"Time goes by so fast, people go in and out of your life. You must never miss the chance to tell these people how much they mean to you."
Anonymous
Cloud opened his eyes, then immediately shut them as he noticed the sun's rays creeping through the window. A sick feeling enveloped his stomach. He'd be leaving before dawn the next morning. The past week and a half had flown by...Cloud sighed. The plans were finalized, everything was set up...there was really no turning back now.
Tifa made a soft sound in her sleep, and Cloud hoisted himself up on one elbow to look at her. Her face was peaceful, eyes closed, lips turned upwards...Cloud pulled a few soft strands of hair off her face and continued to watch her. A crease appeared in her brow for a minute, but she didn't wake up. Cloud reached down gently and ran his hand over her round belly.
"Let your mother sleep a little longer..." he whispered, as the baby kicked again.
He smiled when Tifa's face relaxed, and he slid his hand off her stomach, settling back down beside her. He cuddled up to her back, resting his face atop her hair. What wouldn't I give to just stay here...he thought longily. Cloud squeezed his eyes shut again, trying to fall back asleep. The sick feeling returned to him again. You have to talk to her today...he told himself firmly. You have to talk to her about what will happen if the mission fails...you've put it off long enough.
Cloud pushed the thought aside for later as Tifa turned around in his arms, eyes flickering open sleepily.
"Morning Tifa..." he whispered, cupping her cheek and giving her a soft kiss on the lips.
The content, sleepy look in her eyes slowly faded as she woke up enough to realize what today was. The corners of her lips tugged down slightly as she looked up at Cloud. He forced a smile on his face.
"Baby wake you up?" he asked quietly, avoiding the topic that was on both their minds.
She slid one hand over the bulge of her stomach and shook her head.
"I think I'm getting used to it..." she said in a tone of forced normalcy. "Why? Was the baby kicking this morning?"
Cloud nodded and covered Tifa's hand with his own. She laced her fingers through his and rested her head on his shoulder. They were silent for a minute. Cloud felt Tifa sigh and he knew they wouldn't be avoiding the topic any longer.
"So today's finally here..." Tifa whispered.
Cloud grimaced and pressed his lips to her hair.
"Hopefully the next couple days will go by as quickly as the last two weeks..." he mumbled.
Tifa's hand squeezed his tightly.
"What night is it happening again?" she asked, voice tiny.
"Not tomorrow night, but the night after." Cloud answered. "Then we'll be back the following day provided that everything goes as planned..."
Tifa didn't respond. When Cloud looked down at her, her face looked pinched.
"You ready to get up?" he asked softly, trying to distract her mind from whatever unhappy thoughts were running through it. "Red's coming soon...we can go meet him if you want."
She gave him a nod and a strained smile. He gently helped her out of bed. His eyes followed her all the way to the bathroom. He sighed and put a hand to his head as soon as she was out of sight. I just wish I could know that she's going to be okay...
It was a picture perfect morning in Comso Canyon. Cloud tried to enjoy the warm sun on his face and the gentle breeze, but every happy sensation was muted by the sickkness in his stomach. He looked over at Tifa's down turned face and gave her hand a little tug. When she met his gaze, her eyes were big and sad. Cloud pressed a gentle kiss to her temple.
"Let's try to be happy today, okay?" he whispered into her hair.
Tifa was quiet for a minute, but when she lifted her head she had a small smile on her face.
"You're right Cloud." she said softly. "Let's make today a good one..."
They continued walking hand-in-hand. It was mid-morning and most of the people of Cosmo Canyon were outside enjoying the good weather. Cloud and Tifa waved to a few of them as they passed.
"Where are we meeting Red?" Tifa asked, looking over the sun-soaked town.
Cloud squinted into the sun and pointed ahead of them.
"Over by the diner." he told her. "Red said he'd be there around eleven..."
They reached the diner in a matter of minutes and settled down on a bench.
"You tired?" Cloud asked Tifa, running a hand down her hair.
She slipped her hand down to her stomach and smiled at him saucily.
"You'd be tired too if you were carrying ten extra pounds..." she told him, poking him in the stomach.
He grabbed her finger and she giggled at him.
"Maybe you are carrying around ten extra pounds!" she teased softly. "No more dessert for you Cloud..."
Cloud gave her a mock offended look.
"If I recall correctly..." he began, patting her massive belly. "I wasn't the one who ate, not two, not three, but four servings of dinner last night."
Tifa smacked his hands away playfully.
"The nurse said I needed more protein!" she said defensively.
They both laughed. Cloud kissed her swiftly, glad that her eyes were no longer sad. He pulled back, and she settled under his arm.
"When are you seeing the doctor again?" he asked her quietly.
"Tomorrow, I think." she answered. "Three months left..."
Cloud smiled and rested his hand over hers where it lay across her stomach.
"There's so much to do before then..." he said.
Tifa nodded in agreement. Judging by the look on her face, Cloud knew she was thinking about the next day, but gave her a gentle squeeze and the look disappeared. They sat in a peaceful silence for awhile, but the silence was soon broken as they heard a cheerful voice calling out to them.
"Cloud! Tifa!" it was shouting.
Cloud sighed.
"You can always hear her coming from a mile away..." he said to Tifa, shaking his head.
Tifa laughed as they watched Yuffie round the corner and skid to a stop in front of them. She took a minute to catch her breath and then smiled up at them.
"I've been up since six!" Yuffie told them cheerfully. "Can you believe it? Me! Up early!"
"Pretty amazing..." Cloud said dryly.
He and Tifa exchanged amused looks but Yuffie ignored them and continued on.
"Anyways..." she said, digging in her bag. "I went by the market this morning and the baker gave me these to give to you."
She handed Tifa a box and she peered inside.Eleven and a half blueberry muffins were settled at the bottom of the box. Tifa gave Yuffie a look and held up the half-eaten muffin.
"If you're going to eat my muffins, you could at least hide the evidence." she said, eye-balling Yuffie.
Yuffie gave Tifa a nervous smile. Tifa was a little over-protective of her food nowadays. Cloud patted Tifa's hand consolingly.
"I'm sure you'll get along just fine with eleven muffins Tifa..." he told her jokingly.
Yuffie burst into laughter and Tifa glared at her playfully.
"I can't wait until you're married and pregnant Yuffie!" she teased. "Let's see how many muffins you get..."
She took a step back and shook her head vigorously.
"Me?" Yuffie said incredulously. "Married! And pregnant! No way!"
Tifa laughed.
"You'll change your mind someday..." Tifa said confidently, smiling widely.
Cloud made a hushing sound to Tifa.
"Don't encourage her Tifa!" he begged. "We don't need more than one Yuffie running around here..."
Yuffie snorted indignantly as Cloud and Tifa burst into laughter.
"Just because you said that..." she told Cloud, shaking her fist as him. "I'm going to have millions of children! And they'll all be just like me!"
Yuffie and Tifa laughed at the look of horror on Cloud's face.
"Anyways..." Yuffie said, as their laughter died down. "I'm gunna run. See you guys at dinner!"
She took off. Cloud was still staring at her with blank disbelief.
"She's not serious, right?" he asked Tifa, pleading slightly.
Tifa gave his shoulder a little shove.
"She was just kidding Cloud..." she told him, exasperated.
He sighed in relief and Tifa rolled her eyes.
"Besides," Tifa said. "Yuffie's not even eighteen yet...she's got a while to go before thinking about any of that anyways."
Tifa paused a moment, and when she began talking again, her voice was somber.
"Sometimes I forget Yuffie's so young..." she whispered. "You'll watch out for her when you guys are on the mission, won't you Cloud?"
"Of course Tifa...we all will." Cloud told her softly, brushing back her hair. "Yuffie may be a pain in the butt, but she is the baby out of all our friends."
Tifa laughed quietly.
"Don't ever let her hear you call her the baby..." Tifa warned him amusedly. "She'll kill you!"
"Don't I know it..." Cloud chuckled.
His laughter faded as his eyes squinted down the street. Tifa followed his gaze and smiled as she saw a red, four-legged figure approaching. It had been over two months since they'd last seen Red. He gave Cloud and Tifa his strange, toothy grin as he came up to them.
"It's still hard to believe..." he said, looking at Tifa.
She smiled at him and nodded.
"It's hard for us to believe sometimes too." she told him.
Cloud and Tifa got up and walked alongside Red, down the street.
"How much longer?" Red asked.
"Three months or so..." Cloud answered. "Hard to believe it's so soon, right?"
Red nodded.
"Do you plan on staying here after the baby's born?" he asked them.
"Of course!" Tifa said, looking suprised he was asking that. "Cosmo Canyon is home now."
Red looked pleased with her answer.
"I grew up in Cosmo Canyon..." he told them. "I had a happy childhood here."
Tifa and Cloud smiled at each other, and followed Red down the street.
Just as they had suspected, the day went by quickly. Dinner had been loud and cheerful as always, but it was obvious that things weren't as normal as they were all pretending.
Reno had responded to all the tension by being even louder than usual. His loud jokes and wise-cracks eased the atmosphere a little bit, but it was obvious that he was worried too. He and Elena didn't bump heads once the entire night, which was needless to say, extremely rare. Reno didn't even complain when Tifa got more food than everyone else. Rude was as quiet as usual, but his brow was puckered above his sunglasses.
Yuffie's earlier cheerfullness had faded slightly by dinner time. Her face was paler than usual as she sat at the table, laughing at Reno's jokes and making her own every now and then. Much to her embarassment, her father had called earlier, and demanded to talk to Cloud and everyone going on the mission the next day. Lucky for her, no one had the heart to tease her about it.
Reeve and Red had sat through the meal with a strange detatched sort of feeling. Besides Tifa, they were the only ones not going on the mission tomorrow. They were incredibly worried for all their friends, despite however much confidence they had in their abilities.
Marlene had clung to Barret all night, instead of sitting with the girls like she usually did. Barret was unusually quiet all night, smiling forcedly and allowing Marlene to sit on his shoulder like she had when she was smaller. Him and Marlene were the first to leave. Marlene had hugged everyone goodbye, since she wouldn't be seeing them before they left. Even Reno and Rude had hugged her back.
Cloud and Tifa were next to leave. They had walked home silently, unable to find something cheerful to say, and unwillingly to talk about the mission. They had reached their house fairly quickly, and slid into bed almost immediately. Cloud looked over to Tifa, illuminated by the moonlight, and he knew he couldn't hold the conversation off any longer. He reached over and gently touched her shoulder.
"Tifa..." he whispered. "About tomorrow..."
Tifa squeezed her eyes shut and hide her face into her pillow.
"Cloud...don't..." she begged softly.
Cloud pulled closer, wrapping his arms around her.
"Just hear me out, okay Tifa?" he said quietly.
Tifa burried her head into his chest and didn't respond. Cloud continued.
"There's a chance we could fail..." he told her gently. "We all know that..."
He stroked her back lightly.
"If we happened to fail..." he began.
Tifa pulled back angrily.
"That's not going to happen!" she screamed in a whisper.
Cloud reached out to touch her face, but she quickly burried it back into his chest. He sighed.
"Just listen Tifa..." he whispered, kissing her hair softly.
When she didn't make a retort, he continued.
"If we fail..." he said lowly. "Reeve and Red are going to get you and Marlene out of Cosmo Canyon, okay? They'll take you to Rocket Town. I already talked to Cid and Shera. They're ready to take you in if..."
His voice died. Tifa was silent against his chest.
"I just need to know you'll be okay Tifa..." he whispered. "You and the baby..."
Tifa pushed back away from him so she could see his face. Her hand slid up and cupped his face gently, her fingers tracing over his forehead and down his cheek. She lightly brushed over his lips and he gave her a small smile. Tifa returned it, but slowly it crumpled and her eyes filled with tears. Her hand trembled against his face. Cloud quickly pulled her to him, and the tears spilled over her cheeks as her shoulders racked with sobs.
"Not without you Cloud..." she cried.
Cloud pressed his face into her hair, the urge to forget becoming almost unbeatable. Tifa's tears wet his skin, and her sobs hummed against his collarbone.
"Tifa..." he whispered, voice catching. "All you have to do is ask...and I won't go."
Tifa's pulled back at his words. Her face was shiny with tears, and her lips trembled with the effort of holding back another sob. Cloud wiped the tears gently off her cheeks. She opened her mouth to say something, but stopped abruptly, hand flying down to her stomach. Cloud's hand immediately followed hers, skimming over the soft material of her pajama top. The baby was kicking again.
They felt their baby kick in silence. Tifa's sobs slowly stopped, a small glimmer of happiness returning to her eyes. When they could no longer feel the tiny thumps against their hands, Tifa settled back down against Cloud's chest.
"It's not just about us any more..." she whispered, all traces of tears gone from her voice.
Cloud nodded.
"I know Tifa..." he murmured, hand gently stroking her cheek.
Tifa pressed her face closer.
"You don't have to worry about me Cloud..." she told him softly. "I'll do whatever I have to...for our baby."
Cloud smiled at her words and ducked down to give her a tender kiss on the lips.
"I will too Tifa..." he whispered. "I'll do whatever I can to keep you and the baby safe...I promise."
The next morning, Cloud and Tifa stood outside Ms. Elmyra's house, arms around each other, unwilling to move. Barret had already dropped Marlene off, and everyone was waiting on Cloud. He breathed in Tifa's scent deeply. He was beginning to think he'd never be able to let go, when Tifa pulled back and gave him a sad smile.
"They're waiting for you..." she whispered.
He nodded silently, taking in everything about her, from her long dark hair to her round belly. He gave her a soft, lingering goodbye kiss. His hand lingered on her cheek after they pulled back. Tifa placed her hand over his and held it there for a minute.
"I'll see you in three days Tifa..." he told her breathily.
She nodded, eyes filled with tears, but none spilling over. Cloud bent down and kissed her on the stomach.
"You stay in there until I get back..." he whispered.
He straightened back up. A single tear had trailed down Tifa's face. He wiped it away for her and tried to summon up a smile. Tifa gave an equally trembly, sad smile in return. She stood on her tip-toes to kiss his cheek.
"Be careful Cloud..." she told him softly. "I'll be waiting."
He nodded solemnly and took a step backwards. Tifa did likewise. He turned away slowly and walked down the street, towards the entrance to Cosmo Canyon. When he reached the end of the road, he turned back to look behind him. Tifa was still watching him, a lone form outlined against Ms. Elmyra's house. He raised his hand to wave, and smiled as Tifa waved back, one hand waving, the other holding her stomach gently.
Cloud stayed positioned where he was, under the streetlight, until he saw Tifa go inside. I'll come back to you Tifa...he promised silently. I won't leave you alone... As he walked away, the thought didn't even cross his mind, that there was even a chance that something worse could happen.