Tifa woke feeling a hand on her shoulder, she was curled into a ball on the settee. Opening her eyes, she glanced up and saw a woman standing over her. The woman reminded her of professor Hojo, only unlike Hojo she wasn't hunched over or wearing glasses.
The young barmaid sat up yawning, "Sorry guess I dozed off."
The woman smiled, "You've been asleep the entire time I have been here. Elena wanted to wake you, but I stopped her Cloud told us to let you rest."
"Elena was here? So are you Doctor Jojo?"
The woman's smile twisted into a mild grimace, "I am, my name is Doctor Julia Jones. Our family has a tradition of shortening and combining our names."
'So she is related to Hojo, hope his insanity doesn't run in their family.' Tifa looked over at Cloud whose leg was no longer hoisted up in a sling.
"Ah yes, forgive me." The doctor noticed Tifa looking over at Cloud, "I examined him and he's going to be alright, he should be fully healed in two or three. He can go home tomorrow afternoon. I am pleased to inform you unlike the other patients, or should I say victims, of Uncle Harold I've examined, he seems to only have a little memory loss."
'Good to hear, not a lot of lost business for him then.' Tifa, looked to the Woman, "Others? Are you referring to the people in Black cloaks, with numbered tattoos?"
The doctor nodded, "I am yes," she replied, taking a seat on the settee next to Tifa, "I heard you and the other planetary heroes encountered them during your journey. These cloaks, as the Turks have come to call them, don't have any idea who they are some have lost the ability to even talk. We found a number of them just wandering around aimlessly near the northern crater. I am breaking protocol here, but I want you to know that I am working on treatments for them and examining Cloud may have given me some insights. You see, unlike the other Cloaks, his Mako level is at SOLDIER first class levels."
Tifa got up of the Settee and walked over to Cloud, "Cloud, you're going be alright." She said, 'Oh you're asleep' she smiled leaning down and kissing him gently on the lips. Raising her face away from his she saw the nasty red gash was now a pale pink colour.
"Doctor, this gash on his cheek, is it going to be fully healed?" She decided to ask.
"Yes, it should be all healed within an hour or so. That's what got my uncle so interested in Mako originally, its healing properties. The side effect of super human strength and abilities is what made the SOLDIERs so overwhelmingly powerful. That would have been all well, but the trouble all started when Uncle Harold combined Mako with some alien substance..."
"Jenova," Cloud interrupted having woken up, "the calamity from the sky, her cells transform normal humans into monsters. Those with Mako in the bodies make their transformation take a lot longer, but eventually the Jenova always changes the person. Luckily for me, the planet wiped the majority of these Jenova cells from my body, when it repaired my mind. The healing pool and rain removed the remaining traces of Jenova from all of our bodies and from the world."
"Yes, the experiments with those cells destroyed uncle's mind, before he started them he was the kindest most caring man. It brought shame to the family what became of him. I'm working to restore the honour our family name used to have,"
Tifa looked to Jojo, "Sorry, but why are you telling us your family secrets like this?"
Jojo stood up and started pacing, "So you don't blame my whole family for what uncle did, since you both were directly affected by his experiments I believe you deserve to know."
The door opened and the younger blonde Turk walked in, "Jojo, if you're done you've been recalled to healin' lodge." She nodded to Cloud then turned to Tifa, "I'll be sure to hit you up on those drinks." She smiled before exited the room.
Watching them leave, Tifa leaned down over Cloud, and whispered into his ear, "I love you Cloud." He looked at her to reply, but she placed a finger on his lips, "Don't say anything, just wanted to remind you" she smiled removing her finger.
She glanced at the clock, noticing it was nearly 10. Rushing over to the window she opened the curtain and realised it was morning, and her stomach started rumbling, "You hungry Cloud?"
"I am, not eaten since breakfast yesterday. I am pleased you cooked us that extra bacon, even thought I was stuffed, I couldn't stop eating it."
She smiled at him, 'Cloud, you have never spoken like this before' she thought knowing he was complimenting her for the first time in a long time. She looked at the door, "I'll see if I can find us some breakfast." she left the room.
In the hallway, she saw the receptionist. "Hi, anywhere I can get some food for myself and Cloud?"
The receptionist turned to face Tifa, "I was just going to get today's menu for yourself and Cloud to choose something from."
"I know what he likes, I can choose for him." Tifa replied.
"In that case, follow me to the canteen. I am afraid the food isn't the best, but it is edible."
Hello guys, once again I am sorry for the dialogue, next chapter Tifa goes home, to several calls on the PHS, and some messages from BigDawg. he'll make an appearance in the story at some point, giving Tifa a decision to make.