Surprise!

Tifa released a moan as droplet after droplet of delicious fluid ran down her chin, threatening to stain her clothes. One of her fingers moved to gather it all and deliver it to her waiting lips, sucking it into her mouth immediately. She enjoyed the taste for a little longer, before swallowing.

Her tongue darted out and brushed over her lips while her eyes were closed in absolute bliss.

A chuckle from in front of her made her wake from her little trance, and she opened her eyes to see Cloud resting his chin on the palm of his hand, watching her.

"That good?" he asked with an amused tone in his voice.

Tifa could only nod and take another bite.

This was probably the best burger she's ever had!

She never thought that Johnny had it in him!

"Glad you like it," the redhead said from behind the counter. "Was an idea from the missus. Said I should branch out a little. The recipe is actually from her."

"Think I could have it?" Tifa asked after swallowing another bite.

Johnny looked a little torn at her question, but ultimately shook his head. "Sorry. Family secret and all that."

"Aww..." her shoulders slumped a little, but she soon returned her attention to the delicious food in front of her.

"Don't worry," Cloud said, dipping one of his fries into the ketchup. "I'll get you one whenever you want."

You better! Tifa thought.

"I have to say, this was a surprise though," Johnny said and walked over to give them their drinks. "I wasn't really expecting you two."

"I was...kinda hungry." She felt her face flush a little at the admittance. After they left Dr. Ritzmann's place, and the initial surprise at their discovery that she wasn't carrying one but two babies inside her subsided, Tifa had come down with a sudden craving to get something absolutely greasy.

"I'll say." Johnny chuckled. "You're putting away way more than usual, though."

His words were followed by him pointing not only at the burger in her hands, but at the plate filled with fries resting right in front of her, making Cloud's look small in comparison.

She opened her mouth, but no words came as she didn't know what to tell him.

"We had something to do and kinda skipped out on breakfast," Cloud said, coming to her rescue.

"That's not good, bro. Breakfast's the most important meal of the day," Johnny then said to him, and Tifa could see Cloud's eyes roll at the word bro. He had long since given up on trying to get Johnny to stop calling him that, but it was still annoying to him slightly to this day.

She sent Cloud a grateful smile that was partly hidden behind her burger. The corner of his lips quirked upward, before turning his attention fully to Johnny.

Tifa listened to them talking for a moment but soon felt her attention wane as she got lost in thought. One of her hands lowered itself to rest on her abdomen.

They would have to tell everyone soon. She couldn't keep it a secret for much longer; especially not with two bundles of joy now on the way.

And she knew that it was killing Denzel and Marlene to keep it a secret from their friends.

Yes, it was time to tell everyone. But...

Family first, she told herself as she turned her attention back towards her food.

After she had finished her meal, Cloud and she said their goodbyes to Johnny with a promise to come visit again soon.

The drive back home was spent in comfortable silence with Tifa resting her head against Cloud's back, closing her eyes and listening to the sound of Fenrir, the passing wind and Cloud's heartbeat; simply enjoying this fleeting moment of peace.

But that, too, had to eventually come to an end as they stopped in front of 7th Heaven.

"Well, into the lion's den," Cloud said wryly while pulling the key out of the armature.

"Aww, it won't be that bad." Tifa giggled. "They weren't asking too many questions after my last appointment."

"You say that now, but we got pictures," he pointed out.

Tifa pulled the pictures out and looked at them again, eyes focused on the tiny shapes of the babies. A tiny smile formed on her lips as she tried to imagine how the two would react. Probably confused at first at what they were seeing, then the questions would start.

...

Now she wasn't so sure it wouldn't be that bad.

"Well, maybe they'll occupy them for a while?" she offered hopefully, but she didn't really believe it herself.

Cloud let out a little chuckle as they got off the bike. "Knock on wood."

They walked over to the door and Cloud gave her one of his little smiles, his hand going to the door handle. He nodded at her one last time before opening the door—

"Surprise!" a multitude of voices greeted them.

—only to be ambushed by everyone.

And with everyone, she meant the entire crew.

Cid and Barret were the first she spotted, sitting at one of the tables closest to the door, a board game set up between the two of them. Shera was seated near them, together with Reeve who had actually shown up personally.

...Unless this was one of his more elaborate robots he has been talking about. She really wouldn't put it past him.

Yuffie was standing behind the bar, pouring herself a drink, while Vincent, ever the quiet one, was sitting by himself in a corner, crimson eyes trained on Cloud and herself, while Red was quietly lying on the ground.

Tifa stood rooted to the spot in shock, mouth agape at the sight. She had expected Denzel and Marlene to be rushing them in excitement, not...the entire circus.

"G-Guys..." was all Cloud managed to say before his hand was grasped by Denzel's tinier one while hers was taken by Marlene, and the two dragged them inside. Where did they suddenly appear from?

"What are you all doing here?" Tifa asked after she finally managed to shake off her stupor.

"What do you think?" Cid shot back with a snort, turning back towards the board game.

"Cid!" Shera shook her head, then sent them a smile. "We heard you were expecting and wanted to surprise you."

No kidding... Tifa thought.

"Yeah. Congrats!" Cid said and rose from the chair, walking over to Cloud. His hand went towards his pocket to produce a small case from it. As he opened it, Tifa could already smell the strong, sharp scent of aged tobacco before the pilot held out one of its contents to Cloud.

A cigar.

"Uh...no thanks," Cloud said.

"Cid!"

"What?" He whirled around to face his wife. "Let the man enjoy himself."

"More like let you enjoy yourself," Shera replied, crossing her arms in front of her chest, causing Cid to grumble.

Any other day, Tifa would have found this exchange amusing, especially ever since getting together with the man, Shera wasn't afraid to speak her mind to him. But right now she had more pressing matters.

"Who told you?" she asked, her eyes going immediately to Denzel and Marlene, who both shook their heads.

"It was all Daddy's idea," Marlene said. Tifa's gaze turned towards Barret, who was avoiding looking at her while scratching the back of his head. Narrowing her eyes just a fraction, she made a silent promise to herself to have a serious word with him later.

"How did it go? Did you see the baby?" Denzel asked.

"Yeah, did ya?" Tifa heard Yuffie's voice from right next to her before she felt something being snatched from her hand.

The ultrasound! She tried to make a grab for it, but Yuffie was much faster, and in an uncharacteristically graceful display of her ninja training, dodged to the side.

"Now let's see here," the ninja muttered with a grin and looked at the first picture. The corners of her lips soon fell as her eyes grew wide before taking a look at the next picture, followed by the last one. Yuffie's eyes darted from the ultrasound towards Tifa.

Yuffie gaped at her for a moment, then started squealing and all but jumped her, gathering her in a tight hug.

"Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh!"

"Yuffie..." Tifa breathed in surprise.

"The hell is going on!?" Cid asked and reached over to take the ultrasound pictures from Yuffie. He looked at each of them, nodded, then tilted his head to the side. "What am I looking at here?"

"May I?" Shera, who had risen to her feet and walked over to them, asked.

"Sure," Cid replied and handed them over to his wife. Tifa looked at Cloud, who had a look of painful resignation on his face that she was sure she was mirroring right now.

"Oh, my!" Shera exclaimed after taking a look. "This is wonderful!"

"What?" Barret asked now. "What's so wonderful?"

"It's—"

"Twins!" Tifa interjected before Shera could finish her sentence. Damn it if she wasn't the one to reveal it to the rest. "We're — Yuffie, stop that! — we're expecting twins!"

"No way..." Barret got to his feet and walked towards them to peek over Shera's shoulder.

Cid grinned and looked at Cloud, before throwing his arm around his neck and pulling him closer. "Who woulda thought you got it in you? Congrats, you lucky bastard!"

Cloud just looked like he wanted to sink into the ground right then and there, but she could also spot a hint of a smirk on his lips.

Tifa finally managed to untangle herself from Yuffie, and took a deep breath to fight down that hormonal anger building up inside her. After she was sure that she wouldn't explode on them, Tifa turned towards Shera and held out her hand to quietly ask for the pictures back. Once she had received them, she knelt down to finally show them to Marlene and Denzel.

"See? These are the babies," she explained to them over the sound of the others congratulating Cloud, pointing at the two shapes.

"They look weird," Denzel commented with a tilt of his head, making Tifa giggle.

"That's because they're still growing. They're still this small." She held her index finger and thumb apart to roughly the size of a cherry.

"Wow..."

Next to him, Marlene beamed from ear to ear as she looked down on the one that Tifa had handed her. The little girl turned to look at Vincent and Red, who were the only ones to remain seated and walked over to show them the babies as well.

Tifa could have sworn she saw the fraction of a smile forming on Vincent's lips as he leaned down to take a closer look.

She rose back up and looked over to the small crowd that had formed around Cloud, still congratulating and teasing him good-naturedly. A chuckle escaped her when he tried and failed to escape the playful headlock that Barret was subjecting him to.

"Now that's a surprise," Tifa heard Reeve say as he approached her with a smile. "Congratulations."

"Thanks," she replied, tugging a lock of hair behind her ear. "It's nice to see you in person...right?"

Reeve laughed and nodded. "Couldn't just send a bot to an occasion like this, could I?"

Tifa watched as the older man walked over to Cloud, who had finally escaped Barret's grip, and congratulated him as well.

A small pang went through her chest suddenly, and she swallowed hard as her throat tightened.

...She needed some space. Right now.

Her eyes landed on Denzel, who glanced up at her.

"Can you keep watch for a minute?" she asked him, trying to keep her voice steady. "I need to go upstairs."

"Sure." The boy nodded. She gave him another smile before she ventured behind the counter and from there upstairs. As soon as she had made it to their private area, Tifa closed her eyes and rested her back against the wall.

She remained there for a moment, simply listening to the sounds from downstairs, before heading into the bathroom to splash her face with a little bit of water to fight that sudden wave of emotions.

After drying her face, Tifa went into their bedroom and laid down on the bed, making a grab for Cloud's pillow, holding it to her face and inhaling deeply.

With each breath she took, she felt herself slowly calming down, Cloud's scent soothing her nerves like a cooling balm on sunburned skin.

Her eyes fell closed and she was ready to just drift off when the sound of something akin to a voice being cleared made her jump back awake. Tifa pulled the pillow away and saw none other than Red sitting in the doorway.

"I'm not interrupting you, am I?" he asked.

She looked surprised for a second before she slipped on the same mask of a smile that, to her own shame, she had mastered when things between Cloud and her had been so bad that they had upset Marlene. "No, of course not."

"You know, that would be more convincing if I couldn't smell that you're upset," he said, crossing the distance between them and sitting down on the floor in front of the bed. The flame on his tail moved easily over the carpeted floor and for a moment Tifa was afraid it might catch fire.

A small snort escaped her as she sat up, still hugging the pillow tightly against her chest. "Of course you'd notice..." she muttered.

He chuckled, then looked at her. "Wanna talk about it?"

Tifa took a deep breath, inhaling some more of Cloud's scent, then slowly nodded. Red looked at her with his single eye, patiently waiting for her to start.

"I'm only partly upset. I'm also happy, but this isn't really how I imagined telling you guys," she finally said.

"I see," Red replied. "Then allow me to apologize for us all. We shouldn't just have barged in like that."

"Don't." Tifa shook her head. "It's fine. I'm just..."

"Overwhelmed?"

"Yeah. I only learned I'm not going to have one but two babies, and here you all are before I could fully prepare myself."

"I suppose..." Red tilted his head sideways as if searching for the right words. "We were getting a little too eager when we heard. It was hard not getting infected by the cheer when the news traveled to us."

"Even Vincent?" she couldn't help but ask.

"Even him."

They shared a laugh, and Tifa could feel herself relax with every passing second.

"I can't really imagine how it must feel," Red then said. "It's definitely something that will change your lives. But Tifa..."

He looked her in the eye, the corners of his snout curling into a smile. "If anyone can do it, it's going to be you two. And you're not alone. Denzel and Marlene will be there to help you. Everyone in this house right now will be there to help you."

Tifa was hit by another wave of emotion, and she had to bite her bottom lip to keep it from quivering. The pillow that she was holding was quickly abandoned, as she found herself sliding off the bed and onto the ground where she didn't waste any time to pull Red into a tight hug.

A sound of surprise escaped him, but he didn't pull away as she held onto him. His body was warm, much warmer than any human would be, and his fur smelled of the wind and desert that he called home. Strange, but no less comforting.

"You too?" Tifa asked.

She felt his mane tickle the side of her head as he nodded. "Of course."

"Thank you," Tifa murmured into his fur.

"Anytime," he replied.

They remained like this for a moment longer, before she let go of him.

"Ready to face the music?" he asked after she rose back to her feet.

The sound of Barret and Cid's friendly squabbling echoed up from downstairs, soon followed by the sound of Marlene chastising both of them.

The two of them shared another laugh.

"Yeah. Let's go."

Together, they both went downstairs, where things seemed to have calmed down some. She saw that Barret and Cid had returned to their game, while Yuffie, Shera, and the kids had sat down at the bar, still looking at the pictures and talking among themselves.

She spotted Cloud sitting together with Reeve and Vincent in a quiet conversation.

Tifa shared one last smile with Red, before clapping into her hands to get everyone's attention.

"Alright, guys, who's hungry?"

Dammit Barret, you had ONE job, and you let Yuffie know!

But it gave me an excuse to write Tifa and Red interacting, so you're forgiven. Also can I just say I love how Johnny's like Bro/Aniki towards Cloud in the Remake?

So there, now the entire Cir—Crew knows now. Let's see what's gonna happen next. See ya!