Aeris isn't dead in this fic, it still have the same set up with advent children, Cloud and Tifa are living together in Edge with Marlene, and Cloud still found Denzel in the Midgar ruins.

Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy 7 and its characters.

Chapter 1: Keep smiling

It was a typical day at seventh heaven, the bar was swarming with its usual patrons and some newcomers, ordering drinks after drinks. A brawl was stopped earlier by the raven-haired fighter, a newcomer tried to cop a feel from the counter when one of her loyal costumers stopped him by grabbing his wrist, earning a punch in the face from the said newcomer with his free hand, thus, start of the brawl. The pissed off barmaid then threw the new man out, closing the front door behind her calmly after, then treated her savior's bruised and bloodied face, while thanking and scolding him at same time, saying she could have handled it.

Tifa knew that she was attractive, from her large chest and long legs, to her angelic face and silky smooth hair, she has a lot of admirers going crazy over her, though some have crude intentions. Many have attempted to gain the beautiful barmaid's attention, some even asked her hand in marraige when they were drunk enough, but none could really succeed in doing so, because she only has eyes for a certain blond swordsman. But there was a problem.

He has eyes for someone else.

Tifa can't really bring herself to hate the beautiful brown haired girl with sparkling green eyes, she was kind, outgoing, funny and too straight forward for her own good, to Tifa's amusement. She was also her best friend, aside from Cloud, of course. She has always put up a forced smile even if her heart was shattering into pieces, whenever she sees them together, being happy and laughing, and full of love with each other, wishing she was the one in Aeris' shoes instead.

Though sometimes she can feel a bitter feeling from the inside, though she doesn't want to be feel that way, she wants to be happy for them, but it was just there and it was waiting to come out. And she's doing everything in her will power for that not to happen.

A familiar roar of a motorcycle was making its way towards the front of the bar, making Tifa smile a little, he was definitely early today. She made her way to kitchen to warm up his dinner so he can eat immediately, she knows how hungry and tired he was after his deliveries. Just when she was finished fixing his plate and making her way towards the bar again, she bumped into cloud who was walking into the kitchen.

"Oh, sorry Cloud" she said sheepishly.

He chuckled. "No, it's fine, you weren't in the bar so I came here to look for you."

"Yeah, I was warming up your dinner, why don't you eat now so you can take a shower and go to bed." she put her hand on his shoulder and smiled sweetly, though cloud noticed that it didn't reach her eyes.

Cloud nodded and stared at her with a slight worried look for a few more seconds, earning a raised eyebrow from the martial artist, but he looked away and started eating his dinner.

Tifa made her way back into the bar to serve more customers, she still have an hour until closing time. She went behind the counter after giving the drinks to the table on the far right corner, then she begin to adsentmindedly wipe the bar top.

Tifa ushered the last remaining customers out, saying their goodnights then locking the door shut, she stretched then made her way upstairs, she was really looking forward to a shower tonight.

She carefully tip toed on the wooden floor on the hall upstairs, evading those particular floorboards that creak. She slowly opened the door to the kids' bedroom to check on them, when she was sure they were safe and sound asleep, she carefully closed the door and made her way towards the other bedroom across from hers.

Cloud Strife was sleeping on his stomach, with a blanket covering his lower half, exposing his shirtless torso. Tifa made her way quietly to the edge of the bed, careful not to wake him up. She brushed a few strands of blonde hair from his eyes and stared at his face for a while.

I guess I'm not really good enough for you, huh? But your happiness is more important to me, Cloud. Or that's what she's been convincing herself.

She smiled sadly and kissed him on his cheek.

"Goodnight." she whispered.

She slowly got up and made her way to her bedroom and softly closed the door behind her with a soft click.

Just as when her door was closed, Cloud slowly opened his eyes, staring at his bedroom door where tifa had just left, sotly touching the part of his cheek that Tifa kissed and smiling to himself, while slowly closing his eyes again and falling back into a dreamless slumber.

Tifa woke up the bright light shining on her face, she winced a little from the brightness and looked at the clock at her nightstand, it was 7:30 in the morning. She sighed then slowly swinged her leg at the edge of the bed, stood up and stretched. She went to her closet to retrieve her day clothes and proceeded to take a shower.

She made her way downstairs after being fully dressed to start making breakfast for her "family".

She sighed at the thought. She wishes.

She was flipping some pancakes when she heard small footsteps making their way downstairs, smiling when two children emerged in the kitchen.

"Good morning Tifa!" Chirped Marlene.

"Are those pancakes? I want bacon with that!" Denzel said happily.

Tifa giggled. "Good morning you two, and yes Denzel there are bacon on the side. Cloud likes that too, remember?"

Denzel happily sat on the chair beside Marlene waiting for breakfast to be served. When Tifa was serving the plates to the children, a yawning Cloud entered the kitchen while rubbing his eyes, his morning antics made Tifa smile.

"Good morning sleepyhead." she said pinching his cheek in a playful way making Cloud wince a little, then shove his plate on his hands. Cloud chuckled and nodded his thanks before sitting on his usual spot on the dining table beside Tifa. The adults just ate in silence while the kids happily converse with each other, talking about what they were going to play after breakfast, then Cloud spoke.

"Teef?"

"Yeah?" she said looking at him.

"Can.." he said shyly, Tifa raised her eyebrows. "Can you.. call the rest of the gang tonight? Have a get together or something like that."

"But you have deliveries and you might be really late and not catch up at all." she said while shoving pancakes in her mouth.

"I took the day off."

This surprised Tifa, Cloud never initiated something like this, it was always Barret or Yuffie. And he even took the day off, she can't help but feel that he was planning something. But she just shrugged and said yes, she'll call everyone after breakfast.

Cloud stood up and started gathering the plates, insisting that he will wash them. Tifa just nodded and smiled, but Cloud noticed, again, that it did not reach her eyes. It was starting to worry him, he was about to asked when Tifa was already gone from the kitchen to call other members of AVALANCHE then clean tha bar for the night's get together.

He proceeded to wash the dishes, when he was done, grabbed his keys, told Tifa he just have to pick up something, made his way towards the door to Fenrir, revved the engine then took off.