A/N: Wow, I'm really glad that this story is getting such a positive response! I've been trying to come up with a set shcedule to update this story, but it's sort of hard to predict the future. But, I will say that Chapter 6 will be posted on Monday. Up next is chapter 5, and I hope you enjoy it.
Chapter 5
Tifa Lockhart hummed to herself as she cut the last sandwich in half and then put it on the plate with the other eleven sandwiches. It was still a few minutes before Denzel and Marlene got home for their lunch break, but Tifa always liked having everything ready for them. She took the plate of sandwiches over to the table and then placed smaller plates around at every chair: one for Denzel, one for Marlene, one for herself, one for Barret, one for Shelke, and the last for Cloud. It used to be that she would have apprehensions about putting a plate down for Cloud, since he would sometimes not show up when he said he would, but he did say that he would be here, and Tifa liked to think that he had changed.
She then went to the bar area and pulled several glasses out of the counter, and began to fill them with what she knew each person liked to drink. Both Denzel and Marlene liked to drink a mix of orange and pineapple juice, so she filled two glasses with ice and poured in the juice from a pitcher that she kept in an ice box. Barret liked to drink a beer for lunch, but since Tifa thought it was too early for that, she poured him a glass of milk instead. Tifa liked iced tea with a squeeze of orange, so she poured herself a glass and then looked towards Shelke, who was sitting at the table nearest the window working on her laptop computer.
"Shelke, what do you want to drink for lunch?" Shelke's deep ocean blue colored eyes looked at Tifa and she lightly shrugged. Shelke was the only non-consistent person living in the household; she liked to try something new almost everyday.
"I'll try a Cherry Cola, if it is any good," Shelke said. Tifa smiled and nodded as she filled a glass with cherry syrup and topped it off with cola.
"It's good, one of Marlene's favorites. It has a lot of sugar though, so I have to limit her to just a few." Tifa then filled another glass with ice water, Cloud's preferred drink with a meal. Though it was plain and simple, it was one of the many quarks about Cloud that Tifa liked. Just like how he liked his sandwiches to have the crust cut off. Tifa was about to place the glasses on a tray when the usual clatter of midday programming on the television abruptly stopped and was replaced by the urgent sounding music of a news flash.
"We now interrupt your usually scheduled program to bring you this message from Commissioner Tuesti."
"Thank you, Ladies and Gentlemen of the Press, and everyone watching around the world. As you have undoubtedly heard, the city of Junon is becoming a breeding ground of unrest and violence at the hand of the group who call themselves the Returners. All peaceful and diplomatic attempts at reasoning with this group have proven ineffective, though I will not give up on the hope that a peaceful solution can be attained. But for the safety of the citizens of Junon, I am ordering an evacuation effort that will commence immediately. All citizens that wish to evacuate for their own safety can do so under the safety of the WRO armed forces. As for those members of the Returners that wish to stay, I hope that a peaceful solution to our problems can be reached. I thank you all for listening, and have a good day."
"Well, there you have it, ladies and gentlemen. Commissioner Reeve Tuesti has given the order to evacuate all civilians for their own security. What does this action do towards reaching a peace with the Returners? Will it make them realize that Tuesti and the WRO are willing to negotiate, or will it only steel the Returners resolve and add more fuel to their anti-WRO fire? We now go to our panel of expert for their assessment…"
Tifa turned the television off, not wanting it's serious overtones to effect their lunchtime, and then placed the drinks on the tray. As Tifa brought the tray of drinks over to the table, Barret entered the front door with the two kids.
"Hey, Mama, you got lunch ready all ready?" Barret said as he rubbed his left hand against his metallic right one. Both Denzel and Marlene ran over to Tifa, gave her a hug, and then sat down by their drinks. Shelke closed her laptop and then came over, sitting besides Denzel and sipped her Cherry Cola. After she decided that she liked it, she took another sip and smiled. Barret plopped down into his chair, kicked his feet up onto the next chair that was meant for Cloud, and picked up his glass of milk with a look of disgust.
"Hey, what is this?" Both Tifa and Marlene shared a wink and then let out a laugh.
"It's milk, it's better for you," Tifa said as she sat down.
"Yea, it's better for ya!" Marlene said as she smiled widely at her father. Barret grumbled to himself, but drank from the glass anyway. Tifa waited a minute before she started to pass out the sandwiches to give time for Cloud to show up. But after two minutes, and having to refill Barret's milk, she sighed and began to pass out the sandwich halves. Both Denzel and Marlene looked at each other and knew that Tifa was about to become upset, but as if he were right on cue, they all heard the familiar sound of Cloud's motorcycle pull up and stop outside. Sure enough, Cloud entered and gave a light smile to everyone.
"Cloud!" both Denzel and Marlene yelled as they jumped from their seats and ran to him. Cloud had to quickly brace himself when Marlene jumped at him, and he then picked her up.
"Ooph, Marlene, you're getting too big to pick up," Cloud said with a joking grin. He then grabbed Denzel with his free arm and ruffled his hair. "How've you been doing in school?"
"Okay, I guess," Denzel said as he shrugged his shoulders. Cloud himself couldn't say anything, after all when he was in school he did about average; Tifa was the one who always got high-grade marks. Cloud put Marlene down and they went over to the table.
"Hey Spikey! You forget we eat lunch at noon here?" Barret said as he took his feet off of the chair with a motion that kicked it away from the table enough for Cloud to sit down. Cloud shrugged and nodded hello to Shelke, who nodded back in return. Tifa gave Cloud a loving smile, and Cloud briefly took her hand and gave it a firm squeeze before he sat down. Cloud's inability to show affection in front of others was another quark of his that Tifa found cute.
As Cloud helped pass the sandwiches around, he apologized for being late.
"Sorry I'm late, but I had to stop and see Reeve about something." When he said this, Tifa looked up briefly but then went back to handing out the sandwiches.
"What that ol' bastard want to see you 'bout?" Barret said with his mouth full of food. Cloud paused as he was about to take a bite from his sandwich and saw that everyone was looking at him. He let out a sigh and lightly shrugged his shoulders.
"He wanted to offer me a job," Cloud said and then took a bite out of his sandwich. Barret was still not content with Cloud's answer and probed on.
"A job 'bout what?" But before Cloud could respond, Tifa cleared her throat and looked at Denzel.
"So Denzel, you remember that Nanaki is going to get her today and help you with your English paper, right?" Before Barret could but in and ask why she had interrupted his and Cloud's conversation, she gave him a quick kick under the table to keep him silent. Barret swallowed a full mouthful of his sandwich at the kick, and coughed as he rubbed his shin. He was going to protest, but the sharp look she gave him kept it to himself.
The rest of their meal was filled with light conversation and when it was done, Marlene and Denzel helped out by clearing the table. When they were both out of earshot, Barret again asked Cloud what sort of job it was, but this time in a much lower voice. Cloud briefly looked at Tifa, who was leaning closer on the table, and lightly shrugged his shoulders.
"Reeve thinks that some anti-WRO group broke into a secret facility in Mideel-"
"The Mideel Data Facility," Shelke said matter-of-factly between sips of her Cherry Cola. Cloud raised an eyebrow at her and lightly nodded his head.
"Yeah. How did you know that place was there?" Shelke placed her now empty glass on the table and looked Cloud straight in the eyes.
"Deep Ground knew about a lot of things, Cloud Strife," Shelke said with a hint of regret. Cloud lightly nodded and looked away, sorry that he had made her remember the organization that she was now trying to forget.
"Well, Reeve wants me to go and check it out. The facility held all the records of the Jenova Project, and he thinks that they might somehow use that against the WRO." Barret thought about this for a moment as he flexed his metallic right hand, making the slightest sounds with the servomotors with every move.
"You need some backup on this one?" Barret said.
"No," Cloud said as he shook his head. "It shouldn't be that big of a deal. More travel time than anything else." Barret made a small sound that showed that he had lost interest and leaned back in his chair. Shelke stood from her chair and before going back to her computer, she looked Cloud directly in the eyes again.
"Be careful, Cloud Strife." Cloud nodded and then looked at Tifa, who had stood from the table but also had a small look of concern.
"What's wrong?" Cloud asked her. She seemed for a moment to be lost in a trance, but she snapped out of it and lightly shook her head.
"Oh, it's nothing. But I have this feeling that this could be something more than just what Reeve thinks it is." Cloud shrugged and took in a deep breath.
"Well, whatever it is, the pay's too good to pass up. Reeve's going to pay me 25,000 to go through with the investigation." Barret suddenly sounded interested again and sat up in his chair.
"Sheeiit, I'd train a damned monkey to ride a football if Reeve paid me that much to. Hell, with that much money you wouldn't have to take on so many jobs."
"Yeah, it would definitely make things easier around here," Cloud said as he finished his ice water. Tifa shrugged and nodded, but something about it still nagged at her.
"Well, it would. But just be careful Cloud, okay?" Cloud gave Tifa a wide smile and nodded. Tifa smiled back and then took the last four glasses off of the table and brought them to the sink. Cloud stretched his arms way above his head, and then called to Denzel.
"Hey Denzel? Would you do me a favor and fetch the maps for the Southern part of the Eastern Continent?" Denzel enthusiastically said yes and then ran up the stairs to Cloud's office. Within only a few moments, the sound of Denzel running down the stairs echoed through the bar and soon, and out of breath, he appeared and handed the rolled up map to Cloud.
Cloud thanked him and then unrolled the map. In the three years that he had been making deliveries, he had never had to go as far south as Mideel before. Slowly he traced his finger over the Zolom Expressway, which was a massive bridged freeway that expanded for nearly twenty miles across the swampy marshlands and entered into the old Mythril Mine; yet another accomplishment of the WRO Corps of Engineers. The highway exited on the other side of the mountain range and then curved past Mount Condor and continued northwest until it reached Junon. Cloud had only taken this freeway once when he had to make a delivery to Mount Condor. Normally if he wanted to go to Junon, he took the new Mythril Expressway, which went southwest from Edge past the ruins of Midgar, curved around several of the mountains, then ran along side the Junon River until it reached Junon. That same route had once been used by the transcontinental railroad during the Wutai War, but after the Sector 7 plate collapsed, the railway became useless because the station was in Sector 7.
Cloud could tell that he was going to have to take several back roads to make it to Mideel. From the Zolom Expressway, he was going to have to exit once he left the Mythril Mine and then head south. From there, there were several two-lane bridges that connected several small islands together. From there he would be on the Northern most barrier island. His map showed a bridge that crossed the Straits of Balthier, and from there he would be on the Mideel subcontinent. All in all, it would take Cloud over thirteen hours of driving, by his estimate.
After he had driven both Denzel and Marlene back to school, Cloud came back and got ready for the long road trip ahead of him. Tifa had packed him a few sandwiches, with the crust cut off, and forced him to give her a kiss, something that made him turn a deep shade of red as Barret laughed at him. Cloud then pulled his sunglasses down, made sure they were on tight by the bridge of his nose, and then spun his rear tire out in a trail of smoke as he took off.