Cloud and Tifa stood there underneath the overhang of the bar looking at the pouring rain before them.

"You're apartment is nine blocks from here right?" Cloud asked holding Tifa against him.

"Yeah, it's going to be one hell of a walk home tonight." Tifa said.

"Let's take the bus. There's a stop just down the street and if we do that we won't get soaked. Sure it will take longer but we'll be dry." Cloud said. He was right. By taking the bus it would be a 45 minute trip to Tifa's apartment. It was normally a 15 minute walk. This rain would make it miserable and the lightning around them a bit on the dangerous side. The bus was a perfect option right now.

"Okay, let's go for it. We're still going to get wet but at least it won't be as bad as it could be." Tifa said squeezing Cloud's hand. The lightning flashed around them. They didn't waste another minute. Tifa squealed as they hurried off onto the semi-flooded sidewalks. Water flew as their shoes hit deep puddles. Thank goodness the Midgar Bus Transit was a 24-hour operation. They could see the bus stop sign and the covered waiting area. That would at least provide temporary relief from the blowing rain while they waited on the bus to make its rounds. Tifa clumsily put the umbrella down and leaned it up against the bus stop bench. The rain had soaked the bench so they would be standing waiting on the bus to arrive. Tifa shivered a bit as the few cars that traveled the streets tonight sprayed water in all directions. "What time is it?" Tifa asked as she turned her back toward the street. Cloud reached into his pocket for his phone and looked at it.

"2:15." He answered her. The bus ran in ten minute increments. "We won't have to wait here long." Cloud took Tifa in his arms, pulling her body close to him. He watched the lighting flash over Tifa's head. The thunder made the bus stop kiosk shake as the vibrations surged through it.

"I hope Zack and Aerith make it home okay. Maybe it will stop storming by the time they leave the bar tonight." Tifa said letting the weight of her body sink into Cloud.

"Something tells me that both of them are going to be so wasted that they won't even notice the rain. They are in bad shape as it is." Cloud said. Tifa laughed.

"You're right. They are both pretty well tanked; maybe even more so than the time I made drinks for them not too long ago." Tifa said. The sound of the approaching bus could be heard as its headlights tried to cut through the merciless rain. It must have been 2:20 or very close to that. "Do you still have my money from tonight? Bus fare is six gil, I think." Tifa said releasing Cloud and picking up the umbrella. She didn't bother to open it. It wouldn't do any good.

"By the way, do you have any idea how much you made tonight? 214 gil and that's not counting whatever is in your apron right now." Cloud said. Tifa had tucked her apron away in the bag that was slung over her shoulder.

"That was good money indeed." Tifa said taking the money from Cloud as the bus pulled up. She stepped out into the rain and threw a hand in the air hoping the bus would see them. The bus's brakes screeched as it slowed down. The door flung open; the neon lights from the interior lighting up the sidewalk. Tifa hurried inside and up the two steps. She handed the money over to the driver. "Hi! You going to 53rd and Vineland tonight?" Tifa asked. She wasn't sure why she asked the driver that. Of course the bus would be going that way…the buses stayed on route. The stop was technically called The Plaza which was a shopping district located near 53rd Street and Vineland Boulevard. It was just something to say to the driver so she and Cloud wouldn't enter in silence.

"I sure am. I have a few stops to make in between but I'll get you there." The driver said. He was surprisingly cheerful for it to be after 2:00 in the morning and storming like hell. The bright lights of the bus were a bit painful to the eyes at first considering Cloud and Tifa had been in near darkness standing at the bus stop. Surprisingly, there were a handful of other passengers on the bus. Most likely the 2nd shift hospital workers and perhaps even the 2nd shift Shin-Ra maintenance crew workers. Tifa sat on the aisle of the bus so she could sit the umbrella along the metal edging of the walkway. The bus lunged forward as the driver continued onward to the next stop. Next stop Midgar Circle. The driver announced over the intercom system. Midgar Circle, Loveless Avenue, the Sector 5 slums and the Shin-Ra outpost were all the busiest stops on the route though they likely wouldn't be too populated at this hour.

Tifa shivered again. The chill bumps on her barely covered legs could be easily seen. Her arms were freezing along with her legs. Cloud immediately noticed how cold she was. Normally he would have been scared to put his arms around Tifa in a public place…but after what they had already done in a public place tonight made that idea of not putting his arms around her seem ridiculous.

"You're cold I can tell. Come here, I don't have a coat obviously but maybe I can get you a little warmer." Cloud said. Tifa smiled as she let her head fall into his shoulder. His embrace was warm.

"You smell like laundry." Tifa said. "Clean laundry that is. You always smell that way." Cloud laughed.

"You can thank Zack…he takes our laundry detergent surprisingly seriously." And speaking of Zack…

He and Aerith were still at the 7th Heaven bar. The time was now 2:30 and they were getting ready to head out. They had just stepped out the front entrance of the bar only to see the weather that faced them. The apartment was two blocks from the bar.

"We've just gotta go, Aerith." Zack said squeezing her hand.

"Shit! Zack! It's pouring out here! We need to call a cab or something." Aerith insisted.

"No, that will take for freaking ever. Besides, that is idiotic to call a cab for a two block walk." Zack said. Both of them were still very well smashed so they didn't even think to ask Cissnei or Tseng or anyone else if they DROVE here tonight and could give them a ride back to the apartment. "Okay, okay…here's what we're going to do…we're going to run like hell." Zack said.

"Zack! I can't run nearly as fast as you! Let's just call a fucking cab and wait on it." Aerith insisted.

"Hey, hey, hey, hey…I love you…I will not outrun you. I will hold on to you so you don't fall behind." Zack said wrapping his arms around Aerith and kissing her hard. As his hands moved their way up her dress that was all the convincing her drunk brain needed. Aerith smiled all over.

"Alright, let's go. But we have to be fast as hell Zack! We're going to get soaked beyond belief!" Aerith said gripping Zack's hand.

"Don't worry Aerith. You ready? On three okay? We run like fucking hell on three…1…2…3!" Zack yelled the three as they took off into the rain. Aerith screamed like a little girl as the cold rain hit her bare skin. It was a good thing they were so close to the apartment and had the route back memorized. Zack didn't want Aerith tripping on a curb or a storm drain and breaking a leg. Her screeches turned to laughter as she and Zack ran like maniacs through the rain. They had managed to make it one block away from the bar. Just one more block to go. Aerith ran faster alongside Zack. She kept up the pace quite well despite the fact that her dress had nearly fallen off one shoulder entirely. Zack had almost squeezed her hand off making certain that they stayed together. At last they could see the door lights of their apartment unit.

"Come on, come on! We're almost there!" Zack said as they picked up their pace even more for to get across the last street before approaching their sidewalk.

"Get the key! Hurry!" Aerith said pushing her thin strap back onto her shoulder. It didn't do any good because the weight of the soaking wet fabric was pulling her entire dress down anyway. Zack got the door open and shoved Aerith inside in front of him. They had forgotten to leave a light on and so their apartment was darkened. Zack quickly closed the door behind them but Aerith stopped him as he reached for the nearby light switch. She pushed him up against the door and kissed him hard. She immediately felt her sopping wet dress hit the floor in one quick motion behind her. "Zack…fuck me." Aerith hissed, her voice heavy and breathless. They both reeked of alcohol.

Next stop Loveless Avenue. The bus driver announced. Cloud hadn't let go of Tifa's hand this entire bus ride. "Our stop is next." Tifa said relieved that The Plaza stop was closer than it had been all night. "I can't wait to get out of these clothes and get something to eat."

"I can help you with either of those, you know." Cloud said. Tifa laughed.

"I'm sure you can. By the way, my roommate will probably be coming in soon. Um…if we actually see her disregard her fake hair and platform shoes. This might be a good time to tell you that she's an exotic dancer." Tifa said.

"She's what?" Cloud asked.

"It's a polite and fancy way of saying that she's a stripper…she plays on a pole for money. I don't question what else she does while she's at the club." Tifa explained.

"You live…with a stripper…Tifa, that sounds unsafe. What if she….I don't know...brings strange people home with her." Cloud asked.

"I know. You're right and she has brought some questionable people into our apartment before. But she's temporary and I would have never ever let her move in with me had I known what she did. It's not that I'm judging her…I'm judging what she does for a living. She's actually a very, sweet and educated person. I think somewhere along the way though, she just lost her sense of direction." Tifa explained.

"Why didn't Aerith just move in with you? You have a beautiful and spacious apartment. By the way, we can never tell Zack you live with a stripper….who knows what he'll dream up." Cloud said.

"It wasn't close enough to Zack so she chose to stay where she is. And yes, you're right…who knows what he would dream up." Tifa said. The Plaza. The bus driver announced as their stop had finally arrived. Tifa pulled Cloud up and they hurried toward the front of the bus. Tifa shot the umbrella up as fast as she could as she stepped out of the bus and onto the curb. It seemed as if this stop would never come. Thank goodness The Plaza was well lit; it would at least make for a less cumbersome walk to Tifa's apartment complex. There was hardly another soul on these streets tonight. Cloud still held on to Tifa's hand as they made their way away from the main strip and down one of the side streets. The rain had let up slightly.

"Damn it! Power's out." Zack said hearing the central air unit shut off and noticing the glowing clock beside their bed go out.

"So?" Aerith said pulling Zack back down over her.

"It's too dark, Aerith. Do we have a flashlight or something?" Zack asked.

"I don't know. Wait…we have those scented candles in the living room cabinet. Remember? We stuck them all in there after we bought them?" Aerith said squirming around to sit up in the bed.

"Oooooh yeah! Those things Cloud is allergic to! Come on let's go try and dig them out of the cabinet!" Zack said.

"I'm naked!" Aerith reminded him.

"So? That will be hot!" Zack said stumbling through the bedroom toward the door. It would be difficult to actually pull this candle thing off with the two of them so drunk. None the less, they made their way out into the living room.

"Shit! I think I just broke my entire foot on the damn cabinet!" Zack whined as he tripped over the cabinet where the candles were. Aerith managed to somewhat fall over him as Zack bent down to open the door of the cabinet. "Alright, they are in here somewhere. I am going to start pulling shit out and I will start handing you candles as I find them." Zack said.

"How the hell are we going to light these? Do we even have any matches?" Aerith wondered. Zack thought a moment. Of course they didn't have any matches! Why the hell would they have matches!

"No…we have no matches…" Zack thought a moment. "Wait! I accidentally kept Tseng's lighter tonight! It's somewhere in my pants and my pants are in the bedroom which is where we are taking these candles anyway." Zack said throwing stuff out of this cabinet and putting candles in Aerith's arms. She was currently holding four of them. "Hey, we don't need all ten do we? How about I just…oh wait here are two more….Aerith…why the hell do we have so many of these?" Zack wondered successfully emptying one shelf entirely.

"Because we got them on sale silly!" Aerith said.

"So we bought ten? No normal person needs ten candles." Zack said.

"Well, it was your idea baby. Now come on! Let's go light these things! I'm sick of not being able to see anything!" Aerith said taking small steps back toward the bedroom. Zack was close behind her.

Across town, Cloud and Tifa had finally made it to the first floor lobby of her apartment building. She shook the wet umbrella on the carpet in front of the door. Cloud noticed the security cameras in the lobby. They had to have a door code to get into this lobby; it was a safety precaution.

"Do you care if I check my mailbox before we go upstairs?" Tifa asked.

"No, I don't mind at all. I'll go ahead and get the elevator down here." Cloud said. This was a rather lavish building and one of the few apartment complexes in Midgar that had an elevator. It had to due to its twelve floors. Tifa lived on the 8th floor. Any unit above floor eight was horribly expensive and only the Midgar elite could afford to rent there. Floor eleven and twelve were penthouses. Tifa heard the ding of the elevator just as she had pulled the mail from her mail slot. She locked it back and hurried over to where Cloud was standing. The elevator surged upward and in no time there they were standing in the 8th floor hallway. Tifa's unit was the last on the left. There wasn't a sound to be heard in the halls tonight. There were only six units per floor and the spacious units were another reason why living here wasn't cheap. Tifa shoved her door key in the slot and flipped on the light. 2:49 AM…they had finally made it home. Tifa sighed and threw her arms around Cloud, letting the umbrella fall and hit the trim around the door. She kissed him before taking another step forward.

"I'm going to go change clothes. I'll be right back, I promise." Tifa said letting go of Cloud again.

"Don't put too much on." Cloud said. Tifa laughed.

"Maybe I won't put anything on." Tifa answered.

"That would…that would be okay, Tifa…That would be okay." Cloud said searching in the kitchen for something to make for her. He knew she was hungry and this was the least he could do. There was plenty of stuff in the refrigerator to make her a decent sandwich. Cloud realized his entire back was wet from there the umbrella didn't completely cover him and Tifa. He figured he would change later. Even though Cloud had only been over here a couple times with Tifa, he managed to fill one of her dresser drawers completely with some of his clothes.

"You're making me a sandwich? Ooooh thank you so much!" Tifa said excitedly. Cloud looked up at her as she sat down on the barstool.

"Oh my god…you can almost see right through that…almost." Cloud said a bit shocked by the fact that Tifa was wearing a navy blue semi-opaque slip. It was hard to take his eyes off of her.

"You told me not to put too much on." Tifa said waiting for Cloud to finish this sandwich.

"Yeah…I just didn't think you would actually take me seriously. Besides, I thought you were cold?" Cloud said putting the finishing touches on her sandwich.

"I was but it's not that cold in here and I felt better after I got out of my skirt." Tifa said.

"Well, as much as I'd like to stay here and look at you, I'm going to change clothes now because my back is soaked from that last leg of the trip." Cloud said pushing this finished sandwich in front of Tifa.

"Thanks for this sandwich. I'll wait right here for you." Tifa reassured Cloud.

Back across town, Zack and Aerith finally had gotten all the candles lit in their bedroom. At last there was some light in the apartment; there was no telling when the electric would come back on. "What's this scent?" Zack asked handing a candle over to Aerith.

"Peaches and cream." Aerith said lighting it.

"I don't get it…we have a freaking pine needles candle…a strawberry candle, some kind of tropical…something. Where do they get the names of these things? Like this…sex on the beach! Who decided that this is what sex on the beach smells like? Hey, hey…you know what we should do?" Zack started laughing.

"We're nowhere near a beach, Zack!" Aerith said knowing where this was going. "And this candle isn't called pine needles, its evergreen!"

"Well we should go to the beach and soon and prove that this candle in fact does not smell like sex on the beach!" Zack said. This room smelled like a scent explosion of six different candles and Cloud's eyes would surely be watering and he would be sneezing like crazy when he came back tomorrow.

"Okay, here's the last one. This one is called paradise." Aerith said handing the lit candle over to Zack. He smelled it and set it on the nightstand beside him.

"I will just not get who comes up with this shit. Who says paradise smells like a fucking pineapple!" Zack said. He turned around and looked at Aerith. The candlelight danced over every beautiful curve of her. It didn't matter when the power came back on. The sight of her right now was entirely irresistible.

"I can't do it now…you look too perfect." Zack said.

"What do you mean?" Aerith said reaching to the other side of their bed and grabbing a silk scarf that was lying on the floor. She handed it over to Zack. He just looked at her.

"I mean everything we talked about doing…I can't…I have to be gentle with you tonight. You just look like an angel that's all." Zack said sincerely even though his breath was still soaked in alcohol.

"Well, in that case we won't need this scarf or the video camera." Aerith said throwing the scarf on the floor and reaching her arms around Zack. His kiss was soft, his touch was soft, and in fact Zack hadn't been this gentle with Aerith in a long time. Aerith sighed as she felt Zack's hands trace her body.

"Touch me." She whispered a bit breathlessly as she let her hands drift above her head. She didn't have to ask twice. Things were about to heat up on both ends of town.