Disclaimer: I do not own any or all characters mentioned in this fanfiction, they are the sole ownership of Tetsuya Nomura and Square Enix.
Pairings: ZackCloud
Plot: Zack Fair was a simple business man, married with a beautiful wife and a son back home, but when business calls away the most strong willed business men to a far away place to do business and the fear of letting down your Boss in front of the Company you're going to be selling your Boss' company and what it does to these new people and you need a distraction, what can and what should a man to do kill off the nervousness...when a distraction comes his way...can he truly avoid the distraction or will he give into it...?
AN: This basically came to me one night for some random reason and it just started coming out...don't ask why I made Cloud the way I did, this a AU so, yeah, anything is possible.
Chapter 7-You're like Coming Home
Home, a word that Zack hadn't thought of or had taken any thought of since beginning this business trip, and the several others before this one, home was a place he knew that back there was waiting for him a life he had created to escape something he thought was a disease. For Zack, it was a place to return to hopefully get back into his old life, but with an added attachment, for Cloud, returning to his own home was a nightmare just waiting to spring some unknown, hidden trap to ruin his life. Right now, home was where their hearts were, wrapped up against one another in Cloud's hospital bed for in a few short days, Cloud would be allowed to leave. Even if the Nurse came into check on the man, she couldn't bring herself to wake them, but she had to now and again to check on Cloud and she managed to do it without waking either men up because doing that would ruin the perfect moment they had curled into.
"Mr. Fair…Mr. Fair…" the Nurse softly shook the man's shoulders as she was met by the man's half asleep green eyes, "Sir, you're phone has been vibrating for last half hour, I think someone has been trying to call you."
Zack managed to reach over and reach his phone, Shit…it's my Boss…probably wondering why I never checked out of the Hotel and flew home…
"Thanks, I'll take it from here," his smile flashed to her as she left the room understanding as Zack shifted up out of bed, making sure that Cloud was covered as he stepped out into the Hall, "Hello Mr. Valentine…"
Mr. Valentine, more or less, Vincent, was less then thrilled to hear Zack answer in a halfhearted, almost sarcastic answering tone, "Good morning, Mr. Fair, I mean Zack, tell me, why is that when I called your Hotel they told me you left out of it with an AMBULANCE?"
He had been found out.
"Well?"
Zack sighed, "I had a Visitor to my room I wasn't expecting and things got complicated so I rode along in the ambulance with the Visitor and I'm over here at the Hospital with him to make sure he's alright."
The man's tone seemed to soften as he took the phone away from his ear for a second before returning to his conversation, "I see, sorry to snap at you…I just told you to be on the flight home last night and when I couldn't reach you at the Hotel or your cell phone, I was worried something had happened to you," he sat down in the chair of the Conference Hall of the Company Office they had been at a day or so ago as he pinched the bridge of his nose, "Just let me know what you're planning to do so we can finish this Trip."
"Of course…sir," Zack closed his phone as he pocketed his phone, leaning against the wall as he closed his eyes, Well honey, I had fun in the city, and look what I brought home? It's not a puppy, but he's close enough to one, and he followed me home, can I keep him?
After putting in a call to his Boss to let him know that he was going to be staying at the Visitor's side these next few days and then making sure the Visitor got home safely, it would be up to his Boss to do the meeting in place of him. Things seemed to be moving fine, but word had reached to Cloud's Boss, or as it seemed, brother in-law that Cloud had never made it to his appointments the night he went to go to see Zack. Everyone at Sephiroth's Club had been put on alert that the man was on a silent but deadly warpath due to Cloud's absence for as far as anyone knew, Cloud was not just his in-law; he was more or less the man's property. No one dared breath around the man but that was not going to be easy as everyone seemed to be hiding out from the man in fear that they would end up facing the man's wrath.
"Sounds like Strife flew the coop…who thought he had the guts to get away from the guy…"
"Will you shut up about Strife…we don't need the Boss needing reason to fry our asses or worse…"
"Lucky bastard…"
All conversation stopped as Sephiroth's eyes came upon them, "You'll do best to not speak that name here anymore, for now, he's dead to this Company, but believe you and me…He will be back."
Zack had managed to call home and explain his situation to his wife, even though he had feared that she would be upset with him cheating on her with a man; she seemed understanding of the situation, she had figured something was up that he wasn't over what he had thought was a phase. If it had to come down to them not being together she was willing to still be a part of his life even if he had another life outside of the one he had created. It took a lot of worry off his shoulders as he hung his cell phone and headed back to Cloud's room where the man was getting dressed for leaving the Hospital; it had been a long time coming in a way. His release was like a dual release, a release from the pain of being bed ridden due to his reason for being bed ridden and it was also a way to gain escape from his brother in-law.
Cloud's eyes drifted up as he saw Zack standing in the doorway, "How's your wife? Did she blow her top about the fact that you like doing it with guys instead of her now?"
"Hey, be nice about my wife, she knew that it wasn't out of my system, and we had kind of made an agreement before getting married that if it came to the fact that my old habits and feelings were to resurface, and was willing to pursue after those feelings, that we could just go our separate ways…" Zack ran a hand through his hair as he moved towards Cloud, "I don't know how she can put up with it, most women would have blown their tops and divorced me right away…"
"…She must be a special woman," Cloud wrapped his arms around the man's waist as he stood up, "She's really lucky to have someone like you…"
Zack knew the man was right, but he was talking too much as he brushed his lips over Cloud's as he hooked his fingers around the man's belt loops bringing him in closer as he pulled out of the kiss, smirking at the man, "Yeah…I really am lucky…aren't I?"
"If you two are done making out in my Hospital Room, I have your discharge papers here Mr. Strife," the Doctor cleared his throat as he waved them behind Zack so that Cloud could see them.
Hours later, Cloud and Zack were on a flight back to Zack's hometown; Zack looked out the window as he saw the fact that he was leaving the small business like town to return to a life that was going to be rattled by the introduction of Zack's new "friend". Cloud was resting peacefully next to Zack on the airplane with his hand resting on Zack's and head resting against Zack's shoulder, a peace of mind of at last, but always nagging in the back of his mind was the thought of his brother in-law coming after him as he shifted about in his seat, trying to forget about him. All he had was Zack squeezing his hand in reassurance that everything was going to be fine which seemed to soothe his nightmares into submission. If only it could be that simple with handling Sephiroth.
Vincent stood waiting for the Board Meeting as he looked at his watch, realizing that at this time Zack was on his way home, but with more then just his luggage, "I hope you're making the right decision, Zack…"
The members started to walk in as the clock struck noon; now was not the time to be reminiscing on what could possibly be happening or could happen, but there was only thing that should be worried about was the fact that Sephiroth's temper was infamous. All the Escorts knew of his temper and when he was really angry, he could go as far as to leave a person in traction in the I.C.U. at the local hospital; a small number of Escorts over time had been snuck out of the Hospital upon discharge to avoid being sent back. Some weren't so lucky; some had fallen victim to something that had simply become known as "Sweet Death", the victim would be subjected to such a forceful amount of sexual intercourse to the point that all blood would rush from one particular part of the body to one pinpointed area of the body that the victim would simply die during the act. All the while, the one enacting the act would remain blind to the fact until finally climax was reached, but the victim would already be dead and numb to all of the enactor's acts upon their cold body. Screaming could be heard throughout the club as several people ran for their very lives in fear of being dragged into the den of the madman; he was going to make examples of them all, he always did once he found out someone had managed to find a way to leave him. It was a horrifying sound, it was like hearing the blood curdling screams of the condemn rekindling their screams throughout the Tower of London, how horrific were their screams as people were pulled from their hiding places only to have their cries for help replaced by screams of unknown pleasure or torture.
Why was it when Cloud miles away and thousands of feet up in the air, attached tightly to the one who had saved him from a further Hell, why was it that he still could hear cries screaming out in his sleep. His eyes opened wide as he nearly screamed out in his sleep as he looked over as he saw a Mother trying to quiet her crying baby in her arms as she softly cooed and rocked it in her arms. Cloud's face was as pale as a ghost, the babe's scream, how could he mistake it for nightmarish screams in his darkened memories, dreams, and even darker nightmares.
His eyes looked around the cabin as he saw that Zack had drifted off to sleep; he couldn't bring himself to wake him, "Sir?"
"Sir…are you alright?" Cloud's eyes were focused closely on the flight attendant's eyes; her smiling face seemed to calm him down better then any sedative as he softly nodded.
"…I…Just a little bit of first time flying jitters and I didn't get much sleep before the flight last night…" his smile was weak and fleeting as he started to calm down, but he was still slightly uneasy about everything.
The Flight Attendant could tell Cloud was more then having first time flyer jitters, "Would you like a drink, sir?"
Zack started to stir in his sleep as he rested up against Cloud, his chin unconsciously snuggling up against the man's shoulder, "Maybe some water, soda…?"
"I'm fine…" Cloud told her as he looked over at Zack, sleeping peacefully.
Once the attendant had left, Cloud's fingers tightened with Zack's as Cloud's other hand brushed against the soft scar he had left on the man's beautiful face, tracing every inch of his face before letting it rest on his own armrest as he rested his head against Zack's. There was still many more miles to go on this flight, and they were only halfway there, sleep was about the only thing they could do before they would have to wake up to the reality waiting for Zack once he stepped back onto the tarmac in Gongaga. His wife and son, it was going to be hard to explain Daddy's new "friend" to his son being that his son, Denzel, looked up to his Dad like he was a Superhero, but all little kid boys see their Dad's as the greatest person on Earth, that they can do no wrong. How wrong that would be discovered once he got home with Cloud closely attached to his side…
