A/N : Hi...Yeah, I know it's been a while! I'm sorry :( I'm not a big fan of this one...but I hope you do enjoy it. :) I think I'm a little weak with dialogue, so if anyone has some advice, I'd love to hear it!

Thanks for everyone who reviewed since the last chapter (LilTyphoon, Warrayfinson, C2-Chikaru, chipmouskin, Tsamo93). I appreciate it so much!!

So, lastly, please remember to review! It'll get chapters much sooner...hopefully ;)

Dream

"Here you go," Aerith smiled brightly, handing the daisy to the small boy, who held out his grubby hands to press it carefully to his chest. His huge brown eyes were wide with caution and awe, timid fingers curled around the white petals to keep a single one from bending or being stolen by the greedy wind, lest he destroy one of the first flowers he had ever seen.

He beamed up at Aerith with his dirty face, his crooked but endearing expression of joy seeping into his squeaky voice as he babbled gratefully, "Thanks for letting me have this, 'specially for free and all. I'll pay you back soon as I can, promise!"

"It's okay," Aerith reassured him, and the sight of her caring face calmed the nervous tremors in the boy's heart. "You said it was for your sister's birthday, didn't you?"

The boy nodded energetically, so Aerith laughed pleasantly in response, urging him towards the park's exit so he could take it to her.

"Don't worry about it," she comforted his conscience one last time, "Just tell her happy birthday for me, too, please."

"I will!" the boy promised loudly as he walked off, cradling the blossom while trying to rush at the same time, his bare feet sloshing through puddles and tripping over stones despite his efforts.

With pleased eyes and a quiet sigh, Aerith watched her first customer of the day disappear, finally turning back around when the smog and grime covered up his outline.

"He's a good kid," a quiet voice suddenly commented, and Aerith turned her head towards Zack, who was sitting atop the rusty slide with his long legs dangling over the edges. She frowned slightly, knowing why he had stayed in the background, not bursting forward with the energy he had forced himself to contain.

"I think so, too," Aerith agreed, sitting at the bottom of the plastic toy, smoothing her dress so it wouldn't wrinkle at the shifted position. "He looked so happy..."

The idea of the rarity of gifts under the plate threatened to bring about a somber mood, but before Aerith could conjure up some way to alter the effect, Zack beat her to it.

"Do you ever think about having kids?"

Her green eyes shot towards him in surprise, and she was startled to meet his curious blue, when before they had been gazing unseeingly forwards. After a few seconds, Aerith looked down at her hands, a little shocked to see how they had curled into the fabric around her knees, pulling at it anxiously. There was a small thumping in the back of her mind, growing a little louder as she thought it over, and she realized it was her pulse, leaping erratically due to the beating of her heart.

She giggled slightly, the reaction her default for questions such as these, and also at the girlish anxiety she experienced only around Zack.

"I don't really think about it," Aerith eventually answered slowly, gaze shifting back upwards to meet Zack's, which was still focused on her gently. "But I would like to have children."

She laughed again sweetly, unable to imagine herself with her own children tripping around her, pulling at her skirts and begging for attention, "Someday though, not yet."

"That's good," Zack replied obviously before he could stop himself, grinning from ear to ear when Aerith threw him a playful glance instead of a harsh rebuke.

"Why are you asking?" Aerith questioned, turning around on the slide so her legs were tucked underneath her while she faced the other, watching him run a nervous hand through his black hair.

"Just wondering, I guess," he explained half-heartedly, shrugging his shoulders before gripping the bar above his head. Once he had it tightly secured between his fingers, he pushed himself upwards, moving up and down for some sort of motion in a spontaneous imitation of pull-ups. Aerith didn't say anything, but inside there was a secret smile.

Zack always had to move when he was nervous.

Aerith called up to him after a few minutes, "Do you want children, Zack?"

The other froze, ceasing his frenzied movements before plopping back on the yellow, graffitied surface.

"Yeah," he replied, suddenly completely serious. "I do."

"What about your dream?" Aerith wondered out-loud, half to herself and half to Zack. "Are SOLDIERs even..."

She trailed off, eyes boring into the ground guiltily while she bit her lip to keep from saying anything else.

Her head shot up when she heard the last thing she expected, Zack's joyous, whole-hearted laugh.

"My dream," he began after the comforting sounds had died down, "is to be a hero. I still have to time to reach that dream."

He looked down at her meaningfully, a thoughtful smile pulling at his lips.

"And you know what," he pushed his body down the slide, wrapping his arms around her lovingly when he reached the bottom.

"I have two dreams now."