Disclaimer: Don't own Final Fantasy VII, or Vincent, or Tifa, or any of
the other Final Fantasy VII characters. Just inserting them into the
machine of my imagination and watching what pops out.
Destination: Dinner
by: thelittletree
(Thank you, again, to readers and to everyone who has reviewed! This isn't much so far, this little fic, but people are still reading. Thanks, again, for the encouragement! It means a lot! Oh...I love writing Vincent and Tifa scenes...)
(Oh, and another thing. The quotes I'm using I'm getting from www.quotationspage.com. Just to give credit where credit is due.)
"The thing I hate about an argument is that it always interrupts a discussion." -- G. K. Chesterton (1874 - 1936)
Cid and Shera had rented a room at a bed-and-breakfast, Tifa recognized as Shera led her through the front door of a very large, and probably extensively restored, house. She was almost a little jealous of the location, until she realized that there was no elevator -- only one long, steep staircase, which was one steep staircase too many. Gratefully, she gripped Shera's elbow as they made their way to the second floor, trying not to think about the ache in her back and feet.
Pregnancy, she had decided somewhere back between the craving binges and the all-day morning sickness, was something she was only destined to do once.
At the top of the stairs, Shera gave her an apologetic, commiserating smile before hitching Jeremy onto her shoulder and beginning a search for her room key. When she found it, she turned to a door on their left and unlocked it.
And, as the door swung inward, Shera's prediction was proven true: Cid and Vincent, playing poker. And smoking, Tifa noticed with a smirk. And drinking.
Both men were looking up from their game, probably at the sound of the key in the lock. Cid was the first to glance away as he dropped a few gil into the pot. Vincent, however, was battling the urge to stand. Tifa could see it in the way he was leaning forward, a question in his expression, his cigarette halfway to the ashtray. But she was fine, and she merely smiled. Maybe she was pregnant, but she was still strong and capable, and Vincent had discovered the hard way that when he hovered over her all the time it made her irritable.
Shera closed the door behind them and walked away into another room, Jeremy now a squirming, protesting bundle in her arms. Cid watched her for a second and then turned back to straightening his cards. "Don't worry 'bout it, Sher. I got him."
"You sure?"
He snuffed his cigarette out and stood from the table. "Yeah, it's my turn. You go eat. I'll get him in a minute." He stretched a little and gave a yawn before giving Tifa a familiar gruff smile. "So Tifa, how're ya doing?"
Four and a half years ago, Cid's brash manner had put her off a little. She'd smiled politely at some of his crass humour, waved away his second hand smoke, and had, both privately and audibly, frowned on the way he'd sometimes talked about Cloud. Now, after living with Lily, she felt much more at ease with the idea of talking to him. Cid was Cid, and you took him or left him. And she knew now that she could take him.
"I'm fine. Better than you'll be in a minute, probably." She ran a hand over her belly, still marveling sometimes that she could continue to enjoy the idea of a baby in there after all of the trials it had put her through. "I'm not at the dirty diaper stage yet."
He laughed suddenly and she found herself eager for his embrace as he opened an arm and stepped toward her. Just a quick squeeze of her shoulders, and then a ruffle of her hair, just to erase any lingering awkwardness. "Good to hear it. I s'pose you don't want to join us up here. A couple of beers, a couple of games of poker." He gave a small wink. "Vince here's a natural, but I'm sure a small distraction could turn the table on him."
She couldn't help a smile as she shook her head, and she glanced at Vincent to see that he had withdrawn out of the conversation. Something he'd done sometimes when she and Lily had managed to embarrass him. "No, that's all right. I think I'll keep to my original schedule." Which included, she realized suddenly, another trip to the bathroom in a very few minutes. "Shera's become my unofficial escort, and I don't want to lose her to anyone else."
Cid nodded, his smile tightening, and Tifa received the sudden impression that the old pilot knew what was going on, what she was trying to get away from. And that he understood. More than just for the company, Shera's presence around her ensured that no one could corner her alone to try and talk to her. And Shera herself was not the type to question and offer advice. She gave a small smirk, feeling a brief spark of justified pleasure in her anger, in having someone else on her side.
"Cid?" Shera was starting to sound a little impatient.
"Comin'."
As he headed for the other room, Tifa walked up to the table where Vincent was adjusting his cards. She slipped her fingers over the nape of his neck and played with the shorter, softer strands of his hair. After a moment, he leaned back into her hand with a small sigh and let the tension drain out of his shoulders. She bent down and kissed the top of his head.
"I have to use the bathroom," she told him quietly.
He put his cards down and reached up for her hand. "It's there, behind you."
She kissed him again and gave him a quick smile as he turned a little in his chair, keeping hold of her fingers until she'd stepped out of range.
There were a couple of soft knocks at the door while she was washing her hands. She shut off the water with a quick twist and turned to a hanging towel. "I'll be out in a second," she called through the door, expecting that Shera was probably ready to go.
But it wasn't Shera. Vincent carefully pried the door open and let himself in before closing it behind him. Tifa raised a questioning eyebrow and smiled at him. When he didn't say anything, she simply finished drying her hands and walked up to him for a hug.
"Were you having fun this afternoon?" she asked him, idly straightening a folded wrinkle in the back of his shirt.
"Hm." He gave a quick shrug and she felt his chin momentarily come to rest on the top of her head. "It's been all right."
"That's good. Cid reminds me a little of someone, don't you think?"
He stirred a little with a breath and pulled her closer for a second, his one hand automatically finding the spot at the base of her spine where a lot of the pressure in her back stayed. She relaxed into him with a sigh. "I'm okay. Really. I actually did my exercises today."
"My God."
She chuckled and buried her face into his shirt. "Shut up." And then she sighed again, not really wanting to think about it. But not wanting to have to deal with it alone. "Everyone...well, not everyone, but mostly Barret and Yuffie..."
"I know." He sounded tired, like he might've exhausted the topic earlier.
She frowned to herself and lifted her head to meet his eyes. He looked resigned and she made a small, frustrated sound in the back of her throat before turning her attention to one of his shirt buttons. "Maybe you were right. Maybe we should've stayed home and just existed in our own little corner for awhile longer."
"No."
She glanced up again, but Vincent was looking across the room. She pursed her lips, wondering how much of this he knew. "No?" she prompted.
"Something's going on. I think Cloud's been planning to use this chance to talk to you for awhile."
The sudden calls from Barret, the unexpected reunion. Some part of her had been suspicious from the beginning, but she hadn't wanted to admit it. It sounded so shady, so unlike the Cloud she'd once known.
"If we hadn't come, I think it would've come and found us."
She nodded a little and leaned her head onto his chest. "Probably right."
The next silence went a little long, and it was too heavy and expectant for Tifa to believe that he'd just come in here for a hug. Eventually she gave an impatient sigh and pulled herself out of Vincent's embrace. In the mirror, she could see that he wanted to ask, wanted to say something, but he was hesitating on the brink of what he knew might upset her. Feeling a sudden flash of both pity and anger, she was tempted just to leave him stew in the words he wouldn't spit out. But then she gave in, knowing the argument was unavoidable, whether it was now or later.
"Vincent, you can stay up here, all right? Cloud apparently isn't going to be at dinner, and Shera's going to stay with me for the evening. Okay? Does that cover all the bases?"
His frown was an abrupt scowl, offended by her flippancy, and he pivoted for the door. And, as always happened, so much like a dance by now that she could map all the steps, Tifa's anger melted from her at his reaction. Quickly, she turned and caught his sleeve before he opened the door. Looked up into his face. He didn't meet her eyes, however, glaring forward.
"Wait. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to snap. I'm just..." There were so many reasons, so many tensions, and it was becoming difficult to tell the deep from the superficial. "I'm just frustrated and edgy. And I'm tired, and my blood sugar's low. Please, don't be angry. I don't want us to go to bed angry tonight."
Sometimes he walked away anyway. Sometimes he stayed. And, since they were in someone else's apartment right now, and storming out would seem very un-Vincent, she thought to herself, he stayed. He dropped his eyes and let his breath out. Let go of the doorknob. With a small smile, she reached for his hand. Smiled wider when he twitched his fingers and glanced at her, red eyes weary and apologetic.
"Do you want me to come get you?"
"Sure." She rubbed her thumb over his knuckles. "Around nine, I guess."
"All right." He turned and let her pull him into a kiss.
"I love you," she murmured against his mouth.
She felt him smirk. It had almost become a bit of joke. Sometimes after a fight he would say it back. Just to keep the good mood going.
"Of course."
A pause, and she almost thought he wouldn't...
"I love you, too."
She grinned and backed up a little, almost chuckling. And then she let herself gaze at him for a second. No one else, she caught herself thinking at time likes this. As strange as she sometimes found the situation, considering what he was, what had been done to him, she knew there was no one else she would ever have been this happy with.
"Tifa..."
Even when he used that tone of voice.
"...they're going to start wondering what we're doing in here."
She laughed quietly and gave him another quick hug before reaching around him for the doorknob. "Well..." No one she would've ever had as much fun teasing, either. "...at least we know where your mind is."
Destination: Dinner
by: thelittletree
(Thank you, again, to readers and to everyone who has reviewed! This isn't much so far, this little fic, but people are still reading. Thanks, again, for the encouragement! It means a lot! Oh...I love writing Vincent and Tifa scenes...)
(Oh, and another thing. The quotes I'm using I'm getting from www.quotationspage.com. Just to give credit where credit is due.)
"The thing I hate about an argument is that it always interrupts a discussion." -- G. K. Chesterton (1874 - 1936)
Cid and Shera had rented a room at a bed-and-breakfast, Tifa recognized as Shera led her through the front door of a very large, and probably extensively restored, house. She was almost a little jealous of the location, until she realized that there was no elevator -- only one long, steep staircase, which was one steep staircase too many. Gratefully, she gripped Shera's elbow as they made their way to the second floor, trying not to think about the ache in her back and feet.
Pregnancy, she had decided somewhere back between the craving binges and the all-day morning sickness, was something she was only destined to do once.
At the top of the stairs, Shera gave her an apologetic, commiserating smile before hitching Jeremy onto her shoulder and beginning a search for her room key. When she found it, she turned to a door on their left and unlocked it.
And, as the door swung inward, Shera's prediction was proven true: Cid and Vincent, playing poker. And smoking, Tifa noticed with a smirk. And drinking.
Both men were looking up from their game, probably at the sound of the key in the lock. Cid was the first to glance away as he dropped a few gil into the pot. Vincent, however, was battling the urge to stand. Tifa could see it in the way he was leaning forward, a question in his expression, his cigarette halfway to the ashtray. But she was fine, and she merely smiled. Maybe she was pregnant, but she was still strong and capable, and Vincent had discovered the hard way that when he hovered over her all the time it made her irritable.
Shera closed the door behind them and walked away into another room, Jeremy now a squirming, protesting bundle in her arms. Cid watched her for a second and then turned back to straightening his cards. "Don't worry 'bout it, Sher. I got him."
"You sure?"
He snuffed his cigarette out and stood from the table. "Yeah, it's my turn. You go eat. I'll get him in a minute." He stretched a little and gave a yawn before giving Tifa a familiar gruff smile. "So Tifa, how're ya doing?"
Four and a half years ago, Cid's brash manner had put her off a little. She'd smiled politely at some of his crass humour, waved away his second hand smoke, and had, both privately and audibly, frowned on the way he'd sometimes talked about Cloud. Now, after living with Lily, she felt much more at ease with the idea of talking to him. Cid was Cid, and you took him or left him. And she knew now that she could take him.
"I'm fine. Better than you'll be in a minute, probably." She ran a hand over her belly, still marveling sometimes that she could continue to enjoy the idea of a baby in there after all of the trials it had put her through. "I'm not at the dirty diaper stage yet."
He laughed suddenly and she found herself eager for his embrace as he opened an arm and stepped toward her. Just a quick squeeze of her shoulders, and then a ruffle of her hair, just to erase any lingering awkwardness. "Good to hear it. I s'pose you don't want to join us up here. A couple of beers, a couple of games of poker." He gave a small wink. "Vince here's a natural, but I'm sure a small distraction could turn the table on him."
She couldn't help a smile as she shook her head, and she glanced at Vincent to see that he had withdrawn out of the conversation. Something he'd done sometimes when she and Lily had managed to embarrass him. "No, that's all right. I think I'll keep to my original schedule." Which included, she realized suddenly, another trip to the bathroom in a very few minutes. "Shera's become my unofficial escort, and I don't want to lose her to anyone else."
Cid nodded, his smile tightening, and Tifa received the sudden impression that the old pilot knew what was going on, what she was trying to get away from. And that he understood. More than just for the company, Shera's presence around her ensured that no one could corner her alone to try and talk to her. And Shera herself was not the type to question and offer advice. She gave a small smirk, feeling a brief spark of justified pleasure in her anger, in having someone else on her side.
"Cid?" Shera was starting to sound a little impatient.
"Comin'."
As he headed for the other room, Tifa walked up to the table where Vincent was adjusting his cards. She slipped her fingers over the nape of his neck and played with the shorter, softer strands of his hair. After a moment, he leaned back into her hand with a small sigh and let the tension drain out of his shoulders. She bent down and kissed the top of his head.
"I have to use the bathroom," she told him quietly.
He put his cards down and reached up for her hand. "It's there, behind you."
She kissed him again and gave him a quick smile as he turned a little in his chair, keeping hold of her fingers until she'd stepped out of range.
There were a couple of soft knocks at the door while she was washing her hands. She shut off the water with a quick twist and turned to a hanging towel. "I'll be out in a second," she called through the door, expecting that Shera was probably ready to go.
But it wasn't Shera. Vincent carefully pried the door open and let himself in before closing it behind him. Tifa raised a questioning eyebrow and smiled at him. When he didn't say anything, she simply finished drying her hands and walked up to him for a hug.
"Were you having fun this afternoon?" she asked him, idly straightening a folded wrinkle in the back of his shirt.
"Hm." He gave a quick shrug and she felt his chin momentarily come to rest on the top of her head. "It's been all right."
"That's good. Cid reminds me a little of someone, don't you think?"
He stirred a little with a breath and pulled her closer for a second, his one hand automatically finding the spot at the base of her spine where a lot of the pressure in her back stayed. She relaxed into him with a sigh. "I'm okay. Really. I actually did my exercises today."
"My God."
She chuckled and buried her face into his shirt. "Shut up." And then she sighed again, not really wanting to think about it. But not wanting to have to deal with it alone. "Everyone...well, not everyone, but mostly Barret and Yuffie..."
"I know." He sounded tired, like he might've exhausted the topic earlier.
She frowned to herself and lifted her head to meet his eyes. He looked resigned and she made a small, frustrated sound in the back of her throat before turning her attention to one of his shirt buttons. "Maybe you were right. Maybe we should've stayed home and just existed in our own little corner for awhile longer."
"No."
She glanced up again, but Vincent was looking across the room. She pursed her lips, wondering how much of this he knew. "No?" she prompted.
"Something's going on. I think Cloud's been planning to use this chance to talk to you for awhile."
The sudden calls from Barret, the unexpected reunion. Some part of her had been suspicious from the beginning, but she hadn't wanted to admit it. It sounded so shady, so unlike the Cloud she'd once known.
"If we hadn't come, I think it would've come and found us."
She nodded a little and leaned her head onto his chest. "Probably right."
The next silence went a little long, and it was too heavy and expectant for Tifa to believe that he'd just come in here for a hug. Eventually she gave an impatient sigh and pulled herself out of Vincent's embrace. In the mirror, she could see that he wanted to ask, wanted to say something, but he was hesitating on the brink of what he knew might upset her. Feeling a sudden flash of both pity and anger, she was tempted just to leave him stew in the words he wouldn't spit out. But then she gave in, knowing the argument was unavoidable, whether it was now or later.
"Vincent, you can stay up here, all right? Cloud apparently isn't going to be at dinner, and Shera's going to stay with me for the evening. Okay? Does that cover all the bases?"
His frown was an abrupt scowl, offended by her flippancy, and he pivoted for the door. And, as always happened, so much like a dance by now that she could map all the steps, Tifa's anger melted from her at his reaction. Quickly, she turned and caught his sleeve before he opened the door. Looked up into his face. He didn't meet her eyes, however, glaring forward.
"Wait. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to snap. I'm just..." There were so many reasons, so many tensions, and it was becoming difficult to tell the deep from the superficial. "I'm just frustrated and edgy. And I'm tired, and my blood sugar's low. Please, don't be angry. I don't want us to go to bed angry tonight."
Sometimes he walked away anyway. Sometimes he stayed. And, since they were in someone else's apartment right now, and storming out would seem very un-Vincent, she thought to herself, he stayed. He dropped his eyes and let his breath out. Let go of the doorknob. With a small smile, she reached for his hand. Smiled wider when he twitched his fingers and glanced at her, red eyes weary and apologetic.
"Do you want me to come get you?"
"Sure." She rubbed her thumb over his knuckles. "Around nine, I guess."
"All right." He turned and let her pull him into a kiss.
"I love you," she murmured against his mouth.
She felt him smirk. It had almost become a bit of joke. Sometimes after a fight he would say it back. Just to keep the good mood going.
"Of course."
A pause, and she almost thought he wouldn't...
"I love you, too."
She grinned and backed up a little, almost chuckling. And then she let herself gaze at him for a second. No one else, she caught herself thinking at time likes this. As strange as she sometimes found the situation, considering what he was, what had been done to him, she knew there was no one else she would ever have been this happy with.
"Tifa..."
Even when he used that tone of voice.
"...they're going to start wondering what we're doing in here."
She laughed quietly and gave him another quick hug before reaching around him for the doorknob. "Well..." No one she would've ever had as much fun teasing, either. "...at least we know where your mind is."