So, here comes act two! Hope you all enjoy it! Thank you all for the lovely reviews! Hope to see you on this chapter too! :D

The song is "The Only Hope For Me Is You" by My Chemical Romance!

Disclaimer: FFVII belongs to Square Enix!

Love In Four Acts

Act Two: By Her Side

Cloud woke up with the sun light shining on his face. A bit afar, he was able to hear music coming from Denzel and Marlene's room. He didn't know the song, but bit by bit he was sorting out the contents.

"How should it be?

Many years after the disasters we've seen

What have we learned?

Other than people burning in terrifying flames"

He asked himself how that song could know about his past. How could it know about the horrible things he had not only seen, but also done? How could it understand so well everything he felt so deeply on the past few years? It seemed impossible anyone but them, the ones that were with him, could understand.

But that song was singing him.

"I say it's okay

I know you can tell

Though you can see me smile

I still think of the guns they sell"

Shinra, meteor, Sephiroth, Jenova, Aerith. None of them got out of his mind. For years he had been haunted by this ever present ghosts and he was still surprised that he was able to put that all behind him. On those dark years, he doubted one day his life would be different. He doubted that he would be able to smile without remembering that, because of his lateness, Aerith was murdered by Sephiroth.

"If there's a place that I could be

Then I'd be another memory

Can I be the only hope for you

Cause you're the only hope for me

And if we can't find where we belong

We'll have to make it on our own

Face all the pain and take it out

Because the only hope me

Is you alone"

For two years he lived along with his guilt. For two years he hadn't known with which expression look into the eyes of Tifa, Marlene and Denzel and say everything was alright. Because it wasn't. He hadn't known how to deal with all that tormented his not so strong heart.

However, she saved him. Her eternal insistence, that he first ignored, was slowly infiltrating his mind, until he had no choice other than facing everything haunting him and putting an end to his needless suffering.

Undoubtedly, the extinction of geostigma was one big step not only for him, but also for Denzel – so, that made it a big deal to their whole family. He could go back home without the fear of being another burden to Tifa and Marlene. She missed her. So much.

Day after day, he noticing it or not, she healed his shattered heart. It couldn't have been different, could it? After all, she was his first and only love. She had always been his only hope. But he had never imagined that he was her only hope too. And he would have never noticed if she hadn't kissed him suddenly, on a day Marlene and Denzel were out with Barret. She had told him she was tired of waiting and that she would do something at that moment, before it was too late.

On that day, Cloud smiled. He smiled and promised himself – beginning on that same day – he would pay more attention to her, so she would never had to explain something to him as if he were a two year-old again.

He was so happy with her and he knew for a fact she was happy with him too. It couldn't be any other way – they loved each other since they were little children.

For these and so many other reasons, Cloud couldn't hear that song playing without appreciating the sight of the woman lying by his side. She was still asleep, her breathing rhythmically calm, her black hair spread all over her pillow. She looked like an angel while she slept; even the shy and reserved Cloud couldn't deny it.

Softly and slowly, he ran his fingers through the hair covering her face and put them aside, unblocking his vision of the delicate face of the strongest woman he had ever met.

With the touch, Tifa opened her eyes.

"Is it late?" she asked.

"No." he answered, not taking his fingers away from her face.

"What is this sound?"

"Must be Denzel and Marlene."

She nodded and yawned. Cloud smiled.

"Did something happen while I was sleeping?" she laughed. Even being married now, Tifa knew by experience the Strife's nature hadn't change. He was still shy and didn't talk much. Not that it bothered her.

"No." he answered, raising an eyebrow.

She laughed once again.

"Don't look at me like that. You know it's not like this every day."

Cloud smiled and hugged her. She came closer to him, molding her body comfortably to him.

"Are you alright?" she asked worriedly.

He nodded. The song awakened his sentimental side, and all he wanted was to be near her. To be sure she would always be by his side was a huge relief.

"The only hope for me

Is you

The only hope for me

Is you alone"

As soon as the song stopped, they felt a slight movement between them. Tifa put a hand on her belly and smiled, her eyes wide with surprise.

"Did you feel that?"

He nodded and put his own hand besides hers. Once more, the movement happened.

"I guess he or she is sad that the song ended." Tifa said with a small laugh.

Cloud smiled when the baby kicked his mother's belly one more time.

"Or he is just very happy and decided to show us for the first time he indeed exists."

She laughed more openly.

"Believe me, I know our baby is there. Kicking or no kicking."

Cloud smiled to her and kissed her. Yes, she had saved him, in all manners possible: taking care of him, caring about him, screaming, loving, giving him a new family – a true one.

"Do you want to get up?" he asked when their lips were apart.

"No." she meowed lazily, hugging her beloved husband. "I want to sleep some more."

He laughed and agreed. He would stay for any time she wanted, as long as he was by her side.