A/N: I meant to get this chapter up a lot sooner than this… sorry about that guys. Here it is, though, perhaps not as good as my first chapter. Comments anyone?

Chapter 2

He was woken by a loud creak just outside his bedroom door, and though he made an attempt to go back to sleep, he knew it was in vain. Lately, Marlene and Denzel had found a new source of amusement in the mornings – him. They would try and sneak into his bedroom without waking up, and though they had never succeeded, they just wouldn't give up. Tifa had caught them in the act a few times, and those times, Cloud had been saved from their wake up call. But as he heard his bedroom door creak open slowly, he knew he wouldn't be saved by Tifa today. A giggle came from his doorway, but Cloud continued to feign sleep.

"Is he still asleep?" Marlene whispered, close to Cloud's bed. Cloud smiled, facing away from the two and silently deliberating when to make his move. He wanted them to think that he was still asleep and then catch them at the best possible moment, and perhaps make sure they never woke him up again.

"I know!" Denzel whispered excitably. "Let's find his swords!"

At this, Cloud's eyes snapped wide open and he quickly rolled over, grabbing the child who was closest to him. When he heard a loud squeal, he realised he'd caught Marlene, and held onto her as she tried to get free.

"Denzel! Help me Denzel!" Marlene cried, but before Denzel could move, Cloud pulled Marlene back onto the bed and under the blankets. She stared up at him with wide eyes filled with mischief, before shouting as loud as she possible could. "I've been eaten Denzel! Run before he gets you too!"

Eaten? Child couldn't help but chuckle – without these two around, he would never smile or laugh this much. A year ago, he had been serious, moping around with a frown on his face… and look at him now, 'eating' the bright young girl. When Marlene let out a giggle, Cloud raised his hand and suddenly began to tickle her, knowing that this was the girl's biggest weakness. Marlene let out a gap and burst out into a fit of breathless laughter, squirming and trying to get away. When Marlene was finally able to throw the blankets back and jump off the bed, she ended up running into a very amused, yet surprised Tifa.

She could hardly believe what she was seeing – Denzel had come running downstairs, laughing loudly and shouting something about how Cloud had captured and eaten Marlene. Curious, Tifa had made her way upstairs to Cloud's room and had been standing in the doorway when Marlene had managed to escape. But before that, when she had heard Cloud's laughter mixed with Marlene's, she had been… surprised, to say the least. So surprised that she hadn't moved out of the way quick enough when Marlene had run to the doorway. The little girl had collided with Tifa's legs, sending a jolt of pain from her feet as Marlene pushed past her and continued to run downstairs, laughing and shouting Denzel's name. Tifa watched the little girl, shaking her head slightly.

"Did she hurt you?" She turned at Cloud's questions, surprised to hear the concern and perhaps even more surprised to see the concern in his blue eyes. Tifa couldn't help a small smile crossing her face and folded her arms, giving Cloud a stern, yet amused look.

"No. She didn't. Now, what's all this about eating Marlene…?"

Cloud lifted his arm and rubbed the back of his neck, looking rather sheepish. "Well, erm… they tried sneaking it again… maybe they'll think twice about it next time?"

It was amazing how much two little children could change the lives of two people. Since Denzel and Marlene had come into their lives, Tifa and Cloud had smiled… laughed… and just generally had fun. The kids tired Tifa out almost daily, but she wouldn't change them for the world. She couldn't imagine life without them anymore. Besides, without them, what would Cloud laugh about?

"Well, I'm about to open up the bar, so go and make sure they behave themselves."

He watched her leave, noting the slight limp as she walked downstairs. Marlene wasn't exactly heavy, but she had run out of the room at some speed, standing on Tifa's feet as she did so. But Tifa was a lot stronger than that, just look at the things she had gone through last year. She had surprised everyone with her fighting skills… she hadn't needed a hero; she had been able to look after herself. And she didn't need a weapon to do that, either. Cloud glanced back at his bed and sighed slightly – looked as though this was going to be another early morning. He couldn't really complain, every morning was an early morning for Tifa – she got up this early to open the bar, though who would drink at this hour, Cloud didn't know.

Tifa's bar was the main source of income for the family, but the Strife Delivery Service also brought small amounts of money in. Customers would ring Tifa, and she'd pass the note onto Cloud, who would then go and pick up whatever needed delivering and deliver it. It was unsafe outside of the towns and villages, and many families had split up, but still wanted to keep in contact with each other. Cloud was able to send packages and letters back and forth between the families – he could look after himself between the towns, he had the swords, and he had the experience.

Besides, if it stopped other people getting hurt, it couldn't be bad, right?

The only time it was bad, was when his job took him away from the bar for nights at a time… he'd often have to pay out for a room to spend the night in… or, if he was desperate and miles away from the nearest inn, he sometimes slept outside, but he wouldn't tell Tifa that. She'd tell him to quit, but he couldn't do that. Who would deliver things then?

From saviour of the world to delivery boy… it was a huge jump, but made for personal reasons.

He gave one last longing glance to his bed before grabbing a pair of pants and a black t shirt and pulling them on. He'd have to get a wash later, when he was sure Marlene and Denzel weren't going to tear the house down while Tifa was serving people their much-needed drinks.

He was just about to wonder why it was suddenly so quiet, when there was a crash and a cry coming from downstairs. Cloud didn't stay still long enough to comprehend who had let out a cry, but ran downstairs as quickly as he possibly could, almost tripping over himself a couple of times before he reached the bottom. What sort of mess had Denzel and Marlene caused now? However, even as this thought crossed his mind, Cloud caught sight of the two children sitting at the kitchen table, their eyes wide, yet innocent. There was no mess around them, no broken glasses, no…

Broken glasses? That's exactly what the crash had sounded like. Cloud quickly turned, making for the bar, where he could now hear a few muttered curses and a hiss of pain. As he turned the corner and entered the bar, he saw that it was completely empty… okay, that meant that nobody had hurt her, but… his turned his gaze behind the bar, where Tifa stood, clenching her fist and biting her lip. A small trickle of blood was running down her arm, not enough to cause panic but…

She's hurt…

He quickly moved around behind the bar and saw the cause of Tifa's accident – a glass lay shattered in pieces on the floor. But usually she was so careful? She glanced up at him with anger in her chestnut eyes and Cloud almost flinched… almost.

"What happened?" He asked, reaching out for her injured hand. At first she seemed reluctant to let him see, but when he gently took her hand and opened it, she didn't pull it away. A red gash lay in her palm, the source of the blood and pain. It didn't look too deep, but it was about three inches long and obviously hurting like hell. But Tifa was trying to take it, she was trying her hardest to hide the fact she was in pain – but why? Cloud had seen her in pain many times before… he'd hated every single one, and this was no different.

"I don't know." Tifa finally said, taking a deep breath and appearing to look anywhere but the cut on her hand. "There must have been a chip in it or something… it caught my hand and then I dropped the glass."

Cloud glanced back down at her palm and shook his head. Could a chip in a glass really cause this? "Well, it needs washing." And with that, he gently guided Tifa back towards the kitchen, where Marlene and Denzel still sat at the table, looking rather pale. Tifa tried to give them a reassuring smile, but even they could tell she was in pain.

"What's wrong?" Denzel asked, standing up from the table. His eyes were on the blood coming down Tifa's arm, and Marlene remained silent.

"Nothing, Tifa just cut herself on a glass… she wasn't careful enough." Cloud threw him a smile and this seemed to be enough for the children as they went back to eating the breakfasts that Tifa had prepared for them just a few minutes ago. Cloud took Tifa to the sink in the kitchen and held her hand under it before turning on the cold water. This time, Tifa couldn't suppress the hiss of pain and attempted to pull her hand back, but Cloud wouldn't let her. The only reason he knew what to do was because he had seen Tifa help Denzel and Marlene so many times, when they had cut themselves or fallen over.

He quickly noticed that Tifa was staring at him. "What?" He asked, turning his attention back to her hand.

She dropped her head, blushing slightly. "Oh, nothing…" She mumbled, and Cloud didn't question her further. She glanced at her hand as the pink water continued to fall. It hadn't stopped bleeding yet, but it was looking a lot better than it had before. Cloud had never dealt with the kid's injuries before… well; maybe he should start now that he knew what to do. When the pink water started to turn a little clearer, Cloud guided her hand from under the tap and gently dried it, being so careful… and then got out the first aid box and began to wrap a bandage expertly round her hand.

She smiled when he had finished, glancing up at him gratefully. He caught her looking again, but didn't question her this time, standing up and moving away instead. "I'm gonna go clean up the glass." He explained and walked back into the bar to do just that. Tifa looked down at her bandaged hand before cradling it gently against her other arm. It looked as though she was gonna have to be careful today. How was she supposed to give her customers drinks with only one hand?

"You okay Tifa?"

Marlene's voice drew her gaze away from her hand and she gave a small smile to the concerned young girl. Marlene had already started looking after Denzel whenever he got hurt (which was very frequent lately) and had developed a very caring personality, which Tifa was glad for, because Denzel often hurt himself while just playing around outside, and now, Marlene knew what to do if he injured himself. Except now it was Tifa getting the injury. What was she going to do now? She couldn't serve the customers one-handed!

Cloud chose this point to walk back into the kitchen, a small plastic bag in his hands, obviously containing the glass he had just cleaned up, he gave Tifa a fleeting glance, filled with concern before dropping the bag of glass into the bin.

"I'll take care of the bar today." He finally said, turning around and facing Tifa, looking rather thoughtful.

"But, what about the Delivery Service?" Tifa questioned, still holding her hand carefully.

"If anyone calls, just tell them it will have to wait for a couple of days, I'm sure they won't mind… the bar's our main source of money, Tifa, we can't afford to close down for a few days just because I'm busy with deliveries."

Oh. So that was it, he was worried about the money… well, of course, he was making sense. The bar made more money than his deliveries, so it was the deliveries that would have to close down for now. Cloud would be behind the bar… and where did that leave her? Looking after the kids? Well, she hadn't spent much time with the children lately; perhaps this would do her good… even if she was itching to get back behind the bar again…

"Yeah! Tifa can play with us!!" Denzel cried, immediately looking happy at the idea. Tifa turned and gave him a small smile – perhaps she'd been neglecting the kids more than she thought.

"Can we make cookies?!" Marlene suddenly shouted, catching everyone by surprise. But before Tifa could answer, Denzel threw his reply towards her.

"No way, cookies are for girls, let's play monsters!"

"Fine." Marlene pouted. "But I'm not being the monster, I was it last time."

Both children turned avid grins in Tifa's direction, who let out a sigh and sent a mock glare towards Cloud, who seemed to be finding the situation highly amusing. At her glare however, he promptly made his way back into the bar to tend to some non-existent customers. Tifa turned her gaze back on the two excited children before her.

"Fine then… how do we play monsters?"