Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy VII Advent Children, the Care Bears, or Halloween.


Cloud stirred once during the night thinking that Tifa was going to get up, but soon realized she was just talking in her sleep. He had chuckled to himself at the time, but by morning he couldn't remember what she had said. When he finally did get up he noticed that Tifa was still sleeping, so he just stayed where he was waiting for her to wake up while he thought about things.

What would their life be like now? When would they tell the kids? How would they tell the kids? When would they get married? All these questions circled Cloud's mind as he lay there waiting…

"Eeeeeeaaaaahhh," Tifa whined as she stretched awake. "Oooooo," she screeched when she realized her foot still hurt. She was sitting up immediately with her covers pulled back and looking at her foot. It had now doubled in size for sure and it was already getting a dark bruise on the inside of it right below the ankle. "Oh my," she exclaimed when she saw the bruise.

Cloud got up to see her foot and what she was talking about. He sat at the end of her bed and fingered the bruise lightly. "Does it hurt?" he asked concerned.

Tifa looked from her foot to Cloud. Wow, he was gorgeous. All he was wearing were a long pair of dark blue PJ bottoms. His arms and chest were perfectly toned. Tifa almost forgot that he had asked her a question, let alone that he had spoken. She shook her head before remembering to respond. "No, it just looks really bad, but it doesn't hurt like a bruise."

Cloud couldn't help but notice that she looked really good in her tank top and pajama pants. The tank top said "WISH BIG" over the top of an aqua colored Care Bear with a shooting star on its white tummy. The pajama pants were striped in white and aqua with shooting stars all over. "Let me help you up. I can help you make it to the bathroom," Cloud offered.

"Okay," said Tifa, "but I need to pick out some clothes.

"I'll get them for you," Cloud offered. "Is there anything in particular that you want to wear?"

"No, you can pick out something for me," Tifa replied.

Cloud went to her dresser and picked out a pair of blue jeans and a black T-shirt with a moogle on the front. He also picked out a pair of cotton black panties with a matching bra.

Tifa giggled at how Cloud handled her undergarments, he was so cute the way he was so delicate with them. She watched him take her clothes into the bathroom for her and then he came back for her.

He helped Tifa over to the bathroom and gave her a kiss before letting her close the door on him. Cloud smiled since he knew he would be quicker at getting ready for the day than her. So he went off to the other bathroom in the hall to get cleaned up.

Cloud got out of the bathroom with time to spare, so he went to check on the kids. It was the weekend, so they were allowed to sleep in. Marlene was still asleep and had some stuffed animal in her arms. He checked on Denzel's room next and saw that Denzel was sprawled out all over his bed like he'd been knocked out. Well, that was the norm for them.

Right when Cloud was closing Denzel's door, he heard his cell phone ring back in Tifa's room. He raced back to see if it was Vincent. He had left his phone on the nightstand and it was playing a tune akin to Halloween. Cloud gave a gratified, "Yes," when he heard it. It was Vincent. "Hey Vincent," Cloud said once he had picked up the call.

"What do you want Cloud?" Vincent's voice came from the other end.

"I have a problem, I can't seem to find my cure materia and Tifa can't find hers either. It doesn't make sense, I know where I left it and it isn't there. So, I was wondering if you would come over with yours for me to borrow." Cloud was a little nervous asking this of his friend, but he wasn't sure about anyone else he could call.

"Sure thing, what happened that you need it?" Vincent asked. What could Cloud have done now?

"It's a long story," Cloud said. He didn't want to give more away than he had to about Tifa's foot. It was her injury and he didn't want to embarrass her with saying, "she sprained her foot because I left."

Luckily, Vincent left it at that and he agreed to come as soon as he could.

The bathroom door opened just as Cloud ended the call. He looked up to see Tifa, her hair still damp and dressed in the clothes he had picked out for her. Cloud immediately strode over to her to help her back over to her bed. He sat next to her and took her left hand in his. "Do you still like it?" he asked, referring to her ring.

Tifa saw it sparkle for the first time in the sunlight that was streaming through her curtains and saw the fire and sparks flashing in the stones. "Of course I do," she said. Tifa really thought it was the perfect ring for her. She looked back up at Cloud. He was so close. She could smell a combination of musk and something she couldn't quite pinpoint. It made her stomach flip and her nerves quivered with excitement.

Cloud on the other hand was intrigued with her. She smelled like a bouquet of flowers, fruit and spices. It was intoxicating and he didn't even notice that he was inching closer to her with every passing second. Before he knew it their lips had touched and he was kissing her. His mouth roamed over hers hungry for more of last night's kiss now reborn in the morning light.

Their lips were locked in a furious war. Cloud's hands had found their way to her waist, while Tifa's had once again ended up in his spiky hair. They felt like staying this way forever, but pulled apart when they heard Cloud's stomach growl.

"I guess it is time for breakfast," Tifa said giggling. "Will you help me down to the kitchen Cloud?" she asked.

"No, I've got it covered already," said Cloud. "Don't worry about a thing. Just stay here and I'll be back with your breakfast," he said as he gave her a quick peck.

Cloud helped Tifa to get her leg elevated again and went downstairs. On his way down he was thinking about the wonderful warm fuzzy feeling he had inside. It made him feel like he would burst from being too happy. He supposed it was a good feeling even if he wasn't used to it.

The kitchen had everything he needed to make a good breakfast. Cloud decided on fried potatoes and eggs with toast. To drink they had orange juice. While he was waiting for the pans to heat he located a breakfast tray.

Breakfast was almost ready when Denzel and Marlene came downstairs. They had smelled the food upstairs and came down with their hungry bellies to see if there would be any for them. Of course Cloud had made enough for everyone and so the kids sat down to talk while they waited for the food.

When everything was ready, Cloud dished out plates of food to the kids and then put his and Tifa's plates together on the tray. He walked carefully up the stairs to avoid tipping the juice and got to Tifa's room without spilling.

Back in the kitchen Marlene was telling Denzel how she'd noticed that Cloud would be eating with Tifa. "What do you think is going on?" Marlene asked Denzel.

Denzel just shrugged his shoulders and kept eating while Marlene pondered this strange occurrence. It wasn't strange for them to eat together, something seemed different and Marlene couldn't quite place it.

Tifa looked up when Cloud entered with the tray and set it over her lap. "Wow," she said in an impressed tone. "This looks and smells great," Tifa said as she looked up at him.

Cloud just smiled back at her. Then he went to the other side of the bed and sat down next to her, grabbing his plate out of her way.

Tifa tried her food and was surprised by how good it was. "Cloud," she said, "this is excellent."

She started wolfing her food down much to Cloud's surprise. He wondered how she maintained her beautiful figure if she ate like that. "Slow down," Cloud said worried she would choke, "It's not going to run off your plate." She slowed down, so Cloud went back to thinking about the things he had been thinking about that morning.

Tifa noticed the seriousness of his silence and ventured to ask. "What is it Cloud?" She got no acknowledgement out of him so she said, "CLOUD." At this point he snapped out of it and she repeated her question.

Cloud swallowed before he answered. "I've been thinking a lot about how and when we're going to tell Marlene and Denzel about us. The problem is that I haven't gotten any ideas," he admitted.

A smile graced Tifa's lips as she suggested, " how about you bring them up here after we are all through eating. We can break it to them then, besides it wouldn't take them long to figure it out. They've probably already noticed that we are acting differently."

Back in the kitchen Marlene and Denzel were just finishing up breakfast and were talking about how to get to the bottom of this new "behavior" they had noticed. Marlene was hoping that Cloud and Tifa were "getting together" and Denzel was thinking about how cool it would be to have a "Mom" and a "Dad" that were more than just friends, but a real family. He hadn't had that for what seemed like ages now and he didn't dare to hope.

"Let's go listen by the door," suggested Marlene.

"No way," said Denzel, "we'd get caught for sure."

Unbeknownst to the two, Cloud had come back down and had heard the last part of his sentence. "What would you get caught doing?" he asked Denzel. Cloud didn't understand it, but he smelled some kind of mischief brewing.

Denzel froze on the spot while Marlene said, "Nothing," a little to fast.

Cloud decided to watch them sweat a little and said, "come up with me to Tifa's room."

Denzel looked at Marlene with a look that said 'now you've done it.'


Wow! The line worked for me and I don't know what I did to fix it.

Thank you to everyone who has reviewed. I really appreciate it so much. I hope to bring you a new chapter by next week at the latest.