Breakfast was interrupted by the shrill ringing of a cellphone. Cloud and Yuffie both automatically reached for their phones, but stopped when they realized it was Barret's. Silently excusing himself, Barret flipped his phone open and stood from the table.
"Reeve." he mouthed silently to the others.
He stepped out of the kitchen, leaving the others in a silence broken only by their forks scraping against their plates. Tifa quietly fixed herself a plate and slipped into the seat next to Cloud and tilted her head, trying to overhear the conversation like the others were.
Marlene and Denzel were less discrete than Cloud, Tifa, and Yuffie however. Sliding out of their chairs and onto the floor, they belly-crawled over to the door and pressed their ears against the crack. Frustrated at only being able to hear the deep undertone of Barret's voice, Yuffie pushed her breakfast plate and joined the children at the door. Tifa and Cloud both shrugged and continued eating, resolving to wait for Barret to recount the conversation to them.
They didn't have to wait long; the kitchen door swung open. The children, clearly more experienced at listening at doors than Yuffie, jumped nimbly out of the way, but the door narrowly missed hitting Yuffie in the face. Barret lifted an eyebrow at the three eavesdroppers and they returned to their seats, smiling guiltlessly at him
"So what'd Reeve say?" Yuffie asked, lazily leaning her elbows on the table.
"Hmph..." Barret scoffed, pocketing his cellphone. "You tell me, you were listenin' in."
Yuffie rolled her eyes as Barret grumpily took his seat.
"I didn't hear anything." she retorted. "Not like it was a personal call anyways..."
Barret and Yuffie glowered at each other, their infamous morning crankiness getting the better of them.
"The doors are too thick to hear through." Denzel piped up matter-of-factly.
Everyone's attention turned to the little boy, who was nodding wisely. Next to him, Marlene gave the group a knowing look.
"Believe me..." Marlene said, giving the door a critical look. "We've tried before."
The fact that this little tidbit of information caused Cloud and Tifa to pale slightly put Barret in a good enough mood to answer Yuffie's question.
"Reeve jus' wanted to know what time we'd be able to make it in." Barret told her, sounding considerably more cheerful. "I told him before eleven."
Yuffie groaned and looked at the time.
"You better get ready then." Tifa told her, standing up and jostling her shoulder. "You can borrow some of my clothes again; yours are still wet."
Sighing, Yuffie allowed Tifa to stack her plate on top of her own and dump them in the sink. She followed Tifa out of the kitchen, muttering darkly at Barret for telling Reeve they'd be in so early.
Without Tifa to rebuke them for picking the chocolate chips out of their pancakes and leaving everything else, the children sprung from their seats. Barret watched with interest as they scrapped the leftovers into the trash and neatly stacked their plates on top of Tifa and Yuffie's. They then scampered out of the kitchen and into the living room to go play.
"I'm impressed." Barret mused. "They actually clean up after themselves..."
Cloud gave a short laugh.
"Not quite..." he replied. "They're good about keeping the bar area and kitchen clean for Tifa... but you should see their room."
Barret chuckled lowly, gratefully sipping the coffee Tifa had made. God knows he was going to need it today.
"Oh..." Barret said suddenly, looking up. "Almost forgot... Reeve said the road'll be cleared by late afternoon if you wanted to come in and catch up on paper work."
Cloud sighed and ran a hand over his face.
"Paper work..." he said distastefully. "Right."
"You could come in with me and Yuffie in the truck and jus' go home whenever you're done." Barret told him. "Reeve said the bike'd fit in the back."
Cloud looked down into his own coffee cup, swirling the dark liquid pensively. As reluctant as he was to leave Tifa and the kids home alone, he couldn't avoid going to work forever. Barret kicked him under the table, annoyed at his slowness in answering.
"You comin' or not?" he asked.
"I guess I better go clean up then..." Cloud sighed, dumping his plate in the sink.
Cloud passed through the living room, stopping momentarily to right the sofa that Marlene and Denzel had managed to tip before going up the steps. He dragged his bare feet against the smooth hardwood floor, somewhat troubled by his thoughts.
"What's up?" an inquiring voice surprised him.
He looked up to see Tifa peering into his face questioningly.
"I'm going in to work with Barret and Yuffie today..." he told her, the reluctant tone in his voice telling her something was discomforting him.
"And?" she prompted him.
They both turned their heads sharply as they heard Yuffie rummaging around noisily in Tifa's rooms, humming aimlessly to herself. Cloud nudged his head in the direction of his room and Tifa nodded, following him in and shutting the door behind her.
"You and the kids will be alright on your own today?" Cloud asked as soon as the door clicked shut.
He turned around quickly, to see Tifa staring at him, apparently surprised. She smiled uncertainly and tucked her bangs behind her ear.
"We always are." she told him reassuringly, taking a step closer.
Cloud sucked in a deep breath and let it out slowly. Tifa's face turned serious and she lightly placed her hand on his arm.
"You're that worried?" she said softly.
He stepped closer, resting his cheek against the top of Tifa's head and wrapping his arms around her back. She leaned into the embrace, pressing her face into his shoulder, her breath warm against his neck.
"What would I do if something happened while I was gone?" he whispered into her hair.
"We'll be fine..." Tifa whispered, her breath tickling against his collarbone.
"You don't know that..." Cloud said softly.
Tifa was silent. Cloud ran his hand lightly over her back, and her eyes closed, clearly taking as much comfort from the caress as Cloud.
"You should go." she murmured. "You can't spend the rest of your afraid to leave the house."
Cloud sighed, unable to ignore Tifa's logic. He put his hands on her shoulders and pulled back, looking her in the eye.
"You'll keep your gloves on you?" he requested softly. "And call me if something happens? And-"
Tifa smiled and put her fingers to his lips.
"I will." she promised.
When Cloud's eyes still showed concern, she pressed her hand lightly to his cheek.
"All this is really getting to you, isn't it?" she asked.
"These Deep Ground Soldiers..." Cloud breathed quietly. "We don't know yet how strong or how insane they are... We're up against an unknown enemy."
Tifa sighed and let her forehead gently fall against his.
"We don't know where or when they'll strike..." he continued. "But I want to be with you and the kids when they do..."
He trailed off. He could now feel Tifa's breath warm against his mouth, and he threaded his hands through her hair, tilting her head so he could brush his lips against hers. Tifa kissed him back , her arms tight around his neck.
When they parted to breath, Tifa hurriedly whispered in his ear.
"You'll be careful too right?" she asked.
He nodded in reply.
"I won't be gone long..." he said softly. "Reeve will understand."
He bent his lips back down to hers, hands trailing down to the small of her back. Tifa fingers tensed against his chest as he deepened the kiss, parting her lips gently.
"Tifa!" Yuffie's piercing voice penetrated through the walls. "Where's your sock drawer?"
Sighing in frustration, they broke the kiss. Tifa groaned and let her head flop against Cloud's chest.
"Coming Yuffie!" Tifa called back, successfully hiding the frustration in her voice.
"Better go before she tears your room apart." Cloud said into her hair.
"Yea," Tifa agreed softly, neither of them moving away.
An loud bang from the other room finally caused them to release one another. Tifa sighed and distractedly smoothed a hand through her hair. She turned around briefly to smile understandingly at Cloud's quiet exhalation of annoyance before slipping out the door.
Cloud sat down on his bed after Tifa left, running a hand over his face. This new battle had already proved to be far different from the last- and it hadn't even begun yet. Last time, Tifa had been with him through it all; if he was worried, all he had to do was turn his head and check on her. Furthermore, it wasn't as if they weren't traveling with eight other friends, battle-hardened fighters who were always watching their backs.
No, Cloud thought, tiredly beginning to get dressed. This is different. Now he was leaving Tifa home with two children, children Tifa would die for before thinking twice. Even if he were there with them, he wouldn't be fighting to beat an enemy, he'd be fighting for his family's life. Arms carrying children to safety couldn't hold a sword and fight at the same time, or fight in hand-to-hand combat for that matter.
Cloud shook his head, trying to clear his head of the thoughts running through it. Gotta buy Tifa a cellphone... Cloud thought as as pull his shoes on. It would be a small consolation knowing that Tifa had an easy way to get in contact with him. He tied his shoes sloppily and grabbed his wallet before leaving the room, flipping through the bills to see how much he had on him.
He walked down the stairs and into the living room where he could hear Tifa, Barret, Yuffie, and the children talking. Tifa smiled at him somewhat sadly as he entered the room. Marlene had her little arms wrapped tightly around Barret's neck, clinging to him like a little monkey. Goodbyes were always somewhat difficult for Barret and Marlene.
"I'll be visitin' soon." Barret promised the little girl. "An' I'll bring you a present from Corel... you too little man!"
Barret winked at Denzel and set Marlene back on the floor. She sniffed quietly and went over to Tifa, reaching up to hold her hand.
"We going?" Yuffie asked, bouncing eagerly, dressed in Tifa's clothes.
Her eyes darted between Cloud and Barret. They nodded at her and she went to hug Tifa goodbye.
"Thanks for the clothes Tifa." she told them. "They give me an excuse to come visit again so I can give them back."
Tifa laughed.
"I'm glad I gave them to you then." Tifa told her with a smile.
Yuffie knelt down to let the kids shyly hug her goodbye and Barret came over to pat Tifa on the shoulder.
"Take care of yourself." he told her.
"You too..." Tifa replied softly.
Yuffie stood up and she motioned Cloud and Barret in the direction of the door, ready to get a move on. Barret turned to the two children before heading to the door, a smile twitching on his mouth.
"Watch over Cloud and Tifa..." he told them. "Make sure they stay out of trouble... and remember to knock on doors before openin' them."
The children giggled without really knowing what they were giggling at, and Tifa rolled her eyes at Barret, unamused. Yuffie gave Barret a weird look, before turning to Cloud for explanation. He just shrugged and turned away to walk to the door, desperately trying not to give the satisfaction of seeing him blush.
"You're leaving too?" Denzel piped up, running forward to tug at his sleeve.
Denzel's surprised, almost panicked tone made Cloud stop his tracks. He ruffled Denzel's hair and gave him a reassuring smile.
"I'll be back before dinner." he promised.
The little boy nodded, still slightly subdued, and made his way over to Tifa and Marlene. The threesome ran over to the window as the door shut behind Cloud, Yuffie, and Barret so they could wave them goodbye.
Cloud smiled and waved back before turning gloomily to the truck, not looking forward to the drive with Barret and Yuffie, which would be undoubtedly filled with Barret's seemingly never endless supply of suggestive jokes that confused Yuffie and embarrassed Cloud. Barret beeped the horn and Cloud sighed, resigned to his fate.
Cloud flipped through a stack of papers as he waited in one of the chairs outside Reeve's office. Barret had just gotten through with talking to Reeve, and was grumpily flipping through his own stack of paperwork, occasionally borrowing the secretary's pen to sign a few. Cloud glumly scanned over a couple paragraphs, knowing Reeve would have more papers for him once he got through speaking with Yuffie.
As soon as he formed this thought, Yuffie burst from Reeve's office, her face strangely excited. She bounced over to Cloud and Barret, who gave her strange looks at her excitement.
"Well?" she said, grinning widely. "We're going after them again aren't we? Just like last time right? All of us together again-"
She stopped when Cloud and Barret shook their heads at her.
"I've got a mine to manage..." Barret told her.
"Well, what about you then?" Yuffie asked Cloud, disappointed.
"Not this time Yuffie." Cloud answered.
She gave them incredulous looks, but they just shrugged at her, unmoved. She wrinkled her nose at them and harrumphed.
"Fine..." she said, crossing her arms. "I'll find someone else to go kick some butt with me."
Yuffie pouted exaggeratedly and collapsed into one of the chairs, muttering under her breath. Cloud shook his head, slightly amused. Sometimes they forgot that Yuffie was so much younger than all of them. While they were dragged into adventures, Yuffie jumped into them headfirst.
"Cloud?" Reeve's said, appearing in the doorway of his office. "You can come in now if you're ready..."
Cloud waved shortly to Barret and Yuffie who were gathering their things up to leave and walked into Reeve's office. He noticed that Reeve was looking as exhausted as ever.
"Find anything new?" Cloud asked him as he began signing the standard paperwork that Reeve had set out for him.
Reeve shook his head.
"No..." he replied tiredly. "We've been really backed up because of the blizzard."
He removed a large sealed package from a locked drawer and slid it over to Cloud.
"This needs to be delivered to Rufus and the Turks today if you can." Reeve said, sitting down. "It's some sort of high tech map... shows areas that have hollow spots underground."
Cloud picked up the package.
"Trying to figure out where they're hiding?" he asked, tucking the box under his arm.
Reeve nodded.
"We have a few ideas." he told Cloud. "They're not much... but it's better than nothing."
Cloud made to stand up, but hesitated, looking to Reeve with an unspoken question.
"Something wrong?" Reeve asked, filing papers away.
"Yea..." Cloud said slowly. "I was wondering... how long I should wait before moving Tifa and the kids?"
Reeve sighed and rubbed his forehead.
"To be honest with you Cloud..." Reeve told him. "I don't know... and until we have some idea where these soldiers are located, we don't even have a location that could be considered safe."
Cloud nodded, his brow wrinkled in thought.
"All you can really do is be prepared Cloud..." Reeve said quietly. "Make sure you know what you'd do and where you'd go in the worst were to happen. Have bags packed in case you have to leave quickly. Keep a stash of money in the house."
"Right..." Cloud said slowly.
"I wish I could give you a better answer." Reeve sighed. "Personally, I'm sick of planning for the worst."
"The worst?" Cloud questioned quietly. "How exactly do you plan for that?"
Reeve shook his head, rubbing his temples.
"Refugee camps." Reeve said softly, shoulders slumped. "Medical supplies... I could go on for days."
Cloud tried to ignore the sick feeling in his stomach. Reeve looked up and tried to give Cloud a reassuring grin.
"But we're doing everything we can to keep it from coming to that." he said.
Cloud found himself unable to return Reeve's grin as he stood. Reeve sighed again, the circles under his eyes suddenly painfully apparent.
"I'm going to deliver this now." Cloud said as he left. "The roads seemed clear enough. Then I'm going home if that's okay."
"That's fine..." Reeve assured him. "Tell them I said hello."
As the door shut behind Cloud, Reeve's head fell into his hands and he rested his weary eyes for a minute. As bleak as his and Cloud's conversation had been, he guiltily felt that he had perhaps made the situation seem more optimistic than it was.
Cloud's bike sprayed water noisily against the piles of dirty snow on the sides of the roads as he returned home that evening. It had taken him frustratingly long to track down the Turks and he was cold and tired. The white, snowy wonderland that the city of Edge had been a few days ago was now the same old city, but with piles of gray snow.
He sighed with relief as he parked outside the Seventh Heaven. He noted from the sign on the door that Tifa had the bar open. .Must have gotten bored... he mused. I doubt there are many people are out today, even if the streets are cleared. He pushed the door open, and as he expected, the house was quiet; it lacked the noisy bustle that meant Tifa had customers.
Though he expected silence coming from the bar area, he was surprised to find that the living room was equally silent. Marlene and Denzel were laying on their stomachs, working fervently together on a single piece of paper. But, Cloud noticed, they weren't gripping crayons, their small hands were awkwardly wrapped around carefully sharpened pencils. Cloud scratched his head.
"You two in trouble or something?" he asked them.
Their serious faces lit up for a minute when they saw that he was home, but they quickly turned solemn again as they nodded and returned to their paper. Cloud knelt down next to them.
"Don't worry." Marlene told him. "We got out of time out ages ago."
"I see..." Cloud said. "Can I ask what you did?"
They both looked up from their paper, their little shoulders emotionally tensed with injustice and their jaws defiantly stuck out.
"We bit some kid." Marlene said, her voice daring Cloud to say anything about it.
"Some stupid kid." Denzel elaborated.
Cloud stared at them.
"You both bit him?" he asked unbelievingly.
The children's hands clenched into self-righteous little fists and they nodded.
"We were playing jungle..." Denzel began defensively. "And we were tigers."
Marlene nodded.
"We let him play too..." she said, eyes begging Cloud to understand. "And he wanted to be a sloth."
"A what?" Cloud asked.
"A three-toed sloth." Denzel clarified for him. "It's some dumb monkey thing that doesn't do anything."
"And well..." Marlene continued. "Tigers eat sloths so..."
Cloud sighed.
"So you bit him..." he said, shaking his head at them.
"Not hard!" Marlene said quickly. "It's not our fault he doesn't understand how the jungle game works."
"Then the big crybaby had to go telling his mom." Denzel said, scowling.
Denzel and Marlene exchanged dark, surprisingly angry looks. Cloud scratched his head again.
"So what is this then?" he asked, motioning to the paper.
The children looked at them and smiled slyly.
"We told Tifa we'd write his mom an... apology... letter." Marlene said slowly.
Cloud snatched the paper up and the children tried to grab it back anxiously. They gave up when Cloud stood, and the paper was up above their heads. They stared at it, wringing their hands.
"It's not done yet Cloud..." Denzel said. "You can't read it until it's done..."
But the children's protests were ignored by Cloud and they sighed defeatedly as he smoothed out the letter and began to read it.
Dear mother of the kid we bit, the letter stated eloquently as the top of the paper.
You are a fat, mean woman. If you come to our house again we'll both bite you twice. We can bite really hard. You better stay away because we don't like you at all. Actually, we hate you.
The letter continued for several more lines but Cloud stopped reading for a moment to peer at the children over the paper, one eyebrow cocked. They squirmed under his gaze a bit, shame-faced.
"What'd she do?" Cloud asked, curious to find out what would make the normally friendly children so spiteful.
Marlene and Denzel looked at their feet.
"She yelled at Tifa..." Marlene said, eyes swimming with tears. "You're not mad at us are you Cloud?"
Denzel scowled, his freckled nose scrunched up with anger.
"She called us monsters and told Tifa it was all her fault." he told Cloud, tears barely dectectable through his angry tone.
"We're not monsters Cloud, right?" Marlene sniffled.
Cloud shook his head silently at her, his eyes returning to the letter. The children watched in miserable silence as he finished reading it. He handed it back to them when he was done, and then went over to the desk in the corner of the room, pulling out a tattered dictionary and handing it to them.
"You spelled imbecile wrong." he told them.
The children gave him shaky smiles and rubbed their faces free from any traces of tears and unhappiness. They huddled on the floor over the letter again, whispering intently to one another. Cloud watched them silently for a minute, but the sound of a chair falling over in the next room followed by a barely constrained growl of frustration caused him to leave the room and enter the bar area.
Tifa was cleaning tables- rather violently, Cloud noted. Her hair had been pulled into a ponytail-in a moment of extreme frustration judging by its lopsided nature. Her mind was clearly elsewhere as she vigorously scrubbed the same spot over and over, her fingers clenching the rag so tight her knuckles were white. The chair he had heard fall over had not only been left on floor; the dented nature of its legs suggested Tifa had also kicked it.
"I think the table's clean Tifa." Cloud said quietly as she continued her scrubbing.
His voice caused her to jump; her thoughts had kept her so so absorbed that she didn't know he was home. She sighed and pushed away a strand of hair that had escaped. Looking around the bar, she settled her eyes on the tipped over chair and righted it. It wobbled unsteadily before crashing back to the floor. For the first time since he had walked into the room, her angry expression fell and he thought she might cry.
"Don't worry about it." Cloud said quickly. "I can fix it."
Tifa nodded and sunk into another chair, resting her arms on the table and burying her face into them. Cloud tentatively sat next to her.
"The kids said..." he began cautiously.
Tifa lifted her head up, scowling.
"That stupid woman." she interrupted, eyes sparking. "I should have slapped her for saying those things about the kids. What does she know about anything?"
"What did she say?" Cloud asked softly.
"She called Denzel and Marlene monsters." she said, her hands unconsciously clenching into fists where they laid in her lap. "And that I was too young and incompetent to be a mother and she hoped for the children's sake that someone would have enough sense to take them away."
Her voice became tearful as she said this and her fists relaxed as she became wringing her hands.
"What right does she have to say any of those things?" Tifa asked, eyes shiny and hurt.
Cloud noticed her swallowing convulsively to hold back tears and moved over to her chair, bending down to cradle her head against his shoulder. He stroked her hair gently, feeling a few tears seep through his shirt.
"You're the best thing that ever happened to any of us." he whispered to her. "She's just a stupid, bitter woman..."
A stupid, bitter woman that's going to be torn to shreds if I ever get a hold of her... Cloud finished darkly in his mind.
"Tifa..." two small, shy voices said from beside them.
Tifa looked up quickly, one hands wiping her eyes, the other still clenching the fabric of Cloud's shirt. Cloud loosened his arms to her shoulders, allowing her to turn in her seat and face the two children.
"We made you something." Marlene said, giving Tifa her sweetest smile.
Denzel held out a piece of paper. This one was a carefully colored drawing featuring Denzel and Marlene on either side of Tifa, the three of them holding hands and smiling. 'We love you Tifa!' was written in blue crayon underneath. Tifa took the drawing in both hands , a small grin creeping up her face. She opened her arms and Marlene and Denzel climbed up on the chair with her.
"Thank you," she said softly, kissing them both on the face.
They smiled and hugged her in response. From over Tifa's shoulder, Denzel gave Cloud a wink. Grinning and shaking his head, Cloud saw that in Denzel's back pocket, was a wrinkled envelope clearly addressed to 'The mother of the boy we bit.'
