Chapter III: Plans–Part I–

Three months, ninety days, that was the time they only had to come up with a suitable reason to allow the old church to remain standing. For the past week now many of those who wanted to defend the church sought ideas of their own.

Many of them suggested that the church be turned into a venue for special occasions, some said a restaurant or a museum, and that's where the argument ensued, all ideas would work…however many of them couldn't agree which would be best.

A restaurant would cost too much money, for the supplies as well as the repairs for the damages to the roof and several of the pillars.

Tifa watched from the safety of her bar as her customers, many of who were church defenders, arguing about. Moments later the bell chimed and Tifa immediately turned her head to face her new customer.

Only this time it wasn't a customer. It was Vincent.

"I've asked Reeve to buy us more time." He explained getting right to the point as Tifa walked toward the wine shelf to serve him. Her silence secretly troubled him, as she hadn't even uttered a single word since the week they'd finally given a chance to save the church once and for all, and he felt it wasn't his place to meddle.

Finally she spoke having just now realized what he said,

"What did Reeve say?"

"He agreed to give us another month. In the mean time, the construction workers will gather material from the fallen plate."

Tifa nodded her head, pleased to have heard the news. Hopefully they would be able to come up with a solution they all could agree upon. The bell chimed again and the sound of running footsteps, signaled to her that the children had returned.

She stepped out from behind the bar counter, eager to see their smiling faces as they came home,

"Did you two have fun?" She asked. Both the children answered, "Yes." And began telling her what they had done for the day. A smile slowly came to her lips as she continued on listening. The stories distracted her mind for a mere moment when the bell chimed for the third time that day.

This time it was Cloud that finally stepped inside.

"Welcome back." She greeted him as usual. He replied with a simple nod as he headed upstairs with Marlene trailing right behind him.

Tifa slowly took notice of his behaviour and thought nothing much of it. With all the tension around them, who wouldn't find it hard to speak? Let alone breath…then she remembered Vincent was still around. She turned to where he sat and saw that he'd left. Right beside the wine glass were coins that mounted up to at least seventy gil. It would appear that he didn't want the change—but that didn't mean she couldn't give it to him the next time he came.

"Tifa, have you come up with anything?"

She glanced at Denzel in complete bewilderment. "To save the church?" He added. Her mouth slowly formed into a thin line as she stared down at the bar counter. She slowly shook her head. He frowned, before she knew it a smile had already came to her lips as she assured him,

"Don't you worry, Vincent just came by and told me Reeve has given us a extra month."

"Okay…"

The day past quickly and still no one could settle on an agreement. Tomorrow was their second meeting inside the church. A soft yawn filled the room, Tifa turned her head toward the back entrance, where the stairs to the second floor stood and saw Marlene slowly walking out.

"What are you doing up?" She asked. "I couldn't sleep." Marlene replied. Tifa stopped her washing, and dried her hands with a hanging dishtowel before she walked over toward the young girl.

"And why couldn't you sleep?"

"It's different having my own room."

Tifa smiled, so that was it. She was still adjusting. Tifa took her hand and slowly led her upstairs and took her back to her room.

"You'll get use to it soon Marlene."

She stopped and noticed the light glowing from the bottom of Cloud's bedroom door.

'He hasn't slept?' She assumed as she continued taking Marlene back to her room. The young eight-year-old girl crawled into bed as Tifa stood in the doorway. Marlene tucked herself in and laid her head on her pillow.

Tifa closed the door to Marlene's room and turned around toward Cloud's bedroom. She approached the front of the door and knocked before letting herself inside.

"It's getting late." She told him.

Cloud with his back turned to her, he simply nodded. She walked up to him, curious to see what he was doing?

Her eyes peered down. These were all financial calculations. She looked at the title and saw the words, Church repair funding. Her eyes immediately widen. Cloud finally noticed her presence and turned around to see her behind him.

"What's this all about?" She asked as she picked up the piece of paper from his desk.

"I was counting how much it would cost to repair the church's roof."

Tifa slowly placed the paper back on his desk as he continued,

"I figured the repairs should be first priority." He did have a point to that.

Though Reeve was the founder of the WRO, who to many people seemed to replace Shin-Ra both in military and government powers, he wasn't the only one who made the decisions. She was sure that there were other members in his board that he'd name to be in charge of Edge-City's construction. Therefore the church's fate would be left to the vote of Deputy Heads.

"So I see…" She muttered. Cloud turned to her with bewilderment. Tifa slowly turned back to face Cloud and said,

"He never wanted to tear down the church in the first place…but knows he doesn't have any power to change that—which is why he's trying to buy us some more time."

They slowly put the pieces together and finally they had a plan. It would be hard, and three months wasn't enough time to gather the funds together…if it were just the two of them alone. But they had help. A smile came to her lips.

"I know what we can do." She had a plan.

[Author's note]

Sorry for the extremely short chapter, but this was the best I could come with for the time being. Though I don't give out details about what's going on with my life, I will tell you guys this much, I am going through minor depression again, and for those of you who believe that I am doing this to get attention. Fine, you're entitled to your own opinion.

However, I would like to let you know that, this is one of the reasons why my updates will be inconsistent once more. However I will try my best to get the next chapter up and running as soon as I can.

For those who have stuck with me through out this story, thanks for the support you guys. I'm glad that there are actual people who take their time to read my stories! :D

That's all for now folks!

Stay tune for Chapter III-Plans-Part II.

~SAga4000