The next day Leon walked into the Restoration Committee headquarters to start off his day. It had been less crowded and lively without Merlin, Archimedes, Arthur and all the enchanted household appliances he took with him but he knew they would be back eventually. Right now he had more pressing matters on his mind. However one of them was not breaking up fight between the new private eye and the restoration committee pilot.

"Let me at em" Cid said as Aerith stood between the two

"I don't have time to deal with you" Eddie said as Yuffie pushed him back

"Enough" Leon called out "We have a lot to do today". Shrugging it off the two of them parted ways. Eddie went back to the table to look over the work for his current case while Cid leaned against the wall to listen to Leon.

Leon then took out a piece of paper and listed off the assignments to be done today "Alright, so today-"there suddenly came a knocking at the door and they all turned their heads to the door. "Come in" Leon said.

The door then creaked open and Tifa peaked her head through the door

"Tifa" Leon said as Eddies interest paked from the back of the room. She then walked into the room

"Hey" she greeted.

"What's up?" Yuffie asked.

"Tifa" Leon said getting her attention. He wanted to ask her about her about her current situation with money that he didn't have a chance to ask last night but he just couldn't find the right words appropriate to address this situation.

"What?" Tifa asked as Leon blankly starred at her.

He then shook his head and refocused himself "Hi" he said

"Well hello" she waved to him with a smile. Maybe things weren't as bad as he thought. But still he had to be sure

"What bring you here?" he asked

"Well.." Tifa traced her foot on the tiles on the floor "I was wondering if I could do some work for you guys?"

"Work?" Cid asked

"You mean like membership?" Yuffie asked hopping over him

"No,no" tifa put her hands up "Just uh.. just some extra money to put away" . This definitely got Leon's attention and his worries.

"I don't know? That's a pretty odd qu-"

"Sure" Leon cut Yuffie off. "You can work on a project with me in the town"

"Thanks" she nodded "When do we get started"

"Right now if you'd like" he said turning to the door.

"Wait" she said putting a hand on his shoulder and turning around "Eddie" she called out his name and the prvate eye grumbled

"What?" he asked. She then walked over to him

"How's everything going?" she whispered

Eddie rolled his shoulders and picked up a folder with all his information in it "Your guys elusive" he said reading from it "The only one who gave me useful information was you" he pointed to her "Some people said they saw him in passing. I'm gonna go talk to them today." This news upset Tida and she looked to the floor "But hey" Eddie said reasuuringly "That's only the first day. Maybe today will be better"

"Maybe" Tifa stated

"Tifa" Leon called to her "Let's go" he nodded his head towards the door. She walked over to him and they walked out of the door together.

"So.."Tifa saied as they walked through the town together "What do we have to do?" she asked as she rolled her shoulders

"For now talk"

"Huh?" she let out confused as they walked

"How are you doing?" he asked

"Doing?.. fine I guess" she shrugged

"You seem pretty blissful despite the situation you're in" he responded

"Situation?"

"Yeah you're… "Leon paused "money situation"

"What about it?" she asked

Leon looked her over "Are you playing dumb?"

"Are you calling me dumb?" she shot back in a playful manner

"Hey, I'm being serious"

"Maybe too serious" she said "Look at me, I've got problems but I don't let that get me down"

"So you're admitting something's wrong" Leon stated

Tifa then stopped and looked away from him and was silent. "Tifa" Leon put a hand don her shoulder.

"It's nothing I can't handle" she said

"And what how are gonna handle it?" Leon asked but Tifa remained silent "I already know you brought in Eddie to help dinf Cloud but I-"

"How's he fitting in?" Tifa cut him off "Are you taking care of him?"

"Oh he's fine I guess. He gets on Cid's nerves with his gruffness and vice versa but nothing too bad. Yuffie likes having someone new around and Aerith is very nice to him"

"What do you think?"

"He's done nothing to rub me the wrong way"

"Well I think he's sweet" Tifa said "Coming all the way from home just to help someone else out"

"Yeah re- That's not the point!" Leon raised his voice and Tifa flinched "Sorry" he calmed down "It's just… what did you get yourself into?"

Tifa half smirked as she looked from him to the ground and then back to him "I borrowed money from a loan shark. He's new in town."

"So is the crime rate all of a sudden. I wonder if there's a connection" Leon pondered to himself

"So I borrowed some money from him to pay Eddie to find Cloud"

"Does he know you can't afford his services without doing what you did?"

"I think if he knew he wouldn't have helped me"

"I'll have a talk to him about that" Leon said

"NO" Tifa raised her arms up to him "Don't…" she called down and put some hair behind her ear "Just let it play out the way it is. "Everything will be fine" she smiled.

"I wish I shared your optimism" Leon said. Silence overtook them again.

"So what's this job we have to do?" Tifa said clapping her hands together.

"Well uh.." Leon stammered "We have to fix one of the roofs in the boroughs" he counted on his fingers "paint another building, then-"

"Well what are we waiting for, let's go!" Tifa said as she pulled him along.

So the two of them got to work on the roof. Tifa held the ladder as Leon went up and took care of the shingles.

"You know I won't do much good from down here!" she called up "Maybe I should come up and help you"

"Not necessary" he grunted "Besides no one will hold the ladder for you"

"It wasn't that hard a climb" she said sitting next to him which caused Leon to jump back and she chuckled.

Eddie who was walking along the street looked up to see them working together and even saw Tifa laugh. Smirking at the sight of them he continued on to do his work.

The two finished up on the roof and then got paint and started painting the side of a building. They stood side by side with a bucket of green paint in-between them. They dipped their brushed and began painting in silence until Leon asked her something.

"What's his name?" she looked over to him "The loan shark. Who is he?"Tifa looked back to the wall they were painting. "Tifa" he said her name.

"She looked around with shifty eyes "Sykes" she responded.

"Sykes?" he questioned and she nodded

"He works in a building on the edge of town" she told him "Lots of security. It's hard to get into" she said softly

"Well how'd you get in?" he asked "Hoe's you meet this guy in the first place?"

Tifa looked away from him "One thing lead to another… he said he could help me"

Leon looked her over as she starred away from him. He noticed she was starting to tremble.

"Are you okay?" he asked as he put his free hand on hers and she flinched away from him. She then looked away from him. "Hey" he said rotating her face towards him "It's gonna be alright. If you need anything, just ask"

Tifa looked him over in a curious manner "Why you are so worried about what happens to me?"

Leon was shocked by the response and looked her in the eyes but waited to give her an answer. "Why not"

A smiling reforming on her face she dipped her brush in the paint bucket and began painting again as Leon continued to watch her.

"Are you just gonna stand there or are we gonna finish this thing?" she asked with a smile. Without responding he dipped his brush and continued painting. There was not much said between them for a while and in that time they managed to paint most of the wall. "Do you like green?" Tifa asked

"Huh?" Leon let out as he looked at her

"Green. Do you like the color?" she asked as she continued to paint

"I dunno. It never really crossed my mind what colors to like. I light light but I don't like darkness. That's about it for me?"

"So is that a yes?"

"I guess that would be a y-"Leon stopped mid-sentence as Tifa poked him in the face leading to a small dot of green on his cheek. He then looked to her as she hid a smile behind her brush "I'm gonna let that one go but-"she then dabbed him again on the forehead. "Alright now st-" Leon then dodged another assault from her brush. Then he picked up the paint can and chucked the paint at her. But she jumped out of the way just as the paint landed on the rest of the wall.

"Well" Tifa said looking at it "I guess were done"

The two of them then returned to the committee headquarters. It was only the two of them and Tifa stood in front of Leon who was putting together a reward for her services.

"How much do you want?" he asked

"Whatever you can spare"

"How much do you need?" he asked

Tifa went silent. Leon then handed off some money to her "Here" he said.

Tifa took it in her hand and counted it "This is too much for the amount of work I did today"

"Take it" Leon said "And you know what" he said as he picked up some more money "This half I make in a day" he held it before her but she did not take it

"Leon I can't ta-"

"I want you to take it." He said but she still did not budge. "You said everything will work itself out. This is how" he said. Think over his words Tifa then took the money.

"Thank you" she said softly

"You're welcome" he responded. The two of them then locked eyes with each other. Then taking all of the money, Tifa walked to and out of the door, closing it behind her.

Leon watched her go and let out a sigh in the silence of the room. But that silence was soon brocken as he heard clapping. He looked over ashe saw Eddie leanging against the wall clapping his hands.

"Mr. Valiant" Leon said his name "Can I help you?"

"Oh no I'm fine" Eddie said as he got off the wall and walked forward "I just don't want you messing up my business" he smirked

"And how would I do that?"

Eddie let out a chuckle "Who is this guy to her? The one I'm supposed to track down?"

"I really couldn't tell you" Leon responded

"Uh huh.."Eddie paused briefly "And what are you to her?"

"To her? Well… I guess I'm just someone she knows in her life"

Eddie nodded his head "Well" he said as he reached for his folder on the counter "I've still got a job to do and now that I don't think you'll hamper my progress, I'll be on my way" he said in almost a joking manner as he looked at Leon before reaching for the door. He then looked back to him "You know somebody should really tell that girl she's really lucky"

Leon raised an eyebrow "How?"

"To have a friend like you" Eddie said as he walked out of the door "Maybe even more than a friend" he smiled as he closed the door behind him.