Warning: There is quite a bit of sex in the next two chapters!
"Surprise!" Eliza Mackey said placing a bottle of wine on the kitchen counter.
"Eliza! You shouldn't have done that. Did you and your husband have a nice time today?" Tifa asked. The Mackey's had been back for three hours and honestly were ready to take the kids and leave again for the evening. Tifa had been asleep on the couch when they returned, the kids were asleep and Cloud had been outside reading. So, this was the first opportunity Tifa had to ask about their day.
The kids all took a nap when we came in from the pool. They should be ready to take off again." Tifa said. "Hey do me and Cloud have to wait until we get home to drink this wine?" Eliza laughed.
"No, of course not. Drink it tonight!' Eliza said. "What are you too going to do tonight?" she asked with almost too much interest.
"We have no idea. We haven't even talked about it. Cloud is in Denzel's room and they are playing some strategy game. I can tell you we are going to do something with wine for sure." Tifa laughed. Eliza smiled.
"You deserve it! Thanks for keeping Stella today. We really appreciate it. You make Cloud do something nice for you." Eliza said.
"Oh don't worry…he will." Tifa winked at Eliza. Marlene and Stella came out of their room laughing about something.
"What are you girls doing?" Tifa asked.
"We accidentally melted Stella's chapstick with the hairdryer." Marlene said. Sure enough there was a melted pink wad in Stella's pocket of her jeans.
"Oh no! Why don't you change, Stella, and I'll try to run those through the laundry while you all are gone this evening." Tifa said running her hand over the waxy mess. Stella and Marlene were still laughing about it as Stella left the room to change. "Don't worry I can get it out." Tifa reassured Eliza. It didn't take Stella and Marlene long to return. Cloud and Denzel were close behind.
"Where are you all going to eat tonight? Cloud asked as Denzel joined Eliza, Marlene and Stella.
"We're going to leave it up to them." Eliza said.
"I guess we should give you some money." Cloud said leaving the room to go find his wallet or Tifa's purse; whatever he came across first.
"Cloud, don't do that! We don't want anything!" Eliza called to him but Cloud ignored her. He soon returned and gave her some money.
"Here, just take it. If nothing else drink something with your dinner." Cloud said. "You said the kids were picking right? For the record…our kids…won't choose fast food or some place with a value menu." Cloud said. Eliza laughed. Our kids? Really? Now they were our kids?
"He's serious, Eliza. Anytime we ask Marlene and Denzel where they will always pick someplace where we all sit around the table." Tifa said.
"You watch, they'll probably choose to go to some piano bar with a preset menu." Cloud said sarcastically. Eliza laughed again. Her husband was finally ready to leave as he emerged from their bedroom.
"Since we have no idea what we're doing we don't know what time we'll be back." Tifa said.
"It's okay, we'll have a great time tonight." Eliza said. And with that, the Mackey's were out the door and Marlene and Denzel waved goodbye. Once the door closed Tifa took the wine off the counter.
"So, you wanna do this tonight?" Tifa said showing the wine to Cloud.
"You know what we should do? Let's take this wine and a couple of those big blankets and drink this on the beach. We'll walk down the other way on the beach. We know what's toward the pier but we haven't walked the other way." Cloud said.
"That sounds like a wonderful idea. Let me grab a couple of glasses and go change." Tifa said.
"You don't need to change. Look at me, I'm wearing this." Cloud said referring to the fact that Cloud was wearing gray flannel boxers and a well worn burgundy t-shirt.
"Well, if you're wearing that then I can wear this tank top and these baggy capris." Tifa said reaching above her head to get two glasses. Cloud pulled the blankets out of a cabinet.
"Let's go." Cloud said turning on the lamp beside the couch.
The beach was sparsely populated tonight. It was now 6:30. Cloud and Tifa had laid out the blankets far enough up the beach so that the incoming tide wouldn't get them wet. Tifa and Cloud had been walking hand in hand in one direction for the past half-hour. They could have done anything they wanted tonight since the Mackey's took the kids…but they chose to stay here on the beach. Even if they hadn't had a bottle of wine waiting on them they likely would have stayed in tonight. It had been such a pleasant walk down the beach. They would have never had any time to do something like this at home. By 8:00 Cloud and Tifa had returned to their spot in the sand.
"I'm glad you picked up that corker at the last minute." Cloud said taking the bottle of red wine and preparing to pull the cork from it.
"I can't believe this beach is so unpopulated tonight. It's a perfect evening; where is everyone?" Tifa said as she looked around at the empty sands around them.
"Everyone probably went to dinner. Our kids are sipping champagne and indulging in caviar right now with the Mackey's and so is everyone else." Cloud said making fun of Marlene and Denzel's unusually particular taste in restaurants. Cloud took Tifa's glass from her and let the crimson liquid fill it half-way.
"What are we drinking to?" Tifa asked sniffing the wine. Cloud buried the bottle in the sand so it wouldn't fall over after pouring his glass. He wrote something on the wine cork with a marker and put it aside for the time being.
"We are drinking to you…and me…and our perfect family." Cloud said. Tifa couldn't believe that he had said such a thing. Whatever the hell had happened to Cloud was refreshing and a far cry from the Cloud he was years ago. Not even someone like him could be a miserable guilt-ridden mess forever. Tifa glowed all over.
"Yeah…to all of that." Tifa said clanging her glass into Cloud's. It was smooth wine; sweet with a floral finish. The Mackey's had made a good choice. Tifa put her head on Cloud's shoulder as she swirled the wine around in the glass. The ocean air was cooling down as the sun drifted toward the tides. Cloud put an arm around Tifa.
"You know…" Cloud laughed as he thought to himself. "…if Zack and Aerith were here with us instead of the Mackey's…their kids would be too young to have fun with Marlene and Denzel. I have this all figured out. Their oldest would have been three now; their baby about eighteen months and Aerith would be pregnant with another one. You would have to hear things like 'when I was pregnant with my first one…' and I would have to hear things like 'The kids are starting to sleep through the night…' Oh and Aerith would be yelling at Me and Zack for swimming out too far in the surf and then letting this kids get too close to a washed up jellyfish. 'You get back here! Zack, that's dangerous! Oh my god, will that thing sting the babies? Don't let them touch it!" Cloud said. Tifa was laughing at him.
"Oh my god Cloud, Aerith's voice sounds nothing like that!"
"I love Aerith dearly but I am aware that I sound nothing like her." Cloud said kissing the top of Tifa's head.
"I do have to say…you have that scenario thought out to the point where it is frighteningly accurate." Tifa said. Tifa took another drink of wine. "The thing is though; if Zack and Aerith were here; our lives would have played out very differently. We probably wouldn't have Marlene and Denzel, Cloud." Tifa said a bit solemnly.
"You're right…we probably wouldn't." Cloud starred out over the ocean wondering if somehow Zack knew that Cloud was finally okay.
"It's weird isn't it? At first…it was like what the hell are we going to do with these kids? I wasn't going to give up my life to take care of them and you sure as fuck wasn't going to rearrange your life for them…and now…now I can't imagine life without them. Sometimes, I think it was Aerith that lead them into our messy life only to straighten it all out." Tifa said.
"I love them, Tifa. Marlene and Denzel…I love them like they were mine. That's stupid isn't it?" Cloud asked refilling Tifa's glass before filling his own. Maybe it was Aerith's way. Perhaps those few years ago she looked down from heaven and guided those children to Cloud and Tifa.
"Of course it's not stupid. They are yours, Cloud. You have every right to love them. As much effort as we have put into making sure everyone around us knew that they were in no way biologically connected to us; and that we were only taking care of them for a while has failed miserably. What started out as an obligation has become our kids that we'd never let anyone hurt." Tifa kissed soft burgundy fabric as the sun sank lower on the horizon.
"Now Zack would never do this to Aerith…but I would totally do this to you." Cloud said handing the wine cork to Tifa. She took the cork and read it already knowing that he had written something on it. They always wrote on wine corks and it would go in their drawer when they got home. The cork read: 'Had sex on the beach'.
"Well, I sure as hell won't say no to that." Tifa said gulping down the bottom of her glass quickly.
"We should drink this entire bottle of wine tonight." Cloud suggested.
"I don't know…anytime we drink that much one of us always wakes up bruised or rug burned and we're both always so sore we can hardly move…" Tifa thought a moment. "…yeah, okay we should drink this whole bottle." Tifa said. She sat her glass aside in the sand for now and put her hands on Cloud pushing him to his back on their blanket.
"So I'm going to finish this glass of wine and then you're going to make me your slave." Tifa laid on top of Cloud; the weight of her body resting on him.
"I can do that; I'll make you do anything I say." Tifa said letting her hands creep up his shirt. Cloud dug his now empty glass into the sand and put his hands on Tifa's hips.
"Give me a preview." Cloud demanded of her. Tifa had his shirt off in no time. The look in Tifa's normally sweet and endearing eyes had turned into fiery desire.
"Shut up, Cloud." Tifa said softly. She kissed him before he had a chance to disagree; not that he would have. There was something irresistibly hot about being dominated by Tifa. One thing was certain; Cloud never let anyone have the upper hand with him except Tifa. Cloud could feel Tifa's hands rubbing all over him. he gasped.
"Hurt me…just a little…just enough to get me to grit my teeth." Tifa insisted as she pulled her lips away from Cloud's. She could feel a painfully hard arousal pressing into her abdomen. The first time Tifa had asked Cloud to hurt her in their bed at home he had reservations about it…but that was just one of Tifa's fetishes. She moaned deeply as she felt Cloud pinch her nipple. The louder she moaned the harder she dug her fingertips into the sides of his ribs. It was somewhat difficult to pinch her through her bra but perhaps that was part of what Tifa liked. "Oh god, yes…" Tifa hissed. She grit her teeth together hard; it was exactly what she had wanted. Tifa reached for her tank top and began to slink it slowly up her stomach. Thank goodness the dusk behind them had finally set in. Her half-nude form visible to Cloud's eyes only. She could hear him sigh out her name as Cloud watched her fondle her own breasts. Tifa moved her hips slightly to one side so she could get Cloud completely undressed underneath her. She listened carefully to the breath that escaped him as she touched pure pleasure between his legs. She wouldn't make him want for her long. The wetness between her legs was enough of an indicator that she wanted him too miserably to toy with him.
"You just relax and move with me okay? Tell me if I get too rough." Tifa said.
"Tifa, you could never get too rough with me." Cloud said.
"I wouldn't be so sure of that. I'm going to fuck you without any inhibition here on the beach where there isn't a soul around. I may get a little rough, baby." Tifa said rising to her knees to pull her slouchy pants off only to reveal her wet panties underneath. She slid those off too careful to make sure all of their clothes stayed in a pile on their blanket. Tifa took Cloud's hands in hers as she positioned herself the way she wanted to be on top of him. Tifa had plenty of strength in her thighs to rock Cloud's world for as long as he could stand. He already knew she was good at it; but she was about to prove just how good she could be. Tifa's hips were as rhythmic as the ocean waves. With each move she made, she got a little more intense with Cloud, pushing him deeper inside her and allowing herself to take complete control of his body.
"Move with me, baby." Tifa begged of him. This may have been the hottest thing they had ever done. Cloud's voice was weak and helpless as he pleaded for Tifa. She had control of his orgasm and she was not going to let him have it anytime soon. But Cloud wanted it that way. She had seen this look on his face before and she knew his pulse was racing. "Move with me harder now." Tifa said as she moaned for him. She moved Cloud's hands to her hips and instructed him to hold on to her. She didn't bother keeping her voice down. Why should she? The sun had long disappeared and there wasn't anyone around. She was aggressive and raw. Tifa didn't spare him even a slight chance of getting closer than her to climaxing before she did.
"Can we just stay here and you fuck me like this all night?" Cloud begged breathlessly.
"You better watch your mouth." Tifa playfully warned Cloud after hearing what he had just said to her.
"Why, what are you going to do about it?" Cloud asked squeezing her hips tightly. Tifa leaned over until her breasts were pushing up against him.
"Because you might give me too many ideas." Tifa whispered. Cloud cried out for her as her body slid over his. She had already been pretty rough with him so it was time for her to lighten up before things got too close. "Listen, I'm going trade you places and you're going to make a mess all over me; do you hear me?" Tifa asked. Her voice was husky and unrefined.
"Yes." Was all Cloud said as he shut his eyes tightly at the feeling of Tifa's tender hands in his hair.
"Cloud?" Tifa's voice was sweeter now."
"Yes?" he asked her weakly.
"I love you." She told him before grabbing his shoulders and forcing him on top of her.