Tifa glanced up from where she was folding the kids clothes and placing them in piles, looking at where Cloud sat with a map of Edge in front of him. Marlene and Denzel were on either side of him, both smiling as he traced a finger down the route he would be taking on his next delivery run. They loved it when he included them in his work.
"How long will you be gone today?" Tifa asked him, placing the last shirt on Denzel's pile.
"Not too long, but I was wondering if I could take one of the kids? Is that okay? One today and one tomorrow if all goes as planned." Cloud said with a soft smile. Denzel and Marlene's smiles had exploded into excited grins and they glanced at each other.
"Really?" Tifa asked, barely containing her own excitement. Maybe, in the long run, it had been good that Cloud's clone had shown up on the scene. At least now he realised just what he had in front of him and had decided to do something about keeping them.
"I'll only take one at a time so that you still have someone to stay and help you around the house." Cloud said, gently shooing the kids back from him as he stood and walked around the table, approaching her.
"Oh, alright." Tifa shrugged. Cloud stopped just in front of her and stared in her eyes before slowly moving his arm forward and touching her hand with his own.
"I thought that on the third day you could come with me." he mumbled.
Tifa felt her cheeks go red in embarrassment, because she really did like the sound of that, but she tried to act cool and collected.
"What about the kids? We can't leave them here all by themselves." Tifa said with a slight frown.
"I'll figure something out, don't worry." Cloud said, slowly slipping his fingers between hers and giving a gentle squeeze. "I'm sorry we haven't spent much time together."
"Cloud, it's alright, I understand." Tifa said quickly.
"Come on Marlene, they're getting all mushy." Denzel whispered loudly to the young girl, grabbing her arm and attempting to sneak out of the room. The huge grin on his face that the two adults saw when they turned to look was evidence that he was joking and Tifa laughed.
"Go on, we won't leave for the delivery just yet." Cloud encouraged, also finding the situation amusing.
He turned back to Tifa and fought to keep from smirking, stepping closer.
"Cloud-"
Her eyes had widened slightly as he bent his head towards her, but he wasn't going to allow her to say anything just yet. Instead, he kissed her, placing his other hand on the small of her back.
After a moment he pulled back and smiled again, resting his forehead against her own. Her mouth was still open slightly as she breathed shakily, shocked at what had just happened.
"Wow." she whispered.
Cloud didn't say anything for a moment, but kept smiling as his mind worked on something different. He had to work hard to keep his outward appearance relaxed as his mind sent out waves carrying completely different intentions.
But then the tables turned in an instant and he gasped, grabbing Tifa's shoulders tightly as an intense pain shot through his whole body and threatened to make his brain shut down.
If he had known his original could do the same thing as him, he would have been more careful!
Tifa quickly grabbed him to hold him up, fearful as he closed his eyes and cried out, trying to fight against the pain. She didn't know what was going on and hoped desperately that he would be alright.
"Stop it!" he finally yelled aloud, letting go of Tifa to slam his hands against the sides of his head and try to block it out.
His attempts did nothing and he soon found himself fading to a land of black which was quiet and soothing. He felt weightless and the pain was gone.
Unconscious.
Peaceful.
