I'm Glad I Asked

Gabreilla Moushigo

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Tifa's dreaming took her elsewhere. Her memories of when Vincent finally asked her something important. She had been waiting for that moment for a long time. And just to think, a little over a month ago, before all of the Deepground crap started, Vincent had come into the bar and asked her that something that very important. He even asked her to close up the bar early so he could ask her this question of questions. At the time, not knowing what he was about, Tifa just nodded dumbly to him. Right as she was about to close the bar, a wedding party came into her establishment for a round of drinks and dessert. Not wanting to ruin their day, she allowed them in while casting an apologetic glance at Vincent. He raised his brow at her and waited a little longer. When it seemed like the party wasn't going to die down anytime soon, he stood up abruptly and practically dragged her upstairs into her home. Her poor waitress and cook just looked on helplessly as their manager left them to not only serve and clean up after the wedding party, but close as well. They heaved a sigh, but realized that they would be getting over time for this.

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While he trudged up the stairs with her in town, she suspected something horrible may have happened from his brisk demeanor. She went down the list of awful things he might say. "Tifa, I have brain cancer from all the stuff Hojo did to me," "Tifa, I have leprosy! Oops, too late! My other arm just fell off," "Tifa, Yuffie and I are getting married next Tuesday, please be the maid of honor."

Of course, all of these scenarios were ludicrous. So she waited until they mounted the floor after walking up the stairwell. The golden metal of his boots clacked loudly against the wooden surface of her foyer as he pulled her along still. She realized that he was holding her hand as he tugged her along. Tifa smiled at that.

He took her into her new office, Marlene and Denzel's old room, and pulled the door closed. Out of habit he locked the door behind him, not realizing how bad it must look for him to do so. He wasn't one for fidgeting, except when he knew no one was looking. Now, he looked like he wanted to wring his hands together before he thought better of it. No need to shred his hand.

Tifa gave him a look over before she realized that Vincent Valentine looked positively afraid! This scared her a bit; he was always the one with the level head, but nothing ever like this. She went to him, almost out of pity and held him for a bit and wait for him to tell her what was running through his mind. His body seized up at her touch and she wondered what the matter was. She had hugged him before without a problem; sometimes he would even hug her back. He took her shoulders in both hands and pushed her away from him firmly. Once she was an arms length away he let his arms drop to his sides again and seemed at a loss of what to say.

She frowned at him then and tried, once more, to hold him, whether he wanted it or not. He repeated the process once more. "Tifa, please look at me." He requested in a tight voice.

"Yes Vincent?" She asked, a little more than worried.

"With the children gone…" He began, "I was wondering if you maybe felt… lonely."

"Yes, I am a bit." Tifa nodded, secretly wondering if he would ask to stay. Something he said a while back made her think he might ask her sometime soon. She would just have to refrain from screaming, 'YES!' so she wouldn't bowl him over with her eagerness.

"I was wondering if you wouldn't mind closing up shop," He was talking awfully fast, and began to jump his foot up and down while standing. "Permanently, of course."

"Vincent," Tifa admonished. "This is me you're talking to so you don't have to be so nervous. I won't bite your head off no matter what you say." He visibly calmed himself, relaxing his stance. At his words earlier, she asked. "Why would you want me to do that? Close the bar I mean?" She had just assumed he wanted to stay here with her; this was a little different than she had anticipated.

"To come away with me," He said softly, his nervousness dying down as he spoke. She was right. This was Tifa, no need to be afraid. "I was thinking of getting a place just outside Kalm." She remembered how he mentioned his dislike at how villages and cities were; all of the houses and apartments were crammed up together.

"You've been staying there a lot lately," She chimed in helpfully and he nodded.

"Yes, and I think I might have found the perfect place," He went on. "It's a little down the road. It will afford a little solitude that I like but I thought since the town is close enough… if you wanted… you could open your bar up again there." He hoped she would like that.

"Huh," She rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "Customers have been pretty few and far between around here and I have been thinking about moving out of the city." Not to mention it seemed like every single evil managed to make it's way to Midgar, this place was practically cursed.

Vincent saw the interest in her eyes and went on, "They also don't have much in the way of a bar there. It is very small so there wouldn't be much competition." He then added, "I think there is one shop that closed recently that you could buy."

"Did all of your homework I see." Tifa grinned, Vincent might be saying all this in his usual flat tone, but he seemed excited about the possibility of her following him. "Well, I hate to leave all this," She said almost sarcastically with a flip of her hand. "But you are right, it is awfully lonely." She looked around. "When would you like me to come with you?"

The corner of Vincent's mouth curled up in victory. "In about a month or two I suppose." He waved a bit, as if to say it would be no great task. "I'll have to stay at the inn, finalizing everything. The owners have yet to move out and they put their home on the market just a while ago."

"I guess I should do the same if I am going to come stay with you." Tifa looked outside the window in the corner of the room. She knew she would have no problem selling this place. It was a fairly decent establishment and one of the few buildings in this area that weren't dilapidated beyond repair.

"That would be preferable." He nodded, praising himself for keeping a somber voice throughout the entire conversation, except maybe at the beginning of course. He was eager to excuse himself, needing to get back to Kalm as soon as possible. The walk would be a long one and he needed to make preparations. "If you don't mind," He bowed his head respectfully before turning around. "I need to be on my way."

"Vincent," and he froze, of course it wouldn't be that easy. "What is the real reason you want me to go with you?" She asked calmly, hoping he would be more open if she tried to keep that huge grin off of her face that was threatening to show through right now. "Are you lonely too?"

He chose not to answer her, but he did turn around.

She signed knowing he was closing up, placing her hands behind her back and wrung her hands together. "Did you ask anyone else to stay with you?" She knew of course, that he hadn't, otherwise his observations of the area wouldn't have been so fit to her way of life. The bar she might want, the closeness of town and whatnot. He was thinking of her, she knew. She just wanted to hear him say it.

He knew what she was asking. "No and you know it." He sighed, knowing he was going to have to tell her now, lest he frighten her later… right out of his home. "I wanted you to stay with me Tifa." He took a step forward, a friendly distance but not close enough to seem threatening. This was going to be very hard to do; he found that he couldn't even formulate the words in his mind to say to her. He hoped he wouldn't babble. "I wanted us to become… closer." There, short and sweet and to the point.

"I see." She then had to ask, "How close?"

"I'm not sure." Vincent wanted to close his eyes and rub the bridge of his nose, but was afraid it might look strange. He feared anything he might say would make him sound deranged.

He looked so tortured that she didn't have the heart to question him further, but she was going to get something out of him tonight before he left. "Let me see your face."

Vincent almost glared at her, snapping out of his thoughts. "What?"

"Let me see your face," Tifa repeated. "If I am going to live with you and become… close," She mimicked his pause when he said the same word, "Then I want to see your face." She then added. "Please?"

His response was to pull the two buckles out with his right hand and pulled open his collar. "Happy?" He his voice was grating, he regretting doing so. She had just agreed to stay with him and he had no cause to be aggravated. She already called him a 'grump' sometimes and he didn't need to prove it over and over how grumpy he could be.

"You're handsome," She complimented. "I don't think I've ever seen your whole face all at once before."

Vincent guessed from her short stature that she would be about right. Only someone who was taller than himself could really see his face and not many stood over him at six feet. He kept his thoughts to himself, staring at her all the while.

Tifa thought he seemed expectant. Therefore she misinterpreted him. "Would you like to kiss me?" Her fingers laced together in front of her now.

He nearly jumped out of his skin at that point, his eyes opening fractionally in surprise.

Tifa took his silence for a "yes" She closed her eyes and leaned her face upward. She only prayed that she wasn't making herself look like a fool.

Vincent blinked once, twice. He knew he wasn't sleeping and he half wondered if he should take her up on her offer. Well, he did have permission and he needed to do this before she came to her senesces. He dipped his head down, his unruly hair rushing forward, curtaining her face.

His lips met hers lightly. Her body relaxed a bit at the contact. She was about to pull away thinking he might not have wanted to do something like that with her. He kissed her again, a little fuller on the lips this time before he realized how far apart they were. He let his human hand touch the back of her head and his golden talons rest lightly on her waist to pull her closer. His breathing began to come in short gasps, he couldn't believe for the life of him that this was happening. He opened his eyes, to see hers closed. Her eyelashes fanned her cheeks. This was the first time he had seen her so closely. His mouth opened a little and at his prodding, deepened the kiss.

She looked a little dazed when he pulled away for a moment; he let his forehead touch hers while they caught their breath. "I'm glad you asked me Vincent." She looked up and it was strange sight to see. Vincent leveled a tender gaze at her; his normally blood red eyes were darker looking. "I wanted to become close too," She hesitated before adding. "For a while now."

He unexpectedly lifted her up, placing her onto the desk behind her. He put his hand on the side of her face as he kissed her again, his claw like hand grasping the wooden surface of the desk. "Then I'm glad I asked."

Remembering Yuffie's words earlier, she had to agree with them. He is a great kisser!

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A little while later, he decided to take her back downstairs so he could leave. The two of them were flushed with embarrassment.

The cook and waitress, having not left yet, heard the two Jenova war heroes coming down their stairs. The wedding party had finally left and they were busy washing the dishes. Tifa would later find out that they were at the door, listening to their every word. They had done all that work; a little listening in was required for them to wind down.

"I'm sorry about your desk Tifa." Vincent apologized for the hundredth time. "I didn't realize what I was doing."

Upstairs in her office, the flimsy desk he had placed her on now had a claw marks on the corner. In Vincent's excitement he just might have accidentally forgotten that he could shred through solid oak, much less that cheap plastic coated fiberboard. It almost looked like a wild bear had just run up and took a good swing at it for the indentations that were now clearly visible.

He felt embarrassed about getting so worked up over a few simple kisses, his face was flushed and he was almost sure she could hear his heart thudding madly against his chest. He would be mortified to later find out that the cook and waitress had taken what he said completely out of context.

"It's ok Vincent," She waved it off, trying to make him feel better. "It was old and I'm sure Cloud is going to throw it out once I move anyway."

Of course it had to be Cloud's desk; he had almost forgotten that the two lived together… almost. Oh well, not for long. "Yes." He grumbled.

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When Tifa woke up, she would need to leave this new rendition of 7th Heaven. She only hoped that she would have a place to go when everything was said and done.

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Author's Notes: I'm having a lot of fun with this fiction now… hehe. I think I might have gone overboard with the way the characters interacted together on this one… I hope I didn't make it too OOC (if at all).

I tried to keep Vincent relatively quiet and un-mushy-mush and I think I did a decent job. I let Tifa get a bit excited, but I'll explain that later. I guess I'll find out how I did when I hear your reviews.

I did think Vincent needed to do what he did - if I made him too awkward he wouldn't go anywhere. I did think something needed to happen though, Vincent needed to get out of his quiet comfort zone and actually talk more. I couldn't see him doing anything else but being a little bit chattier.

Being a shy person myself, I tend to seem a bit standoffish and I've had people wondering what the crap was wrong with me. I think I can relate a lot to Vincent in that sense. It seems weird I guess, because I am sitting here typing like a lunatic, but it's true. I do love talking to my husband though (of course), despite my shyness. I've had a few people who knew me well do a double take when I'm around him. I guess that since I am a chatterbox with my husband I just assumed that even though Vincent is quiet, he might be a little bit more open with Tifa.

Ok – enough of that crap…on to the reviews! Thanks guys! (smiles)

Raggedywings – I'm glad you like it, I'll do my best and hopefully I'll make this into a decent fiction.

Jen – I hope to God I didn't go over the sappy meter on this one – or any of the others. It drives me a little bonkers to read some stuff they have out there. It's not to say that I don't think Vincent couldn't be romantic – but he should be romantic in his own quiet way. I'm going to keep a firm stand against the Cloud/Lucrecia/whoever-else angst. I think there is enough out there – I think a few people did it right and the rest… well I dunno. I'm going to have to mention Cloud and Lucrecia – but it's going to be as brief as I can make it.

Jen (again) – that's two reviews! Thank you very much! (grin) Yes, I felt that Tifa, while she might love the kids, was getting utterly screwed. During Advent Children I felt a little miffed that she was taking care of not only her and Cloud's adopted child… but Barret's as well. I have a best friend and she has children – but I would be aggravated if she just dumped them off on me for extended periods of time - no matter what the reason.

I have also read lots of fictions where Vincent comes to live with Tifa and takes care of the children with her. I loved the idea that he would do something so nice, but I didn't think I could top any of those fictions. I decided instead, to get rid of the kids – under happy circumstances of course. Barret really needs to take care of his kid, I would feel really cruddy if my dad just dumped me off even if I liked the person I was staying with. I also think Denzel needed someone to love him a bit more. I know that Tifa loved him, but I don't think Denzel needed to grow up with Cloud as a role model… ugh.

Thanks again guys – I'm going to try to get the next chapter up really quick and I'll respond the other reviewers in the next chapter! See you then!