A/N: My first attempt at FFVII fanfiction. I have had this piece on my computer for awhile now and decided to sorta finish it and share it with the internet.
Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters. Just my original ideas. :)
Three months, that's how long it took for things to get back to normal...or at least to what seemed like normal. After the attack on Edge by Bahamut Sin and the battle with the Remnents, everyone stayed behind to assist with the repair of the city. Rufus personally stayed behind with his army of Turks, Tseung, Elena, Rude and Reno to over see the project along with Reeve's WRO.
Seventh Heaven became a place of refuge during the building process. Tifa offered free food and drinks to workers and allowed their old allies, who were now working as apart of the WRO, free room and board. Cloud continued his delivery business but most them were back and forth between Edge and Junon for the WRO. And then...as quickly as things began they started to trickle out and everyone began to go their separate ways once more. First it was Vincent, who came back to the bar for one last drink and in Vincent fashion told everyone "I'll be leaving now..." much to Yuffie's dismay. And then Cid got called back to WRO headquarters to work on expanding their air defenses with Reeve. Caith Sith followed suit naturally, returning to Junon. Soon Red XIII had to go back to Cosmos Canyon, to attend to business he left behind to fight with the WRO and then it was Yuffie who departed, stating she wanted to visit her family in Wutai before Reeve called her with another assignment. Soon all that was left of their group was Barrett, who had asked to work in Edge a little longer so he could visit with Marlene. Even Rufus had gone back to Healen with the Turks. Things were almost back to the way things were before...almost...
Cloud quietly sat at the table as he continued to go through receipts from his most recent deliveries. Many were from ones he did for the WRO but now that the repair process was near complete he started to run his civilian routes again. Today he came back early, making a run to Junon, and then to Kalm and back. Every once in awhile he would glance up to see Tifa standing across the room taking inventory of the bar and straitening up, she would be reopening for business soon. He smirked as he went back to his slips, he never understood how focused someone could be on counting liquor bottles, but this is what made Tifa happy, this bar, the kids, living what she called a normal life. Cloud always thought to himself "is this really normal?" He wouldn't know...it had been so long since he knew what normal was.
Never one to make a quiet entrance, Barrett roared into the bar with Marlene on his shoulders and Denzel in tow behind him.
"Hey Tifa, spiky we're back!" Barrett roared with laughter.
"Cloud, Cloud look what we found!" Denzel said running up to his idol.
Cloud looked over as the young boy opened his hands to reveal a small yellow orb.
Cloud smirked "you guys found some Materia..."
"Yeah! Daddy took us to the market near Midgar and Denzel found it under some rubble." Marlene said excitingly.
"I told the kid to tell you since you would know what to do with it right spiky?" Barrett said putting Marlene down by his side.
Tifa turned to face them and smiled "wow Denzel what a great find...you better hide it though before Yuffie get's wind of it."
"Yeah Denzal you better! She's a no good materia thief right daddy? Isn't that what you called her?" Marlene said innocently.
Barrett looked back flustered "what you sayin now...I...no...I..."
Tifa laughed at her long time friend and winked "don't worry...we won't tell."
Even Cloud had to chuckle at the scene. He turned his attention back to the boy and gave the materia back to him.
"Well...i think you are old enough...keep it safe...and they are right you should make sure you hide it from Yuffie...she is known to really like materia." Cloud said with a small smile.
Denzel's eyes lit up "really? Wow thanks Cloud, I promise I will take really good care of it!"
"Well now that we are all together, lets say we eat dinner huh?" Tifa said as she grabbed some plates from under the bar.
Barrett put a hand on his stomach and nodded "woman you read my mind, lets get some chow kids!"
And with that Cloud gathered up his paperwork to make room for the pending meal he was about to eat with his family...yes...his family.
Cloud sipped his coffee while finishing up his paperwork for the day as Barrett came down from upstairs. Tifa had gone out back to continue counting inventory in preparation of Seventh Heaven's grand reopening to the public. Barrett flopped down noticing the second cup of coffee at the table.
"this mine?" he asked him.
Cloud nodded in acknowledgment "yeah...Tifa left it for you."
"Thanks, the kids are in bed now...yeish who woulda thought a trip to the market would get those two so riled up." Barrett said while drinking his coffee.
"I think it was more the materia wouldn't you say?" Cloud said smirking.
Barrett waived him off "I suppose so..."
The two were silent for a moment before Barrett spoke up.
"Listen...I...I have to leave again...Reeve called today and...he needs me to start looking for more oil fields you know and..." Barrett started but Cloud cut him off.
"Don't worry about Marlene...Tifa and I don't mind lookin after her while you're gone..." Cloud said assuring.
Barrett took a deep breath out in relief "damn spiky you don't know how much this means to me and Marlene letting her say with you guys like this...Marlene...she is so important to me...I would never just leave her with just anyone and she loves staying here with you and Tifa and Denzel."
Cloud nodded "I know..."
"I...I never intended to leave her here with you guys for so long you know? It kills me to have to leave her but...you know I...I need..." he continued but Cloud butted in.
"Need to take care of some things...don't worry...we know...and...we get it...don't worry Marlene is safe here with us..." Cloud finished.
Barrett looked down "I know she is...you guys have done so much for us and...I swear one day I will repay you guys for it all just give me sometime and..."
"Barrett don't worry...Tifa and I will take care of things here in Edge...you worry about what you have going on with the WRO..." Cloud stated one last time.
Barrett nodded and then looked down "I know she can handle herself but...you...take care of her too ok?"
Cloud looked back at the man confused "huh..."
"Tifa she...is important to me too...she has done a lot for me with AVALANCHE...as a friend...and now with Marlene...you...better take care of her too spiky or it will be your head!" Barrett stated.
Cloud looked back a little scared by the mans words and slowly nodded.
Barrett gave an uproarious laugh and slapped him on the back "lighten up spiky you know I'm just kidding!"
Cloud nodded in agreement but deep down knew that the man with the gun on his arm really wasn't...
Tifa sighed as she wiped the sweat off her brow "well that's that."
She quickly turned the light off to the storage room and made her way up the stairs. When she reached the top she was startled to see a light still on in Cloud's room.
Tifa sighed and gave a small laugh as she approached the door "guess he fell asleep with the light on again..."
As she moved to open the door further to make her way in she froze when she saw he was far from being asleep. She stood in the doorway silently as she watched Cloud map out routes on his map of the planet, lost in his own train of thought as he worked. Just as she went to turn away to leave him be Cloud turned his attention away from his task and up to her.
"Is everything alright Tifa?" he said with a soft whisper towards her.
Tifa slowly shook her head "no...I just...saw the light on and thought you might have fallen asleep again while working..."
"Oh...I was just finishing up...you can come in...if you want to..." Cloud replied.
Tifa looked back shocked, he never invited her in to his room...at least not unless the kids were there. A part of her told her to refuse, that it was late and she needed to get some rest for tomorrow but...then she realized something...this, was Clouds way of trying.
Tifa nodded her head and entered his room making sure to leave the door open in case Barrett woke up and wouldn't assume the worst. She made her way to his desk taking a seat on the chair to the left of his desk. She looked over and noticed that there were only routes to Fort Condor and Junon mapped out.
She looked up at him puzzled. "Only Ft. Condor and Junon tomorrow? I thought you started taking on more civilian routes now that the recovery effort was slowing?"
Cloud nodded in affirmation "I am..."
"So...why only those two routes tomorrow?" she asked.
Cloud looked away and slightly blushed from embarrassment "I...wanted to make sure I got back early...so I rearranged some schedules..."
Tifa looked back at him confused "back early...for what?"
Cloud still looked away and whispered "your reopening of the bar..."
"The reopening of...oh Cloud you don't have to do that...if you needed to do those deliveries you could have done them I understand..." she reiterated.
"I just...figured you might need the help..." Cloud said embarrassed.
"Well Barrett will be here...you know how much he loves being the 'enforcer' but...thank you Cloud...that really...means a lot to me that you moved deliveries to be here to help out." she said with a small smile looking at him.
"Uh...yeah..." he said his cheeks still sporting a light pink.
The pair sat in silence a few more moments before Cloud spoke up.
"Uh...Barrett told me Reeve called...they want him to start looking for more oil fields soon..." he said trying to make small talk.
She nodded "I know...he told me before going to bed...he said he leaves the day after tomorrow...he said he would break it to Marlene and Denzel tomorrow..."
"Yeah..." Cloud responded.
The pair fell silent again before Tifa stood up and stretched.
"Well...I better get going...got a lot to do tomorrow..." she said with a small smile towards him.
Cloud nodded "yeah...same here..."
"Well...good night Cloud..." she said as she turned to leave. Before she got to far she felt a hand on her forearm stopping her from going any further. She looked back to see Cloud reaching back to her.
"Tifa...I...uh...if you need me to pick up anything tomorrow on my way back just let me know..." he stuttered out.
"Sure...of course..." she said back to him before continuing out the door. Just as she entered the hallway she heard him whisper back to her.
"Good night...Tifa..."
Tifa stopped in her tracks and smiled, he really was trying.
As he heard the door close Cloud gave a sigh with a small smile as he packed up his maps for the next day. Things were far from perfect between Tifa and himself, but with time, maybe…just maybe they could get to a place where everything was ok. As he turned off his desk lamp and slipped his shoes off he looked towards the cracked door across the hall. Cloud gave a small chuckle as he heard Denzel and Marlene excitedly listen to one of Barrett's many tales, maybe trying wasn't so bad after all.