A.N: hey guys sorry for the long wait I just had a severe case of writers block but now I'm all good. Hope you guys had a wonderful Christmas and New Year, God knows I did. Well here's the new chappie hope you liked it

Disclaimer: I own Cloud and Reno and nothing can stop me mwahahahahaha gets tapped on shoulder by Sephiroth's sword. Turns to see Sephiroth in lawyer suit

Sephiroth: ahem points to clip board.

Me: aw do I have to?

Sephiroth: yes. Now where is my mother, tell me! Tell me!

Me: ah I own nothing but Ariana plz R&R runs off before she gets skewered by Sephiroth

Chapter 6

Ariana was having a lovely dream it was about a land that was filled with all the types of alcohol that she could ever want, just then a Vodka bottle came up to her and started smashing it's self against her head and saying "Ariana, Ariana, wake up" excitedly.

"Don't do that Vodka you're hurting me" she mumbled waking up.

"I'm not Vodka I'm Loz" said Loz sighing.

"Huh? Oh Loz" said Ariana opening her eyes but quickly shutting them because the light burned her eyes "you can tell me in the bathroom, I gotta chuck" she ran to that oh so familiar porcelain bowl and threw up, Loz was holding her hair and telling her all about his date with Tifa occasionally Ariana would give him the thumbs up. "And here's the real exciting part" said Loz practically bursting "Tifa's my girlfriend"

"OH MY GOD!!" screamed Ariana waking the whole house and hugged Loz now that she had finished throwing up.

"ARIANA SHUT UP" came the screams of the hung-over residents

"Pfft they need to learn how to handle their liquor" said Ariana turning back to the toilet.

Once Ariana had finished chucking she went to Tifa's door, knocked and entered. Ariana found that Tifa was still sleeping, so she tip toed up to her large double bed and jumped on the empty side. Tifa's reaction was priceless; Ariana could have sworn that she saw her jump out of her skin.

"Hahahaha ow too loud" Ariana said holding her head

"That's not funny" said Tifa sternly clutching her chest

"Ya it was…. You need to lighten up" said Ariana "so I heard the good news" she said elbowing Tifa in the arm softly

"Yeah I heard" Tifa said referring to the earlier shout of "OH MY GOD"

"But I sorta don't understand I mean I'm happy for you and all but I thought you had eyes for Cloud" said Ariana confused

"Well I did but I've seen the way that he looks at you…when you're not arguing" said Tifa thoughtfully

"Pfft don't know what you're talking about" Ariana said childishly, though now that Tifa had mentioned it she noticed that Cloud had taken to staring at her while she was cooking, drinking, cleaning, playing with Marlene and Denzel and … well just about everything she did.

Soon after Ariana had left and made her way to the kitchen, she was mildly surprised and relieved to find that it hadn't burned down and Loz was still in one piece. He was actually setting at tray to take in to Tifa.

"Aww, isn't that sweet" said Ariana. Loz just poked out his tongue and walked past her tray in hand. Once Loz had left Ariana turned with a small sigh and went to the fridge and grabbed some ingredients, a (rather large) knife, chopping board and pan. She started making her omelet when she heard someone shuffle in mumbling about painkillers and bloody shouting girls. Ariana was half way through chopping her ingredients when she turned around, Cloud jumped back, Ariana looked down and saw the knife in her hand "oops sorry" she said turning back around to continue chopping the capsicum.

"If your looking for the aspirine, there's none left" she said and continued quietly humming to herself.

"There was a half bottle left yesterday!" said Cloud disbelievingly.

"Mmm, that's before I had a hangover" she said still humming along to a merry tune of 'Ding Dong the Witch is Dead'.

"Ahhh, I'm going in the bath" said Cloud irritated and made his way to the bathroom.

While Ariana was making her breakfast she couldn't help but think more about what Tifa had said. Hmmm and he still owes me a date but I suppose I better get home soon my job here is done, she thought referring to Tifa and Loz.

Ariana then went to the bar once she had finished eating her breakfast and washing the dishes. The bar was empty so she un-locked the door and went behind the bar, once Tifa got up she would talk to her about paying her for letting her stay so long.

It was so quiet in the bar that morning Ariana decided she would close for the day and open when it got darker, that's when most people came in. Seeing as Tifa didn't look as though she was getting up anytime soon Ariana decided to go find the kids so she could play a game with them. She found Marlene and Denzel drawing pictures in their bedroom, she saw one that looked like Cloud and she immediately thought back to the time in the church when they shared that intimate kiss then she thought to when she whooped Cloud's arse in the race, which immediately put a smile on her face.

"Hey kids, wanna play a game?" Ariana said too excitedly for someone of her age.

"Yeah!" they said in unison dropping their pencils and turning to Ariana "what are we gonna play?"

"Well, I was thinking something along the lines of hide and seek, you know it's my favorite" said Ariana smiling

"Shotgun not it" said Ariana and Denzel together

"Damn it" said Marlene crestfallen

"Watch your language young lady" Ariana said before running out of the room with Denzel behind her. Hmmm where to hide, where to hide? She thought she turned her head down the hall and it rested on the bathroom door and then a sly look came to rest on her face. She walked up to the door and started fake crying; she knocked on the door lightly.

Through the door Cloud could hear someone knocking on the door and sobbing, then "please Cloud let me in it's an emergency" she said softly between sobs, Cloud quickly got out of the bath, wrapped a towel around his waist and opened the door. Ariana ran in with her head in her hands sobbing, Cloud closed the door "what's wrong?" Cloud said concerned, but when he turned around he found that Ariana had stopped crying "what the…?"

"It's called acting" said Ariana looking around the room "now what" she said to herself.

"Ariana what is going on?" asked Cloud sternly.

"I'm playing hide and seek" she said her eyes rested on the bath tub filled with water and bubbles "yes."

"Yes, what?" said Cloud not liking what was coming next. Instead of answering him she just jumped in the bath and fully submerged herself for a few seconds before resurfacing, "well, get in don't worry I'll keep my eyes closed" she said, Cloud just looked at her.

"I wonder if one of them is in the bathroom?" came Marlene's voice through the door.

"Quickly" Ariana said urgently, it was hard for Cloud to take her seriously when she was covered in bubbles.

"Okay, Okay, close your eyes and get down" Cloud said grasping his towel about to take it off, Ariana hastily closed her eyes and submerged herself once more, then Cloud got back into the tub. Just as he did there was a knock at the door and Cloud told them to come in, just as suspected it was Marlene.

"Umm…. Cloud have you seen Ariana or Denzel around?" she asked still holding on to the door handle and looking around the room.

"No I've been in this tub the whole time, but I did hear someone running towards Ariana's room" he said calmly and that said Marlene ran out of the room closing the door behind her. As soon as the door closed Ariana shot her head out of the water gasping for air.

"Thank-you, you're a life saver, and by the way you should get out your feet are going pruney" she said still sitting in the bath.

"Hey you said you would keep your eyes closed" Cloud said pulling all the bubbles towards himself to cover up

"Relax, okay I was only joking" she said laughing

"Ow, not so loud ok" he said grabbing his head, obviously he was still recovering from the night before

"You know what you need? You need one of my sure fire hangover home remedies" Ariana said reaching out of the bath and lifting one of the floor tiles next to it, revealing that it had been dug out and housed four bottles of beer. Ariana grabbed two of the bottles and handed one to Cloud, he just looked at her.

"You can't be serious?" he said disbelievingly.

"Ahh ye of little faith" she said shaking her head "just try it, trust me it works, how do you think I recovered from my old friend Absinthe?"

"Yeah that along with the half bottle of aspirine you downed" he said irritably

"Oh yes I thought I forgot something" she then reached down to the tile next to the one filled with now only two bottles of beer and lifted it to show it had also been dug out but this one was filled with pain killers. "What did you have last night?"

"Um….Jack Daniels" he said confused as to why it mattered what he had to drink last night. Ariana then started to rummage around the hole until she came to the pack that she wanted.

"Ahh, here we are" she said throwing Cloud the pack which he caught in his free hand "have about three of those, and that should set you right" she said putting the tiles back over the hidden stashes.

"Right" he said skeptically "here hold this will you?" he then handed her his bottle of beer while he got three of the pain killers out of the packet and put them in his mouth, Ariana had already opened his beer for him and handed it back so he could swallow the pills.

They continued talking until they had finished their beers, once finished Ariana got out of the bath tub and went to get a towel. After she got her towel she went into her room to get changed. Hopefully Tifa will be up now she thought as she made her way down to the bar drying her hair. When she got to the bar she found Tifa in her usual spot (behind the bar), she walked up to Tifa, "Tifa we need to talk" said Ariana seriously for once in her life.

"Oh no, nothing ever comes good after those words" she said concern hiding behind her eyes, by this time Cloud had come into the bar, "Cloud I need you take over for a while" Cloud looking curious walked behind the bar, ready to serve any potential customers. Meanwhile Ariana and Tifa walked into the kitchen.

"What is it?" asked Tifa the concern more prominent in her eyes and now showing in her voice by the look of sadness on Ariana's face, "what's wrong?"

"I have to leave soon, the kids in my village could be getting worse and I have nothing else left to do here" Ariana's eyes were now welling up with tears "here take this" she said handing Tifa the tips she had got while she was helping out in the bar "it's to cover all the money I cost you while I stayed here" Ariana was almost fully in tears now.

"Don't be stupid" said Tifa handing the money back to Ariana "you've brought in enough money with the amount of drinks you consume and pay for, not to mention the amount of customers you bring in with your drinking games, business has never been better" said Tifa in tears.

While Ariana and Tifa were continuing to argue about the money, Cloud was stuck deep in thought as the bar was completely empty, apart from one old regular.

What is this feeling I always get whenever I see Ariana now? Ever since that day in the church, I just can't figure out what it is.

Its called love, why can't you admit it, this time it wasn't Zack's voice but his own conscience talking back to him.

I don't love her… do I?

Yes you do, this time it was Zack's voice.

What?

I do a pretty good impression of your conscience don't I? Listen before you shut me out of your mind again, if you do feel this way, which you do, you have to tell her before it's too late.

And what makes you certain I do. And what does 'before it's too late' supposed to mean?

You're smart you can figure it out for your self.

A.N: hope you liked don't forget to R&R