CHAPTER SIX

Tifa awoke to two small sets of hands shaking her and softly calling her name, very slowly she opened her eyes and saw the source of the shaking. Denzel and Marlene stood beside her bed, glaring at her and casting nervous glances at the bed next to hers.

"Tifa come on get up!" Marlene hissed in a low whisper.

"Ok I'm up, I'm up."

Upon hearing her words both kids scampered from the room and thundered down the stairs heading towards the kitchen. 'And they go to all that trouble to wake me up quietly only to thunder out of the room.' She thought with a smile.

"We're going to have to work on the whole staying quiet thing, if they ever want to surprise us. Running from the room, and down the stairs at top speed does wonders for a wake up call." Cloud mumbled from somewhere under his covers.

Tifa giggled, "Well just be sure to stay in here until I send them up to get you, I'm sure they're thinking they were being very quiet and that you're still fast asleep!"

Cloud rolled over and watched as Tifa got out of bed and pulled on a pair of old black track pants over her shorts, pants that he promptly noticed were his…well he hadn't worn them in a long time, mainly because he couldn't find them.

"Hmm…so that's where they went."

Tifa paused and glanced over her shoulder at the holder of her heart all though he didn't quite know it yet. "What?" She asked genuinely confused.

Cloud smirked at her and nodded his head in her direction indicating the pants she now wore, his smirk grew as he watched her begin to blush a deep red when it finally dawned on her what he was talking about.

"OH…uh…you left them on your bed once…and I was cold and umm…"

The blonde let out a deep chuckle and shook his head, "Teef, it's ok, I don't mind, besides I think they look better on you anyway."

Despite the deepening blush she managed a smile before giving the man one last warning to stay in bed until the kids came to get him and left the room.

Barrett's laughter boomed throughout the house as the five of them remained seated at the table, breakfast finished long ago, but no one was willing to move away from the table just yet, all content to just sit and enjoy the company of those around them.

Finally Tifa shooed them away saying the dishes wouldn't clean themselves. Barrett led the small group out into the bar area and sat down at one of the tables near the window, while Cloud sat down in the corner seat at the table across from the one Barrett was seated. The blonde wiggled down in his chair a bit and put his feet up on the chair that was in front of Barrett, knowing full well that he'd get at least a glare from the bar owner, but not really caring as he was comfortable and relaxed.

"That was some breakfast you three cooked up Tifa." Barrett commented as the young woman made her ways towards the two men, the three of them were waiting on the kids who had run upstairs saying they needed to get something.

"Thanks, so guys it's now eleven o'clock, what'll it be?"

"Well how can I turn down an offer like that!" Barrett laughed, "just a beer darlin'"

Tifa nodded and then looked to Cloud and upon noticing his very relaxed state she sent a playful glare his way, he just smirked at her in return and shook his head. Tifa was just bringing Barrett his drink when the children arrived; they went to Cloud first much to the blonde's surprise.

"What's this?" He asked as they handed him a bright red folded piece of paper.

"It's a card silly!" Marlene giggled at the man for being so clueless.

Barrett and Tifa shared a glance as she took a seat at the end of the table beside the big man; they both smiled and refocused their attention back on the ex-soldier, curious to see his reaction to the card.

Slowly Cloud opened the homemade card and began to read the slightly sloppy writing, it was easy to tell which was Marlene's writing and which was Denzel's. He had to read the card twice just to make sure he wasn't dreaming, all though the second time proved to be more difficult as his eye sight became a little blurred.

On the outside of the card in big black letters it read: HAPPY FATHERS DAY!

That really surprised him as he wasn't expecting anything from the kids, but it was what was written on the inside that made him feel a little choked up.

The inside was nicely decorated as only kids can do, they had glued a white piece of paper on the right side so they had a clear surface to write on, the left was decorated with little drawings and cut outs from both kids.

Marlene had started the card off as it was written in a very bright pink, which made cloud chuckle. She wrote, 'Cloud, thank you for staying with us and playing with us too. And thank you for saving Denzel and finding your way back home, don't leave again ok 'cause you're like a step in daddy for when my daddy has to go away! Happy fathers day Cloud! Love Marlene.

Cloud had to pause here to let her words sink in, before he moved on to the blue writing, which would signal Denzel's part of the card. 'Cloud happy fathers day! We wanted to give you this to show you we care, and to thank you for staying here with us, we're a family after all right. Love Denzel.'

Once Cloud finished he slowly looked up at the two children who were standing near him watching his every move very carefully, the three continued to stare at each other for a few minutes before Cloud broke out into a very rare grin.

Pulling the two kids into a tight embrace he spoke softly to them, "thank you both very much, it…it means a lot to me. And…and I…I love…you both too." He managed to choke out, he was still over come with shock that the children saw him as such an important figure in their lives, but was also very touched…in a way this simple little gift helped to heal his battered soul just a little bit more.

With his words to them both kids hugged him even tighter all three feeling their chests tighten with the emotions they felt, finally after what seemed like an eternity they broke apart. Marlene smiling once more at Cloud before picking up the gift Tifa helped her get for her dad, and hopping up on to Barrett's lap she proceeded to give the large man his gift. While Denzel looked a little more nervous and shuffled his feet a moment before he turned and glanced up at Tifa who had moved over to the bar and was holding out the small box for him to come and take.

Denzel slowly made his way over to where the raven-haired woman was standing and with her warm smile and encouraging words took the box from her and began making his way back to where Cloud was still seated.

Authors note: Just wanted to say a huge thank you to everyone who's reviewed so far, and also a huge thanks to anyone who's just stopped into read this, i hope you're all enjoying it. I'm having a blast writting it, as well as working on the main fic to go with this one! well thanks again!