A/N: Thanks to you wonderful reviewers: Sorrelstar, Kisdota-The Freak Gamer, Sigbru, MsRainey, vx-Luna-xv, Amos Whirly, koalababay, NailoSyanodel, midnitestarz, cloudlover2989, :'D, kissychan, Mio, Valentine'sNinja, goatgod, VanillaCookies, ReplicaRiku'sgirl, crystalstars88, Drink. Juice, Seelenspiel, Milvus, AnimeManiac96, P.P.V.V., CallMeClandestine, MyfinalfantasyVII, and Adel Damon.

Once a week, a lot of people in Edge gathered in one section of the city to sell their wares--fresh fruits and vegetables, homemade items, and other trinkets. Cloud took Marlene with him to the market to pick up some fresh food. She trotted along happily beside him, chatting about her week in school while Cloud sorted through the vegetables on one vendor's cart. The woman selling the food beamed at them while Marlene continued, "And next week we're going to be visiting the WRO to learn about how it runs, except I already know how it works because of Reeve."

Cloud paid the woman for the vegetables. She thanked him and then added, "Your daughter is adorable."

The corner of Cloud's mouth turned up and he said, "Thanks."

Marlene slipped her hand into Cloud's as they headed to the next vendor. "Cloud?" she said after a moment.

"Mm?"

"Does it bother you when people call me your daughter?"

He hadn't expected that question. Before he could answer, Marlene continued hurriedly, "I know that Papa will always be my father. But you and Tifa take care of me and you guys always tell people that I'm your daughter and…"

Cloud stopped in the middle of the street and put a hand on Marlene's shoulder, waiting until she was looking at him before he asked, "Does it bother you?"

Marlene's eyes widened in surprise. "No!" she said. "I…" She bit her lip, suddenly looking a little guilty. She stared at her feet for a moment, and then back up at Cloud. "I always remember Tifa. I don't ever remember her not taking care of me. She's always told people that I'm her daughter, and I am," she said fiercely, with pride in her voice.

Cloud nodded. Marlene had hardly been more than a baby when Tifa had first met Barret and begun to help raise Marlene.

"You don't really tell people I'm your daughter, I guess," Marlene said. "But you don't tell them I'm not, and if people ask if I'm your daughter, you just nod and smile…"

Cloud continued to watch her while other pedestrians walked around them, wondering what was going through her mind and what she was trying to get at. She finally sighed and said, "Is it bad that I hardly remember living with Papa?"

He searched for an answer to that. "No, Marlene. You haven't lived with Barret for a long time." Then, wondering if that might be the problem, he asked, "Does it upset you that you don't live with him?" Could he and Tifa have missed this somehow in Marlene? He had thought her well-adjusted and happy, which sometimes surprised him given everything that had happened to her.

There was a brief pause and then she shook her head. "I talk to him on the phone a lot and I get to see him sometimes, but Seventh Heaven is…home. With Tifa and Denzel and you. Is that…am I normal?" Marlene looked up at him, her forehead furrowed, and Cloud realized this was going to be a longer discussion than just a few simple questions.

Taking her hand, he said, "Let's go sit down for a few minutes." The market could wait. He led her down the street and around a corner to an empty bench in front of a restaurant. "What do you mean, are you normal? Has someone told you that you're not?"

"All the kids at school have different families. Different lives. Some of them don't have any parents. Some of them have adoptive parents, like me and Denzel. Some still have their birthparents. But when people ask me who my dad is…sometimes I don't know what to say. I feel…I feel bad." She wrapped her arms around herself and she stared across the street, her eyes not really focused on anything. "The night Papa first left...I was four, but I remember some of what he said. He told me a lot of things. He told me that he wanted to make things safe for me so I could be happy growing up. He told me he didn't always know what to do if he wasn't fighting, even if there wasn't anything to fight. I didn't really understand what he meant then, but I think I know better now."

She turned her gaze back to Cloud. "It was like that with you, too, for a while. But you came back home. To me and Denzel and Tifa. And even though Barret's my papa…you're…you're like my dad, too. Right? But…do you…"

Cloud couldn't remember the last time when he'd heard Marlene sound so uncertain. Usually she was the one who spoke so strongly about everything. He continued to wait, and Marlene finally said, "Do you really see me as your daughter?"

A hundred memories of Marlene were suddenly flashing through Cloud's mind…memories of teaching her to read and write, of listening to her stories, walking her to school, playing games, building sand castles with her, bandaging scraped knees, being there when she pulled her first loose tooth and being mildly disgusted when she happily waved it in his face, taking turns with Tifa in teaching her how to defend herself against a grown man, feeling pride with every good decision she made, helping with homework, sneaking her chocolate before breakfast…

He smiled and wrapped an arm around her, squeezing her shoulders. "Yes."

Marlene sighed and leaned against him. "I'm glad I get to have you as part of my family." Then she looked up at him and a sly expression crept into her eyes. "I'll be glad to help if you and Tifa have any babies, too."

Cloud almost choked. "What?"

Marlene gave him an 'oh, please' sort of look. "You and Tifa went to see that professor in Mideel."

"Marlene…"

"I know; it's none of my business. But…" Marlene grinned cheekily. "Just thought I'd let you know I would be a very good babysitter."

Cloud shook his head and tugged on her braid. "I hear you're also pretty good at picking out vegetables."

Marlene hopped off the bench and took Cloud's hand again. "Okay, okay, I get it." She twisted her fingers over her lips in an indication of silence, a gesture she had picked up from Tifa. It only made Cloud's smile wider as they walked back toward the market.

:--:--:--:--:

Chapter Twenty

Barret called that afternoon, wanting to make sure they were all okay after hearing about the disappearances of people in Edge. Tifa was used to his phone calls by now; he called pretty much every day to talk to Marlene, and always ended his calls by talking to Tifa for a minute or two. He never asked her if she had remembered anything, and he always told her to make sure she took care of herself. It was a little strange, because she still had absolutely no memories of Barret, but at the same time, she knew they had a long history, and she could hear his concern for her in his gruff voice.

That evening, Yuffie invited herself to dinner. "I told you I'd come on your first day off, and this is it! I can only spare about an hour right now; things at the WRO are crazy." She was balancing several bags in one arm and a huge, flat rectangular package in the other. "I brought dinner! I didn't have time to cook anything, so I grabbed some food from a restaurant near my place."

Tifa helped relieve Yuffie of her food; it certainly smelled good. "Thank you."

"Whew. If I didn't get out of the office for a few minutes, I was gonna strangle Shelke," Yuffie sighed. "She's running analyses on data and then things at the lab are crazy because Professor Dorkus showed up to get a better look at the monster corpses. Things are just plain busy at headquarters and Reeve's--you know what, I don't even want to talk about it. Let's talk about you guys instead!"

They moved to the living room, where Tifa opened the bags and set cartons of food around on the table. They all sat on cushions to eat. Even Denzel, who had only picked at his lunch, ate a lot--but that may have been because Yuffie sat beside him, dumped half a carton of food on his plate, and squeezed him around the shoulders. "Eat up, Denz! Gotta keep your strength up!"

Tifa wondered if Yuffie realized exactly what those words might have meant to Denzel. She knew she might not have realized it before Denzel's earlier breakdown, but when Denzel stared down at his plate and then slowly began eating the food, she suspected it might have had more to do with the idea of keeping his strength up than because he was actually very hungry.

As soon as Yuffie had eaten, she ran back into the bar and brought in the large, flat package, shoving it into Tifa's hands. "That's for you." She threw a wink at the kids, then told Tifa, "If that doesn't help you remember something…well, I'll just have to come up with something more creative." She bounced on her feet in anticipation.

Cloud shot Yuffie a narrowed-eyed look of suspicion, but Yuffie only waggled her eyebrows at him.

Curious, Tifa opened the package. Denzel and Marlene leaned over the table to see what was inside. As soon as it was revealed, Cloud's eyes widened, Marlene started giggling, and Denzel's eyes brightened. Tifa simply stared. It was a photograph that was blown up large enough to cover half a door. A photograph of her and Cloud...asleep on the bar floor? She held it at arm's length to get a better look at it. Yes, that was definitely the bar floor. And that was definitely her and Cloud. She was lying half on top of him, and their heads were underneath one of the tables with a broom lying nearby.

Tifa frowned at it. Whatever memory Yuffie was hoping to jolt, it wasn't coming, and Yuffie seemed to realize it. She stopped jumping up and down. "You don't remember?"

Tifa silently shook her head, not sure what to say. It was hard enough living with the constant reminder of everything she had forgotten. Being put on the spot was even more uncomfortable, especially when faced with an image of her half-lying on top of Cloud. Judging from the expressions on everyone else's faces, it was an important moment, and having to admit that she didn't remember it was just another jab, however unintentional, at Cloud. Another 'oh, here's another memory of you that's gone.'

Yuffie deflated. "Not anything?"

"Yuffie." Cloud's voice was sharper than usual, and Tifa glanced at him to see him giving Yuffie a warning look.

"I took that picture," Marlene said. She circled the table and sat down next to Tifa. "But Yuffie saw it one day and took it. She copied it and sent it to all of your friends."

"And then she had to pay Cid because he won the bet going on when you two would get together," Denzel added.

So...this had something to do with how she and Cloud had ended up together as a couple?

"What!?" Yuffie protested indignantly. "Don't you know not to listen to Cid by now, Denz? Geez."

"I heard it from Vincent," Denzel said.

"That's even worse!" Yuffie exclaimed. She snatched the giant photo from Tifa, walked over to the wall, and had it hanging at a slightly sideways angle before anyone could protest. "There! Maybe if you see it a lot it'll help you remember." She frowned at the picture. "Operation memory recall, stage one was a flop." Then she shrugged. "Oh, well, onto stage two! But right now, I've gotta go. I'm due back at the office."

It wasn't until later that night, when the kids were asleep, that Tifa walked back into the living room and stared at the tilted photo stuck to the wall.

"I'll take it down."

Tifa glanced over her shoulder to see Cloud standing in the doorway. He moved forward, pulling it off the wall. "Yuffie doesn't always think."

"It's okay. She was trying to help. I just…" Just what? She didn't even know why this photograph was supposed to be so memorable. She didn't know why she and Cloud had fallen asleep on the floor of the bar or why Marlene had taken a picture of it. She had been asking Cloud whenever she had questions about an event in her past, but something kept her from asking about this one. Maybe the expression in his eyes, maybe his reaction when Tifa had opened the picture and been unable to remember it. She kept quiet while he took the giant photo upstairs; she heard his footsteps and assumed he was putting it away somewhere.

Sighing, Tifa stood in the living room for a moment longer before turning and heading for the kitchen. She still needed to start making dough to put in the fridge overnight so she could use it for the next day's lunch menu. There was something rather cathartic about the smell and feel of the dough under her hands, and as she kneaded it and punched it into shape, some of her frustration eased a little. It was a constant battle…the build up of anxieties and emotions, the release, the build up…she felt like she was caught in a vicious cycle and she didn't know how to get it to end.

She heard the shower start up right when she was finishing the dough. She put it in the refrigerator and glanced down at herself; she had flour all over her shirt and dough plastered to her fingers. It was when she was scrubbing her hands clean in the sink that she realized the dough was stuck into the indentations of the wolf ring on her right hand. Frowning, she worked it off her finger and used the sponge to scrub the dough out of the cracks before shoving it back on. Turning the water off, she stared down at both of her hands, at the rings on her fingers. The wolf ring obviously had some significance, though she didn't know what, except that Cloud had a matching earring and Denzel wore an identical ring on a chain around his neck. And her wedding band...

She walked absently back into the living room and sank onto the couch, twisting it around her finger, this ring that was a symbol of so much in her life--so much of what had been, and so much that wasn't. It made her feel like an imposter sometimes, looking down at this ring, or seeing the wedding band on Cloud's own finger.

Tifa held her left hand up in front of her face and studied the wedding ring. What had it been like the moment Cloud had put it on her finger? What steps had they walked to get to that moment?

She hesitated before slipping the ring off her finger and bringing it closer to her face. She wasn't sure if she had ever taken it off before and felt a little guilty about removing it even for a moment. She turned it over in her fingers, watching the light glint off of the silver. She didn't know what she was doing. Maybe hoping that if she stared at it long enough, she would recall something? Nothing had come to mind when she had seen her wedding picture, though, so why would playing with a ring make a difference?

She sighed and was about to put it back on her finger--it felt strangely empty without it--when she caught a glimpse of something, an inscription engraved on the inside of the ring. She lifted it back up to her eyes and squinted at the tiny words written there: I promise.

Those two words, seemingly simple, stole her breath away as images came flooding into her mind. It was as if she had tripped something in her head and it was all she could do to keep up with everything she was seeing.

…sitting at the old well with Cloud. They were so young, so full of life and dreams. But he was leaving. He was going to join the army and even though they weren't particularly close, she found herself strangely disappointed that he would be going.

"Hey, why don't we make a promise? Umm, if you get really famous and I'm ever in a bind…you come save me, all right?"

"What?"

"Whenever I'm in trouble, my hero will come and rescue me. I want to at least experience that once."

"What?"

"Come on! Promise me!"

"All right…I promise…"

She gasped, but the images were still flashing, changing…

…she was bleeding, bleeding out from the wound Sephiroth had given her; she was lying broken at the bottom of the stairs in the Mako reactor, but there were arms underneath her, lifting her and carrying her. The arms set her down and a hand was brushing her hair away from her face. Her eyes blinked open and there he was. "Cloud…so you really did come for me."

A little smile of relief flitted across his face, though his eyes were burning with such worry and pain.

"You kept our promise. You really came here when I was in a pinch."

"I'm sorry," he said. "I'm a little bit late."

"It's all right…Cloud…"

She was blinking rapidly, trying to sort out what she was seeing, what she was remembering, these broken pieces in her mind...

…Cloud looking at her. "It's dangerous. You sure you want to go?"

"Mm. But you know, it should be all right if you keep your promise."

Promises. Her life with him was full of promises...

…the night in front of the Highwind, alone with Cloud. Thinking of when they had fallen into the Lifestream. "You probably don't remember this," she said, tears spilling down her cheeks, "but deep in my heart I heard you calling my name. Or at least I thought I did."

"Yeah," Cloud said quietly. "At that time I heard you calling me. You were calling me back in from the stream of consciousness in the Lifestream." A pause. "After all, I promised. That if anything were to ever happen to you, I would come to help."

She was gripping her wedding ring in her fist; she could feel the metal in her hand but she wasn't seeing what was around her...

…sitting on the couch with him, knowing that he was still trying to figure out how to be in a relationship with her. Realizing that it was still difficult for him. "It's okay," she told him, holding his hand tightly. "I'm not going anywhere, Cloud."

There was that expression on his face before he turned his eyes away from her. The look that told her he had been broken so many times that he didn't see how anyone could always be there.

She let go of his hand and wound her arms around him, burying her face in his shoulder and breathing in deeply. "I love you. No matter what, you'll always have that. I promise."

Pieces of her life, flashing through months and years…

…standing in the kitchen after the bar fight, after Cloud had put a bandage on her cheek. She was so frustrated. He was still trying to protect her from himself and she wanted him to stop. She needed him to stop. So when he asked what was bothering her, she finally told him. "You can't protect me from everything. No. I don't want you to try. Cloud…I'll never regret the promise that we made all those years ago. It's meant more to me than you'll ever know…"

She was breathing rapidly, struggling to process what she was seeing...

...holding Cloud's hands while all of their friends watched, promising him to stay with him through everything…pain and laughter, trials and celebrations.

Tifa squeezed her eyes shut, her ring digging into her palm because she was holding it so tightly. She had a feeling that she had just found an answer to something in her relationship with Cloud, that a huge piece of that puzzle had snapped into place. "I promise," she whispered aloud, hardly aware that she was speaking. She had promised. She had promised to love him, promised he would always have that.

Cloud had made her promises, too…he had come for her when she needed him. He was still there, now, even though she had broken her promise to him--broken her promise that he would have her love no matter what. He knew she had said that; he couldn't have forgotten.

Tifa opened her eyes and tucked her legs up to her chest, battling the rising ache in her chest, the pain that was squeezing her insides and making it hard to breathe. She opened her fist and stared at the ring within. Her hands were shaking as she picked up the ring and slowly slid it back onto her finger. The chain of memories that she had just recalled were all jostling in her mind, and Cloud's face was there…his smile, his voice, his worry and hope and fear and love, all there in her head and look at the mess she was putting him through now, when he had already been through so much.

A sob shook her shoulders, and then she was weeping into her knees, choking on her own cries because she was trying so desperately not to make noise. But it didn't matter how quiet she tried to be. Cloud found her anyway. She didn't hear his footsteps come into the room, didn't know he was there until his worried voice said, "Tifa?"

Her head came up from her knees. He was crossing the room toward her, and there was that expression on his face. The worry and the care that she saw every time he looked at her, no matter what else he was feeling--no matter how angry or frustrated he was, there was always that spark of light in his eyes when he looked at her. Tonight, overwhelmed by everything she had just remembered, the promises made, promises kept, and promises broken…it was too much. She stood up from the couch before Cloud could reach her, and she shook her head, her tears still flowing down her face. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry, Cloud." She ran around him and fled upstairs, shutting herself in the bathroom, which was warm and full of steam from Cloud's shower.

She had some memory of her love for Cloud, which wasn't the same thing as loving him, and she would have thought at least remembering that she had loved him at all would have made it easier, that maybe it would have made her suddenly love him again, but it only made this whole thing more difficult. She slid down against the door and stared up at the ceiling, her tears slowly starting to dry, but leaving a dull, hollow aching in her chest.

...two teenagers sitting at a well…