Chapter 4 – Innocent Invitations
Shelke walked into the bar about an hour later than Tifa expected. She looked up from where she was washing a plate half hoping Vincent had come back but all she saw was Shelke walking quietly around behind the bar to stand next to her. She was wearing a cream dress suite she sometimes wore to work that looked ridiculously adorable on her now ten-year-old body. Shelke, being mentally ten years older than her body, didn't seem to appreciate how cute she really was so Tifa didn't mention that fact. Instead she gave the girl a winning smile.
"Hey! How was your day? I see Reeve hasn't worked you to death yet."
"Work went well. I completed the secondary firewall and emergency recovery routines for the outer security systems successfully, although I still have a lot of work left to defragment and stabilize the WRO mainframe's internal database. Whoever designed it obviously had no intention to include efficiency in his work." Shelke's mostly monotone voice was without emotion, as usual. Tifa didn't bother trying to understand any of the details Shelke had given. She settled for a nod and continued cleaning the dish in her hands.
Shelke seemed to realize that what she'd said flew right over Tifa's head and dropped her blue eyes to the floor hesitantly. "I'm sorry. I tend to get carried away sometimes." This made Tifa laugh and Shelke looked up again.
"No, it's fine Shelke. I won't pretend I understand most of what you do for the WRO these days but I'm proud of it anyways. I think it's great that Reeve helped you find such a perfect use for your talents. And besides, if – gods forbid – something should ever happen to the WRO headquarters again, at least we know they're in good hands."
Shelke smiled fully. It had taken her a long time to learn how. "Thank you, Tifa." It had also taken her a long time to learn to stop saying Tifa's full name. Shelke turned to head upstairs but Tifa stopped her with an exclamation when she remembered what she'd said to Vincent in parting earlier that day.
"Oh! I almost forgot. Vincent came by looking for you this morning. I told him when you'd probably be back but I haven't seen him since he left. It sounded important, but then, everything Vincent says sounds important."
Shelke decided not to point out that the last part of that sentence had been a thought accidentally spoken aloud.
"If you see him again, Tifa, would you please tell him that it's alright to come up and talk to me?" At Tifa's nod, Shelke disappeared up the stairs to the room she was renting above to put on more comfy evening wear. Yuffie had come into town from Wutai for the holiday and the three of them had made plans to go out and celebrate since the bar would be closed for the next few nights.
Tifa busied herself with washing the rest of the day's dishes and lost herself in thought as she often did. The clink of porcelain was a soothing melody in the background. She thought about what had happened at this same time last year when the Tsviets had launched their plans to awaken the Omega WEAPON. Celebrations all over the planet had been interrupted by those events. Despite the outcome of the incident, cities all over the planet hummed with an undercurrent of fear as though waiting for the same thing to happen again. Tifa felt the fear wrapping itself around her heart and she tried to ignore the feeling. She told herself that she would celebrate twice as hard this year to make up for what everyone had missed last year.
Then her thoughts turned to Vincent. That entire incident had exposed more about him than anyone had ever learned four years ago. They had known something about what he was capable of back then but in the fight against Omega, they had come to fully appreciate his abilities. Only one person had been privy to all the details of his past and to everything that had happened to him during that incident, and that was Shelke. Shelke wasn't talking.
Even to this day the girl was still haunted by the memories of the woman scientist who had been partially responsible for Vincent's ultimate fate. Memories placed in her head for the sole purpose of locating Vincent. Despite knowing what Shelke had been through, Tifa felt a little jealousy at how close Shelke was to Vincent's heart. He would never admit it but she knew he felt an affinity for the girl. It wasn't love. He would never be able to think that way about the child regardless of her real age. It was more of a mutual respect between the two of them than anything else and that was closer to friendship than anything Tifa had ever seen between Vincent and anyone else.
"Tifa?"
The sudden voice close to her ear made her jump and she instinctively raised her fist, twisting to face the source and ready to strike with force that could easily kill. Her heart thudded loudly against her chest when she saw Vincent standing only a few feet to her left, and she heaved an exasperated sigh. Vincent stared at her fist and raised one eyebrow.
"Are you going to use that?"
"I dunno, I'm still thinking about it." But she lowered her fist and flexed her fingers loose so she could cross her arms. "Do you have to creep up on people like that?" There was a tiny hint of amusement in his eyes.
"I called your name from the door but you didn't answer. You appeared to be thinking. It seemed serious so I didn't want to disturb you."
"Oh, um, it was nothing important." She knew he didn't want to hear about last year's events and went back to her dishes. She was almost finished and would have to go change out of her usual shorts and tank top soon anyways. "Shelke is home now. I told her you were looking for her. She said you can go on up." A thought occurred to Tifa suddenly and she turned to face him again.
"Hey, why don't you come with us tonight?"
Vincent had been in the middle of turning to go when he stopped and glanced back. "What?"
"You know, to the festival? Shelke and I are going about half an hour before it starts getting too crowded. Yuffie's coming too and I … we'd all really like to spend some time with you while you're in town."
"I don't … celebrate. Why don't you take Cloud?"
"Oh, Cloud's out on a delivery run for the next few days." A strange expression flashed briefly on what Tifa could see of Vincent's face. It was gone so quickly that she almost thought she'd imagined it. She supposed it was the sudden lack of care with which she'd spoken of Cloud. Had she successfully piqued his curiosity? She hoped it would make him curious enough to tag along. "And don't even think about suggesting Barret. He's spending tonight with his daughter."
Vincent's eyebrows lifted slightly. Barret actually making an effort to spend time with Marlene? He had changed quite a bit, and so had Tifa. The fact that she didn't seem concerned that Cloud was gone came as quite a surprise to him. He wondered what had happened over the last year. Maybe it was time to find out. He hesitated while he weighed the discomfort of spending the evening in the middle of a crowd against the inexplicable desire to satisfy his curiosity.
It must have been the honest hope in Tifa's chocolate eyes that made his mind up for him because he nodded wordlessly and was rewarded with the brilliance of their sparkle and her smile. She didn't offer more than that before brushing past him.
"I should start getting ready. Shelke's room is upstairs at the end of the hall."
Vincent stood there for a moment wondering how he'd let himself get roped into an evening with the only three women on the planet that he'd had any significant contact with since he'd woken from his thirty year slumber. He groaned inwardly and was thankful that his collar hid the small contradictory smile on his lips.
