Chapter Two
Part I: The Next Morning
The tinkling of rain drops on the roof greeted Tifa the next morning; more like afternoon as she blearily looked over at the clock on her bedside table. She stretched, looking down to see she had fallen asleep in a towel as her arm hit empty space beside her. This was not unusual but Tifa felt it should be as she tried to remember what had happened last night. There were flashes of red and water…blood pools, rain…crimson showers filled her vision as her eyes landed on the indent still fresh in his pillow. Cloud?
"Cloud." She shot up in bed and looked around her room, fighting off the panic welling up inside, still recalling the blood and water, blood on her hands, her clothes, everywhere.
He was not there. But he had been there last night; he had come to her, held her, told her he loved her. She couldn't have imagined it all, could she? But the blood, so much blood it made Tifa waver as she walked to her window, red filling her eyes and clouding her vision. The rain felt cool as the mist caressed her face, blowing in through the open window and leaving raindrops to pool in its wake. Tifa looked out at the vast overcast sky, following the rain's descent from cloud to earth when a flash of blond caught her eye.
The gazebo was something she had added after the first time Cloud left, it was where she went to think about things she could not face and did not want to feel but could never deny. After grabbing a robe in exchange for her towel, she made her way through the bar and out into the backyard towards the gazebo. Bits of laughter floated to and away from her on the wind through the downpour and she looked out to see glances of movement in the field. Tifa did not pay much attention to this as her pulse quickened the few feet closing between her and the gazebo, heart rate dropping suddenly with each foot fall on the empty wood floor.
He was not there. How could he not be here? Her focus was once again distracted by laughter as the kids ran around in the grass, splashing in all of the puddles in good fun. She shook her head, unable to hide her smile while simultaneously her motherly instincts nagged that they should not be playing in the rain but not wanting to end there fun just yet at the same time. The wind picked up and swept through the gazebo, causing Tifa to reflexively wrap her robe covered arms around herself tighter to fend off the cold. A pair of masculine arms suddenly encircled her waist from behind, warming her as she leaned into his solid form.
"Cloud," she sighed, his distinctive scent of fresh air mixed with a bit of salt playing with her senses while his lips played at her neck. Chills spread from his mouth throughout her body and she could not help but wriggle under his touch. In the brief instance that his lips left her now fevered skin, she spoke. "You had me worried. You can't keep doing this to me." He bent his head down once again and licked the curve of her neck up to her ear as a way to toy with her.
"What, you mean this?" He nibbled at her ear which caused her to falter a bit before replying, "No, disappearing on me. I don't want to lose you again." His breath tickled her cheek, his head resting on her shoulder. "I know…I'm sorry."
They stood like that, listening to the rain pitter patter on the gazebo's roof above, serenading them in a way. "Just don't ever leave me."
"I never want to."
The moment was invaded by two children barging in, dripping head to toe with water and shaking it around like dogs. Tifa covered her face as Cloud hid behind her, avoiding the onslaught of water that the children threw around so easily.
"Cloud!" the kids shouted together and Tifa moved out of the way, leaving Cloud to defend for himself at the little arms wrapping around his legs and midsection.
"Tifa! Look, Cloud's back!" Denzel shouted at the top of his lungs while Marlene released Cloud and instead settled for dancing circles around him and the younger boy still attached at his hip. She smiled warmly at the scene before her, not believing how things had turned out after the thought of losing Cloud only hours before. "I know Denzel. He really is back."
Part II: Family Time
The rain continued to pour for the rest of the day but the kids had had enough and settled for a bath before playing inside instead. Cloud was given the task of helping them with their bath since the kids did not want to let him out of their sight, and so Tifa was left alone in the kitchen to prepare lunch. She did not mind since she knew Cloud was in good hands and pictured Marlene giving him her purple ducky to play with. A quiet laugh escaped her lips as she cut the vegetables to add into the salad, her mind on the thought of Cloud in a bubble bath bringing a smile to her lips. That was now a possibility, considering he had survived through everything he faced these past few years.
A sudden burden of loss weighed her own heart; thoughts of her father…mother…Cloud…her hometown, being taken from her in a blaze of glory as flames ate away at everything in her life. Sephiroth's face filled her mind, causing that weight to become heavier and heavier until she thought her heart would sink. A sharp pain as metal cut flesh brought her back to reality, her finger bleeding on the cutting board. She quickly put it to her mouth stop the blood fast while she swept the vegetables into the trash, now effectively tainted with her blood and so not very edible. Carefully, Tifa washed her hands only to feel the water fill the deep cut with hot liquid and she bit back a hiss, the pain not blinding but not small neither.
Footsteps on the stairs made her aware of his presence before he reached her and stopped a couple feet in front of her, just staring in an unnerving fashion. She finally cracked as she started to fidget under his intense gaze, moving around busily to get things back in order for their meal.
"What?" she asked over her shoulder, getting more vegetables out of the fridge to wash and chop. "You…" she looked over at him, his eyes still lingering on her and making her giddily hot and a bit uncomfortable. "…are beautiful." She felt her cheeks grow warm and could only imagine that their shade matched the tomato she was handling by now before turning to the sink. He followed and watched her wash the vegetables and she automatically flinched as the water once again hit her cut finger. Quickly, she placed the food down and went to look for some sort of bandage while Cloud continued to watch her, now with concern added to his observing.
"You're hurt?" he asked, walking over to her and taking her still bleeding hand.
"It's nothing, just a little accident, really." Tifa felt that she had to explain even though that was all it was, a simple accident that could be made any time. He said nothing, just motioned for the gauze she held in her hand which she handed over, watching with a hint of fascination as he deftly wrapped up her hand. She must have looked surprised since he commented, "What? I had to learn to dress a wound in SOLDIER. Never knew when you would get hurt."
She blinked and smiled before explaining. "It's just, I'm used to doing this for Marlene and mostly Denzel all of the time. It's nice to see that I won't be the only one to help them feel better when they get hurt." He smiled back at her and headed over to the sink, picking up the vegetables she had left there and washing them off thoroughly.
"They taught you how to cook in SOLDIER, too?" She jibbed, unable to not poke fun at him at this new information. "I'm pretty sure I can handle a simple salad, Miss Lockheart." Her eyebrows went up at the formality in his tone, so unusual that she laughed. Cloud looked over at her still watching him behind the counter until he motioned her to leave. "You are no longer making this meal, so kindly get out of my kitchen and sit behind the counter, dear."
Tifa obeyed since he added that 'dear' in at the end and watched with joy as the man she loved prepared lunch, which turned out to be very delicious. They all sat around the dinner table, which had only seated three for so long that a fourth placement was a welcomed change. Cloud sat at the head of the table, of course, while Tifa sat across at the other end from him and the two kids sat in the middle. In between watching to make sure the children didn't hide any vegetables under there plates to choruses of 'but we hate vegetables!' and kicking their feet apart under the table, Tifa snuck subtle looks at Cloud. They turned out to be not so subtle as he almost always caught her in the act, causing her cheeks to blush crimson which reaction seemed to make him happy. After about the tenth time, she found she did not blush anymore and was greeted with a genuine smile from Cloud across the table.
The rest of the afternoon wore on with the kids playing randomly and the adults trying to keep up. Tifa had an advantage since she dealt with this every day and enjoyed watching as Cloud floundered, trying to get away from the fierce Knight Denzel as Cloud played the evil dragon. Princess Marlene screamed from her 'tower' constructed at the top of the stairs and Cloud made a beeline for the shrieking little girl, so close but stopped by Denzel throwing himself onto Dragon Cloud's back. He went down with a thud and then a groan as he held his left shoulder. Denzel quickly got off of him, apologizing while Cloud waved him off and sat up, saying it was 'no big deal.' Tifa could see otherwise as blood started to seep through the bandage and she dragged Cloud to the downstairs bathroom, scolding him along the way.
"Cloud, you really do need to be more careful. You are still healing." She pushed him down to sit on the toilet seat cover, unrolling his bandage to clean his wound.
"But I'm tired of waiting," he whined like a five year old. Men, always such babies.
"You've only not even waited a day, so you still have more time to look forward to." Tifa's hand removed the last of the cloth, revealing the deep gash given to Cloud only the day before. She traced her fingers along the outline and stopped as his hand held hers still, right over his heart. "Thank you, for doing this. It must not be easy for you to see. I know it's not for me."
She held his hand as he pulled it to his cheek, resting it there on his warm cheek. "You're warm."
"Hard not to be around you," he said casually, trying to make a joke but Tifa knew it was something more. "Cloud, you have a fever, we need to get you into bed to sleep a bit."
"No, I don't want to go to bed, not when I have so much to catch up on with my family." He let go of her hand and she finished up redressing his wound, leading him out of the bathroom. "We'll still be here when you wake up. We're not going anywhere, Cloud."
Tifa watched his eyes fill with sadness and felt her heart break a little as he said his next words. "I can't be so sure, Tifa. I need to know you are all here. I don't want to be left alone again." She squeezed his hand in hers, guiding him to the living room sofa. Tucking him in comfortably, she moved over to the TV and looked at their video selection. Popping in All Dogs Go to Heaven and announcing "Movie time," she sat back down on the sofa with Cloud, his feet resting on her lap as the kids took bean bag chairs on the floor. Soon, all that was heard was the sounds of steady breathing, sleep overcoming the small family. Tifa looked at the two on the floor with the bean bag chairs pushed together, Marlene resting her shoulder on Denzel, both deep in sleep. Cloud's chest rose and fell with each deep breath, and Tifa rest herself along his body on the small space, getting lost in his rhythmic breathing, the last one to drift off to sleep under the rain still pelting the roof above.
Right when Charlie wished the little girl a long and happy life, Tifa heard a stirring from below. Leaning over Cloud, she spots the two children looking back at her with doe eyes before giggling amongst themselves and running off to cause more mischief. She looked at Cloud's face, so peaceful in his sleep and so she did not want to move or wake him. He seemed to feel her eyes on him though since a few moments later, he was blinking blearily and then smiling up at her. She felt her face start to heat up and turned away, busing herself with what the kids were doing.
Story time was upon them and Marlene was holding her favorite, Beauty and the Beast, but Denzel wanted to hear one of Cloud's stories. They were always filled with mystery, suspense, drama, and sometimes even romance which Marlene loved and Denzel said was "yucky" though he secretly enjoyed it when the hero got the girl.
"Well, let me see here," Cloud thought aloud, pondering which of his adventures to share with the youngsters. Tifa was watching him carefully, noting each facial expression as it was saying 'how about that one? Or maybe this one…' and she couldn't help but wonder what he would choose to tell. There were always the missions with SOLDIER, which always included Zack or Aerith in a way…and the experiments. No, he would not tell those to the kids and she could almost see his thoughts mirror her on that gloomy subject. AVALANCHE had many tales to tell…but once again, none of them age appropriate for the crowd Cloud was looking to entertain. Maybe a story of their childhood? Well, there really weren't a lot of adventures there beyond child's play. Except when…Cloud's eyes drifted to find hers and she felt an understanding, a knowing of what he was going to tell before he actually spoke.
"Now, once upon a time, there was this lovely princess who lived with her parents in a small kingdom high in the mountains. One day, there was a strange occurrence and something happened to the queen; she suddenly disappeared. At once, the royal knights and the loyal townspeople went out looking for their missing queen, only to be given dead ends and nothing positive at each turn. The princess grew tired of this; she did not want to hear anymore excuses from her father, the king, or anyone else for that matter as to explain away her mother so easily, and so she did the only thing she could think of…she went out to look for her mother herself."
Cloud paused, eyeing Tifa warily and she nodded automatically, trying not to think back all those years to the time and place Cloud was telling in this real life 'fairy tale.' She was no princess, but her family's history was all too noticable.
"The princess intended to do this on her own, but soon found that servants and a few maids wanted to help and so she let them, finally urging them on with her in the search of their beloved queen. The princess had a sort of intuition I guess you would call it that led her and her party to the highest parts of the mountains, believing that this was where her mother was. She went up higher and higher, not noticing her 'friends' lag behind her and finally disappear, leaving her all alone when danger struck in the form of an earth quake. The ground shook and the princess found herself amid a landslide of rock and earth and just when she thought she would not make it, in came her hero."
Tifa's eyes brightened at this thought. It was true that every one had left her, but Cloud had secretly been following the party to search for her mother amid the mountains by their hometown in Nibelhiem. He had saved her life that day, and so many other times that it burned her blood to think what happened to him so long ago. Thankfully, Cloud kept the truth out of this tale for the kids, since it was required to have a happy ending.
Cloud's expression seemed to darken a moment and she just knew that he was thinking of what really was to come in this memory, but he kept to the lighthearted end as promised.
"Her loyal servant and personal guardian came in to save her, but she did fall some injuries. Quickly, he brought her to safety and back to the castle to rest. He was given a hero's honor once the princess was well enough to make sure he got his reward and that was when she announced her choice of husband and future ruler along side her to be the ever faithful knight. He stood by her side till the end of time, a future king with his future queen. And they lived happily ever after."
The words rang false in her ears even as Denzel looked on in joy and awe while Marlene threw herself into Cloud's arms, congratulating him on a well story told with her famous cuddle hugs. Cloud did not object and sat there with the young girl in his arms, his gaze drifting to Tifa and forcing a wall to show how unaffected he was with this unearthing of their intertwined past. As a sudden afterthought, Denzel looked up at Cloud expectantly and asked "What happened to the queen mother?"
Cloud searched Tifa's face, imploring what to do before coming up with a filler response. "Um, well, she turned up as oddly as she disappeared and so everyone was happy that the royal family was once again complete."
Tifa just looked on, deeply lost in thought of what was really the last day she had seen her mother. She had never been found and by now, she must be…
"But what happened to her?" Denzel was adamant, not letting Cloud get by with such a vague answer.
"Off to bed, you two. Go on and brush your teeth and put pajamas on, we'll be up in a minute." With a slight sigh, the two children went off obediently, giving Tifa a few must have moments alone with Cloud. He sat still, unmoving as she kneeled down in front of him on the floor. They were at eye level and yet he would not look at her.
"Cloud." Tifa studied his eyes, so blue and intense when finally turned on her. His pain was sharp as glass, and she could feel the regret building up and threatening to overcome her once again, even after all of these years.
"I never meant to hurt you, Cloud. I can't believe the way things turned out that day I went to search for my mother." She had her hands on her knees in front of her to keep her balance and watched as Cloud made no move to respond. "If I would have been able to remember what had happened sooner…"Tifa let the thought trail off, knowing full well that he would not have had to put up with half the shit he had if she had only been able to clear his name with a clear memory of that time.
"It's not your fault, Tifa. You were traumatized, and the coma did not help improve matters." He was stating all of this factually, and it annoyed Tifa to no end. It was not that simple! "If I would have stayed at home in the first place like I was told, none of that would have ever happened. If I had not listened to the other children I called my friends…if I would have stood up for you, then things would have been different for you, Cloud."
"Than was not the you of your childhood Tifa. Perhaps that is more of your spirit and knowledge today, but back then, you were just a kid, as was I. I have learned to forgive and move on, but what about you?"
Tifa's eyes widened at this pronoun and deep revelation Cloud had discovered. He had learned to forgive her? For everything? "It was never you that needed forgiveness Tifa." She pondered his kind words for a moment, before he softly added, "It would have been a shame, if things would have gone differently."
"And why is that?" Her curiosity was overwhelming by these last few words.
"We never would have formed that bond, that had led up to the promise up to the well, and then you nursing me back to health in my time of need. It would have never led to where we are today…finally able to live in peace, together."
"Huh, I never thought of it like that. It makes sense now."
"And that is why you can forgive it and move on to a new day…or a new night, as it were."
Tifa giggled involuntarily at his corny joke and stood, bending over slightly to give Cloud a hand up. Once they were both standing, they moved on down the hall, hand in hand, to take care of the children they had raised together for years… 'their' children.
Part III: Intimacy
Tifa turned back one last time to see Marlene already fast asleep, cuddling a stuffed chocobo. "I forgot about that," Cloud said from the hall, looking inside the girl's room over Tifa's shoulder.
"I don't know how. She was so happy when you brought it back from one of your jobs."
He smiled a look in his eye as if just recalling that day so long ago. Turning to her, he nodded and pulled her down the hall after Marlene's door was closed shut.
"Now our bedtime," he whispered, placing her in front of him as they continued on their way to Tifa's bedroom.
"What happened to 'I don't need rest?'" A moment of silence and when he did not respond, she continued. "Didn't you get enough sleep earlier?"
He opened her bedroom door, releasing her to close it behind him and lock it before finding her once again. Tifa took all this in silence until his mischievous grin caught her eye.
"Cloud."
He wrapped his arms around her, nuzzling her neck lovingly before giving any kind of explanation. "Just in case," he whispered, his tongue now exploring along her collar bone the way he knew she loved. Tifa made no move to stop him, sighing when he moved in front of her and found the hollow of her throat. Her head responded automatically, tilting back to expose her throat fully to him. She felt the bed's high banister against her back and used it for support as Cloud's hands continued to wander, tugging at her skirt's hem.
"Cloud," she was able to breathe the instant his lips left her skin and allowed some sort of clarity back with her senses.
"You're injured. Are you sure we should…" she trailed off, locking his eyes with hers. He leaned his forehead against hers, gaining a semi-serious tone.
"I'll be fine. I heal fast."
Tifa let the words sink in, knowing it was now her move to make, if she wanted to. Of course she wanted to, she loved Cloud mind and soul, all that was left was of the body, and she waited a very long time for this. She felt he had to know something first, though. The first heat of a blush flushed her cheeks, more embarrassed by this than she thought she would be. It was not very common for a twenty two year old woman, a barmaid no less, to still be a virgin.
"It's just that…I mean, I've never…"
Cloud brushed her cheek lovingly, eyes alight with something he wanted to share with her as well and so she waited patiently. "Neither have I."
A wave of relief rushed in, washing away any sense of anxiety and before and she kissed him deeply, signaling the start of something new for both of them. A kiss that takes her in, the bed beneath her and Cloud above; his fingers laced with hers, connected as she breaths in, breaths out, his whisper of "Only you, Tifa," the last sound she hears before she feels him inside. Their bodies move together up and down, her back arching off the sheets, eyes locked and heart beats racing as their love is met insatiable.