"This is where you live now?" Tifa walked into Vincent's apartment. "It looks very…economical. Oh, here you go." She handed him a gift bag.
"What's this for?" Vincent was glad to see her, even though he had been unsure about calling her. He just wanted her to know he had a 'proper' place to live since it seemed to matter to her. He took a wine bottle out of the bag.
"A housewarming gift. I hope you like red wine. This is a hard to find but worthwhile vintage, just like you. Oh, this does have a lovely view!" Tifa looked out the window.
"I'm glad you like it." Vincent put the bottle on his table.
"Have you tried looking for a job yet?" she asked.
"I still have plenty of money." Vincent replied.
"Well that's good. I finished the resume if you want it." It had taken hours and some creative writing on her part to come up with an honest resume that would be suitable for a variety of jobs. "I hope I wasn't being too pushy. That's another mistake I made with Cloud that I'm trying not to repeat. And my lunch break is almost over, so I'll see you around." Tifa kissed him on the cheek and left.
The beginning of Dirge of Cerberus
"That was even better than last time." Yuffie collapsed onto Cloud, laying her head on his chest.
"It sure was." Cloud's arms automatically encircled his Wutaian love.
"You know, if we got married, we could do this all the time without anymore sneaking around." Yuffie pointed out.
"Marriage?" Cloud was surprised that she brought it up. "I've been wanting to ask you for a while, but…"
"You don't want to do that to Tifa because she's alone still." Yuffie finished his sentence for him, trying to her voice level. She knew Cloud was in love with her, not Tifa, but she sometimes felt like Tifa was there with them, holding him back from committing. "You said she's been trying dating services?"
"Yeah. But when she explains that she's living with me and we're raising two kids together, it never works out." Cloud replied.
"Then if you moved in with me as my husband, it would be easier for her to find someone." Yuffie also knew that Tifa had been spending time with Vincent, and hoped something would develop between them. If she was overly obnoxious the next time she ran into the former Turk, maybe Tifa would look better by comparison.
"I'll think about it." Cloud would have talk to Tifa very soon regardless, because he wanted her blessing for his relationship with Yuffie, since he was getting tired of the strain of denying his feelings for her in Tifa's presence.
Vincent woke up from a dream of Lucrecia telling him she was sorry, and he told her he was the one who should apologize. Sitting on his bed, the dream faded slowly as he was reminded of his and Tifa's apologies to each other over their night together. The cellphone she had bought for him was right next to a wineglass filled with the red wine she had given him. He sighed as the memories of Lucrecia tormented him and tainted all of Tifa's friendly overtures. He heard unusual noises outside and went to investigate, wanting to focus on anything else right then.
The end of Dirge of Cerberus
Listening to Shelke outside Lucrecia's cave, Vincent thought of Tifa and her insistence that he was as human as anyone, and wanting him to get out more. He took out his cellphone. "Call Tifa." he told it.
"Calling Pizza." the phone said back to him.
"No, not pizza…I want Tifa!" Vincent was getting fed up with having to go through this routine again, just like the first time he tried to call her, but he wasn't going to start swearing again, not with Shelke there.
"Extra cheese toppings." the phone started placing an order.
"Here, let me help you." Shelke took the phone from him and dialed Tifa's number and handed it back to him.
"Hello? Tifa?" Vincent said when she picked up.
"Vincent? You're okay!" Tifa was beyond relieved to hear his voice again. The past week had troubled her, not only with waiting for Vincent's return, but for how Cloud kept trying to start a conversation about something else when he would call in with an update on his searches, then he'd change his mind and hang up.
"Yeah, I think I am okay." Vincent said. "Would you like to go out for coffee?"
"This is a nice place." Tifa remarked as she sat down at the table across from Vincent at the little café he gave her the address to.
"I'm told they have very good coffee here." Vincent had been recommended to it by Reeve and Shelke, who had used her mental abilities to find the best reviewed café close to Tifa's apartment.
"Can I help you?" the waitress asked.
"Two coffees please." Vincent and Tifa said at the same time, then smiled at each other.
"So, has anything new happened to you in the past week?" Vincent asked Tifa when the waitress left.
"No, we were all just waiting for you to return, except the Turks who are trying to find Shalua's capsule." Tifa answered.
"I hope they do soon. She reminded me a bit of Lucrecia." Vincent explained.
The waitress brought the coffee then, and Tifa listened to Vincent talk about Lucrecia a bit more, noticing that he used past tense now when talking about his crystalline love. When they decided they had drunk enough coffee, they argued briefly over who should pay, until the waitress told them that it was on the house, as a thank you for saving the world a few times.
"Well that was nice." Tifa stood up, and she and Vincent walked back to her place. "Thank you for asking me. And I'm very glad you survived." She hugged him before going upstairs to start getting dinner ready.
"We need to talk." Cloud told Tifa as they ate dinner by themselves since Marlene and Denzel were spending the weekend with Barret.
"I know you've wanted to tell me something for a while. What is it?" Tifa questioned him.
"Yuffie asked me to marry her." Cloud blurted out. "I'd…I'd like to know we have your blessing."
"That's all?" Tifa plastered a smile on her face. "Of course you have my blessing…but what about Marlene and Denzel?"
"We haven't discussed that yet." Cloud admitted.
"Well, I hope you tell the kids when they get back before it happens, so they have time to adjust. And you're going to have to put away dinner yourself, I've got to start getting ready for another first date tonight." Tifa announced.
"That's great!" Cloud brightened up. "Do you need any extra money to help pay for…are you having dinner twice tonight?"
"No, I don't need help tonight, but thanks for offering." Tifa stood up and hurried to her room, taking deep breaths before going to her closet and pulling out the dress she always used for first dates and got into it, fixing her hair and makeup like she always did, slipping into her heels and grabbing her purse. "Don't wait up for me!" she called out to Cloud who was washing the dishes, before heading downstairs.
"Have a great time!" he responded.
Vincent was surprised by a knock on his door so late at night, and opened it to see who was there. "Tifa!" he exclaimed. "What are you doing here?" Vincent hadn't seen her so dressed up before.
"Can…can I stay here tonight?" she asked.