He had expected that sleeping in Cloud's old bed in his old room, not to mention in Tifa's home would be a bit too awkward for him to settle in and get some rest. He usually had trouble sleeping in hotel rooms on the first night because of the unfamiliar atmosphere. A habit that he cursed every time he was shipped someplace different during his SOLDIER years. Strangely enough, the bed was comfortable enough that he had little trouble sleeping that night. He suspected it was because the bed was a blessing compared to sleeping on the ground inside the tent he had hitched up for a few weeks. If Cloud's stuff had been all over the room he probably would have felt too awkward to sleep.

Tifa was up and out of the bar by the time he had gotten up that following morning. He wasn't a late riser, but Tifa seemed to always be working - late to sleep and early to rise to run off to her adventures of the great outdoors. It's probably what someone should expect of someone running their own fulltime business. Zack surmised that she probably had to restock some things after the first night because the activity in the bar had been heavy. He had used the time alone at the place to clean his clothes in the washer and dryer that she had mentioned before and took a long hot shower afterwards. It was rejuvenating to have proper facilities readily available for his use.

He had left the place before Tifa had gotten back and stayed out for the entire day job hunting only to turn up empty handed. By the time he had arrived back at the bar it had been open and flooded with patrons already. When he entered, his host pointed him toward the kitchen and informed him that he was free to make himself something to eat which he desired. He had taken her up on the offer despite feeling guilty and a bit of a burden at that but had nothing to offer in exchange for her hospitality at the moment. When he finished he returned to his room and remained there until he fell asleep several hours later.

This process had pretty much become routine for the next four days of his stay. Tifa would be out of the house before he woke up despite the fact he would wake up earlier from getting to sleep sooner. He would head out before her return and he would return when the bar was open. Him and Tifa spoke very little since he moved in. In fact, the two of them spoke even less compared to when he was living out of a tent. It was probably because he stopped going back to the bar at almost 11:00am on the dot every morning since he was there when he woke up. In truth, he felt useless sticking around the bar so he could only hunt jobs down in hopes of landing one in order to at least pay the weekly rent she said she was going to charge him.

Although he had a feeling she wouldn't hold it against him if he couldn't come up with the money. Just like he had a similar feeling that told him that she might not accept the money even if he did come up with it.

The fifth night happened to fall on the day Tifa had off and Zack was determined to show his gratitude someway. He had been in the kitchen working on dinner. Tifa assumed that he was making himself something but in all actuality he was whipping something up for the both of them while she was doing something in the bar. Based on clipboard she had been carrying when he spied on her, Zack assumed she was doing some sort of inventory. He had seen her do it before when he used to drop by in the mornings before he moved in.

If there's one thing Zack feels confident in it would be his cooking. His mother had been strict when he was growing up. She always had something to say about working hard and learning how to properly care for a family. She had a big heart despite the fact that she used to beat him over the head with a frying pan anytime he would get out of line. He'd spend a lot of time with his mother in the kitchen helping her cook.

The funny thing about his cooking is probably the dishes he's used to cooking. Gongaga was a backwater town that had no connection with traders. They also didn't have domestic livestock for their meats. This gave the dishes in Gongaga a rather exotic quality. Zack knew five different ways to prepare and cook a rabbit. Three different frog dishes, two methods of cooking snakes, turtle soup, squirrel roast, and a groundhog stew. Spices and herbs consisted of anything Gongaga had to supply them. Wild carrots and wild onions were plentiful in the forests, as were cabbages. A variety of berries were able to be used as well provided you didn't pick any that are poisonous. Salt and pepper was like fine dining when he shipped off to Midgar to join SOLDIER.

Needless to say, the dishes he used to cook in Gongaga are not something he's going to prepare and serve to Tifa and himself tonight. He remembered Cloud told him Nibelheim was a backwater town and Zack had visited that town many years ago. Cloud hadn't lied but when you come from a town that didn't even have electricity, your definition of 'backwater' is drastically different. Still, Zack loves his hometown despite everything it lacks.

He had been working in the kitchen for two hours. He had found a recipe for a roasted chicken in one of Tifa's cookbooks yesterday. He had modified the recipe a little just so it wouldn't be completely out of the book. He didn't want to try experimenting too much because his tastes were probably a little bit too different for Tifa despite how long he had lived outside of Gongaga.

When the dinner was finished, he set everything out on the table, along with two plates with a set of silverware on the opposite sides of the small table positioned in the kitchen. He looked at his handiwork, gave a nod of approval of it, then proceeded to make his way toward the bar. He poked his head out and found Tifa right where he had last seen her. Eyes trailing down the lines of bottles and occasionally writing a note down on her clipboard.

Zack cleared his throat to grab her attention. He had to do it twice before she finally deactivated 'workaholic mode' to look over at him. "I cooked dinner." He said and slipped back into the kitchen. A moment later he poked his head back out, "I cooked for you too." He decided to clarify himself in case it hadn't been obvious.

"Oh, you didn't have to do that." She responded. She sounded surprised but she smiled at him to know that he appreciated the effort he went through. Zack waited at the doorway and didn't move until she placed her clipboard down and headed toward the kitchen.

Zack untied the red apron he had on and tossed it on the counter before Tifa entered the kitchen. "Oh." He heard her say. He grinned before moving to a chair and sliding it out for her. Another thing his mother beat into his school as a child is how to properly treat a lady. Even something so simple as holding a chair out for a woman always seemed important to his mother.

"This looks… nice." She seemed at a loss for words.

"Not what you expected?"

"Honestly?" There was a pause before she answered. "No."

Maybe he should have been vaguely insulted by her honesty but he found it more than a little amusing. He still stood there with his hands on the chair. After a moment Tifa finally seemed to catch onto what he was doing before she awkwardly made her way to the table before taking a seat with a quiet 'thank you' escaping her lips.

"Don't worry, I didn't ruin anything." He was just joking around as he took his seat.

"No… but that chicken was going to be on order for tomorrow night."

"Uh… really?" Panic crawled its way into his chest.

Tifa flashed him a smile, "No. What would I do with one chicken?"

Now he just felt stupid. What could she do with one small chicken? It's not like it would be enough to provide meal for several patrons. "Ha… yeah. That's what my thought was." Actually he just saw it in the freezer yesterday and decided that he could probably make an awesome dish with it. He hadn't even thought that it could have possibly been for patrons.

"I keep supplies for the business in a different room." She seemed to have sensed his thoughts at that moment.

"How do you do that?"

Tifa laughed a little before raising a brow at him, "You were starring mighty hard at the chicken."

"Oh."

They set out filling their plates in silence for the moment. It wasn't uncomfortable or tense. Zack was relieved that she was pleased with the dinner and didn't automatically shun the idea of eating something he prepared. She did say several days ago she wouldn't trust him to work in her bar after the craptastic job he's done at other employments.

"Oh! You know what this needs?" She didn't wait for his response and was out of her chair in an instant. Zack just held off on starting to eat despite his stomach reminding him that he's hungry and there's food right in front of him. Proper manners damned him to be patient however.

Tifa left the kitchen and returned shortly after with a bottle of red wine. Zack arched a brow upon seeing it but didn't comment as she pulled out two glasses from the cupboard. "Fine wine for a fine dinner." She said.

Zack wasn't sure if she was trying to be funny or if she was complimenting him despite the fact she hadn't tasted the meal yet. He decided to just stick with the latter and simply nodded his head dumbly as he watched her poor two glasses, one for each of them. He wasn't much for wine. Then again, he wasn't much for any sort of alcohol. He drank on very rare occasions but he wasn't much of a drinker. If he were perfectly honest, and wanted to risk losing some of his masculinity, he preferred the fruity and sweet drinks. In other words, he was a 'girlie drink' type of guy.

Not that he would tell anyone that.

Especially not someone he was currently living with who could probably hold their liquor ten times better than he could.

Still, manners taught him not to turn down what was provided. "Thanks." He said once she was settled in her chair once more.

His eyes drifted to his plate once more. The chicken, sliced potatoes, and steamed broccoli had waited long enough.

"This is good." Tifa complimented after several samples.

"Surprisingly so?" Zack joked.

"Honestly?" Came the familiar response. "Yes."

"Who do you think has been cooking for me all this time?"

"I didn't think you were preparing food for yourself at all while living in a tent." She paused in her eating to rest one hand on the side of her face with a tilt of her head.

Zack shuffled in his seat. 'She thinks I was fishing through garbage.' He resisted the urge to inform her otherwise but felt that making the topic actually be brought up would make it seem even more plausible that he would do such a thing.

"I happen to cook quite well." He said with as much pride as he could muster despite what he was sure she thought.

"Don't let one meal go to your head." She smiled to let him know she was just teasing him. If he had a retort, he didn't get a chance to come out with it because Tifa decided to change the topic. "Did you find a job yet?"

"As a matter of fact I did." He gave a brief nod, "Got paid fifty gil to clean out an old woman's chimney. She gave me cookies too."

"I hope you're joking."

"Honestly?" Zack used to pay her back with. "I'm not saying." 'The cookies weren't a joke but the gil was.'

"Thank you for the dinner, you really didn't have to." She changed the subject on him again and he was greatly appreciative at that as well.

"I'm the one who should be thanking you. Besides, you act like no one has cooked you something before." He really was just teasing but based on how silent she fell and the way her eyes drifted to an unfocused region of the table, it made him think otherwise. "Wait… really? Seriously? Not once?"

"Marlene can cook things but I'd prefer her not to do it without my supervision. She's still young."

"And…" He wasn't sure if it was safe to bring up the name.

"I don't think Cloud knows how to cook." Her reply was flat. It sounded more like she was speaking of the weather rather than talking about her ex. If Cloud really was an ex or could have previously qualified as something before being thrown out that would turn him into an ex. Needless to say, Zack wasn't clear on their relationship or if there had been one beforehand. He just assumed.

"Can I ask you a question?" She suddenly proposed. She was playing with her food now more than actually eating it.

"Uh yeah."

"It's personal."

"It's okay."

"It's about Aerith."

Zack wasn't sure if he winced or not but he gave himself credit for not choking on the chicken he had just swallowed that instant. He waved his hand out in front of himself as he regained his bearing from almost choking. "What about?"

"How'd you two meet?" Zack arched a brow at her and wondered what possessed her to even ask a thing. "I'm just curious. You were working for ShinRa and she said ShinRa was always spying on her."

"So you… think I got involved with my work?" He found it funny just thinking it.

"No…I imagine the spying would be done by personnel who excelled in that field. But I am curious."

Zack leaned back in his chair and allowed his thoughts to drift back to a time when everything was more chaotic and a lot less simpler. "Well… I was chasing down SOLDIERs that defected from ShinRa. Tracked them down in the Upper Plate. I er… lost the fight and ended up falling down the slums. Crashed through the church and pretty much ruined Aerith's flowerbed in the process. I think I thought I died. It's hard to believe that a person could survive that fall. If there's one thing-" Zack paused as an amused smile drifted across his lips, "I can only image what her initial reaction was with a man suddenly crashing through her church. I'm surprised I didn't give her a heart attack."

"Cloud fell through the church too."

"Really?" Zack rubbed the back of his head and felt more than a little uncomfortable with the topic of Cloud. He didn't want Tifa to suddenly burst out crying or something. He wouldn't know what to do. When it came to the whole comfort thing for women, Zack was horrible at it. He'd try to crack a joke to make a woman feel better but it always seemed to smack him in the face.

Fortunately his worries for nothing because Tifa didn't look as though she were about to burst into tears; if anything, she looked a little more than annoyed with her current thoughts. He had an inkling of an idea what those thoughts probably consisted of but he wasn't going to say anything. "Raisin." He said out of nowhere.

It was enough to confuse Tifa because she locked her gaze with his. Her brows knitted together as she tried to work out what he was talking about. "That was the type of cookies she paid me with."

It took a moment or two but his comment registered through her mind before she openingly laughed at him. He was laughing too although it was more forced than anything [i]'Ha ha ha Zack you're an idiot.'[/i] When tensions seem high and there seems to be no knife thick enough to cut through it, always make a fool out of yourself. That's the motto that Zack lived by. The two were much more relaxed and comfortable with speaking with one another for the remainder of the night as well as the next day. All they needed was a moment to finally adjust to the arrangements.

That's it for this chapter. Hope you all enjoyed it! Let me know what you think.