A/N: Chapter two! This ends in a weird spot, but please give some feedback by reviewing! Thanks!

Disclaimer: I own nothing!

SECRET GARDEN

CHAPTER TWO

There was a tapping on the bathroom door. Vincent jolted awake, his face feeling stiff and crusty with dried tears. "Hey, man, what's happened here?" He heard the voice of Cloud Strife on the other side of the door.

He cleared his throat. "I don't even know anymore…" He replied, his voice still sounding much worse than normal.

"How about you open the door then, and we can figure it out?"

Vincent rubbed his tired eyes and stood up, checking his reflection in the mirror. He looked like he had been dead for a year. His hair was wild and matted, his eyes had dark circles underneath them. He pulled his hair back and opened the door.

Cloud stepped back a little in shock at the sight of his old friend, who was usually so calm and collected, looking like an absolute wreck. "God!" He muttered. "What happened, Vince?"

Vincent sighed. "I came home and found Tifa fucking some other guy."

"God! Are you serious?" Cloud asked, bewildered, taking Vincent by the arm and leading him downstairs. Vincent nodded.

"You look bad, Vince. Here, let me fix something to eat. It's 9:00, you know! How long have you been in there?" Vincent groaned and collapsed on the couch, while Cloud went into the kitchen. "Since this morning." He replied.

Cloud laughed. Vincent heard the clang of pots and pans as he made macaroni. "That Yuffie girl sure is cute, and a damn good worker. She sold more shit than you probably have ever since you started running the place!"

Vincent turned on the TV and turned it to AMC, which was playing The Patriot, and watched men getting brutally killed without it slightly phasing him. It was as if he was in a daze. "Yeah, I was thinking about hiring her for good."

Cloud came back in with two bowls, and Vincent noticed that it was Instant Mac. Vincent ate it hungrily without caring about how bad of a job Cloud had done at mixing in the cheese powder.

Cloud patted Vincent on the leg and said, "You know what we should do, man? We should go out and get some real food and some booze. We've got a lot to catch up on, you know."

Vincent nodded. "Sounds just like what I need." Even thought it wasn't. His heart ached when he put on his coat and smelled her perfume.

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They ate at a popular Mexican restraunt called Acambaro, where they caught up on each other's lives. Since they had graduated high school, Cloud had gone off in the military, met a girl named Aerith, got engaged to her, called it off, went bankrupt, lost his brother in the war, and found himself with nowhere else to go but to Vincent.

Vincent told Cloud about his rocky marriage to Tifa, the way he didn't feel complete with her, about how difficult it was to run the business and love her at the same time. Cloud nodded his head understandingly, but Vincent knew he really had absolutely no idea where he was coming from.

Cloud suggested they go to a bar, but Vincent only wanted to go home and sleep. The house was dark and quiet when they got home, something it rarely was before. Tifa loved to watch TV at night and leave it blaring until morning, but now the house was pitch black. It was strange not to hear her voice taunting him to come upstairs from some hidden corner, or not to hear her walking on the floors above.

"I'm going to bed." He told Cloud. He started up the stairs, but then realized that he couldn't bear to sleep in that bed. He turned back to Cloud. "Well, I'll just take the couch. You can make your room in the guest bed."

Cloud nodded in silent agreement and went to his room. Vincent put a clean blanket across the couch and lay there, and he couldn't help but smell the faint scent of his own cologne and her lotion on the fabric. He tried not to, but the tears flooded his eyes anyway.

She was all he knew. He'd never been without her. And yet he suddenly found himself alone, in the dark, without her.

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He came into work the next morning completely unlike himself. He was known in the shop as a good businessman, always arriving right on time in a suit and tie. But that morning he was running late by 15 minutes, dressed in dark jeans and a tight black t-shirt, looking stressed beyond all belief. Cloud came in behind him, looking concerned.

Richard, who was showing Yuffie how to arrange the dresses, let out a cackle at the unusual sight of his boss. "What the hell's wrong with you?" he asked, and Yuffie grinned.

Vincent grabbed a cup of coffee from the coffeemaker near the register and grumbled, "You better shut the fuck up or you'll be looking for another job."

He slammed the door to his office right in Cloud's face, who reopened it and followed him in. Vincent plopped into the chair, sending everything on his desk shaking violently.

"Just because Tifa left you doesn't mean you have to take it out on the rest of the world." Cloud muttered, picking up picture frames that had fallen off the desk and replacing them. They were both pictures of Tifa, grinning at Vincent, taunting him. He threw them across the room.

"You have no idea what this would feel like." Vincent grumbled, putting his head down on his desk.

Cloud sighed. "I'll get out there and work while you have your pity party." Vincent heard him stand up.

"Send Yuffie in here, while you're at it." He ordered, picking his head back up and trying to look like a presentable boss.

Yuffie came in after several minutes, a smile on her youthful face. Vincent forced a smile back, but it almost felt painful to his face.

"Have a seat." He said, and she giggled when she saw that the only two chairs were covered in his junk, but she took a seat on one anyway.

"How would you like to work for me full time?" Vincent asked her, and she grinned up at him. "I'd love it! I'm in need of a job anyway. My brother…" She frowned. "Well, he's got cancer and he's been given a year to live, but that was three years ago." Her smile returned. "But the medical bills are pretty high, so I'd love to work for you."

Vincent smiled back. "Good, good. So how old are you? Out of curiosity."

Yuffie grinned. "Eighteen, immature, and proud!" She exclaimed, bouncing in her chair. She's just a ball of fire, he thought to himself.

Vincent laughed. "I thought you'd be somewhere around in there." She winked at him. "Yes, sir! Well, I'd better be going, looks like we've got us somemore customers!" The bell on the front door rang, announcing that she was correct. "Nice to meet you formally, Mr. Valentine!"

She bounded up and leapt for the door. His heart sank, knowing that he didn't have anyone to hide behind, now that he was alone with himself and his thoughts. It wasn't long before his phone rang, and he jumped in surprise.

It was Tifa. "I'm coming to the house to get my stuff." She said bluntly, sounding hollow, like she always did when they were fighting.

Vincent sighed. "Alright. Leave your key on the porch." He replied, sounding equally as hollow.

"Vincent, I don't want to do this. Please say you'll take me back."

Vincent closed his eyes. If he took her back, things would eventually get bad between them again and she would end up screwing someone else again. He loved her, but the truth remained. And he could not take her back.

"Tifa, no. I can't. No." He said firmly. He heard her sharp intake of breath on the other end of the line.

"Vincent. I love you, I'm sorry for what I did. Don't leave me."

Vincent couldn't take her pleading, knowing that if she kept it up that he would eventually say yes to her. "No, Tifa. You made this decision. Not me, you did. Just get your shit out of my house and get out of my life."

Tifa began to cry, and Vincent held his ear away from the phone. "Does this mean you want a divorce?" Tifa whimpered.

"Yes, Tifa. Mail me the papers." And with his last bit of strength, he hung up the phone.

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As he was closing up the shop, he noticed that Yuffie was the only person that hadn't gone home. Even Cloud had gone home for the day around 6:30, and it was now well past 9. He found her on the floor, boxing shoes.

"Yuffie, it's late. You should go home. I'm closing up." He told her, pulling on his jacket and getting out his keys.

She smiled at him and jumped up, shoving the shoeboxes back into their places. "Alright, I am kinda tired."

He smiled back at her, before he realized that he couldn't remember seeing her in a car. "How are you getting home?"

Yuffie shrugged. "I'll walk. That's what I usually do."

Vincent raised his eyebrows. He couldn't let the poor girl walk, not after what had happened to his last salesgirl. "How about I give you a ride?"

Yuffie shook her head. "It's okay, I walk home all the time." Vincent came closer to her, patted her shoulder.

"No, I insist. After I let my last salesgirl go home alone, she ended up dead." He smiled at her. "Please, let me take you home."

Yuffie shrugged. "I guess that'll be okay, but you got yourself into it!" She smiled, and he walked her out to his car.

She gave him directions to her home, humming along with whatever song was playing on the radio, letting the cold wind whip through her short hair. Vincent smiled at her as she sat there, so young and cute and oblivious to the rest of the world. He felt a little better, his long hair flying around him in the car, as she turned up the music and the voice of Tom Petty filled the air.

"She's a good girl, loves her mama, loves Jesus, and America too." Yuffie sang, a little off tune. She patted his leg. "Come on, you old fart! Sing with me!" She yelled over the music.

Vincent shook his head and shifted gears. "I don't think so!" He yelled back.

Yuffie frowned. "You just don't want me to hear your voice!"

Vincent laughed. "Maybe I just don't like singing!"

Yuffie mimicked a chicken. "CHIIIIICKEN!" She yelled.

Vincent hadn't sung in years. He couldn't sing a note on tune, and didn't care to try. But there was something about that song and the air around them and how her youth was inspiring him, that he opened his mouth, and they belted together, "Now I'm free! Free falling!"

Yuffie giggled frantically before they continued, "And all the vampires, walking through the valley move west down Ventura Boulevard. All the bad boys are standing in the shadows, all the good girls go home with broken hearts."

Yuffie continued wailing along, but Vincent just laughed and pulled up in the girl's driveway. It was a broken looking home, with shutters barely hanging on and a porch piled up with boxed junk. Two figures sat on the porch; they looked as if they were playing checkers.

Vincent switched off the radio. "I'll see you tomorrow morning, then." He told her, unlocking her door. Yuffie grinned at him and unbuckled her seatbelt. "I don't think you're getting off that easily." She replied.

She bounded up to the porch, signaling for him not to leave just yet. She said something to the figures on the porch and ran back to the car, opening his door. He found himself wondering what he had gotten himself into.

"Come on! My mom and Hanna want to meet you!" She exclaimed, taking him by the forearm. He groaned and followed her up the steps to the broken looking house. "I told you you got yourself into it!" she whispered, grinning at him.

A woman with long, black hair, streaks of gray running through it in a plaid shirt and shorts was smiling at him, and beside her, on the other end of the checker board, was a boy with strange patches of black fuzz for his hair. He looked very sickly. Vincent took this to be Yuffie's brother, Hanna.

"Mom, Hanna, this is my new boss, Mr. Valentine." Yuffie said, nodding as Vincent extended his hand. Yuffie's mother shook his hand, but Hanna only gave him an unsure look until he took it away.

"Please, call me Vincent." He told them, and Yuffie's mother nodded. "I'm Stella. It's good to know that there are still kind people like you in this world, Vincent. Thank you so much for hiring Yuffie in our time of need right now."

Yuffie cleared her throat. "Mom-"

Stella waved her daughter off. "No, Yuffie, if he's your boss, he needs to know." She turned to Vincent. "Both of my children have been diagnosed with leukemia. Things are just really hard for us right now. So thank you for hiring her. She's delicate, so please be sure to watch out for her."

Vincent's throat suddenly felt very dry. He had thought that she was just a carefree teenager, when really she was probably just making the best of her time to be alive.

"Oh. Yuffie didn't tell me that." He said, glancing at Yuffie, who was staring at her mother, looking embarrassed. "I'll be sure to keep a close eye on her." He assured Stella, who nodded.

"Well I should be getting home." Vincent said, stepping back off the porch.

"Thank you for taking me home!" Yuffie exclaimed, but he could tell that her voice was somehow different. He waved at the young girl, and through her twinkling, happy eyes he could see the sickness and insecurity. And he realized that she had not helped him with his happiness at all.

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The next day, Yuffie seemed the same as usual, the perky salesgirl that could sell anything to anybody if she just bat her lashes.

In fact, she was charming a young soon-to-be husband so much that he was actually hitting on her, although she hadn't meant to attract his attention in that way.

"So uh, do you want me to get you a drink somewhere? My fiancé's at work, so I could take you…" Yuffie gave Vincent a panicked look as the young man reached out to touch her cheek.

"Yuffie!" Vincent exclaimed, waving her over as he headed to his office. She waved at the man and skipped off to follow Vincent, who took her into the office and shut the door. She immediately burst into laughter.

He laughed himself and poured himself a cup of coffee. "Nice, Yuffie, charming the engaged customers." She laughed at him, bouncing over to where he was to pour her own mug of coffee. She had taken the #1 Grandma mug, the joke mug that Tifa always used to use, and it had drove Vincent crazy that she refused to use any other one.

"I didn't mean to! The guy just started getting all suggestive, and I didn't know what to do!" She giggled at herself and turned to him. "Well, I better get back out there and deal with it."

Vincent winked at her. "If you need me to scare him off, just look scared and it's done, okay, kid?"

Yuffie winked back, nodded, and returned to her shift. Cloud came in after her, making an obvious glance down her v-neck shirt. "Flirting with the new salesgirl, I see? You're quick at it, Vince." Cloud threw a smirk at him and plopped down in the chair in front of his desk, slinging his leg over the armrest.

Vincent smirked back. "I'm not flirting with her. You don't even have room to talk."

Cloud laughed. "There's a difference between flirting and admiring her young bosoms."

Vincent threw a paper at him. "Good God, you are a perv!" Cloud grinned. "You are too, man, I've seen you checking her out!"

Vincent's jaw dropped. "Well maybe I am, but at least I'm more polite about it, instead of just checking out her breasts, all wide-eyed!"

Cloud's laughter stopped short as Yuffie walked in with a pile of shoes, blushing frantically. Vincent could feel his own face heat up, but he beckoned her over. She bent over his desk, pointing to the box, and Vincent found it incredibly hard to focus. "You didn't put a price on these." She said, stifling embarrassed laughter.

Vincent laughed nervously. He reached across the desk, brushing her hand in the process, causing her to turn a shade of purple, and wrote 50$ in pen on the box. He smiled up at her, and she quickly walked out of the room, nearly tripping on the rug.

Cloud smirked at him. "Awkward…" Vincent reached across the desk and smacked him. "Go back to work or you're fired!" he ordered in a faux scary voice.

Cloud laughed and let the room. Vincent put his face in his hands and stifled his embarrassed scream.

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Vincent came home that night to an empty house. All of Tifa's things were gone, and she had left her key on the kitchen counter in plain sight so that he could find it without trouble. There was also a note beside it that read:

"If this is the way you want it, I'll mail you the papers in a couple of weeks. Don't forget that if you ever want to forgive me, I'd be happy to go back to you.

Love,

Tifa"

As if he would ever take her back for what she'd done. Although, he supposed he had indeed done his part at pushing her away, and he thought that deep down perhaps he deserved what he'd gotten.

But what he was most afraid of was being alone. Vincent was a person that could never bear being alone with himself. His mind was a dark thing that he sometimes felt like he didn't understand. Tifa had been the only girl to really show interest in him through highschool, the only one that he didn't scare or push away. Without her, what was he? Alone forever?

He threw away the note and turned off the ringer on his phone. Somehow he knew she would call, but he didn't think he could bear the answer. He wasn't strong enough without her; she could make him say yes to anything.

Cloud had gone out drinking, and by now Vincent wished he had gone. He was never a fan of alcohol, being a slightly high-class man, in fact, the only alcohol he would ever drink was wine. But suddenly he was in the mood to do whatever it took to get over her, and drinking seemed the best solution. He threw on his coat and shoes and drove to Smokey's Bar and Grill.

He hadn't been to the bar itself in years, although he and Tifa would eat at the restaurant frequently. The bartender knew him by name, saw how upset he was, and gave him a discount on beer.

Vincent personally couldn't stand the taste of beer, but drank it anyway. He wanted to feel numb, not have to think of anyone or anything. He didn't drink until he was drunk; it was something he had learned not to do out of respect for himself and everyone else for that matter. He drank until he had a slight buzz, and by that time, an attractive brunette woman had come over to sit beside him.

"You look down." Her voice was cool in the musky, dirty bar, around all the drunken men and the football playing loudly on the television.

Vincent looked up at her, letting his hair fall in his face and not caring. Tifa had hated that. "I guess I am."

The woman scooted her chair closer, giving him a better look at her. She had amazingly long, wavy brown hair, and a baby face. She looked younger than she probably was. He couldn't help but notice how well she filled out her pink dress.

"Well, maybe tonight will make it better." She winked at him and blushed. For as cute as she was, she sure wasn't good at hitting on men.

He smiled back at the girl and asked, "Just how old are you, now? You shouldn't be in a nasty bar like this."

She smirked at him and replied. "I'm twenty one, thank you. But on the contrary, a man such as yourself shouldn't be in a nasty bar like this either."

Vincent replied, "A man such as myself? What are you getting at?"

The girl smiled. "I mean, you're a beautiful man, you don't look like much of a drinker, and you look miserable. So how about we get out of here? We could go to a club?"

Vincent smiled to himself. His first night out and he already had a sweet younger girl wanting to go places with him. But it just wasn't his speed. He refused to get over her (or even try) that quickly. "No thanks. I'll be heading home soon anyway."

The girl nodded her head, but didn't look let down. "How about I go with you, then?"

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Vincent woke up the next morning with a naked girl flopped over him and a pounding headache. He remembered vaguely that her name was Aeris and she had just broken up with her boyfriend and was in a similar situation of Vincent himself.

He had gotten more drunk than he had intended the night before, and went overboard with the girl that now lay halfway on top of him. Thank God everything after they went home was a blur, who knew what kind of trash he said. Hopefully she didn't remember either.

He wormed his way out from under her, put on some boxers, and walked downstairs to see a Cloud at the table, eating a muffin, with a smirk on his face. He knew what was coming.

"Who was that lovely young lady you banged last night?" he asked, crumbs falling from his mouth, something Tifa would have never put up with.

Vincent went to the refrigerator and took a swig of orange juice. He pointed an accusing finger at Cloud. "You shut up. I got drunk."

Cloud grinned, his mouth full of chewed muffin. "How uncharacteristic of you."

"Yeah, well, everything lately has been uncharacteristic of me."

But the truth was Vincent feared that this was how he really acted without Tifa there. Did he use women, have carefree one-night-stands? Was that who he was when he was alone? He didn't know. The thing Vincent Valentine feared most was himself. He had always avoided nights alone, fearing that his very thoughts would overpower him. He relied on others so that he would not have to face this world in his most vulnerable form, when he was alone.

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Please read and review!

-Mel