch!”

Aerith wisely decided not to inform the laboring man that she didn’t have anything to do with this conception, and merely dodged the sloppily thrown rag. “Sephiroth, just push.”

“Stop telling me to push!” Sephiroth roared angrily. “What do you think I’m trying to do!?”

“Crap!” Cloud ordered, almost laughing. “Is that better?”

Sephiroth’s eyes widened at that, and he bit his bottom lip. Tears were streaking his face and he was certain that no agony was ever felt before on Earth. But even he had to admit that there was a touch of humor in this hellish scenario. Not only was he giving birth, but he was crapping the kids out.

Maybe it was a mix of the drugs or endorphins, but nothing was ever funnier to Sephiroth. He laughed, pausing to strain his voice as he added effort to the egg’s unnatural path through his body. Cloud laughed with him, sniffing back tears as the fourth one poked out.

Sephiroth suddenly stopped laughing and tightened, and the egg was pulled backwards.

“Seph, it’s almost there, just let it go!” Aerith called.

“No…” Sephiroth declared weakly, his mirth utterly forgotten. “I’m gonna fuckin’ die.”

“You’re not dying Seph!” Cloud immediately shouted. “And I don’t care if you don’t like hearing it, but push!”

Sephiroth relaxed a bit and gave another labored push, but as the egg began to slide free, he tightened around it again. “Fuck!”

“I’ll come in there and take it if you don’t let go!” Cloud threatened.

With a shuddering, guttural sigh, Sephiroth released his internal grip on the egg and it slowly made its’ agonizing way out. Cloud helped again by pulling gently, and the newest little egg was born into the world.

When Aerith took it away, Cloud nearly collapsed. He’d never gone through anything so emotionally taxing in his life. His first experience killing someone hadn’t been as draining as seeing his lover in so much turmoil.

He quickly snapped out of it when he realized that Sephiroth was sobbing. Cloud went to the front of the bed to immediately hold him, forgetting to remove his gloves. Neither cared, they just needed to feel each other and remember that there was going to be a life after this that was going to be full of happiness. This would not last forever, but their lineage would.

Cloud kissed him, needing to do it more than Sephiroth needed to feel it. “One more time? Okay?”

Sephiroth shook his head, but said, “Okay.”

Cloud kissed him again. “I’ll stay up here with you. Hold my hand.”

“No,” Sephiroth grunted, shoving him away.

“You don’t want me here with you?” Cloud pressed, lacing his fingers with Sephiroth's.

“No, Cloud. I’ll hurt you. Like, for real,” He muttered, unhooking his fingers and elbowing Cloud away.

Cloud bit back a sob. The guilt he was feeling for putting Sephiroth through this was tremendous, he almost wanted a broken hand or a few snapped ribs. But Sephiroth had already furrowed his brow and was snorting on air, gearing up for the last wave of anguish.

Aerith came hurrying back, and smiled at them both in excitement. “Alright, this is it! Sephiroth, you can do it!”

It took nearly thirty minutes, but the last one finally arrived. Sephiroth gripped the metal headboard and shoved from the inside. Without any queue of eggs behind it, it was the hardest one to release. The amount of blood and fluids released before the egg arrived soaked the towels and bedding.

“Shit!” Sephiroth screamed.

“Shit!” Cloud answered.

“Shit!” Aerith agreed.

And then it was over. The last tenacious little egg finally emerged, and Cloud scooped it up reverently. Aerith slowly took it from him, and went to put it with the rest.

Cloud wanted to fall to his knees, but instead threw his gloves down and returned to Sephiroth’s side. He was as relaxed as Cloud had seen him since… well, since the morning after the babies’ conception. Cloud smiled and wiped his hair away from his flushed face.

He opened his eyes and looked up at Cloud, blinking slowly. “…Was that gross or what?”

“Yeah…” Cloud swallowed. “But… I was in awe, Seph.”

Suddenly Sephiroth sat up on his elbow. “Where are they?”

Cloud moved aside and let him see Aerith, who was listening to each little ellipse in turn with the stethoscope. Her forehead was crinkled with thought, then realized she was being looked at and grinned.

Sephiroth moved to sit up, then hissed sharply. “Ah!”

Aerith covered up the eggs and returned to him. She tapped Cloud’s shoulder. “Go grab some more towels. Let’s get him cleaned up and healed.”

Sephiroth lay back obediently, but crossed his arms over his chest. “I’m fine. I just need a quick cure.”

“Shut up,” Aerith snipped, sick and tired of the General’s diva behavior. Now that he was no longer pregnant, he had no excuse to be so bitchy and she refused to tolerate it. She gave him a cleansing cure first thing. The failed epidural was purged from his system, and he felt pain blast down his spine.

Horrifically enough, the drugs had helped… it was just that painful.

Aerith began to disconnect the machines from Sephiroth while Cloud cleaned him up with a hot, brief sponge bath. Afterwards, Aerith inspected the drop zone and ensured that Sephiroth didn’t need to be sewn. Through the wonders of the human body, he was stretched and abused, but not torn – probably due to Cloud’s help.

Aerith double checked for any egg shards, and then gave him another deep cure. Once he was restored, he immediately tried to stand.

“Jesus Sephiroth, I’ll bring them to you! Just stay in bed!” Cloud cried.

“Like hell I will. I never want to be in this bed again!” Sephiroth stubbornly stood on his own two feet, which were trembling. “It’s covered in blood, piss and shit, anyways.”

“Sephiroth, please take it easy,” Aerith suggested, coming closer to put a hand on Sephiroth’s chest. “I’ll bring you a new bed.”

He glared at the both of them. “I have a brand new definition of pain, kiddies. I think I’ll be able to walk just fine without your help, forever.”

They both immediately raised their eyebrows and took their hands off of him. He leaned on Cloud while pulling on a loose pair of scrub pants, and was already steady on his feet as he marched directly to the little incubator. Cloud smiled at the fact that his lover’s washboard stomach looked a lot closer to normal, but held a little jiggle. It was completely inappropriate, but he thought a little pudge on Sephiroth was incredibly sexy. He couldn’t wait to try it out.

Sephiroth was peering into the incubator by the time they caught up with him. Aerith touched his arm, and he backed up and allowed her to open it.

“…When will they hatch?” Cloud wondered, lifting a heating pad and touching one.

“I don’t know,” Aerith admitted. “…Sephiroth? Do you have any idea?”

He leaned in closer, and touched one as though he weren’t entirely sure it was real. It had the number one on it. Carefully, he lifted one up and held it in his hands. “I don’t know what to do.”

But that was a lie. He felt an urge to break the egg open. He wanted to throw it, drop it on the floor, crack it open any way he could. It was an uncontrollable instinct. Before he could over think it, he held the egg up and let it fall down onto the metal table.

“Sephiroth!” both Aerith and Cloud shrieked in terror.

But a soft cry made them go silent. The blue egg broke into large, neat pieces, and a very small baby wiggled within. Sephiroth gently tore the rest of the egg apart, and then lifted the baby up out of what remained.

The little boy looked damp, but perfectly smooth and fair. Pale hair matted his little head, and he wiggled restlessly in Sephiroth’s hands, all tiny fists and feet. His eyes were clamped shut and his mouth opened and closed as he learned the simple art of breathing.

Sephiroth was frozen. Cloud approached with wide, startled eyes. Slowly, reached out to touch the little newcomer with a brush of his fingertips.

Aerith reached past Cloud and wrapped a tiny green hospital bracelet around the baby’s flailing wrist. “Different colors for each,” she whispered as the two fathers stared down at their little creation in total awe.

Suddenly Sephiroth snapped to attention and handed their first baby over to Cloud. “Wrap him up, I’ll do the rest.”

Cloud hardly knew how to hold such a tiny thing, but found a way by cradling it in the crook of his arm. The baby would need to be weighed, measured, checked out and swaddled. There was paperwork to be done. There were defects and diseases to check for. But despite knowing there were things to b taken care of, Cloud desperately wanted to watch the rest of his babies be hatched.

Suddenly, the lab’s secure door hissed open. All three turned to the door in shock, and were deeply relieved when it was Zack. He looked a little worse for the wear, but he grinned happily to see all three on their feet, and something wiggly in Cloud’s arms. “Hopefully I missed all the gross stuff, right?”

“What are you doing here?” Aerith fretted. “You weren’t followed, were you?”

“Nah, I got injured in the epic Wally battle. I came here to get fixed up by my best girl!” Zack explained, quickly making his way over to Cloud. He knew it was pointless to ask, but he touched Sephiroth’s bare arm, “You okay, man?”

“Of course,” Sephiroth responded loftily.

“Is Wally okay?” Cloud asked, proudly shifting the baby so Zack could see him better.

“Yeah, it went down perfectly. I just thought you guys could use some help.” He was already poking his face at the new baby’s.

“Wash up first! You’re filthy!” Aerith cawed, pushing Zack away from the infant. “Then hurry back and help me.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Zack tipped a hat that didn’t exist and went to do just that.

Sephiroth put at ease by having another man there, especially one as trusted as Zack. He took the opportunity to select the next egg for hatching. He noticed one with a tic mark denoting the number two, and figured that going through the order numerically made perfect sense.

Number two was a particularly painful little fucker. He smiled as he gently coaxed cracks in the delicate egg’s surface. Little feet from inside helped free itself, and a squeaky, weak little wail echoed off the walls.

“Oh my goodness,” Cloud cooed in response, helping Sephiroth gently remove egg shards from the baby’s soft skin. This little one didn’t have much hair to speak of, but managed to fill the room with noise from its tiny lungs. When he was picked up however, something slithered from behind him and went straight into his mouth.

The tails. Sephiroth glanced at the first baby, and saw one wriggling around on the scale next to it.

He hadn’t even noticed the tail. He looked back down at the little wiggly baby before him, shards of his eggshell still sticking to his damp skin. The infant was sucking on his tail contentedly, so obviously comforted by this extra appendage that Sephiroth felt deep shame in his former conviction to have them removed. Among other regretful thoughts, of course.

But those thoughts seemed unrecognizably foreign to Sephiroth now that he was actually seeing the painful little masses that had developed inside him and forced their way out into the world. After the total shock of seeing his first son, he allowed himself a clearer look at the second. With his toothless mouth full of his own tail, the baby’s little hands moved around clumsily, seeming to want to touch everything and nothing.

Every motion and tiny sound it created made Sephiroth love it more. These children were going to complete his life, not end it. Sephiroth picked his second son up and pressed him against his chest. It was the best he could do to hug something so small.

Cloud brushed his fingers through the fuzzy pale hair on the top of the baby’s head, and both fathers smiled when it turned towards the touch curiously. Sephiroth very carefully handed it… him over to Aerith. He was given a yellow bracelet and handled with utmost care as his health was verified.

Next was egg number three, and although it took great personal effort, Sephiroth handed it to Cloud. “You open it.”

Cloud held it and attempted to let it drop as Sephiroth did with the first one, but found it impossible. Instead, he did knocked on the shell’s delicate surface carefully, and they found that it housed an extremely eager little white-blonde boy.

Still halfway inside the egg, he grabbed onto Cloud’s fingers and refused to be shaken off. Sephiroth and Cloud laughed at this, and in a way they never had before. It was a new sound to come out of their mouths, full of love and wonder for something they made together.

“Let go,” Cloud laughed softly, finally breaking free of the infant’s intense grip. He picked up him and the little boy wanted to grab everything, apparently so excited to be free that he wanted to learn everything in the world all at once. He grabbed Cloud’s clothes, his hair, Sephiroth’s fingers, even a lock of his father’s silver hair fell into this path and he yanked it harshly. Cloud kissed his son’s small, squinty face before he was given a red bracelet and passed on to a freshly scrubbed Zack.

Zack looked ecstatic to receive the small wonder. “Look at you! You’re so cute! You’re even cuter than I am – ow! That’s my hair!”

The baby tormented Zack with his grabby hands and feet. Even his little tail whipped around to smack Zack in the face.

Sephiroth leaned down to whisper against Cloud’s temple. “That’s the one we should name after Zack.”

“I like it,” Cloud grinned, and humble cracked the fourth egg. It housed a silver haired little boy, this one very upset at being disturbed. When his egg home was invaded, he tried to hide behind his little flailing hands and be forgotten by the world.

Cloud brushed the remains of the egg off of him, “Oh my. We have a little grumpy butt here, don’t we? Just like your big daddy, huh?”

The baby didn’t seem to appreciate that comparison and continued to wail with an infant’s delicate hoarseness. Sephiroth never thought such a noise would be so precious, but smiled wider as the child’s octave rose. The baby was extremely discontent – until Cloud finally picked him up. Only then did he settle peacefully, and picked up fussiness right away when handed over to Aerith.

She gave him a blue bracelet and a kiss to the head, and he seemed to settle down a little.

“Four boys,” Cloud whispered as they both looked at the last uncracked egg. “So… that’s gotta be our little princess.”

Sephiroth looked at the egg – a small number five denoted in black ink on her shell. The last one to come out, the last one to be opened. He felt something odd pull at his heart when he picked it up. It caused his eyes to widen, and there was urgency as he cracked open the delicate shell.

There was nothing in the last egg. It was completely empty, save for a thick, gushing drizzle of viscous fluid.

“Fuck,” Sephiroth blurted. “What…?”

Cloud felt his stomach drop in mourning. Aerith was standing next to them, waiting with a pink blanket. She was frozen, and Zack paused too when he caught onto the tension in the room.

Sephiroth’s breaths were quick, and before he could say anything else, Cloud took the pink blanket and covered the broken, empty egg with it. “It’s okay, Seph – ”

“No it isn’t. Mom said four boys, and a girl.” Sephiroth turned to Aerith in heartbroken despair. “Am I done? Was that all? Were there more inside me?”

Aerith shook her head, “No, Seph… you only had five eggs…”

“Do an ultrasound,” Sephiroth ordered, hardly noticing that he had begun to pace, to stalk around in frustration. He felt hurt, he felt cheated, he felt suspicious. “Do it now. Then I want every fucking inch of this place searched. You’re not keeping one of my kids to lock up and fuck up like you did me!”

“I’ve been working here less than a year, Seph. I haven’t done anything to you! I’m on your side, you can’t see that?” Aerith was truly hurt. After all of the petty verbal abuse she’d put up with from Sephiroth lately, this accusation was beyond what her heart could handle.

He wouldn’t hear it though, “The rest of them know, you said in the very beginning you tried to tell them about it. You said they weren’t interested in me anymore… I don’t fucking believe that! The lab team should have been all over this from minute one and they weren’t because they knew I’d fucking kill them for trying to take my kids! Don’t you think for a second I won’t kill you right now!”

Zack stepped forward a little bit, “Relax, Seph – ”

Aerith cut Zack off with a heavily wavering voice. “I’ve been with you through all of this. They denied involvement in this project and haven’t asked about it since then. I’m telling you the truth, I’m the only doctor assigned to you and I… I love you, I love Cloud, and I love your babies. Do you honestly believe I’d – ”

“Yes, I do! I don’t trust you! You work here, why would I ever trust you?! For all I know this is some fucking trap!”

Cloud touched Sephiroth’s arm. “Honey. Please. Calm down and think for a second. Please.”

The only thing that made Sephiroth pause for a breath was the sound of the fourth boy beginning to cry again. He looked at the four of them, swaddled separately in small cribs, and lowered his voice. He spoke to Aerith as civilly as he could manage, “I just…want an ultrasound. I need to see.”

Aerith nodded, and wiped her eyes. “Right away.”

“Do you want me to come with you?” Cloud whispered, touching Sephiroth’s hand.

“No. Stay with them,” Sephiroth murmured, eying the entire room suspiciously, and then followed Aerith out.

Zack frowned as he watched the two of them leave. Once they were gone, he took a step towards Cloud. “… Are you okay?”

Cloud didn’t think twice before he approached Zack and grabbed him tightly. “I know this is really gay, but I just need you to hold me for like one minute. Please?”

“Long as you need,” Zack murmured. He rested his cheek on top of Cloud’s hair, feeling the emotional exhaustion his small friend was feeling. He cleared his throat. “But yeah, this is pretty gay.”

Cloud gave him a small laugh, only because he knew Zack was expecting it. But there was no humor in his voice as he murmured, “… Does an empty egg count as a death?”

Zack shook his head, “Hell no. It was just a dud, a blank. Not death, Cloud. Just not life, either.”

A shade of gray. Cloud nodded against his chest, feeling better. Zack pulled him towards the direction where plenty of new life was waiting to be loved. “Come on. Check your kids out.”

That statement made Cloud’s spine tingle with both excitement and fear. He approached slowly where each blue little bundle was resting. Aerith and Zack had written their weights, lengths and order of appearance. They all seemed to be around five pounds. The longest one was only 14 inches. Cloud was amazed that these tiny creatures were actually people.

He lifted the yellow-braceleted one out, and the baby huffed in his sleep and shifted. Like his brothers, the child’s features were punctuated by infancy, but Cloud could easily tell that this one resembled Sephiroth.

That was no surprise, but he wanted more info. So with two fingers, Cloud forced the little thing’s eye open.

Pale mint green with a piercing cat slit.

The little boy did not like this, and turned his head away and hid in the folds of Cloud’s smock. Cloud lifted him up to press a kiss against his forehead, and laid him back down. He then smiled and went to each boy one by one to steal a peek at his eyes. Two bright, sparkling baby blues, and one with a gorgeously complex ocean green which Cloud just had to pry open twice to fully appreciate. Despite the variances, they all had inherited Sephiroth’s characteristic pupils.

Cloud knew babies’ eyes usually changed, but he hoped they kept that slit, and were proud of who their father was…and what agony he went through for them.

Zack was poking at them all carefully, feeling little hands and soft baby fuzz. “They mutated from your sperm, Cloud.”

Cloud giggled. “I know. Who knew my sperm could be so cute?”

Zack made a gagging noise and they laughed again, but stopped abruptly when Sephiroth reappeared in the doorway with Aerith. There were worlds and universes of anguish displayed on Sephiroth’s beautiful face, but Cloud knew that they best thing to do wouldn’t be to comfort him over the loss of a potential child.

Instead, he called to him. “Come here, Seph. Look.”

Sephiroth’s eyes fell on the towel that was covering their fruitless egg. Cloud bit his lip, wondering if he should have gotten rid of it while Sephiroth was out of the room. But the empty little egg wasn’t garbage. They would handle it together, later.

Sephiroth schooled his features as he looked away from the towel, and approached Cloud and his four sons. Cloud reached up and cupped the back of Sephiroth’s neck, pulling the taller man down into a hug. “I love you.”

“You, too,” Sephiroth almost muttered, but pressed a kiss to his ear. Then he paused for a moment, trying to find words. Finally, he whispered, “Are you disappointed?”

“No!” Cloud whispered back, hugging him even tighter.

“Are you sure?” he pressed, needing his lover’s verification that he wasn’t a failure, that he didn’t somehow murder one of their children with his own stubbornness. What if he didn’t eat enough to nourish her? What if he didn’t rest enough and she couldn’t handle it? What if he sucked in for too long and ruined her chance at thriving? What if she simply spirited herself away because of his ignorant hatred towards her?

Sephiroth would suffer from this loss for an incredibly long time. Cloud knew that. And he would mourn the thought of having a daughter, but he was too incredibly grateful for his sons that he didn’t have room inside himself to feel that sadness right then.

“How could I ever be disappointed, Sephiroth?” he whispered. “You gave us such a pretty family.”

“…Then there’s nothing to be sorry for,” Sephiroth said after looking at his sleeping boys for a moment. “Jesus, they all look just like you.”

“And you,” Cloud smiled, giving Sephiroth a lingering kiss. “They have your eyes, Seph.”

Sephiroth let him go slowly. Zack and Aerith had distanced themselves and made busy with the red tape and documentation across the room. Cloud wrapped an arm around his lover’s waist, making sure to cop a discreet feel of his temporary love handles, and led him to the cribs. “So, we need to fill out birth certificates, right? We know that the red bracelet is named Zack.”

Zack’s eyes shot up and he balked, “What? Oh shit, guys. You don’t really have to do that!”

“Shut up,” Sephiroth told him. “His name is Zack. Not Zach, with an ‘h’, though.”

Cloud nodded and touched his son… Zack. “I love that name.”

Sephiroth smirked. It disappeared almost immediately, but Cloud caught it and wasn’t about to let go, “Ah. What was that smile?”

“Hm,” Sephiroth tried to suppress it but it returned. “I like the name Thomas.”

“Yeah?” Cloud urged.

“Baldy,” Sephiroth smiled, touching his son with the yellow bracelet and the least amount of silver fuzz. “He kind of looks like Tommy Pickles.”

“Did you really just make that reference?” Zack groaned.

Cloud laughed, “Thomas is a great name. Tom. Tommy. I like it.”

“Thomas Edison,” Aerith nodded. “A great man.”

Cloud clapped his hands, “I’ve been thinking about a name, too.”

Sephiroth smirked, “It better not be stupid.”

“It’s not,” Cloud elbowed him. “Do you like the name Jamie?”

“As in James?” Sephiroth tilted his head.

“No, just Jamie.” Cloud touched the one with the green bracelet, their very first son. “I think it’s a sweet name. Do you like it?”

“Jamie,” Sephiroth practiced. “I think James is more solid. We could always just call him Jamie at home”

“If we call him Jamie, why not name him Jamie?” Cloud pressed.

“I just wrote Jamie on the birth certificate,” Aerith called.

“Yes!” Cloud pumped a fist and laughed when Sephiroth flicked his forehead.

“…I’ll get used to it,” he grumbled happily, looking down at his first little mutant and reaching in to stroke his soft cheek and the tiny bump of his nose. He had to admit, it was a cute name that oddly suited the little boy. “Jamie.”

“Alright Aerith, weigh in on the last one,” Cloud grinned, touching the ear of their second little angel who was sleeping with his tail still held firmly in his mouth. For fun, Cloud attempted to pull it out, but it slipped right back in the moment he let go.

She shook her head while she continued to document the newborns. “I really don’t want that responsibility.”

“C’mon! We all got to name one. Give us an idea,” Cloud urged.

Aerith put her pen down and cupped her chin. “…Edward.”

“Eh,” Cloud and Sephiroth said simultaneously.

She then offered, “If not that, then definitely Jacob.”

“Did you seriously just make that reference?” Zack shook his head and turn in his seat. “Please ask me to name the last one.”

“Zack, name the last one,” Sephiroth ordered.

“Easily done. Cloud, what’s your grandfather’s name?”

“Finneas.”

“There you go!” Zack roared with laughter.

“Fuck that!” Sephiroth balked, then quieted down when one of the boys began to cry at the disturbance.

“There’s nothing wrong with my Grandpa’s name!” Cloud defended. “There’s just nothing right with it, either.”

“Okay, I thought of another one,” Aerith announced. “Lucas.”

Both Sephiroth and Cloud paused and looked at each other. Cloud spoke first, “That’s an adorable name, Aerith.”

“It’s settled,” she smiled. “I wrote it down.”

“Zack… Tommy… Jamie… and Lucas,” Cloud practiced.

“Normal names,” Sephiroth said, almost relieved. “Except for Jamie, of course.”

“Hey!” Cloud laughed, covering Jamie’s tiny ears. “Don’t tease him. He has enough to deal with, already.”

“Ain’t that the truth,” Zack chimed.

“I can already tell they’ll be heartthrobs,” Aerith cooed. “They’re gorgeous.”

Sephiroth laughed, but something was pulling at his heart. He didn’t know how else to say it except to just come out and say it. “I think they’re hungry.”

Cloud couldn’t help but glance at Sephiroth’s flat, toned chest. “What do we give them?”

“Formula,” Aerith said, leaving Zack with the paperwork to finish. “I’ll show you how to make it.”

There was a break room in their closed off hallway, with a small kitchenette. Aerith explained that their children were not premature, but the formula for babies that were would be best, considering their small size. She prepared formula on the small stove, showing Cloud and Sephiroth the procedure and the do’s and don’ts. They learned how to sterilize the bottles and nipples by boiling them, how to ensure that the formula heated evenly, and how to carefully pour it into clean bottle bags.

“This shit stinks so bad,” Sephiroth complained as he carefully screwed on the cap to his bottle.

“Get used to it,” Aerith advised. “You’re going to be making this every few hours for the next several months.”

“Shit,” Sephiroth grumbled. They checked the bottles on their wrists to be certain that the formula was neither too hot nor too cold. Then reentered the delivery room to find Zack cuddling the yellow braceleted one – Tommy.

He looked up with a smile, “Good, it’s meal time! They’re all getting pretty grouchy. Well, grouchier in this one’s case.”

Aerith handed Zack one of the bottles, and like a natural father he held the child securely with one arm while running the nipple over the baby’s lips. Tommy became curious and eventually took a hold of it, and then began to drink hungrily.

They each took a newborn at that point and did the same thing. Soon, the room was filled with the sounds of suckling. Cloud was feeding Lucas, Sephiroth held Little Zack, and Aerith was cooing down at Jamie while he drank.

After a few moments Zack announced, “Everyone stop your engines. Time for the fun part!” He held Tommy against his shoulder and tapped on his back until a tiny, satisfied burp came from the infant. “Score! You gotta stop every once in a while to burp them.”

“That’s so fucking cute,” Sephiroth chuckled, much to everyone’s surprise. He moved Little Zack to his shoulder, eager to try burping for himself. Cloud and Aerith joined in until all babies had burped, and they resumed feeding.

Only Lucas finished his entire feeding, the rest turned their heads away and refused to latch on once they were satisfied. Then, each one passed another adorable little bit of gas before falling into a deep slumber. Aerith decided to be cautious and hooked up monitoring devices to each babies’ finger to ensure their heart rates continued throughout the night.

They were all utterly exhausted. Totally, irrevocably, and supremely exhausted. The gentle beeping of the babies’ heart rates only added to this, and Sephiroth closed his eyes and actually began to doze off while standing up.

Aerith had prepared for this, too. There was a small but comfortable bed on wheels in the next room, and she and Zack pushed it in close to the cribs. Sephiroth was on it in an instant, and grumbled from the pillows, “Kill the lights.”

Cloud crawled up next to him and grunted in agreement, too fatigued for words. Aerith shut off the main light, and touched Sephiroth’s shoulder. “I’ll be back in about four hours. Call me if you need anything, okay?”

Sephiroth nodded up at her, and held her eyes for a moment. “Thank you.”

Aerith smiled. “You did great today.”

“I know,” Sephiroth agreed, and his eyes swept closed. Aerith took Zack’s hand and practically dragged him away from the slumbering babies, giving them and the new fathers some privacy. She locked the door behind them, and left a silence that was only punctuated with low beeps to ensure that their children’s hearts maintained a healthy beat.

Cloud embraced Sephiroth in the dim lab. He had so much to say, but Sephiroth was already out cold. He kissed his cheek and slept with one ear open, waiting for any sound from their babies.

A/N

1. The gang’s all here! Story isn’t over yet, though. Sephiroth and Cloud have a lot to learn as new parents, don’t they? And I’m sure there’s more story left to be told also. I’m just not sure how old I want to let them get, so don’t expect THE LIFE STORY OF THE KITTENS AND THEIR KITTENS AND SO FORTH, but there is still plenty more to come.

2. You’d do well not to correct my fake science. Also, my fake parenting – I researched as much as I could stand to. If I had it my way, they would have made the kittens peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to eat.
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