"I can stay down at the church if you want me to, Tifa. It's not a big deal." Cloud said, trying to get the message through Tifa's head.

"Cloud, no. Reno's just trying to get you away from me! He's got his own place to stay. A proper home not like the church." Tifa retorted. Cloud frowned slightly.

"You..." he shook his head slightly and didn't say anything else.

"I what?" Tifa asked, her tone of voice gently prying for information. Cloud shifted uncomfortably and shrugged.

"You make it sound like you don't want me away from you." he explained softly.

The two of them stood silently for a while, neither one knowing quite what to say to the other. Cloud felt like he'd stepped out of line and Tifa felt like she was being far too obvious for her own good. Finally she cleared her throat.

"I guess, I honestly don't." she began slowly. "After everything that's happened, I guess I just don't want you to go away again." Cloud turned his head to look at her and then looked at the floor again.

"Then I'm not going anywhere." he said. His voice was still soft, but firm now too. Tifa nodded and left the room to find Reno. He was telling Marlene and Denzel to go to bed.

"Hey, Teefs. So what room am I staying in?" he asked, turning to her. His attention had immediately left the children as soon as she walked in.

"Um, Reno, there's really nowhere left." Tifa explained. "I'm sorry, but Cloud has nowhere else to go and neither do Renee and Ben."

"Hmm. Okay." Reno nodded. His eyes suddenly lit up and he beamed. "Wanna see a movie?"

"What?"

"Let's go see a movie tonight!" Reno grabbed her arm and tugged her out of the room towards the front door.

"Reno, wait, stop!" Tifa almost laughed. "What's going on in that crazy little head of yours?" she asked.

"Firstly, I'm not crazy. Secondly, my head is not small. Thirdly, I wanna watch a movie with you!" Reno added a whine to the end of his sentence and gave Tifa his best puppy-dog eyes. She sighed, staring at him with a look that clearly stated she wasn't sure about it.

"I don't-"

"Cloud won't mind if I steal you for one night." Reno murmured. "He's had you practically all his life."

Tifa glanced over her shoulder, suddenly glad that her childhood friend had already gone upstairs. Looking back over at Reno, she rolled her eyes and gave in.

"Fine! But I'm warning you- don't try anything." she turned and walked off to grab her bag and gil, and Reno grinned as he waited for her. When she came back to him he took her bag off her.

"Pull out your gil." he said. Tifa frowned but unzipped her bag while in his hands and took her gil out.

"What are you up to?" she asked.

"Now put your gil down somewhere and then we can go." Reno said, refusing to answer her question.

"Reno, I need to pay for a ticket if I want to see a movie." Tifa said, raising an eyebrow.

"No you don't. You just need a guy to buy one for you. Now put it down already." Reno sighed, obviously anxious to get going. Tifa's expression became uncertain for a moment before she walked over to put her gil on a bench.

Reno smiled and led her out. The cinema wasn't far from the bar, so they decided to walk.

~~*~~

Cloud sat on his bed in the office, listening intently to the conversation going on downstairs. He might not be a SOLDIER, but he wasn't exactly what you'd call normal either. He could hear every word said downstairs perfectly, including the kids whispering about how they'd just play a little bit longer and if someone came and told them off, then they'd go to bed. They were in perfect agreement.

Cloud ran a hand through his hair gently and then paused, turning his head to the side slightly. He lowered his hand to his lap and stayed perfectly still, listening to every noise there was and locating what it was he had thought he'd heard.

Footsteps. At the back of the house. He listened harder, squinting his eyes slightly in concentration as he tried to figure out what was going on. He could hear steady breathing, but he didn't know whether it belonged to the figure outside or one of the people inside.

There was a click, and Cloud was sure he'd heard that noise somewhere before. Where from? Why was it familiar?

He began feeling nauseous, and quickly listened to find out where everyone else was. The kids were still playing with their toys in a room close to the front of the house. Renee and Ben were closer to the back door, talking in low voices about- him?

"I just know it's him, I know it!" Renee was saying.

"Should we go up and talk to him?" Ben asked.

"I don't know. He seemed reluctant to let anyone know who he was. What if ShinRa's looking for him?" Renee's voice quivered and Cloud heard the sounds of Ben pulling her into a hug.

"It's okay, Renee. If he's our son, we'll find out sooner or later. Maybe we should wait until the morning to talk to him about it again." Ben soothed.

"O-okay." Renee said, her voice slightly muffled.

Cloud stared at the floor, his eyes wide and knuckles white from clutching the edge of the bed. They thought he was their son? But his parents had died in a car accident when he was little, and their names hadn't been Renee and Ben.

"I hate them." Renee whispered. "How could they do this to us? Give our son away like some pet..." her voice broke off into sobs and Ben continued his soothing.

Cloud's head suddenly snapped up and he was propelling himself off the bed towards the door. He began running, desperate to get downstairs as soon as possible. He felt like he was having a nightmare where he couldn't run as fast as he wanted to. He could hear the breathing from outside speeding up slightly.

"Renee! Ben! Run!"

Two loud gunshots went off and Cloud almost crashed into something as he ran. He reached the back room and didn't stop to check on the bodies as he sprinted outside and tackled the figure onto the ground before they could escape.

The two wrestled for a while, fighting for the gun. Whoever it was that Cloud had pinned finally managed to grab hold of it again and twisted, firing one last shot.