Several hours later, Jessie found herself playing waitress to the assorted folks who wandered in after their shift in reconstructing a home. Generally, they were tired, but smug. Chattering quietly between themselves. No one paid any attention to her limp. Too many of them shared injuries from the recent catastrophies to want to draw attention to hers.

It was, however, the most subdued bar atmosphere Jessie had ever seen. And half living at Tifa's old bar - she thought she'd seen every kind of bar crowd out there.

The door tinkled in the background, as Jessie's weak knee finally gave out. She was on her way back to the kitchen with a loaded tray of dirty dishes. It went flying as her leg buckled under her, forcing her to grab at anything nearby to keep her from landing under the tables. She KNEW what kind of stuff was under there... Even in a bar as clean as Tifa's.

Arms windmilling, trying to grasp the nearest table - which was juuust out of reach - Jessie closed her eyes in dismay as the floor tilted closer. Her descent was stopped by a wall of black and blue. Firm hands lifted her up, and supported her. It was embarrassing to have to lean on a stranger, but it was surely better than the floor.

Jessie looked up to thank her rescuer, only to widen her eyes in shock at the sight of Cloud looking back at her, faintly perplexed. Her cheeks flushed immediately, and she slid her eyes aside, stammering out her thanks as she tried to disentangle herself from his helpful hands. All she succeeded in doing was unbalancing herself again. As distracted as she was, she'd tried putting weight on her knee again, and damn near toppled over.

Cloud shook his head and simply picked her up. He carried her over to the stools in front of the bar and gently set her down again. He was watching her intently, frowning slightly.

"Oh! You didn't have to..." Jessie flushed even deeper, humiliated that her old crush had been the one to see her like this.

Dammit... I'm such a clutz! Why can't I be as together as Tifa...

Cloud tilted his head at her voice, eyes far away for a moment.

"You seem familiar... Have we met before?" He scratched his head in puzzlement, knitting his light eyebrows slightly.

Ah, he's so cute when he does that... Oh! Wait.. He asked me a question... Shit... What was it again? Oh.

She sighed, trying to keep the pain from showing.

"Yeah. I was in Avalanche. I'm Jessie, the one who built the bomb you set in Sector 8's Reactor?" She closed her eyes, unwilling to see the pity that would surely come.

"Hey! Yeah, I remember! You're the cute computer tech. Heh. So you made it out ok after all, huh? Good for you." Cloud's voice was warm, as with those recounting a fond memory. It wasn't quite what she'd expected... He'd been so distant before. Not really wanting to be part of the group.

Well, he WAS just a hired mercenery at that point...

She opened her eyes and gaped at him slightly. The flush that had faded a bit came back, dusting her cheeks with pink.

Wait! He said I was cute! OMG! - Oh, get a hold of yourself, Jess. He surely didn't mean anything by it. Lots of girls are 'cute'. And that was then anyway. Now you're just a wreck.

She cleared her throat and shook her head a bit to clear it of her distracting thoughts.

"Uh, yeah. I -" She started to speak, and then jerked in surprise as a loud voice spoke sharply from over her shoulder.

"Cloud! There you are! I thought you said you'd be here 'in a few hours' not 'later this evening'. Did you get the potatoes? I can't start tomorrow's Soup of the Day without them... Oh, well I suppose I could find something else but... Cloud? Cloud! Are you even listening to me?"

Tifa stood behind the bar, hands on hips glaring at Cloud. Who was completely lost in thought. Tifa rolled her eyes and marched around the bar to stand in front of Cloud.

"Hey! Earth to Spikey Hero! You're needed to save my soup! You heeeere?"
Tifa's attempt at levity was ignored, as Cloud frowned to himself. Whatever he was thinking of, it was taking all his attention. And pissing Tifa off.

Several customers caught sight of the impending volcano and took their drinks to a farther location in the bar. One man who had just gotten up to order something sat right back down and picked up a newspaper from an adjascent table. Nothing to see here... No siree. Not if you wanted to keep coming here, that was for sure.

Jessie was completely shocked when Tifa pulled back and punched Cloud. It was a good solid hit, and it rocked him on his seat so badly that he almost went backwards over the bar behind him.

Cloud sat back up and rubbed his jaw, staring in astonishment at Tifa.

"What the heck was THAT for!" Incredulous, his wide blue eyes regarded Tifa as one would an angry Chocobo about to charge.

"The potatoes, Cloud. Did you get them?" Tifa narrowed her eyes in impatient anger.

He had the bad luck to look confused, and Tifa's eyes flashed dangerously.

"OH! Right. Potatoes. Yeah, they're in the kitchen already, jeez. And some carrots and stuff. The farmer threw in a bunch of weird stuff. I dunno."

He eyed her cautiously, hoping he was off the hook for a while. Traipsing across the countryside in hot pursuit of vegetables was kind of a letdown after saving the world.

Jessie sat there in shock, not sure whether to intervene, or sit still and hope to go unnoticed.

Tifa shook her head in disgust and stalked off to the kitchen, to investigate Cloud's findings. Half the bar could hear her angry mutters.
"...better be enough...certainly took your time... Not paying for..."

Cloud shrugged and turned back to the girl - no, woman - he'd caught earlier. Jessie.

"So. What brings you to town?" He settled back on the stool, elbows propped behind him on the bar. The picture of confidant relaxation.

Jessie unshrank a bit from her shock, and tried to think of an answer.

"I, ah. Thought it was past time to let my freinds know I was still alive. The kicking part I'm having problems with though." Jessie grimaced and rubbed her shot knee.

Dammit, I'm going to have to take those ShinRa bastards up on that surgery after all.