A/N: Chap 37.

LTS: "Zack?"

Zack: "You called?"

LTS: "No new bike, sorry."

Zack: "Why? You said I'd buy one! I want the best one! One better than Fenrir!"

Cloud: "Hey!"

LTS: "You'll get a new bike, but you won't buy it."

Zack: "So, I'll get it for free?"

LTS: "Something like that."

Zack: "Take that, Cloud!"

Cloud: "That's not fair, I had to pay a lot to build my Fenrir."

Tifa: "How much?"

Cloud: "... Disclaimer: LadyTeefStrife doesn't own anything."

Tifa: "I told you, I'll decide if I'm mad after hearing it. Now, how much?"

Title: Plan, act two: Meeting Cissnei's parents.

..

It was Saturday. Today Cissnei, Aerith, Yuffie and Tifa would start 'Operation: Beach' as Yuffie named it. Tifa wore her most 'I'm a good girl' dress and herself up with a thin jacket. She had to admit she looked like one of those porcelain dolls in the dress, but it served its purpose. It attracted 'wow's' and 'how cut's' from Zack's mother when she wore it, and that was exactly the reaction Cissnei wanted from her own mother.

Tifa was waiting in the living room, watching the TV, when Zack and Cloud entered the room.

"Today's the big day, huh?" Zack grinned and sat on her right.

"Yeah, Cissnei is going to pick us up with her car. She wants to inspect how we look before her mother sees us." She fidgeted with the hem of her thin jacket, smoothing non-existent creases.

"Nervous?" Zack asked with a smile on his face while Cloud sat on the armchair and kept silent.

"Maybe a little." Tifa admitted as she pressed her hand harder against the fabric.

"Relax." Zack took her hands into his own. "That dress has a special effect on mothers, I'm sure she'll like you right away. I'll be more worried about what will happen with Yuffie ."

Tifa let out a small laugh. "You're right."

Just then, Angeal entered the room. "Cissnei is waiting outside." Tifa nodded and after saying goodbye, she left.

Zack turned towards Cloud and his eyes narrowed. "Why didn't you say anything? She needed-" Zack stopped in mid-sentence upon seeing Cloud's face. "I suppose the dress affects more than just mothers." Cloud's red face reddened even more.

"It's not- I mean-" Cloud stumbled over the words trying to explain himself, but he stopped when he saw his friend smiling knowingly and decided to let out all of his frustration in one long sigh. "Zack..."

..

Tifa approached Cissnei who was staring at her. "What?"

"Perfect!" Cissnei cheered happily and took Tifa's hand. "I'm starting to believe this is going to work after all."

Tifa let herself be pulled towards the car by the redhead. "You didn't believe in your own plan?"

"In case you've forgotten, this is Reno's plan. Maybe you didn't noticed because you where too busy gawking at Cloud, but my brother was the one who made the plan, and even he seemed eager." Cissnei stopped and cocked her head. "Why was he so eager to spend his party time with us?"

"Cissnei?" The redhead's mood swings were finally starting to bother Tifa.

"We're good friends, but Reno has lots of other friends… Why did he want for all of us to go together to the beach house so badly?" When Cissnei realized she had been voicing her thoughts outloud, she took Tifa by the arm and went to her car once again. "Come on, Aerith and Yuffie are already waiting in the car."

Tifa glanced at Cissnei. "Are you okay?"

She turned her head towards Tifa without stopping. "I'm fine, I just want to get this over with and ask Reno some questions."

They finally arrived to the car and climbed in.

"Hi girls." Tifa greeted cheerfully.

"How cute!"

The unanimous opinions of her friends made Tifa smile. Even if it wasn't from Mrs. Rapsodos, at least she was getting the desired reaction.

..

"Zack, what?" Zack cooed with a cheeky grin.

"She's your sister, right?" Cloud's voice was muffled by his hands while he rubbed them over his face. Even if he couldn't see him, Cloud knew Zack had nodded. "Then why are you implying that?"

"I didn't imply anything bad, I just think Tifa looks cute in that dress." Zack's tone was serious now. "What were you thinking about, Strife?"

Cloud looked at him from between his fingers and saw Zack's serious expression. "I was thinking she's cute too, but the way you said about the effect-"

"You said it!"

Cloud's hands fell from his face. "What?"

Zack grinned. "You said Tifa's cute."

"What?" Cloud's cheeks turned pink. "I didn't-"

"You said it! I can't believe it worked!"

Cloud's blush vanished at Zack's strange words. "What worked?"

"Aerith taught me that trick to make you say what you're thinking. She says it works on almost everyone." Upon seeing Cloud's beet-red face, Zack decided to drop the teasing for a little bit, he got up and grabbed his wallet. "Care to join me?"

"What?" Cloud was starting to feel like he did in the first couple weeks of living with Zack and Tifa. Utterly confused.

"Don't worry, I won't tease you again for now." Zack said while pocketing his keys and his cell phone. "I'm going to Gongaga, to my parents' house. My father had a nice bike there, and I don't think he uses it, so I'm going to borrow it until I can buy a new one. The train ride is going to be a long one, but if you want to come then we can take your bike, Fenrir, that would be much faster." Zack turned around with his hands on his hips and leaned forward while grinning at Cloud. "So... You want to meet Mr and Mrs Fair?"

..

"Welcome to our home, ladies." A woman with red hair opened the door for Tifa and the girls. "These are the three you told me about, dear?" The woman turned her gaze towards her daughter.

"Yes mom, we wanted to borrow the beach house for summer break." Cissnei spoke to her mother with a small smile on her face.

"Not here sweetheart, come in, ladies, so we can meet each other properly." The caring mother opened the door wide to let the youth enter her home. "Can you wait over there?" She pointed to a room with couches and a TV, which Tifa guessed would be the living room. "I need to warn my husband about your visit." The red-headed woman knocked on a door on their right and disappeared inside while Cissnei told the girls to sit on the couches and wait while she got them something to drink.

Once Cissnei was out of earshot, the gossip began. Yuffie was the first one to ask the question on all three of the girls' minds. "What do you think about Cissnei's mother?"

Aerith tapped her chin with her finger in thought. "She's very sweet, but she looked nervous."

Tifa nodded in agreement. "She seems really nice, but she seems a little unsure..."

"Are we talking about the same person?" Yuffie asked a little annoyed. "I don't think she was nervous, she was really nice and she seems very confident."

Aerith smoothed her pink dress out while she talked to Yuffie. "Didn't you see her fidget? She's kept adjusting her glasses, even if she didn't need to. She probably did it because she was distressed."

..

"Who's gonna drive?" Asked Zack while Cloud grabbed the keys to Fenrir.

Cloud answered with a smirk. "I'll drive, it's my bike after all..."

"Like you know how to get to Gongaga." Zack crossed his arms and smirked too.

"I'm a delivery boy, remember? I know how to get almost anywhere." Cloud knew he had won and opened the front door to the house. Zack followed at his heels, but he hadn't marked this one as a lost just yet.

"Yeah, the same delivery boy who has a crush on my sister." Cloud stopped dead in his tracks and his eyes widened while his blush turned from pink to crimson.

'WHAT!' The blond's brain kept repeating the same word over and over. "I don't-" He stopped when he saw Zack sitting on Fenrir with the engine already on. The blond had been in so much of a shock he hadn't even realized when Zack took the keys from his hand.

"Are you going to get on or do I have to help you, Cute Blush?"

"WHAT?" This time the word didn't stay in his mind but was blurted out. It made Zack grin.

"C'mon! It's a nice nickname, don't you think? Or do you prefer Chocobo Head?"

The blond made a face at the chocobo reference before replying tersely. "I prefer Cloud."

That made Zack pout. "You're no fun at all..."

..

"Sorry about the wait ladies." Cissnei's mother took a seat to the left of her daughter. "I'll introduce myself, I'm-"

"-Where's my damn tool box!" The woman turned around and faced a man with blond, almost grey, hair and sighed.

"It's in the garage, as always. And I just told you we have visitors, so watch your language, please."

The man looked at their guests. "Who are those girls?"

Cissnei stood up and took her father's arm, making him sit where she had been. "Mom, dad, these are my friends. I know them from school, they're younger than I am, but they all have more brain than Reno." Cissnei stopped. That didn't come out right. She turned to her friends. "No offense."

"None taken." The girls said in unison.

"Why are they here?" Cissnei's father lighted a cigarette while he asked, but the older woman took it away and buried it in the already overfilled ashtray before he could even taste it.

At her husband's face, Mrs. Rapsodos narrowed her eyes at him. "The doc said no more than three cigarettes a day, and you already had five." She turned to her guests again, leaving Mr. Rapsodos huffing and mumbling beneath his breath. "I'm Shera Highwind Rapsodos, and this chain-smoker here is my beloved husband."

"I have a name besides chain-smoker or foul-tongued." The words where directed to his wife, but they were supplied with a small smile. He turned to the girls with a neutral face. "Cid Highwind here."

Yuffie smiled cheerfully at the more comfortable environment. "I'm Yuffie Kisaragi."

Cid looked at Yuffie and raised an eyebrow. "A Kisaragi? From Wutai? What the-" Shera's slap to his arm stopped Cid from finishing his exclamation. He instead turned it into a less offensive statement. "-is a member of the royal Kisaragi family of Wutai doing in Nibelheim?"

"Wait." Yuffie got up and approached Cid until their noses were only an inch apart. "I'm sure I know you from somewhere..." Her eyebrows furrowed in thought. "That's it!" She chirped. "You're that gruff old man that always made something wrong!"

"Watch your tongue, you-" Cid's eyes widened in recognition. "You're that little brat who always got in trouble!" They pointed at each other with wide eyes.

Cissnei shook her head. "This isn't going well..."

"Come here, you brat!"

"Come here, you old man!" They said it at the same time and a second later, Yuffie was in Cid's arms.

Tifa and Cissnei looked at each other while Shera shook her head.

"So this is the one, huh?"

A/N: End of chap 37.

LTS: "Please! Don't kill me!"

Cloud: "What have you done? Their surnames don't match. It should be Cissnei Highwind."

LTS: "... It's a long story..."

Tifa: "Well, tell us!"

LTS: "... The story is... In my country one can choose if their kids will have the mother or the father's surname in first place, so I made it work for Nibelheim too."

Zack: "That's for the sake of a girl's surname, so her kids can spread her family's name, right?"

LTS: "Yup. I'm glad someone understands me!"

Cloud: "You're going to use that for everyone?"

LTS: "No, the only one who has the surnames reversed is the Rapsodos kids."

Zack: "Disclaimer: LadyTeefStrife doesn't own anything."

LTS: "R&R and thanks for reading!"

CIH! 22/03/2010