Disclaimer: I don't own it.

Rating: T

Author Notes: Alright, looking at my last chapter, I wasn't satisfied, so I decided I needed to write another one in order to get the story really going! I'm so happy and excited how many reviews I've had already and this just makes me go squee!

Anyway . . . here's the story.

Crawling

At first she'd been happy. Ecstatic, even. But now the feeling just . . . drained away. Why or how it did, she wasn't exactly sure. Even after Cloud had apologized for not calling before and how he promised he'd make it up to her. Letting out a sigh, Tifa took a seat next to the window. Wine red eyes gazed out into the night sky, counting the stars in an attempt to forget her troubles.

Of course, that never worked, but being the hopeful girl she was, she continued counting.

"Why does it always happen this way . . . ?" She pressed her forehead against the cool glass. "When I think things are going okay, you come back . . ."

Tifa closed her eyes. No, it wasn't time to think like that. Cloud's return was going to be a good thing. A good thing. At least . . . that's what she kept telling herself over and over again until she drifted into slumber.

Snorting a bit, Loz turned over onto his side. He didn't even know how long it had been since he last shifted his position. It wasn't that the bed was uncomfortable—oh, no, it was quite the contrary. This wasn't something he was used to. He almost felt as if he was going to fall through it or something. And another thing—it was hard for him to fall asleep when he couldn't stop thinking about Tifa.

That was the really weird part.

When he was with his brothers, he thought solely of his mission. When he wasn't, he was thinking of what they were going to eat next, or what it would be like to see Mother. But now, he was thinking about . . . her. It bothered him. Whenever he tried to think of something else, everything would just lead back to her.

Take earlier, for example. Loz clearly recalled that he was thinking about what he wanted to eat the next morning. And instead of thinking about the food, his mind wandered to Tifa cooking something for him.

How did that happen?!

From there, it wandered to her smiling at him. That whole train of thought eventually lead to the one of him letting her hair slip through his fingers . . .

Enough was enough. Pulling the covers off him, Loz swiftly came to a stop in front of the door to her room. It was slightly agape, and he could hear her talking to . . . someone? Peeking in a bit, he found her staring out the window. Well, there was no one around. Was she just talking to herself, then?

"When I think things are okay, you come back . . ."

What did she mean by that? A frown crossed his face. Did she mean . . . him? Was she annoyed? Did she want him to leave? Opening his mouth to speak, Loz was tempted to call out her name. But by that point, she wasn't even looking out the window anymore. She was slouched against the wall, eyes closed. For a few good minutes he stood there, just watching her.

He was sure he could watch her forever . . .

But then that impulse came. The one that made him feel like he needed to touch her. Pushing the door open a little wider, he let himself in and moved quietly to her side. He took a little more time to look at her from this better view. After a while, though, he picked her up and placed her on the bed. Loz was pretty sure that's where she was supposed to be when she slept.

. . . Unless she wanted to sleep on that chair? 'Grr! Why does it matter?' he asked himself. Why did it matter to him what she wanted? Relinquishing a rather aggravated sigh, he took the chair and set it by her bed. Sitting down, he merely watched her the rest of the night.

Tifa didn't know how the chair got there, or how she ended up on the bed. But today Cloud was going to come back. He asked her to close the shop, and she decided to do just that. After getting herself dressed and ready, she found Loz and the kids sitting at the table with cereal.

"Tifa! Tifa!" Marlene flew out of her seat. "Is Cloud really coming back today?"

She forced a smile. "He sure is!"

"Alright!" Denzel waved a hand enthusiastically. "What are we gonna do? We heard—"

"That you and Cloud are going on a date!" the younger girl squealed, cutting in on Denzel. "Are you? Are you?" She tugged on her shirt, gazing up with curious eyes.

Tifa thought for a moment. She wasn't really sure herself if Cloud was going to keep his promise, but . . . "Why don't you ask him when he gets here?"

"I knew it! I told you!" Marlene pointed a finger and Denzel, who grinned sheepishly.

As the kids quickly finished their cereal, they pulled Tifa off, talking to rapidly for her to even understand what they were saying. But in the fray of it all, she heard Loz mutter, ". . . Date?"

It took a few hours for Cloud to call again. He said that he was on his way, and that he would be there in no time. It was getting into the afternoon, so he told Tifa to get ready and meet him at one of the restaurants. At first, this seemed too good to be true. But it was happening, alright. Marlene was making sure of it.

"Ooh! Tifa! Tifa! Wear this one! Wear this one!"

After picking out the dress Marlene said best suited her, Tifa began curling her hair. Usually, she just left it the way it was, but with all this commotion it seemed like a special occasion. From the corner of her eye, though, he could have sworn that Loz was standing there for at least 5 minutes before going off to his own business.

Around maybe 6:30, she was completely ready to go . . . and was even shoved out the door by two excited little kids.

"Have fun on your date!" Marlene called to Tifa as she stepped out. "Oh, and we want you back home by 8 o'clock, young lady!" she mocked, a toothy grin plastered onto her face.

"Yeah, yeah . . ." Tifa smiled back. Maybe this was going to be a good thing after all? Since she had no car, she had to walk to the restaurant. That was a little inconvenient, because it was getting a little chilly, and the restaurant was a few blocks away.

After passing the first few, she got a few wolf whistles and boys calling to her, but she ignored them. Past the next few, it only got colder. By the time she got there, it was definitely colder than when she left. Glancing up at the sky, Tifa could see a whole mess of dark clouds. Great, just great.

Gazing into the window, she could see that it was obviously full. Without a reservation, there would be no chance that she and Cloud would be dining there any time that night. And he still hadn't showed up.

Thirty minutes later, he still wasn't there, and the place was so crowded she was forced to stand outside in order to avoid stares from guys. Tifa swore that if she wasn't in a dress she'd kick all of their asses . . .

And just when she thought it couldn't get any worse it began to rain. This was by far one of the worst days she'd ever had. She was freezing, annoyed, and stood up by the man she thought she was in love with . . .

Tifa was about to cry when she saw someone come running toward her in the rain. Was it really Cloud?

To her surprise, it wasn't. It was Loz. With an exhausted look on his face, he handed her . . . a closed umbrella? At this, she just started laughing. She laughed even more at the confused look on his face. Obviously, he didn't know how to open it, or what it was in the first place. Unfastening the button, the umbrella unfolded, covering the two from the rain. Sure, she was already soaking wet, but hey, she wasn't complaining.

Granting him a smile, she told him:

"Thank you."

Author Notes: Yeah . . . Not sure if this chapter is really moving anything along, but . . . I'm gonna bring Cloud in during the next chapter. For real this time, promise.

But until then, I need reviews. Lots and lots of reviews yay!