Dear Cloud,

I have waited way to long to tell you these things, but now that it seems that this family we have is finally beginning to come together I feel I need to let you know.

I am absolutely and completely head over heals in love with you. I have been since the first time I ever met you… no saw you… so many years ago. I don't know if you return my feelings and I guess that I don't really care anymore, I just needed to get this off my chest! You still haven't gotten over Aeris and… I guess you may never. But that's okay because… because… I will still be here no matter what you say to me and no matter how you feel about me. I just wish you could let go of the past that really is the only thing keeping us from being as a real family.

You should know that Denzel calls me Mom now, well at least every once and awhile. Me! I'm considered a mom! But he wonders; he wonders why you still decide to leave so much, and you can't seem to call this place, where your family is, "Home." I wonder too; I wonder will this place always just be "The Bar" to you, or will you stop being everybody's delivery boy and settle down here.

We want you to call this home Cloud, because to tell you the truth, it wouldn't be home to any of us if you didn't come back here.

I'm not saying you have to love me back, I guess what I'm trying to say is… please just stay home, here with our family. This family that always thinks about you. This family that is always there for you. This family that LOVES you. I can not bear to think of what will happen to this family if you leave and never come back.

Don't dwell in the past Cloud, it's not healthy. The only way you will ever be able to move on will be if you forgive yourself. It's not your fault Cloud and you can't change the past so please just look to the future.

Forgive and forget.

I love you.

-Tifa

Tifa stared down at the letter she had just written, her normally beautiful handwriting looked like chicken scratch now. If only she could get her hands to stop shaking. If only she could stop the tears that he weld up behind her eyes and wanted to destroy her years with out shedding tears. Break the resolve that she had kept them behind all of these years just to look strong. Fuck it all, in the end she was still a girl, no matter how much she hated dresses and makeup she would still always be a girl and her emotions will still always get the better of her. But cut her some slack, she had just poured her heart out onto a piece of paper.

Once the tears began to fall there was no stopping them, they were like a dam that had been on the brink of breaking for years and just finally crumbled sending the city below it into complete and utter turmoil. She wanted to hit someone or something, anything, she just needed to get this anger, this frustration, this sadness out of her system! Why had she let herself bottle all of this up for so damn long? Why had she hid these feeling she held for Cloud for so long even when she knew that it would do this to her? Why? Why did she hurt herself so badly?

It took her hours to pull herself together and stop crying, to be able to breathe correctly again and to be able to see. Tifa read over the letter she had written over and over again, but refused to pick the pen next to her up and cross anything out or rewrite any of the letter. She knew that if she did that the letter would no longer have any meaning to it, it would be forced and it would be wrong. Instead of "I love you" there would be a "clean your socks" and instead of a "move on" there would be a "eat more." Tifa knew that she would never be able to bring herself to write another letter like this. Pouring ones heart out was something that was limited and doing it twice in one day was almost impossible.

She knew that Cloud wouldn't be home for a good few days she folded the letter up and left it on her desk, she wouldn't think about it again until the day Cloud was suppose to get back. That way she wouldn't be able to change her mind when she decided to give it to him. She would just walk right up to him and hand him the letter, than it would be all up to him whether he wanted to read or not. God that sounded a lot easier than it really would be.

The next few days were completely normal for Tifa. She ran the bar (only having to kick a few people out for grabbing her ass and she made sure Denzel and Marlene didn't get themselves into any trouble, of course they didn't cause any trouble anyway. There were no unusual events at Seventh Heaven and that just made Tifa's entire life run a whole lot smoother.

Of course that all changed the day Cloud was suppose to come home again. It had started out like any other day. Tifa got up and opened up Seventh Heaven, getting it ready for the days customers when Denzel and Marlene came running down.

Denzel was overly happy that day and Tifa couldn't seem to figure out why until the boy shouted. "Cloud's coming home today Tifa!" He sounded so happy talking about his adoptive father and his favorite role model.

Tifa's heart stopped beating for a moment when she heard what Denzel had said, but never the less she smiled and gave a small nod to the young boy. "Yep, he is… maybe you and Marlene should go out make something special for when he gets back,

Denzel seemed completely confused, why would Tifa want them to go outside on the day that Cloud came home. None of them knew when he would be back. Marlene who seemed to get that Tifa wanted them to go outside just smiled at her adoptive mother and grabbed Denzel's arm pulling the confused boy out of the bar.

A small breath escaped Tifa's lips as the children left the bar and she ran up stairs to grab her letter. When she came back down to the bar she read it over a few more times before sighing and looking to the ceiling.

She hadn't heard the door of the Bar open and she hadn't seen the spiky haired young man walk through the door. That's why it was a surprise when she heard the low voice break through her thoughts; "Tifa?"

Eyes wide Tifa looked to the entrance to see Cloud staring at her, but he wasn't staring at her, he was staring at the letter she was holding in her hands. A light blush made its way across Tifa's face as she crumbled the letter up and threw it in the trashcan next to her smiling lightly. "Cloud you're home! Did Denzel and Marlene see you? I just sent them out?"

Cloud gave a small nod to Tifa's question and he looked at the trashcan that Tifa had just thrown the letter away in. He looked back at her almost questioningly for a moment before his eyes seemed to become emotionless again and he spoke. "They saw me and said that they were going to go play with some friends outside."

Tifa gave a small nod and turned to finish her work, she couldn't believe that she was actually thinking about giving him that letter; she had been so stupid to think that she would ever have enough courage to give him a letter like that. Sighing Tifa walked into the back to get the rest of the Bar ready for the day.