Chapter 7: Heat Wave

The day had really begun to heat up by the time Tifa departed the train at midtown. Stepping lightly into the muggy morning air, she dreaded her inevitable return to normalcy. However, there was a spring in her step as she made her way the few short blocks home to 7th Heaven.

Double-checking the time on her PHS which now read 7:10 am, she figured that the kids would definitely be up and roaming around. Even on weekends they were early risers. If any benevolent god decided to smile upon her that particular morning, she'd be lucky enough to slip back into the apartment unnoticed without disturbing anyone's slumber.

Upon reaching her destination, Tifa slipped inside through the back-alley entrance to meander through the unusually quiet bar, before making her way up the stairs to unlock the door to her apartment. Luck wasn't on her side that morning, evidently, as she listened to chatter followed by shushing noises on the other side of the door. After a few steadying breaths she turned the door handle, aptly flinging it open to witness Marlene and Denzel scurrying around the kitchen.

"Morning!" Marlene beamed from her perch at the stove.

Tifa couldn't help but smile. Marlene looked so cute in her little pink apron, standing on a step-stool to reach the burners.

"What's all this?" Tifa asked with the special sort of enthusiasm she reserved only for the children.

"We figured we'd make breakfast before Yuffie burned the house down," Denzel snorted from his seat on the counter before gulping down some orange juice. One stern look from Tifa and he hopped down, taking his juice to the breakfast table.

"Still asleep, huh?" Tifa asked, surprised in the least bit. She mentally pictured Yuffie texting her back earlier that morning in a sleep-induced haze, followed by her ninja reflexes aptly chucking the phone across the room -all before turning over to catch some more Z's.

"Out like a light," Marlene said matter-of-factly before flipping a hotcake on Tifa's favorite cast-iron griddle.

"My, my, my," Tifa took a seat across from Denzel, "what good little worker moogles I have under my roof. Thank you both for babysitting Yuffie while I was out."

"Anytime," Marlene gave her a thumbs-up as she plopped a ready hotcake onto a plate.

"Tifa," Denzel began carefully, eying her up suspiciously, "Were you all the way in Junon last night?" as he set down his glass to scrutinize her current state of attire.

Tifa stared at the bright-eyed young man for a moment, genuinely confused at his inquiry. It was a mere moment later that she realized that she was still wearing Reno's 'Port Junon Trading Co' shirt.

"Oh! I -No! – No, sweetie I had to go to the south side of town to visit an old friend. My shirt got dirty so I borrowed this one," she could barely hide her nervous laughter, hoping and praying to anyone listening that her answer would suffice and that Denzel would drop the subject.

Denzel responded with a simple "Oh." before pouring syrup on the hotcakes Marlene had set down on a plate in front of him

Relieved, she knew she wasn't out of the woods just yet. Tifa moved to pour herself a cup of coffee from the counter.

"Was your 'old friend' an 'old boyfriend'?" Denzel continued. Tifa visibly cringed.

"Denzel!" Marlene whispered loudly.

It looked like it was time for her to come clean. Time to face the music. The kids weren't stupid and they deserved to know where their surrogate mom had been all night.

She never asked for any of this. It was out of her sense of duty, her caring nature, and the restitution she owed to the universe for blessing her with the kindness of others when she was an orphan in need- that she took on the noble role of an "auntie" or "step-mom" to these two bright, beautiful kids. The least she could do was be as honest as she was capable of, as honest as she knew how to be, given her current predicament. She could never tell them that she was doing some very taboo, very grown-up things with someone who worked for Shinra -someone on the inside who harbored ill-will toward them in the past. Someone with questionable morals and had a former bitter rivalry with their unsung hero, Cloud Strife.

It was more than enough to damn her indefinitely.

"Denzel, sweetie," she began, unsure of herself and treading lightly, "he's an old friend, but he's not my boyfriend. But he might be someday."

"But what about Cloud?" Denzel was getting upset now. Could she blame him? Cloud was his personal savior; His true hero. Cloud was the man he wanted to be when he grew up.

So she had to break it to him gently, "Sweetie, Cloud and I will always be friends but he isn't my boyfriend. I don't have a boyfriend."

She had to make it right, to let Denzel know that Cloud would always be there for him. At least she hoped he would. Cloud owed him that. He didn't owe her anything but so help her god if he let that little boy down she'd give him absolute hell to pay.

"I'll tell you what- how 'bout I give him a call tomorrow and we can see if he has time to take you for a ride this week? I can pack you both a lunch and maybe he can take you to the Chocobo Farm up north? Would you like that?"

Denzel considered her words, still unsure, he deliberated. Tifa knew it was the best she could offer so she hoped and prayed that Denzel wouldn't be too heartbroken over this perceived lack of stability. She wanted him to have the best life possible after everything he had been through.

"Yeah I'd really like that," he smiled up at her before focusing on the food in front of him.

Gods be good.

Truth be told, Tifa positively dreaded calling Cloud, but if it meant making Denzel happy, then she'd do whatever she could to make it happen for him.

Tifa and Marlene exchanged knowing glances before being interrupted by the sound of an enormous yawn.

"What's cookin'?"

The trio looked up to see a disheveled ninja in the doorway, scratching her side and rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

"Good morning, Mistress Wutai," Tifa smiled. "Have a seat. Marlene made us a delicious breakfast."

Yuffie basically fell into the chair, resting her weary head upon her forearms, groaning into the formica tabletop. Marlene tapped her on the head with a spatula to get her to sit up so she could serve her breakfast.

Marlene joined everyone at the table to enjoy an early Sunday meal together. Once everyone had finished, both she and Denzel took off to meet some neighborhood kids in the park to play softball, Yuffie went back to sleep on the couch, and Tifa put on a fresh pot of coffee. She sat at the table to enjoy her second cup in solitude, reminiscing about the wild night she had spent with Reno, as well as the morning session that had unfortunately been cut short when Tseng came-a-knockin'.

Who would have ever thought that ice-cubes could be such an effective stimulation device?

Feeling ripe, Tifa figured she was overdue for a shower. She was still sweaty and sticky from her romp with Reno, and following her jaunt home in the muggy morning heat didn't help matters all that much.

She made her way down the hall to her bedroom, gathering towels and toiletries from her linen closet before entering the adjacent washroom. She slipped out of her clothes (well, out of Reno's clothes) to study her naked body in the mirror, mimicking Reno's hands on her body with her own, imagining him touching her the wicked way only he was apt to do. Which gave her an idea: She pulled the PHS out of her skirt pocket to aim the camera towards the mirror, snapping a few photos of her naked body in different positions, deliberately cropping them just below her face in case any undesirables got their hands on them.

She settled on an image that had a "classy" feel to it. In it, her torso was twisted, exposing one breast while the other was hidden by her ebony hair. Her backside could be seen partially revealing her still-present tan lines. She scrolled to Reno's contact under 'Red' and clicked send.

Pleased with herself, she hopped in the shower to begin lathering and washing away any evidence from the night before. When she hopped out, she wrapped a towel around herself before checking her phone again.

1 new massage from Red, 9:07am:

"I just got this chopper off the ground. Might crash it if u keep that up ;)"

Tifa smirked. Oh this was fun!

She texted back, "Then maybe u should focus on flying not of txting"

Her phone chimed as another text came through,

Red, 9:13am: "Ur really gonna get it when I see u again"

This made her tummy flutter with excitement.

Her phone chimed again,

Red, 9:14am:

He sent her a picture of a drifting chunk of northern glacial ice in the water, accompanied by text that simply said "Payback."

Tifa nearly toppled over with laughter. He was so quick-witted and hilarious that it almost scared her. She gave him an "lol" text before bounding back into to her room. She was fully energized now, even with the miniscule amount of sleep she got the night before. She changed into jean shorts and a tank top and got to work on the laundry that had piled up over the past week.

While she was in the basement folding Marlene's tops, she turned an ear to an an excited ruckus overhead. After hauling one of two large laundry baskets up three flights of stairs, she opened the door to reveal a big surprise:

"Daddy's back!" Marlene exclaimed as she ran towards Tifa, grabbing her by the wrist and dragging her into the living room. Barrett didn't notice her come in at first as he was on the couch talking to Yuffie.

"Barret!" Tifa cried as she dropped her laundry basket to jump on his back, embracing him in a warm fashion.

"Ay-yo girl! Ya miss me or somethin'?!" He laughed as he leaned into Tifa's embrace, patting her arm with his organic hand.

"What are you doing here?" she asked excitedly as she climbed down from his behemoth form. "We didn't expect you to be back so soon!"

"Sorry to interrupt. Didn't know I needed a formal invite, shiiiit," he teased.

"Oh, you know what I mean," Tifa swatted him playfully on the shoulder. "It's a nice surprise, is all."

Everyone settled into the living room while Tifa mixed a pitcher of iced tea.

"I caught some heat up north so I gotta lay low a minute," Barret explained. "The drillin' company I been workin' fo' been at odds with Shinra. Shinra been takin' they rigs, buyin' em out and claiming 'em as they own. Turnin' em into sludge factories and whatnot -You know how they do," his face twisted in disgust. "Shinra don't change. They honest people up north, jus' tryna make a living. But then Shinra always gotta swoop in and fuck it all up, now, don't they?"

The group listened intently, especially Tifa who prayed the story wasn't going where she thought it might be going.

"The people I was drillin' wit, they got fed up when Shinra bought one a they rigs that ended up leakin' into the northern bay. All the local fisherman and fishing villages was screwed: The oil spilled out the shitty rig that Shinra never repaired, and it killed everything in a twenty-mile radius, belly-up. On the news they said it was MY company that caused the spill -Not Shinra. Stupid fucks. They'd never own up to it, even now. Even after meteor and everything."

"So what happened?" Yuffie prodded.

"I'll tell you what happened: We blew them shits up! No oil for nobody! Burn it all!" Barret was boisterous now, flailing his arms. Same old Barret: all or nothing. If it can't be fixed, blow it up or burn it to the ground or do both if there's time.

So it was Barret after all. Tifa had a sinking feeling from the moment Tseng had mentioned it earlier that morning. Barret's antics were the reason Reno and the Turks were dispatched north.

It could never really be over, could it?

Barret continued to tell them all how he and five other mercenaries were hired by an anti-government organization based out of Mideel to blow up six of Shinra's recently acquired ocean oil rigs, and how they planned on hitting the oil refineries in the Corel area next.

This complicated things, to say the very least. Tifa was now housing a wanted terrorist, and the Turks knew exactly where to find him -once they figured out exactly "whodun'nit". It wouldn't take long. It never did.

She and Reno would become enemies once more.

Despite the unwelcome news, Tifa held her composure throughout the rest of the afternoon. Yuffie departed around dinnertime, but promised to be back in a few weeks to help out at the bar again. Tifa hugged her tight and promised they would catch up soon. Yuffie understood that what happened with Barret probably complicated things, but to what extent? She had no clue.

Tifa ordered pizza for dinner and laughed and reminisced about old times with Barret and the kids. It felt good to spend time with Barret, her Barret, again -even though it came at a hefty price.

"So where's Spikey?" Barret broke the silence as they sat in the living room together, after the kids were tucked in for the night. The TV served as familiar background noise.

"We sort of," Tifa picked imaginary lint from the sofa, "broke up," she finally admitted.

He couldn't help but snort in response, "No way." He genuinely didn't believe her. Cloud and Tifa had a tendency to be ...flighty with their affections for one another, but they always worked it out.

"Really, Barret. We're through," she said with an air of finality.

He was quiet for a moment. "Well shiiit," he finally said. "Where he at now?"

"Dunno," she replied. "He might be back at the church? I'm not sure."

Barret rubbed the bridge of his nose. He was obviously tired and didn't want to get into anything too in-depth or emotional, so they turned their attention to the television instead. The news came on, featuring video footage of burning oil rigs of the coast of Bone Village.

Tifa grabbed the remote and quickly turned the TV off.

"Ok big guy," she said with a yawn and a stretch. "I gotta get some shut-eye. You gonna be comfy here on the couch? Seems like I've been taking in vagrants all weekend," she laughed softly.

"Vagrant? Who you callin' a vagrant? I ain't no homeless bag lady on the street...pushin' 'round a shoppin' cart... Whatchu talkin' 'bout vagrants fo'..." Barret mumbled to himself as he settled into the cushions of the couch.

Tifa smiled to herself as she clicked off the light and walked down the hall, checking each room to make sure the kids were sound asleep. She entered her bedroom, hastily undressed, and fell face-first into bed

She grabbed her PHS off the nightstand to check it again:

Nothing.

She felt an overwhelming sense of dread as the overcast night sky finally opened up, dumping heavy rain upon the city. Lightning lit up the sky and thunder clapped in the distance as she snuggled into her sheets, giving in to her exhaustion as the city was washed clean again, if only for a little while.

To be continued...