Secrets of a Roughwood (Vincent ValentineXOC) Romance

Chapter 2

Reece POV

The silence remained strong for several minutes until Tifa finally spoke up. "Is…. this true…?" I knew that she already knew the answer to that question but she had to say something. Anything to break that dreadful quiet. I was happy she did. "Yes…unfortunately…" I rubbed the back of my neck and glanced at Vincent. He stood there unmoving and staring at Lucy. Lucy however paid no mind. Her thoughts were on the sugar packets that decorated each table of the bar. She had several packets in each hand, shaking them relentlessly and throwing most to the floor. "I… I am sorry to spring this on you, without any warning. I guess there isn't really a best way to…present this kind of information."

Tifa took her own glance at Vincent, before looking at me directly. "Who did this? I know it wasn't Shinra…was it?" I shook my head. "Deepground. We escaped a year ago." Tifa looked confused. "A year? But…they were destroyed in 0010…that was 3 years ago!" I cocked my head to the side and looked confused myself. That couldn't be…wait…yes it could… I closed my eyes as realization finally hit me.
"Now it all makes sense…" I muttered under my breath. "I was relocated a few years back, I'm guessing 3 years to be exact. I was moved to an underground location in Nibelheim." At this, Vincent looked at me and my breath hitched in my throat. "That can't be…I went back to Shinra's Manor before Deepground was destroyed…there was nothing." I shrugged my shoulders. "Mustv'e missed ya…I was there…Believe me, I wish I was making this up."

Tifa chimed in. "Look at the dates on these papers. They didn't continue experiments til 0011. They must have been hiding out, waiting for the world to become distracted by normalcy again." Vincent glanced at the papers then slowly took them back in his hands. He looked over the papers one more time before handing them back to me. Once again we were engulfed in silence.

This was killing me. I expected him to yell, fuss, accuse me of lying. I had built this whole exchange up in my head for over a year now. I had lost so much sleep over the entire ordeal and kept going over what I would say in my mind. I never expected him to be so silent. I had to have some kind of reaction so I could know what to do.

"I know this is a lot to take in, but I need to know what we should do." I said and looked back over at my restless toddler. Lucy was getting sleepy and I realized she had not had a nap yet. "Also, I need to know where to go. I tried to get a room at the inn, but the owner said there wasn't anything left. The restaurant was closed too and I think Lucy is gonna need more than my milk eventually and maybe a softer bed than the truck."

Tifa looked at me horrified. "Did you two sleep in a truck last night?" "Yeah we usually do if I can't find anything else. Do you know where we could get a room? I think she needs a nap." Tifa rushed over to me and grabbed me by the hand, something I was not used to. "Dear Heavens, come with me. You can stay here. You can't run around with a baby in a truck all the time. I'll fix you some food too."

I recoiled from her touch as she attempted to pull me towards her stairs. "I don't mean to bother anyone…" I started, but Tifa held up her hand. "Please. I have been rude enough to you and for that I apologize. I can't let you and Vincent's child sleep in a truck." My heart skipped a beat at that sentence and I realized that Vincent's must have too, for at that he jumped into action. The man turned on his heels and without a second glance went out the door.

I watched him leave and picked up my daughter. Now this, I expected. I was just happy he had finally had some sort of a reaction. "Don't worry, he will be back", Tifa said to me and led me up the stairs to a spare room. "Will this do at getting her to sleep?" I shook my head yes and turned towards Tifa. "Thank you so much…I really didn't expect anyone to be nice to us. Especially reach out their home to us." With that I smiled and walked into the room and we were left to our privacy.