Hi there. Me again. I'm not sure if anyone is reading yet, but I wanted to get this second chapter out to sort of get the ball rolling on this story so far. I hope you enjoy! Please review and favorite if you like! Of course I know that the fan base for FF VII is an older group of people, and the likelihood of them still being on fan fiction is very small.. Still.. Enjoy!


When the surgeon caught glimpse of the Chief of Medicine's daughter, he found her to be surprisingly more attractive than he had imagined she would be. Long legs, toned body and a gorgeous face. Sephiroth was typically hard to impress, he had extremely high standards when it came to women. But this woman met those standards and then some, but of course only if she was intelligent enough. She got through med school, so this was very likely.

Of course, he knew there were ulterior motives for the Chief when he very blatantly noted that this woman was his daughter. Judging by the lack of ring on her left hand, Sephiroth deducted that this was some sort of setup attempt. This could mean that the daughter had been through this before, thus meaning she would immediately reject him just based upon the fact that her father was trying to set them up. Then again, Sephiroth never said he was looking for anyone.

"Tifa," Nagano Lockhart rasped in a very dominant and rather brash sounding voice, "is something the matter?" He looked upon his daughter, seemingly embarrassed that the very prestigious surgeon had just witnessed his daughter's ridiculous outburst.

Tifa looked at her father with an inquisitive expression, paying no mind to the tone in his voice when he asked the question. Her gaze shifted to the man beside him. Seemed like some kind of stud, Tifa had seen this before. However, this man was different than the rest of the men that her father had innocently 'introduced' to her. Tifa couldn't tell if he was even the slightest bit interested in her, at least in a sexual kind of way, because his expression remained rather stern and unchanging. It didn't matter, Tifa wasn't in the mood to even think about the situation at all. She had a fellow attending to strangle.

"No, Chief," she stated, making sure she said it firmly. Her father needed to know that she meant to keep things professional, no matter what. "Sorry about the outburst. Can I help you?"

Yuffie watched from a distance, occasionally looking at the clock, and back at the strange happening that was unfolding before her. The air was tense and she was growing more and more uncomfortable. She couldn't help but feel bad for her friend now, but then again if someone was trying to set her up with someone so handsome, she wouldn't hesitate to say 'Hell yeah!' But that was Yuffie, Tifa was much different.

Nagano shifted a little, Tifa was silently telling him to back off. He would oblige, he knew he needed to respect his daughter, and her own personal choices but he didn't want to see her end up alone. "I was just showing our newest attending surgeon Dr. Sephiroth, around the hospital. I wanted to introduce you."

"Hello, Doctor." Tifa said in a warm tone as she extended her hand to the tall and silent man.

"Pleased to meet you, Doctor Lockhart." The man replied in a deep and velvety tone. He took her hand gently and glanced into her eyes for only a moment before his expression once more remained firm and unreadable. He released her hand, noting to himself that they weren't as cold as most doctor's, but warm and rather soft.

Tifa was surprisingly shaken by his voice, of course her expression wouldn't let that on. Still, she wasn't about to let anything get in her way of strangling Zack at this very moment. "Welcome to Midgar Regional Medical Center. If you two will excuse me, I have some business to attend to."

With that, the woman squeezed past the two men, gave Yuffie a look, and was off down the hallway in a matter of seconds.

Yuffie noted that the look meant 'you had better follow me now or there will be serious consequences.' She knew that look all too well. Quickly, she hopped to it, following her friend with haste. She couldn't wait to get out of the surgeon's hearing range so she could ask Tifa what she thought of him.

"So..." She inquired quietly, while nudging her friend in the ribs with her elbow.

Tifa knew that Yuffie knew what her father was trying to do, and it was the last thing Tifa wanted to think about. She needed to stay focused for when she confronted Zack. Still, she knew Yuffie all too well. Yuffie was the type of person who wouldn't take 'no' for an answer. She was the type to annoy you until you broke and told her what she wanted to hear, she was just a spit fire like that. "No." Tifa said briskly. "Not interested."

"Come on!" Yuffie knew Tifa was lying. At least a little. Her friend wasn't very good at hiding things from her. Aside from that, who in their right mind wouldn't want at least a little piece of that hottie? She shook her head at the thought. "You know you.." She began, before being rudely cut off as they reached Dr. Fair's office.

"Zack!" Tifa exclaimed as she walked, completely uninvited, into his office.

The dark haired man had been sitting peacefully in his office, minding his own business when the woman barged in. And he immediately knew what this was about, he spun around in his rolling chair, crossed one leg over the other and put both hands behind his head while he reclined a bit. "Well, good morning to you too, Tifa. I like how we call each other by our first names now, it's kinda cute."

It was no secret that there was a strange tension between these two. They pretended to hate each other, but deep down, everyone knew they kind of liked one another. Though Zack was a happily married man, he was flirtatious in nature, and Tifa wasn't the only woman he teased at work.

"You know why I'm here, don't you?" The brunette asked as she folded her arms across her chest. "Zack that makes four patients you've taken from me in the last two months. You can't keep snagging them!" She was quite angry, you could see it in her eyes.

Yuffie loved it when these two fought. They were like the mom and dad of the labor and delivery unit, and all the nurses were the children of their troubled, fictional marriage. She always got a kick out of their interactions, because they were never very boring. She leaned against the doorframe and watched the events unfold, wishing she had some popcorn.

"You know I don't take them intentionally, Tifa." Zack stated, now sitting up in his chair and letting his arms fall to his sides. He gave the girl a sympathetic look, mainly because he didn't have time to play fight this morning, his first patient was likely due any moment. "They just transfer to me because the majority of them are single women, looking for a man, and when they find out I'm married, they want to jump ship back to you, but usually they feel too bad that they left you in the first place." The man offered her a smile as he watched her expression soften, ever so slightly. "Look Tifa, you're a great doctor. It has nothing to do with that."

Tifa let out a sigh. He was right, he didn't really have control of what her patients did, and he couldn't help the fact that he was so handsome. "Just don't go by my office when I have patients, I don't want them seeing your face." She stated before turning on her heel and heading back to her own office.

"Does this mean you think I'm cute?!" Zack hollered from the doorway.

Tifa shook her head, and fought the urge to give him the one-finger salute. Meanwhile, Yuffie let out a small giggle and followed Tifa back to their office to get ready for the day.

Little did Tifa or Yuffie know, the two of them had not been the only ones to witness or overhead the altercation between the doctors. Mr. Lockhart had been visiting another office nearby with Dr. Sephiroth during the time of their conversation. And both men took note of what had happened.


Yuffie was completely wiped out that evening, even getting out of her car was a challenge. She and Tifa had a surprise delivery that day, and the poor woman was in labor for quite some time. Delivering babies was a tiring task, because she had to make sure that not only the mother was very well taken care of, but also that all of Tifa's immediate needs were taken care of. Anything can happen in the delivery room, which meant that there has to be much preparation.

The young nurse opened her car door and got out of the vehicle, grabbing her purse and slinging It tiredly over her shoulder. The last thing she expected was to run into a wall the second she turned around. Yuffie had hit something so hard, she bounced back into her car door. She shook her head and realized what she had run into wasn't a wall at all, it was in fact her neighbor, Cloud. And after realizing she had run smack dab into the handsome, stoic man, she then realized she had parked in his driveway, right next to his car.

Yuffie's cheeks reddened in embarrassment as both apologized at the same time.

"I'm so sorry!" Yuffie exclaimed. "I am so tired, I didn't even notice that I was at the wrong house." Nervously, she tucked her hair behind her ears and sheepishly looked away. Her shy behavior surprising even herself.

The blonde man looked upon her with a soft expression, noting that he understood the look of exhaustion when he saw it. He had been in the military for four years now, and that was enough to drain him on a daily basis, let alone four years. He couldn't help but notice as he gazed upon the girl, how cute and petite she was, she had beautiful features.

Cloud knew that he needed a fresh start after returning home from the military, he needed some positivity in his life, and perhaps, he thought, it had just run into him.

Meanwhile, Yuffie had decided that perhaps running into him had been more than coincidence. She wasn't going to lie to herself, she had been checking him out and eyeballing him since the day he moved in next to her. And seeing her friend Tifa live such a lonely life, she realized that if she didn't do something soon, she would end up just like her closest friend. So she mustered up courage from the deepest depths of herself and looked up at the man with a charming spark in her eye.

"You know, would you wanna get coffee sometime?" She asked with a smile.

Cloud let out a small chuckle, he didn't mean to, he couldn't help it. As soon as he did, her entire countenance changed. Like she had been instantly deflated, but he spoke quickly after that. "I was just about to ask you the same, Yuffie." It was funny, this was the most they had interacted since the first time they met at the mailboxes, and the most words that had been exchanged. He found it funny and a little exciting that she had been the first to make a move, but he wasn't offended that she beat him to it, he actually found it quite attractive.

When she heard him say that he was about to ask her, something rose within her, butterflies were filling her stomach and she could feel her cheeks grow warmer by the second. She was excited, happy, nervous and thrilled all at the same time. "So, is that a yes?" She asked, playing it cool and hoping her excitement wasn't as evident to him.

"It's most definitely a yes." Cloud replied confidently. "How's tomorrow morning sound? I'll stop by and pick you up."

Yuffie was inwardly jumping for joy, but again she played it cool. "Sounds good." She said with a smile. She couldn't help but notice just how beautiful his eyes looked in the moonlight. Inside she was wondering if he was thinking the same about her.

He was. Cloud hadn't really felt this way in a long time. Sure he just met the girl, but he had a feeling that this was the start of something good.