Except if I were drooling that would be gross.
Chapter Two
Cloud pulls me into him, running his fingers through my hair, whispering "It's okay. I'm here now." I'm making a fool of myself. I never wanted to cry in front of him. And now I'm crying not only in front of him but on him. Tears soak into the corded fabric of his shirt, making it darker. He just holds me. Tells me it's okay. My fists clench on either side of my face as I try to get control of myself. "I promised you I'd take care of you and the children. I'm keeping that promise Tifa."
I try to even out my breathing, choking out, "Really?" I look up at him and he blinks for a minute. Cloud looks at me with an odd expression as if he's seeing some one he didn't expect to see again. And then he nods, wiping my cheek with his thumb and kisses me. It surprised me at first. It almost never happens. It was soft, gentle, loving. My hand slides up his chest behind his neck, not wanting him to pull away. He doesn't even try. His finger tips touch each other behind my back, keeping me close. He takes a step toward the door, bringing me with him. We take stumbling steps out into the hall, make our way to our room. He twirls me as I kick the door shut. Another shuffle of our feet and I'm on his bed, he's pushing me down. His lips break away from mine, I gasp for breath. His hands move to my hips. Blue eyes search brown ones, looking for something. Cloud kisses me again and the grip he has on my hips gets tighter for a second. And suddenly one is sliding between my legs while the other runs up and under my back again. I let his knee part mine, give him the access his eyes are begging for. His blond head buries itself in my neck, unable to take all that's happening. My own hands are grabbing his shoulders and arms. The ribbon around Cloud's left arm is tight as he tries to restrain himself. Tries to take it slow. "Cloud," I whisper. Breathing becomes a chore as hands move faster. "Cloud." My voice is getting louder. He nods against me, moving his other leg between mine.
There's a zipping noise and Cloud looks up at me. Strands of his hair stick to his forehead, his eyes are a little bloodshot. "Tifa," he breathes, "I need you to know-" The bell above the front door rings. Cloud's eyes become a little panicked before he takes a deep breath and rolls off me. "Should I go see who it is?" He does his pants up again and leans on his elbows.
"No," I say, "let me." With a deep breath, I run my fingers through my hair and feel my cheeks. Marlene is already behind the counter making her way to find us. "Hey, I thought you were outside playing? Where's Denzel?" My face still feels overly warm. Does she know about that? Can she tell? What am I thinking? She's eight. She smiles, touches my arm.
"It started raining and I didn't want to be outside anymore. Denzel's still playing though." She paused. "Is Cloud still here?" Her voice was hopeful. I nodded. "Can I see him?" I shake my head, smiling. "Please Tifa?"
"He's sleeping now, Sweetie." Looking out the large window in the front, I say, "Look. It's stopped raining." Marlene looked out but didn't seem interested. I get the gil Yuffie had given me earlier and hand it to her. "Go find Denzel and buy something sweet for yourselves, okay?" Her smile becomes a silly grin and she rushes to the door. "Marlene?" She looks over her shoulder at me and her grin gets bigger. "Be careful okay?" Nodding vigorously, she ran out the door, calling for Denzel. Cloud's hands run up my arms. "It'll be dark soon. They'll expect dinner." His head rubs against mine as he nods and crushes me against him. Maybe he has changed. I smiled to myself, feeling a renewed security in our family.
Cloud makes sure the sign on the window says closed before following me to the kitchen. I pull left overs from the fridge, dumping them into pots that are quickly heating up. His eyes are on me through the entire process. You can feel a change in him as he watches me stir a sauce and fry noodles. It made me get all warm inside and out. My cheeks got pinker. He asks,"They won't be home for another half hour, will they?"
I glance over at him, his eyes dart to a window. The sunshine is fading, leaving a cool darkness in it's wake. I joke, "I wouldn't have to tell you if you were home once in a while." Cloud's perpetually slanted eyebrows go down even further, his gaze at the outside intensified. After another minute of awkward silence I chime, "But you are now and that's what counts, right? I'm sure you'll remember their habits soon enough." I smile to him but he just looks at me. It's still uncomfortable. I go back to warming up food. Cloud sighs. His boots thunk on the hard floor as he starts walking away. It only took a second to think, And there he goes again. Walking out of our lives. I shook my head at the thought. "No," I whisper to myself. "He's home now. He promised."
The kids came home later than I expected. They washed their hands and faces, collapsed on the chairs at the table and crammed re-reheated noodles into their mouths. The only time they weren't eating was only because they were asking Cloud questions. Marlene wanted to know where he'd been, why he wasn't home. Denzel would only ask small simple things. He answered them of course but I had to wonder. How many times had he lied to them about why and where he had gone? How many times did he think in his head it's better to not tell them the truth? Tell me the truth? I almost stopped paying attention then.
Cloud tucked them and read a book to them while I took care of dishes. When I got back from locking all the doors and closing most of the windows, he was looking at all the drawings on the walls in our rooms. "I don't remember this one," he whispers. He's pointing to the picture above our 'portraits.' It's a big sheet of paper Marlene and Denzel drew all over while Cloud and I reunited with the gang. Cloud and I are positioned close together, me smiling, him with slanted eyebrows, in the center of the picture. Marlene is by my hip and Denzel is in front of Cloud. Surrounding us is Yuffie and Barret, Vincent and Red XIII, who's really a blurry red dog thing, and Cid and Cait Sith. Considering they barely saw all these people, each unique in every way possible, before going to bed, the drawing is extremely accurate. Well, aside from being out of the lines. "Who drew it?"
I reply, "They both did. They think it's amazing what we can do when we come together. Denzel runs around with sticks down his shirt most days now. He really looks up to you, Cloud." He barely even nods. Cloud gives me something of a fleeting glance. I don't know what to make of it. Should I have ignored it? Was he trying to say something he could not? Or am I just thinking about it too much? My hand goes out to him, I hesitate. Is this a bad idea? Will he run from me again? Finger tips brush mine before interlocking. I blink, a little confused and look down at Cloud's now bare fingers holding my palm to his. I'm pulled in closer to him.
It's weird, I'm almost scared of him. This isn't like him. He doesn't do this. What about Aerith? The back of my legs hit his bed, he's above me again. I don't know what I want anymore. I've waited for so long but something's off. This isn't him. He doesn't move this fast. But what's fast when it's been years? My body is telling my head to shut up and give Cloud a hand. My shorts I'm kicking off my ankles, thinking, Oh man, he can see my underwear. Not like it matters, he's already between my legs and about to hit a home run. I haven't even realized that my underwear went off with my jeans yet. His hands move to my chest, unzipping my vest and sliding under my tank top. "God," he whispers. There's another sound of a zipper but it's him this time. for the first time I feel him. He's pressed against me, waiting for something. All I want is for him to go for it. Or should I stop this?
He starts pressing in. I whisper, "Cloud?" He moans a reply. "Don't let Aerith in if you do this. Don't think I'm her."
His heads against my shoulder but I can't feel his warm breath. His hand holds my breast, I wait. I start wondering how long he can hold off on breathing when a light puff of warm air touches me. "Tifa," he says, "the only people in this room right now are you. And me." I couldn't help but gasp as our hips touch and he begins to pour his energy into me.
I'm scandalous I knoe. But you read it anyway so I don't want to hear it! Yeah right. Of course I wanna hear it! Leave a me a review! I knoe you have some thing to say! Ska chan.