For The Sacred and Profane. I hope I got this one right!

I neither own nor profit from ffvii or any of its characters.

Enjoy.

fire mystic

Winning a Smile

"Why's mommy so sad, Daddy?"

Reno was sitting on the edge of the bed tying his shoes when Elly raced into the room. Finishing up, he stood, grabbing Elly in his arms as he did so.

"What do you mean, Sweetheart?"

Elly frowned, her small face serious in its concern.

"She looks like she's going to cry."

Elly squealed as he flipped her around onto his back, where she clung to him, wrapping her little arms around his neck.

"Well, let's go find out what's going on." Reno thought he had an idea, but he wasn't entirely sure.

They found Tifa sitting at the kitchen table, and as Elly had claimed, she looked on the verge of tears. She tried to hide it as they came in, but wasn't entirely successful.

With Elly still clinging to him, Reno leaned over her, giving her a hug. Elly reached out to wrap one arm around her mother's neck, making it a real family hug.

Reno turned his face to whisper against Tifa's ear.

"What's the matter, Baby?"

Her smile was false as she shook off his concern.

"Nothing."

The tension in her body told another story, but Reno knew better than to push. He held her for a moment longer.

"What do you want to do today?" He took a seat next to her, shifting Elly into her chair and putting a waffle onto her plate. Elly sat up on her knees to reach for the fruit that Tifa had set out and started to make a face out of blueberries and strawberries on her waffle.

Tifa looked around the kitchen.

"I have to clean up in here, and catch up on some laundry, but other than that, I really don't feel like doing much of anything."

Okay, this was bad. It was a day off for both of them, and Tifa didn't want to do something together. Something was definitely bothering her.

"You want us to help?"

Tifa got up and started to clear the table.

"That's okay. You guys find something fun to do." She headed toward the laundry room.

Reno kept a concerned eye on her as she shuffled in and out of the kitchen. In the meantime, he stole a blueberry eye from Elly's waffle.

"Daddy!" She cried out as she caught him.

"What? What happened?" He asked innocently.

She glared at him, and in that moment, Elly looked so much like her mother that Reno's heart melted. He replaced the blueberry with one from the bowl, and then leaned down to whisper to Elly.

"I've got a plan to cheer up mommy. You gonna help?"

Her whole face lit up as she nodded happily. Again, so much like her mother.

Half an hour later, Tifa was cleaning up the kitchen when Elly entered the room behind her.

"Hey mommy. I get to go to work with Daddy today!" She exclaimed.

"What are you talking about? Reno!" She raised her voice so Reno could hear her wherever he was in the house. "I thought you were off…" She never got the word 'today' out as she turned around to face her daughter.

Elly was standing across the room, her long red hair pulled back into a ponytail at the nape of her neck. Her father's Turk shirt and jacket were hanging down nearly to her ankles, his goggles around her forehead; she even had his EMR perched up on her shoulder. Tifa couldn't help the laughter that burst out at the sight. Elly was a perfect little replica of her father.

Reno appeared in the doorway behind Elly, making the similarities stand out, and tears started to fall even as she was laughing. She wiped them away quickly.

"You look just as tough as your father, Little Turk." She glanced up at Reno with a mock glare. "That EMR better be turned OFF!"

Reno feigned indignant shock.

"Would I be that careless?" He swept in and swooped Elly up. "Come on, Little Turk. Let's go see what kind of trouble we can get into."

Later, Tifa was thinking it was far too quiet in the house. She hadn't heard a peep from Reno or Elly since they had left the kitchen. Searching through the house, she realized she was being very quiet, walking on tiptoes, trying to find out what was going on. There was no sign of them till she reached Elly's door, which was closed.

Her door was never closed.

Tifa heard Elly's very serious voice from behind the door.

"You have to stay still Daddy."

"I'm trying," Reno's laughing voice answered.

Tifa knocked lightly, reaching for the doorknob.

There was a lot of shuffling from the far side of the door, and as she turned the knob and pushed the door open, something pushed back on the other side.

"You can't come in, Mommy. It's a surprise!"

"What's a surprise? What are you two up to?"

"If we told you that, it wouldn't be a surprise, now would it," Reno answered.

Tifa was in no mood for this. Her day was not going as she had hoped, and they were conspiring against her!

"I think that's got it, Elly. It looks perfect." She heard Reno's voice from behind the door. "Are you ready, Tifa?"

Hand on her hip, Tifa waited.

The door opened a crack, and Elly's face appeared.

"You have to turn around, Mommy."

Tifa did as she was told, hearing the door open fully behind her.

"Okay, Mommy. Ta-da!"

While Elly had been adorable dressed as her father, Reno was absolutely hysterical dressed in a…dress. Tifa wasn't even sure she wanted to know where it came from. But the dress wasn't even the best part. His hair was done up in multi-colored ribbons all over his head, and Tifa was pretty sure there were clowns that didn't wear as much make-up as that which Elly had applied to his face. Shimmering blue eye shadow covered his eyelids up to his eyebrows, bright pink blush highlighted his cheeks, and the red lipstick and shining lip gloss were just icing on the proverbial cake. Tifa was in such shock, she wasn't sure how to respond, and then Reno was coming closer, puckering his lips. Tifa put a hand on his chest, restraining him.

"What's the matter, Tifa? Don't you wanna kiss?"

That's when the laughter finally escaped, and Tifa completely lost it when Elly asked innocently:

"Mommy, do you have any dressy shoes that would fit Daddy? He has really big feet!"

Tifa walked into the kitchen to find Reno and Elly going through cabinets, pulling out ingredients for what she was pretty sure would be chocolate chip cookies. Of course, that meant there was going to be a mess.

"Do you want some help?" She asked, hoping to keep the clean-up to a minimum.

Reno turned from the cabinet with a box of baking soda in his hand, and held the box out to her.

"Of course you can., but I get to crack the eggs."

"And I get to put the chips in!" Elly claimed her responsibility in the baking.

In the end, they managed to get the cookie dough prepared without too much mess, and Tifa turned from the bowl of dough, ready to put them on the pans, to find Reno smiling at her suspiciously.

"What?" She asked.

"Hey, Elly. I think Mom needs a little make up of her own, don't you?" And he lifted his hand and poofed flour into her face.

So much for the clean-up being easy. When Tifa realized what was happening, it became no-holds barred, and the food fight that followed included not only flour, but eggs, chocolate chips, butter and cookie dough.

When the dust cleared, Tifa and Elly were clearly the victors, as they laughed till they cried and Reno played dead to a cracked egg on his already bow-tied head.

Reno was disappointed to see Tifa laughing for a few minutes while they entertained her, but then return to her somber attitude immediately afterwards. Elly noticed it, too.

"Mommy still looks sad," she commented while Reno was washing cookie dough off her face.

"We just have to keep trying to make her smile," he answered. "What do you think we should try next?"

Elly's eyes lit up. "The swing! She loves the swing!"

Reno took Elly up on her idea, knowing that sitting on the swing with Elly while he pushed them both was one of Tifa's favorite things to do, but even that didn't work as it usually did. As the day passed, Reno was left hoping that it wasn't anything worse than what he suspected it was. He was about to find out.

He drew a bath for Tifa, using her favorite scented bubble bath, and lit candles all around the room. The hardest part was getting Tifa into the tub. She kept insisting that she still had chores that needed to be done, but once she sank down into the water, that was the last Reno heard of housework. He closed the door behind him, leaving her to soak, and then set about his plan. First, he sent Elly with Yuffie for an overnight that Tifa had no idea about, but only after a pinky promise with Elly that Tifa would be smiling again the next morning. Then he made sure everything was perfect while Tifa was bathing.

When Tifa came out, he had her comfy clothes ready for her, which meant she was wearing a pair of his boxers and one of his long t-shirts, and then he led her down the stairs to the living room.

Tifa stopped short, taking in the scene in the living room, which Reno had completely transformed. Spread across the floor, in front of a beautifully lit fire, was a candlelit dinner, with flower petals sprinkled among the plates and glasses. In the center of Tifa's plate was a black felt box with a silver bow around it.

From behind her, Reno wrapped his arms around her shoulders and pulled her back against his chest, nuzzling into her hair, against her ear.

"Happy Anniversary, Baby."

A tear fell on his arm. Tifa spoke past the lump in her throat.

"You remembered," she whispered.

"Of course I remembered."

She turned to him, tears sparkling in her eyes. "You didn't say anything. I thought you had forgotten."

It was true. Reno always asked what she wanted to do for their anniversary, which always involved dinner at home; Tifa like the quiet simplicity of it, and Reno never failed to surprise her with that and more. In nine years, Reno had always remembered, but when he hadn't mentioned it this year, and as the days counted down and this day progressed, Tifa had become sadder, convinced he had forgotten, that at long last, it wasn't important to him anymore.

She should have known better.

Reno cradled her face in his hands, wiping away the stray tears that couldn't help but fall.

"Is that why you've been so upset today?"

Tifa nodded, crying and laughing at the same time because she had been so silly.

Reno led her to sit down on the floor, and presented her with the black box. Except for a tiny gasp as she flipped it open, Tifa couldn't breath. Cushioned in the velvet, the necklace sparkled up at her, platinum set with emeralds the exact shade of Elly and Reno's eyes.

Eyes wide and glassy, she met Reno's gaze. Moving around behind her, he pushed her hair aside, placing a kiss at the nape of her neck, took the necklace from her, and drew it up and around her neck, clasping it in place. Circling around to lay on his side, looking up at her with his head perched on one hand; he fingered the emeralds and the soft skin of her neck with the other.

"They're your favorite."

Tifa could only nod.

"One for each year we've been together," he added.

Tifa leaned forward.

"Here's to ten more years with you, Reno." She kissed him hard, crushing her lips to his. Reno broke the kiss after only a moment, long enough to whisper against her lips, before they met again, soft and passionate.

"No, Tifa. Here's to forever with you."