A/N: Well, this is the last chapter, finally! I wanted to make it longer, actually, but found that I was, ultimately, running out of things to say. It has a happy ending, at least! :D So, please read, review, and enjoy!

Ch. 8 --- Happy Tears and Eleven Years

The happy tears didn't go away, either. They were there the next morning, when I woke to find Cloud still next to me. They were there later that day, when I saw Cloud not only hug the children – but initiate the hug. They were there a week later, when things were still wonderful and the children were cluing in, and they were there a month later, when Cloud dropped to one knee.

I remembered later how my heart had pounded, how my palms had sweat and my knees trembled, but most of all, what I remembered was the children's happy squeals when they saw us kiss and the simply beautiful ring on my finger.

The wedding was a blur. A small, quiet, sweet blur, but a blur nonetheless. I remembered Yuffie, giggling mercilessly, remembered Barret, threatening Cloud with his life if he ever broke my heart, remembered Cid, making crude jokes about the wedding night, and I remembered the church – Aerith's church. No other place could have been more perfect, and I could have sworn that I heard her in my head as I walked toward Cloud, saying 'I told you so' or 'good luck' or something like that. I remembered the softly-spoken, mechanical vows, but the words didn't mean so much, really – it was what I saw in Cloud's eyes when he spoke them that mattered. Promise, hope, love like I hadn't ever seen before. It was enough to make me cry those damned happy tears again.

While the wedding may have been a blur, the wedding night wasn't. I remembered every detail, vividly, even two, three, five years later. Cloud had been perfect, and our life together, just beginning, seemed as if it were the lives of some other people, people we didn't know. It was too perfect to be ours... but then again, it was, and there were more tears involved.

Looking back on it a year later, thinking over an entire year of wedded bliss to the man I had always loved, my best friend, my confidante, my big dummy, my beautiful disaster of a hero, I wasn't sure if I had expected it or not. Had I ever expected to be so happy? No. Happiness, two years ago, before Cloud had saved the planet (again), had seemed so unlikely, so far out of reach. Had I expected a life, a good one, with Cloud? Somehow, I think I always had expected it, always hoped for it and almost saw it coming. I don't know how, but now that I had it, it didn't matter. What mattered was that we had each other, and Denzel and Marlene, and that was enough.

Ten Years

"Mom? Mom. Mom! MOTHER!"

I jumped and turned to a very impatient Marlene, fourteen and more beautiful than ever. "Yes?" I'd been blanking out again, just thinking over the years past with a happy smile on my face.

"So, there's this – boy..." she began nervously.

I nodded absently. "And?"

"Well... he... kind of... wants me to... go out. I mean, you know, with him. Like a... date?" Marlene squinted her eyes and leaned away from me, visibly preparing for the 'no'.

I couldn't disappoint her. "Sorry, Marlene. No boys." I smiled at her; we'd had this talk before, and she couldn't really get too angry with me – she'd known it was coming.

She sighed, but gave a defeated smile. "Eh, I had to try," she said, then exited the room, still bouncy and bright despite the rejection.

My brow furrowed as I watched her exit, with not any less of the childish enthusiasm she'd had all those years ago. It made me think of Denzel and I wondered where he was, listening with expert ears for any sound of him. He, at a tall, handsome seventeen years of age, was usually out, either learning the trade with his father – I smiled – or stealing all the girls' hearts without even realizing it – like his father.

Suddenly, I heard Fenrir, and Cloud's unmistakable laugh. Then – ah, yes – Denzel's voice, much lower than it had been all those years ago. "That was awesome," he was saying, though I couldn't know what they were talking about.

They came in one after the other, and I smiled at both. Cloud had changed only a little in the eleven years we'd been married. His spiky hair was still spiky, cornflower-colored and soft as ever. Those blue eyes, the exact same breathtaking color; his physique, still hard, lean; his dazzling smile still the same, and not nearly as rare. Denzel still surprised me, with how much he had changed: no longer was he small of stature, but lean, like his father; no longer were his brown eyes innocent and childlike, but velvety and deep; no longer were his features rounded and adorable but angular and handsome. Sometimes I imagined that he had, in all of the time he had spent with Cloud (his father in all of the ways that counted), begun to look like him as well: some of Cloud's undying intensity hinted in his eyes, some of Cloud's true, albeit hidden, compassion, present in his smile, even some of Cloud's heroism and nobility evident in the way he held himself. Cloud and I... we were very proud of Denzel, and Marlene, who was beautiful in her own wraith-like, still-innocent way. And, still young ourselves in comparison to some parents, we were, for the most part, happy and carefree.

Not much else had changed in the eleven years of our marriage. Yuffie had grown up (a fact that was hard to believe even now), but still retained her youthful cheeriness and spirit. Reno had married and was expecting a baby, and even Vincent seemed happy, compared to years past. (Of course, that could have been Yuffie's doing... but I wasn't supposed to know.)

"Hey, Teef," Cloud kissed my cheek and gifted me with one of his beautiful smiles.

"Mom," Denzel said, hugging me. He may have been nearly a grown man, but he hadn't ever lost sight of all we had done for him. Family was number one to all of us... and it was going to stay that way.

My best friend, my confidante, my husband, beautiful not-a-disaster-anymore of a hero, my handsome grown-up son, and my beautiful teenage daughter meant everything to me. I'd never expected to have such an amazing life... but I did, and I was going to keep it.