A Tifa-centric plot bunny hit me before I got ready for bed so.. here it is! XD I've only seen AC (this is Pre-AC though), so I hope it's in-character. Dedicated to LockhartAvenue, who writes sweeter CloTi than I ever could :3
Kind-of-sort-of inspired by the line "Will you keep me in mind?" from the song Finders Keepers.
Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy VII.

On a typical day, Tifa Lockhart wouldn't have had much trouble shouldering five shopping bags in each arm. However, on a typical day, she wouldn't be shouldering troubling thoughts as well.

The skin swelled between the free space between plastic, and she winced. She had been through many beatings and battles, but these bags suddenly seemed heavier and more painful than any Cactuar needles or Tonberry knifings could. Other citizens of Edge bustled quickly around her without a second glance, not even realising that this struggling woman had a hand in saving all of their lives. Tifa never liked boasting, of course - unlike the loud-mouthed Cid, who would bark at Yuffie whenever she headed for the railing with a green face, and now thought himself the finest pilot in Gaia after their saving of the Planet.

She heard coughing from an alley as she passed, but kept her eyes forward. Even Tifa didn't like to stray near the Geostigma hotspots, unless Denzel had run off. She often found him there, usually talking to a young girl with a Moogle doll.
Marlene was a better mother than she was, Tifa had noted. The small girl - who reminded Tifa of Aerith in many ways - would take care of Denzel whenever Cloud was out and Tifa was shopping or tending the bar. Tifa had walked in to Denzel's room and found Marlene sleeping there on a chair beside him more times than she could count, even if she counted on her fingers and then included her gloves.

Cloud was out most of the time, of course..
Seventh Heaven wasn't far now, and Tifa's feet weren't feeling any less sore. Once, she had gone upstairs after a long night of being on her feet - serving the few customers that came in, taking orders that she wasn't even sure Cloud would deliver, spending an hour dusting off the counter and wiping off the grime under the barstools. Cloud had been standing in the hallway with a weak expression, his eyes fixed on the stairs Tifa was ascending as if he had been expecting her.
When she asked him what was wrong, he had croaked out his reply.

"Her birthday."

Of course. He'd been avoiding the church for the week before Aerith's birthday, even when Marlene asked him to go down and tend to the flowers with him. It wasn't like those flowers didn't manage to take care of themselves, anyway. Whenever Tifa went down to the church and watered the flowers, she would stop, because it felt like she didn't really need to. Like something was stopping her - and she knew what that something was.
Aerith was still there. Tifa was sure of it.

And, Tifa's thoughts continued as she pushed the door of Seventh Heaven open with her backside, until he stops feeling so bad, we won't get anywhere..
The shy kiss she and Cloud had shared over Marlene's sixth birthday cake hadn't seemed to exist to him, even when she awkwardly referenced to it a few nights later. Tifa remembered the shining lights of Costa De Sol at Marlene's party, and smiled as she put the bags down by the doorway.

"Make a wish, Marlene!"

Whatever the young girl had wished for probably hadn't come true, since things had only gotten worse since the party.

Unless she wished for cockroaches, Tifa thought, squashing one of the little devils with the (rather light) tip jar.

Bad ending because Mum's rushing me off to bed. Hope you like, Kira. :3
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