CHAPTER ELEVEN: DAY SEVENTEEN
--Christmas Morn'--:It's finally Christmas.
A/N:Yay, it's finally Christmas for them. This was probably one of the hardest chapters for me to write, being as I wanted to give the sentiment of a cozy Christmas morning. How that idea popped into my head when the Turks are around, I've no idea.
Originally I wanted to get this out by the time Christmas hit (just like how I wanted to get the New Year's chapter by the time New Year's hit...) haha, well, let's just say I don't get the word 'deadlines' and I have no concept of 'hurry' as my friends so fondly remind me every time I'm late. Oh well. Thanks, you guys, for being so patient. Anyway, here goes.
Tifa thought to get up bright and early to fix the Christmas breakfast. She woke to the sound of footsteps pounding on the landing in their hurry to get downstairs and a sharp, metallic scent in the air that practically bit her nose off. Stretching, she glanced at the time and wondered why her alarm didn't go off.

True to its nature, Christmas day in Edge had brought fresh torrents of snow—as if anybody needed more—and the white flurries of flakes that rather looked like fluffy feathers made Seventh Heaven seem as though it was in the midst of a snow globe.

Shrugging on her bathrobe, Tifa stumbled down the stairs to see Marlene and Denzel rushing past in their hurry to wake everyone up. Moans and groans issued throughout all of the beds, and before long, the two children had rounded up every single bleary-eyed adult in the residence.

They had all gone to sleep late yesterday hanging up the last ornaments on the tree, decorating and tacking up their stockings above the fireplace, and working into the night to make the batch of cookies and milk for Santa (otherwise known as Cloud and Tifa). Consequently, everybody looked like hell, with huge trash bags under their eyes and their hair sticking up at odd angles that strangely defied gravity (more so than Cloud's did every day). Reno grumbled and slurred that the best gift Santa could've given him was sleep and Elena and Tseng agreed, croaking out 'hear, hear'-s before they found themselves slouched on the couches or the floor by the fireplace. Only Marlene and Denzel seemed awake enough to squash on the Santa hats and eagerly pass around gifts for everyone.

After Cloud got the fire going, they all sat back with mugs of steaming cocoa and the gift exchange more or less woke everyone up. And if that didn't, then Reno's window-shattering yell after he ripped open a new, taser-equipped, double-flashlight, metal detector nightstick did. Cloud made a comment that he and Tseng probably shouldn't have banded together to buy Reno that after Reno tackled them both with a huge hug, almost giving Tseng a concussion and almost accidentally tasering Cloud in the process.

Of course Elena's glass snow angel from Tseng got him a well-earned squeal and hug, and nobody noticed the secret smiles that Denzel and Marlene exchanged.

Everybody held their breath when Rude opened his gift of new, flashier orange-reflection shades, and thankfully, when he solemnly put them on and declared himself dashing, everyone burst out into laughter, Tifa punching him on the shoulder to tell him how manly he looked as he blushed.

Cloud's new titanium motorcycle rims were made into a ceremony as everybody trooped out in their pajamas to the garage to watch him and Tseng screw them in. Reno even held a motorbike catalogue, draped a piece of white cloth over his shoulders to look like a priest, and gave a speech which ended with 'until death do you part'. Cloud didn't say much, but Tifa caught him staring at Fenrir with a satisfied look every two seconds, brushing off every piece of lint he could possibly find.

Tseng, of course, got a gun, but it was the newest model with every single detachable gadget known to mankind in the package. Cloud and Tifa had to order it custom by Cloud's special connections. Tseng was seen carrying it around, twirling it flashily around his hands and itching to practice it until Tifa made him put it away after he shot a hole in the wall.

Marlene got new coloring books and crayons, a pricy porcelain doll with five exchangeable dresses, and a new bicycle; and Denzel got rollerblades, a handheld operated car, and a BB gun; and the rest of the morning they drove everybody crazy as Marlene raced Denzel around the house, shouting at the top of their lungs while everyone clucked at everybody else for giving them third helpings of gingerbread cookies and other sources of sugar.

Tifa received a bouquet of exotic Nibelheim wildflowers from Reno, and the way that her eyes lit up, the way that she kissed Reno on the cheek and immediately cut and stuck them in her best crystal vase unnerved Cloud a little, and he suddenly felt some of the Christmas spirit drop from his stomach. That, of course, was revived when she breathlessly held up the diamond necklace that flashed and glinted in the firelight that Cloud gave her. Elena ooh-ed and aah-ed over it, and Tifa, in a surprising bout of shyness, asked Cloud to help her put it on, which he of course, obliged to. She didn't kiss him affectionately as she had Reno, but her hand brushed on top of his when he went to help her with the clasp, and she caught it and squeezed it. Something in her eyes sparkled as she smiled a little at him before her eyes strayed down to admire the pendant.

After that, amongst all the litter of wrapping paper and bows, as Tifa and Elena got up to go finish preparing breakfast, the men suddenly had a good idea having to do with the crumpled paper and Tseng.

When Elena was setting the bread on the table amidst the cheery red tablecloth, the candelabras, and the vases of bright poinsettia, Reno suddenly came in, bowed to her, and gave a rather confusing introduction dealing with 'when a man and a woman love each other very much' and 'hopping'. Elena was just about to tell him to knock it off when Tseng beat her to it and awkwardly hopped into view, wrapped from head to toe in mismatched, half-crumpled paper complete with a garish green bow on his head. While everyone was busy laughing, Elena grew bright red and hurriedly ripped it all off, looking embarrassed. Somebody started the chant of 'KISS HER! KISS HER!', and then they started madly clinking on their glasses with the silverware, and Tseng sheepishly stared at Elena for awhile until he planted a kiss on her. They looked mortified and grumbled a little, but Tifa noted that the twinkle in their eyes as they subtly glanced at each other all throughout breakfast overrode their embarrassment.

The afternoon passed by in a cozy haze. Marlene roped Cloud and Reno into coloring one of the gigantic, six-foot pages in her coloring book with her, which they did, plopping down in front of the fireplace with a plate of cookies. After one of the crayons melted in the fire, Reno and Cloud started having a melting war, Marlene supplying them with her old crayons while egging them on. Denzel and Rude played with his handheld car, zooming it all over the house and building obstacles for it with bookends and pots. At one point it actually went halfway up the wall before it dropped with a sickening 'sploosh' into the leftover oatmeal. Tifa gave both Tseng and Elena cooking lessons, saying that at least one of the couple needed to know how to cook. Soon, Tseng was up to his elbows in flour while Elena cursed at the stir-fry pan, and Tifa was laughing at the both of them while surreptitiously scraping their disasters into the sink disposal.

At dinner, Tifa inserted one of the discs into the sound system, and as Christmas favorites blared out of the speakers, the Turks started singing along to it. And then Elena started dancing with Tseng, and pretty soon the furniture was getting pushed out of the way to provide for a dance floor in the midst of a bar. Rude taught Denzel how to moonwalk, and Reno scooped Marlene up in his arms and started twirling her around. Marlene wanted to moonwalk too, so Reno set her down and grabbed Tifa in place of Marlene. Then Reno got an idea after he snuck a look at a silent Cloud, and waltzed Tifa in Cloud's direction, and then everyone was pushing Cloud towards Tifa. After they almost banged heads, Cloud tentatively took Tifa's hand, and everybody cheered and started dancing again.

Close to midnight, Tifa wondered if she should get Denzel and Marlene into bed. Cloud seemed to read her mind.

"Maybe you should let them have their fun just for tonight," He said in that low, warm voice that he took with her.

Tifa bit her lip, turned her head around to face him again. "I'm just worried that they'll be tired tomorrow." She caught Cloud's gaze. "Well, all right," she said, melting into a smile. "Just for tonight."

It was Christmas, after all. And for the first time in years, it finally felt like it, too.