*****

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE - BREAKFAST

'I tried to love you I thought I could … I tried to own you I thought I would … I want to peel the skin from your face … Before the real you lays to waste … You told me I'm the only one … Sweet little angel you should have run … Lying, crying, dying to leave … Innocence creates my hell … Cheating myself still you know more … It would be so easy with a whore … Try to understand me little girl … My twisted passion to be your world … Lost inside my sick head … I live for you but I'm not alive … Take my hand before I kill … Still love you, I still burn … Love, hate, love Alice In Chains: 'Love, Hate, Love')'

Barrett's Home. North Corel. Morning.

The sun was coming up over the horizon when Tifa and Jessie made their way back towards the town of North Corel. Cait Sith had been nowhere to be found when they had left after an evening of touring and enjoying Dio's pleasure palace. They were trying to get back before Barrett and Reeve realized that they were gone, although the fact that Cloud had insisted on coming along would be sure to raise suspicion.

Tifa carefully turned the knob on the front door and opened the door cautiously only to find Barrett standing at the foot of the stairs scowling.

"Where have you all been?!" He demanded, noting their disheveled appearances and confetti stuck in their hair.

"I, um, took Jessie on a tour of the Gold Saucer." Tifa explained sheepishly.

"Don't need to be spendin' that kind of gil!" Barrett roared, slipping back into his old accent.

Tifa showed Barrett the Gold Ticket. "I still have a pass and GP from before."

"What's he doing back?" Barrett growled, motioning to Reno.

"He's a part of Reeve's staff now, Barrett." Tifa explained. "He has every right to be here."

"Besides," Jessie started, knowing the volcano that was Barrett's temper would erupt with her next words, but having to say it anyways. "You once said that family and friends of Avalanche would always be welcome in your home. Nathan's my brother, and an old friend of Tifa's." Jessie winked at the other woman.

Barrett's face turned a deep burgundy and he raised his gun arm to shake and wave it around in the air as he laid his eyes on Reno's smirking face. He opened his mouth to say something, but was interrupted by Elmyra's entrance from upstairs.

"Barrett." Elmyra's soft voice floated down the stairs followed by Elmyra herself. "Even the Turks are entitled to friends and family."

Reno's smirk softened into something resembling a smile as he draped an arm around Elmyra's shoulders. "You're all right. What's for breakfast?"

Elmyra laughed at the attention from the charismatic red headed Turk. "Why don't you come help me out in the kitchen and we'll find out." She touched Barrett gently on his arm as she departed. "Don't lose your temper."

"I don't cook, but I can supervise." Reno's voice floated from down the hall as he disappeared into the kitchen with the older woman.

Barrett calmed visibly, shocking Tifa as she noticed the amount of self-control her old friend showed at the appearance of Aeris' adoptive mother. But he continued to scowl as Reno walked off with Elmyra and as he saw who else the girls had brought back with them.

Cloud stood there, scratching his head in his customary pose when he was nervous or at a loss for words.

"You gotta lot of nerve showing up here." Barrett spoke to Cloud. "Leavin' Tifa like that."

"Barrett." Tifa spoke before Cloud could. She didn't need Cloud bringing up the scene he had witnessed in the Chocobo Racing hall, at least not before she'd had a chance to smooth things over with Reno. "It's okay. We asked him to come. He wants to help with efforts in Midgar. I didn't think that Reeve would mind the extra help."

Cloud was confused and still trying to figure out why Tifa hadn't said anything to Reno since they'd left the Gold Saucer or why she wasn't following him around. She'd said they were together, and if the kiss he had witnessed the night before was any indication, he'd gathered they were fairly serious. But what did he know about women and Tifa especially. She'd been a riddle to him since they were children.

"Help? Who's going to help?" Reeve asked as he came down the stairs, his dark hair still damp from his recent shower. He'd spent longer than he should have, but it had been nice to sleep in a real bed instead of on a cot and the hot shower was something that he had sorely missed over the last several months. If he hadn't been so committed to restoring Midgar, he'd have seriously considering buying a house and settling in Corel just for the simple amenities.

"Cloud." Tifa said, smiling at the mayor. "We found him at the Gold Saucer."

Reeve searched Tifa's face for something that said she didn't like the concept of Cloud returning to Midgar, but could find none. Instead of protesting as had been his initial thought had he found reservations in Tifa's countenance, he chuckled, looking around for Cait and not finding him. "I take it Cait is still there?"

Tifa nodded. "We looked all over for him, but he wasn't anywhere to be found."

Reeve chuckled some more. "That sounds like him. He knows all of the best hiding places there. He was probably pestering Dio in his office. If he's not back before we leave, I'll go retrieve him."

"Breakfast is served!" Reno announced, coming up to them, a white apron tied around his waist and a chef's hat placed on his head at a jaunty angle. Tifa and Jessie both stifled giggles at his appearance. Leave it to Reno to ham up everything.

"So you mock me?" Reno said in a false, overacted accent that would be French if the French existed on the Planet as he adjusted his hat to an even extreme angle. "Hmph!" Reno tilted his head back and stuck his nose up in the air as he stormed off back to the kitchen.

Tifa and Jessie looked at one another and burst out laughing. "Come on, let's get breakfast before he decides to feed it to the dogs." Tifa walked towards the kitchen, the rest of the group following.

*****

She'd glanced at him a few times from her seat next to him and tried to draw him into the conversation, but he'd responded only with the most basic of answers and gone back to focusing on his food. In reality he was studying her covertly, enjoying her relaxed conversation with his sister and with the other members of Avalanche, except for a few strained bits with Cloud. He was especially intrigued by her ease at relating to Barrett's young daughter. He'd personally never found children particularly easy to understand, and he attributed that both to his life as one of Shinra's Elite and that he had been robbed of his own childhood by life in the slums and the need to protect his sister.

The little girl chatted with Tifa about school and all the fun things they were doing there, and about how much fun it was decorating the house with Elmyra. Tifa was always patient with Marlene and spoke to her kindly, always asking for more information and making Barrett's daughter feel important. He let his mind wander to what could have been, imagining that this was their table and the little girl was their daughter. A small smile crept onto his lips as he realized that wasn't an unpleasant thought.

She looked up then, meeting his eyes, and she realized that he had been studying her when he quickly glanced away. She had no idea what he had been thinking, but she was certain that it involved her naked.

In response to his reaction, she brushed her knee against his under the table where the movement couldn't be seen by the others at the table, sending a jolt of electricity up his spine. He wasn't sure if she'd done it on purpose until he glanced at her. He wanted to tell her to stop playing with him; to stop messing with him, making him feel things he shouldn't; that he didn't want to. But he couldn't, not now at least. They were at breakfast with all of her friends and a group of people that would think he was only trying to be the center of attention if he said anything.

'Keep it up, Tifa. You'll pay for this later.' He thought as her knee brushed against his again, clouding his thoughts, and making him warm inside. He took a large drink from the glass of orange juice sitting in front of him to try to cool himself down, but was afraid that not even a fire hose could put out the fire that had been smoldering for the past five years, and was currently being fanned again.

He groaned inwardly as he realized the only thing that could put out the fire was the woman sitting next to him at the table. And that was exactly what he didn't need.

Oh, Holy, this was going to be a long trip.