My first FFVII fanfic, and one long overdue! This takes place in Gaia, but a slightly different one. There's no 'under the plate' in Midgar, and Shinra is not all-powerful. Zack and Cloud, among others, work for Shinra, but they are more of a security-company than a "war machine", specializing in bodyguards, armed escorts, and so on. Aerith is not hunted down for her heritage, and some other small changes. You will understand as this goes on.

This was actually going to be a collection of short one-shots, and it still is, you know, except this chap (and a few others probably), which somehow got rather long, or longer than intended... o_O They are connected, but some of them jump ahead in time quite a bit. Remember to leave a review, and I will give you a cookie!

I do not own anything! (though I wish I did, 'cause then Aerith and Zack would be alive and all cuddly!) Everything belongs to SquareEnix!

Chapter 1 – Winter

The snow fell thick and heavy, covering all the gray which was Midgar in a powdery, white blanket. It had not snowed like this in years, and everything in the city was in chaos. Nearly everyone had left their cars at home, rather walking through the storm, or taking the buses, which were large enough to drive through the snow, but still vehicles could be see in ditches and in the piles of snow on the sides of the road all across Midgar.

Zack Fair was sitting in a small cafe on the corner of one of the main streets in huge city, in the Loveless District, drinking his coffee and waiting for his friend, Cloud, who was supposed to meet him ten minutes ago.

A cold draft swept through the small cafe, and as Zack lifted his head from the newspaper he saw Cloud at the entrance, dusting snow out of his hair, and shrugging out of his winter coat. The blonde quickly walked over to the register and ordered something before he made his way over to the window and Zack.

"Took you long enough." Zack grinned. He had not expected Cloud to be on time to begin with, the weather was to extreme and all traffic stood more or less still. Zack was lucky, seeing as he only lived five minutes walking distance away, which today had taken him 10 minutes.

"Yeah, well..." Cloud simply gestured to the world on the other side of the glass.

"So, what's the plans for the day?" Zack leaned back, sipping at his still hot coffee. "Lunch, beer, and then to the party?"

"Are you sure it's a good idea to drink before?" Cloud looked at his friend with a suspicious look. At the last Shinra company party Zack had made out with one of the secretaries, danced at a table with said secretary, thrown up in one of the pot plants outside the boss' office, only to pass out right after midnight for Cloud to drag his sorry ass back home. He did not want a rerun from last year.

"Don't worry." Zack grinned, the memories from last year had never come back, but he knew for sure that he had had a great time, though Cloud had felt terribly sorry for himself at the end of it all. "It will only be a couple of beers, and I will not hook up with Darcy afterward. She's to be married now, remember."

Cloud gave him one of those looks, which all but screamed that he did not believe a word Zack had said. "It's not so much the Darcy part I'm worried about, it's the 'I have to carry you home' part I don't care for."

Before Zack could protest, a waitress arrived at their table with hamburgers. "I took the liberty of ordering for you as well." Cloud explained.

"You're the best boyfriend ever!" Zack said in a high-pitch voice, batting his eyelashes at Cloud, who was used to Zack's immature behavior and simply rolled his eyes.

They sat eating, and not many words were spoken during the meal, except Zack's commenting on how hot the waitress was, and that he definitively would ask for her number later, which he did as soon as she came back to check on them. It didn't shock either of them when she gave him a wink, replying that she would write it down on their receipt.

After they were done, Cloud's phone rang, and he excused himself and walked a little further into the cafe, where there were fewer people. Zack couldn't help but grin, it was probably that girl Cloud didn't want to talk about, though he always blushed and said it was to early to know anything yet. There was no point in pestering Cloud about it though, he would tell Zack everything in his own time.

Instead Zack cast a casual glance outside and nearly choked on his second coffee. Right outside the window stood the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. With the wind and the snow billowing around her, she looked like an angel. She had long chestnut hair, pale, porcelain skin, and green eyes which made all around her seem like the brightest summer. She was standing on the corner, huddling in her white coat, casting a quick glance at her reflection in the window, looking Zack right in the eyes, though she did not know it, before hurrying across the street on heels which would clatter against the asphalt had the snow not covered it completely.

He did not know how long he watched her for, but he saw her talking to a couple of people she obviously knew, laughing and smiling, and with that smile his heart beat faster, and saw her back as she disappeared into a small shop on the corner right across from where he sat. He didn't see her come out, and so he stared at the shop, and that door, until Cloud returned and asked him if something was wrong.

"We gotta go." Zack got up and quickly pulled on his jacket. "You're done, right? 'Cause we really gotta go."

"What are you talking about, Zack?" Cloud looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "Is something wrong?"

"No, no, no!" Zack shock his head, as he all but pushed Cloud towards the door, barely stopping to slap some money down on the counter, before jogging out the door, leaving Cloud to receive the change and a rather ugly look from the waitress whom Zack had talked to earlier.

Once outside Zack searched the area, just to make sure the girl had not moved outside the shop he had seen her walk into earlier. With no sign of her, Zack came to the conclusion that the brunette was still inside the small corner-store. And so he rushed across the street, barely avoiding being hit by a car.

Cloud jogged after him, yelling at him for almost getting them killed, for being a weirdo and a whole bunch of other things that Zack, frankly, couldn't care less about. He had his eyes on the target, just as they had been trained by ShinRa to do.

As he reached the small shop on the corner, Zack realized that it was not exactly open for business as it was right in the middle of being reconstructed. There were no real sign over the door and all the windows were covered with plastic and boarda so there was no way of looking inside. Zack cocked his head, scratching it in annoyance, wondering what to do next, he couldn't just walk into a closed shop after all.

The unlikely rescue came in his blonde friend, who had finally caught up with him. "What are you doing?" Cloud glared at him. "And why are you staring at the flower shop like that?"

"Flower shop?" Zack looked quizzically at Cloud. "How do you know what it is?"

"At least I think so. I heard that an old friend of mine just bought the place, and she's remodeling it before opening her flower shop. She just moved here, and I haven't seen her in ages."

"So, this friend of yours, does she happen to be our age, long brown hair and insanely gorgeous?" Zack all but beamed, and Cloud figured that this could lead to no good, but none the less he nodded reluctantly, and before he could really register what was going on, Zack had grabbed him by the arm and all but pulled him inside the shop.

The shop did not look nearly as run down inside as it did outside. It was almost finished, and all that was missing was the actual flowers and some other few, minor details. Zack nodded approvingly, the girl obviously had taste.

Suddenly an angelic voice reached them from across the room. "I'm sorry, but we will not open in another..." The girl from before had walk out from a back-storage room, and just spotted them as she cut herself short. She just stood there, watching them for a second, and Zack was able to take her in; her hair reached to her waist, and gleamed in the light. She wore a white tunic, or dress or something, black tights and black, high-heeled ankle-boots. A simple bracelet graced her right wrist. It was all so simple, but it amplified her beauty to the point where Zack could do nothing but stare, which was exactly the same thing she did.

Suddenly the brunette nearly shouted Cloud's name before running over, throwing herself into the blond's arms, and giving him a long, heartfelt hug.

"What are you doing here?" She held Cloud at arms length and beamed at him. "It's been so long. How are you?"

"I was in the neighborhood, and I thought that I'd stop by." Cloud pulled her in for another hug, and Zack had never before felt the need to strangle anyone so bad ever before. "What are you doing in Midgar? I heard you had moved here, but I thought you were supposed to moved to Costa del Sol with..."

Aerith cut him short with a huff. "Well, that turned out badly, and there was nothing in Niebelheim to go back to, since my mom and basically everyone else moved elsewhere. So I told myself that I would come here and do something just for me. And so I bought this place. You know how I've always wanted a flower shop." She grinned widely.

To Zack it seemed like he was being completely ignored, but then, to his relief, Cloud turned slightly towards him and said; "This is Zack, by the way, we were room-mates during ShinRa training, and now we work together."

The brunette turned towards him, and Zack felt his breath catch in his throat. He had though she was beautiful before, from a distance, trough a window, but now that she stood before him and smiled at him, and looked into his eyes with those emerald gems, he honestly knew he could die happily right there and then. What was this girl doing to him? But then she spoke and extended her hand in greeting. "Hi, I'm Aerith, childhood friend of Cloud's, we went to school together back in Niebelheim."

Zack tried really hard not to sound nervous, but sort of failed miserably. "Zack Fair, nice to meet me...I mean you!"

She giggled as he shook her hand awkwardly, and the look Cloud gave him did not help at all. He was lucky if Cloud did not tell of this stuttering to absolutely everyone they worked with at the party later. He did, after all, have the reputation of being a womanizer, but right now he acted more like a love-struck puppy!

"So..." She tucked a few stray hairs behind her ear. "What makes you walk around in weather like this? It's crazy out there. I nearly froze to death getting here." She grinned at them, and to Zack it seemed she was actually enjoying the snow. After all, Cloud had told him about the extreme snow in Niebelheim during winter, and how he missed real snow, since it rarely came to Midgar.

"We were actually on our way to the pub," Cloud explained, and Zack cringed inwardly. He had the feeling that to a girl such as Aerith, drinking in the middle of a weekday was a no-go. But to his surprise Cloud continued; "Wanna join us?"

And the surprises kept on coming, because Aerith smiled again. "I would really like that, but there are so many things that needs to be done here, and I'm waiting for one of the guys that worked on the renovation to help me do some heavy lifting." She locked her hands behind her back and leaned slightly closer to Zack. "I know this comes as a shock, but I'm not a strong as I look."

Zack laughed. He couldn't help it. This girl was cute and gorgeous, and her smile made him all warm and tingly.

"Hey!" She tried her hardest look upset, but failed miserably. "Cloud, your friend is a meanie! He's making fun of me!"

Cloud merely shock his head, a small smile on his face but not much else of a reaction.

Zack on the other hand was just getting warm, and her reaction to the things he did was just what he needed to get over his nervousness and really get into the game. He turned on his charm and kept up with the little game she had started.

Reaching out he lightly poked her upper arm. "Nope, no muscles, none what-so-ever. Sorry, sweetcakes, but that's the gospel truth."

Again she tried to pout, but it shortly evolved into a full-fledged laugh. "By Gaia, Cloud, where have you kept him hidden all these years?" She grinned at Zack, his heart-rate increased drastically, and he couldn't help but grin back. This was going so much better than he had imagined after the slightly embarrassing start.

Cloud was just about to answer, but his phone started ringing and instead he excused himself and went outside. For a few seconds the silence lay thick in the empty flower-shop, but soon Zack spoke up.

"He's been doing that for a few days now, running off whenever someone calls him. I think it's a girl, but he refuses to tell me!"

"A girl? Really?" The though seemed to amuse the brunette, and due to a questioning look from Zack she elaborated. "Cloud was always really shy around girls back in school, especially a girl named Tifa. She and I were best friends, still are actually. He had a huge crush on her but always stammered and blushed around her. A real shame, since she liked him to, but never had the courage to tell him." She looked at Zack with a mischievous grin. "Real chickens, don't you agree?"

Zack couldn't help but grin and agree. That was his Cloud alright, seemingly all though and rough, but when it came straight down to it, at least on the subject of emotions, he could be the world's biggest wuss.

After a few seconds of quiet, Zack crossed his arms and let his gaze scan the small shop again. "So, this guy coming to help you, was he supposed to be here by now?"

"Yes," Aerith sighted. "I really want to open this place up for business on Friday, but the firm I hired keeps pushing things back. Luckily I haven't payed them for this part yet, but still..." She turned, scanning her shop, visualizing all the things she had planned for this place, but it seemed it would have to wait for a little while longer.

Zack felt sorry for her, being so close to having her dream come true, and now just waiting for someone who never showed up. An idea came to mind, one which would allow him to be around her for a little while more. "I can help."

She looked at him with wide eyes, surprise clear in her eyes. "What...?"

He scratched the back of his head, not knowing how to put this, without sounding too eager. "You know, the heavy lifting. I can help out if you'll let me, so this place can get up and running sooner. Besides, if we get some done now, you don't have to wait for someone who's not coming anyway, and join us instead." He finished by putting on his biggest, most charming grin.

Aerith smiled shyly and looked at her feet, pushing a few stray hairs behind her ear, and Zack couldn't help but wonder if this was some sort of nervous habit of hers, which he found adorable. "I really don't want to trouble you..."

"No trouble at all." He quickly cut in. "Happy to help if you need it."

"Oh, OK." Again with the hair. "I would love that. Thank you so much."

Her eyes met his, and her smile was so warm and so genuine that Zack lost his train of thoughts. He quickly pulled himself together though, and grinned back, and after a few seconds standing like that, Zack was lead to the backroom where the heavy boxes were placed and he got to work while Aerith instructed and moved a few lighter objects into place.

By the time Cloud had finished his conversation, Aerith and Zack had actually gotten a lot done, and after a few more well-placed one-liners from Zack, followed by eye-rolling and head-shaking from Cloud, Aerith agreed to come with them to the pub for a few drinks.

"Give me a second, OK?" She said as she headed towards the back-room again. "I'm just going to grab my coat and bag, and I'll be ready to go."

As soon as she was out of ears range, Cloud turned to Zack with a disapproving scold on his face. "What are you playing at?" He kept going when Zack's reaction was a blank stare. "She's one of my oldest, best friends. I care about her, a lot. And you are nothing less than a man-whore, hitting on everything with two legs, and boobs!" Cloud more or less poked his dark-haired friend in the chest with every word.

"Chill, dude." Zack lowered his voice, not wanting Aerith to hear them. "I'm not playing at anything. You may believe it or not, but I actually kinda like her."

"Kinda like her? What's that supposed to mean? Whenever you like a girl, it lasts for a week, two tops. I'm not going to let that happen to her, not Aerith. She's been through enough shit in her life already." Cloud all but hissed in anger, keeping his voice down to make sure Aerith didn't overhear them by accident. The last thing he needed right now was Aerith's fury because he was being overprotective.

"Relax, please!" Zack cast a quick glance towards the door leading to the back-storage. "I promise, I won't do anything stupid, or careless, or anything of the sort. Just, please, believe me when I say that this might be it, Cloud. I've known her for less than an hour and I... I..." He couldn't finish his sentence and fell mute.

Cloud sighed, he could see it all written on Zack's face. His best friend was falling for Aerith, and Cloud couldn't blame him at all. "Just, take things slow, OK? And if you break her heart, I'll break your face and then I'll put you down before you can even begin to run away."

Zack grinned, Cloud was exaggerating, he could tell. The whole setting was weird, and made him feel things he had never felt before, all up on cloud nine or whichever cloud it was. The cloud-thing was actually not a good comparison though, as Cloud stood there shaking his head, trying hard to hide the tiniest little smile under a scowl.

"Are you ready to go?" Aerith startled them both out of their thoughts, and she looked at them curiously. "Did I interrupt anything?"

"No, nothing to interrupt." Cloud said, sounding pretty normal. "Shall we then?"

Aerith nodded and headed towards the door with Cloud in tow. Once at the door they walked outside, and she turned to look at Zack who still stood his ground, a goofy grin on his face. "Are you coming, Zack?"

Her voice made him all tingly, and with a grin he followed.