Disclaimer: Final Fantasy 7 and all related paraphernalia belong to Tetsuya Nomura and Square Enix.

I know I should be working on several others chaptered fictions, like my other Cloti and my Cowboy Bebop. But. I just couldn't help myself. I wrote this waiting for my History Class to begin and in between other small amounts of free time I had. As always, sorry for typos, and spelling and grammar errors. Good news, though, I finished a whole lot of other things that were getting to me, like a term paper for my history class and an essay for a university application. Overall, I think I haven't written so much in one weekend.

Anyway, on with the story!

NMM—Just. Don't. Don't Say It Anymore.—MMN

She was sleeping on my bed. There were papers all around her; delivery forms and bills, laying stacked in vanilla folders, paper-clipped in bunches, and stapled into factions. She didn't stir when I came into the room and I was glad because it was very late. She seemed uncomfortable in the position she had; it looked almost as if she had been sitting on the edge of the bed and then her body slowly collapsed, her head falling on the very edge of my pillow and her shoes still on her feet. I gazed at the clock again, 3:56 a.m., and turned back to see Tifa. The light on the room was very dim, with the only source coming from the door I'd just opened. I wondered what I was supposed to do and decided to just leave her sleeping there and take my place on the living room couch.

I headed out the door but felt uncomfortable leaving Tifa on my bed loaded with papers and she with no blanket. I tried to silently take up all the papers around her. I grabbed as many of them in my arms and carried them over to my just-cleaned desk. I made one more trip and I could see the sheets of my bed again as well as a throw blanket that I placed over her shoulders. I decided that it would be good enough and was about to exit the room when I gazed at Tifa one more time. I saw her feet just dangling slightly out of my bed and decided to take her shoes off. I turned around, but didn't notice my own untied shoe and almost fell in the motion. My foot landed loudly on the floor as I caught my balance.

She sat up in bed very quickly, and I could have sworn she almost took a battle stance, but she saw I wasn't an enemy. She folded her arms over her chest instead. I'm not sure who was more scared, but my heart was pounding in my ears. I turned to face her and hated the fact that I couldn't see much of her face. I could only make shapes and shadows, the darkest of them being her eyes, and the blue light coming from the door framing her figure.

I didn't know what to say. But I didn't have to because she spoke before I could say anything.

"Cloud," she said dropping her arms to her sides. "Denzel missed you at his game tonight."

"I'm sorry." I said, my throat releasing a very weak whisper.

"It was parent's night."

"I know. It's just that—I…I'm sorry." I wasn't sure how to explain. But. The truth was that I had accidentally forgotten. I'd been too busy trying to get the entire weekend off so I could spend it with them, my family. And today had been very hectic. I couldn't even remember how many deliveries I had made. I tried to look at her eyes, but all I could see was her furrowed eyebrows and as she spoke again her voice hurt me much more than a weapon ever could.

"Last month you missed Marlene's birthday."

I looked at the ground again. "I'm sorry." Was she trying to torture me? Wasn't there some sort of rule that said you couldn't question someone after midnight? Besides, I had been trying to get Marlene's present. When I picked it up I realized it was defective and tried to go trade it. But I hadn't told Tifa about that either. I was afraid that she'll get mad or that she would think of me as a failure. But now, I realized that I would have failed either way.

"The open-house day at the school."

"Sorry." The greeters hadn't allowed me in, something to do with the dress code. By the time I had come back home and changed, the event was over.

"Half of the school's winter program."

Fenrir had broken down. And I had made it in time to see most of the play. Still, somehow I couldn't defend myself all I could do was apologize. "Sor—"

"—Just. Don't. Don't say it anymore. I've heard it enough, Cloud."

I didn't know why all I could do was shuffle my feet on the ground. I wasn't sure how to talk to her. I didn't want to disappoint her. But I realized that by doing so, I was disappointing her even more. She was about to speak again and it surprised me that her voice wasn't as before, but much more calm and a bit sad.

"I just want to really know what happens to you." She said. I looked up at her a bit surprised. "You barely tell me anything anymore…I really appreciate all the effort your putting into our…family. But, we've lost something." I tried to speak, to tell her something that would actually mean something, but I couldn't. I rummaged through my mind looking for words or, just, something. "We barely have time to speak, just you and me. And. I want to know what you're thinking, and I want to know your problems, and help you figure them out. I want to understand…you." I still hadn't spoken and I could see it pained her. There was a heavy silence and I couldn't lift it. Finally, she said, "Cloud? Please tell me something." Her voice weakened at the end of her sentence and I had barely made out all she had said.

I felt terrible. I looked at her and she moved a little, just to where the light finally touched her face. And I felt even worse seeing that face, of pain and curiosity. I looked down again and stared at my untied shoe. My breath felt heavy and my insides had turned into a heavy, fluttering solid. Even blinking was difficult and my eyes remained opened for what seemed to be the longest time. I was confused again, and, just wanted to show her that I really meant what I had said and even more. I could feel my hands trembling at my sides trying to control anything foolish I might do. But that wasn't enough. And before either of us knew what was happening, I had my arms around Tifa, hugging her as best as I could hug. One of my hands ran through her hair and I placed her head right besides mine feeling her cheek pressed on mine. I hoped that that was enough to let her know. But I needed to tell her that I felt miserable for having disappointed her. "I'm sorry." I whispered. And I knew she could hear it

Her hands were limp at her sides. I worried, but as I felt her hands sliding over my waist, my breath relaxed. I could feel her hands on my back now, holding tightly to my shirt. She embraced me even tighter and I felt her warm breath tickle my neck as she said, "I know."

NMM—Fin— NMM

So how was it? Remember that I don't know how I'm doing unless you tell me.

Kemeto No Repato, congratulations for being the 60th reviewer of Dirty Dishes, and as I had promised this is your present.

See, good things happen to people who review.

That's all for now, I promise to work on my other fictions, so I guess I better go do that.

I hope you enjoyed it, and thanks for reading!