A/N: Since I got to know about the confusion in the main plot's time line by now, I'll attempt to clear up the chronological order of events. The story takes place after 1 week of Advent Children, the pool scene. The first chapter features the morning after a week has gone by. It is Sunday and round about 7 am in the morning. The second chapter features that same morning, with Cloud in the shower, the third takes place after the shower, same day; fourth is the afternoon to that day, when Cloud tells Tifa about his decision; fifth when they return home after their trip. The sixth and seventh chapter tell us about the breakfast and dinner scene at the bar for the next day. They were written to give you guys the average scene at meals for the household.
Chapter 8: Hurry Up!
"Ca-loud! Hurry up! Or all the fresh stuff in the bakery section will be gone," shouted Marlene from the corner of their street where she was hopping with Denzel for larks while the family were on their way to a hyper-store for monthly grocery shopping.
"You go and secure it for us Marlene, we'll be just there," Tifa shouted in response with a grin on her face. She knew it would take them more time as Cloud was looking for ideas to fit all of them and their groceries on the way back on Fenrir.
"If only both of us were going Tifa. You had to get the children excited for this," Cloud muttered. Yes, if only she had not decided to take the kids with her, they might have gone off somewhere else on the way back too. And why was she grinning about him working. It was hot for February granted but it wasn't hot enough for her to go insane. Nobody would laugh at a person working under the heat for the past 20 minutes.
"We always shop together Cloud. Since you are living with us, you have to deal with these two now."
"Yeah, yeah … I don't really think I can make any adjustments on Fenrir to fit us all, we'll have to walk. We need a new form of transport … You know for any time we plan to go for a trip and have-"
"Bigger fish to fry Cloud," Tifa said in a sing song voice as she put her hand on his shoulder and urged him to stand up and move.
"Yeah bigger fish to fry," he sighed and mumbled as he got up still wondering about her cheerful disposition in their particular circumstances and moved to join the kids. It was a blessing that the hyper-store was not that far away from the bar or he would have been beat by the end of it.
It had been a month or so since he had moved in with everybody and life was pleasant to say the least. He woke up to the voice of the kids and Tifa talking while eating or preparing breakfast while discussing anything of interest. Marlene was interested in knowing about how Tifa cooked whatever she did while Denzel used to ask her about monsters and create a diary on them, like a bestiary of some sorts.
Whenever he came home at night, he'd find Tifa up and waiting for him and they'd have dinner together by the window sill, it had become one of their favourite spot pretty soon, that and the couch in Tifa's bedroom. Somehow, they both never felt the need to talk excessively at these times and both enjoyed the comfort of each other's company. At times he'd work late after dinner and sleep at his desk in the office while working on his maps. On such occasions, he'd wake up in the mornings to find himself lying on his bed with a blanket tucked around him, courtesy of Tifa. At other times, he'd take a day off and then sleep till late and then help Tifa at the bar with serving or spend time with the kids.
All in all, he had gotten pretty used to this life with them. However, this would be the first of his trips to a mart or hyper-store with them to buy groceries and other stuff for the household and not the bar. To say that he was looking forward to it would be an overstatement but the opposite was true too if somebody said that he was not interested in it. He was just happy to be a part of that too, so when Tifa snapped her fingers in front of his eyes, he realised that he had zoned off while walking.
"Sorry," he mumbled shrugging slightly as he took the trolley from Tifa and decided to walk with her, the two kids nearly jumping around in the front shouting about what they wanted. Since he earned well enough from the deliveries and the monster loot, they could live off pretty well to afford all that the kids demanded or had whims of and since Cloud refused to use Tifa's money for the running of the house, Tifa always had enough cash to look after the other departments of the house for them, like buying of clothes, or looking after the daily fruit and dietary needs of the kids. It was a good setup in a lot of ways.
"Tifa! I need a new toothbrush!" shouted Denzel as they moved across the personal hygiene section while throwing soaps and shampoos in the cart.
"Denzel, make sure that the soaps are anti-bacterial."
"Of course Cloud," Denzel replied shortly, rolling his eyes. Honestly Cloud was underestimating his shopping abilities. He had after all done all of this before with Tifa but since Cloud didn't know that, Denzel just decided to go along with whatever he said.
In the foods and beverages section, all Cloud could do was follow Tifa in amazement as she put stuff in the cart as if on automatic. She knew what to get, how much and of which brand as she shopped for the different types of pasta, sauces, lentils, flours etc. all the while keeping her eyes on any stray item the kids put in too.
'Okay we're done," she announced 30 minutes or so later going over the items in their trolley. "All we need now is to have them packed and paid for and have it delivered to the bar. It's free of cost within the city," she added grinning.
"What the? Couldn't you tell that to me before we were setting out Tifa," Cloud asked her, flabbergasted, his eyes open in shock. He had spent half an hour in the heat trying to think of a way to make Fenrir adjust them and their stuff and she had not bothered to say that then while preferring to stand and grin at him or call him in sing-song voices. "Oh god Tifa! I spent a good time thinking of adjustments for you guys. Why? Why?" Cloud intoned in a tired voice, rubbing his face.
"You didn't ask any such thing from me," replied Tifa with an innocent look.
Cloud glared at her while she just grinned at him and taking his hand, guided him out of the store. "Since we have time before we head back home, let's do some other shopping guys," she added still grinning.
The kids and their guardians made their way to a clothing store. Tifa was thinking about getting started on shopping for their summer clothes so what time better than this when she had them handy to check a few sizes too. While walking towards the store, she realised that she was still holding Cloud's hand (who was also in very much shock at this) and so let go of it lightly, thinking that to be a very typical way to walk with someone whom you are committed. Just so that he would not find it awkward, she gave him a smile and then moved ahead.
Cloud who was previously in shock at her actions since morning just stared at her and moved on. He was pretty sure of it now that Tifa had lost her mind … or at least the logical part of it … or she must be going through that time … or she is feverish. Any one of those possibilities made perfect sense to him since she was normally a very easy to understand person. Deciding to forget her previous antics, he ventured a simple question, "So any particular thing you want to shop for at the moment? Or is it just window shopping?"
"We're shopping for clothes Cloud, look at the shops around you," she stated as if telling a three year old about how to pull up their pants.
"Right, well, I did notice that," was Cloud's mumble as he thought about how she just made him feel like a toddler. What is wrong with her today, Cloud thought, it's like talking to a different person every time you speak to her.
"I decided to start up on summer clothes for all of you since we have time today," she explained as they turned a corner and flashed a smile at her companion (who was baffled by now at the sudden change in tone and on his wit's end), "I thought that you could try sizes for me today so that I have an idea of what to buy whenever I get a chance to go out since we won't have an opportunity like this for a month now."
"Oh, that makes sense. So whose are we shopping for first?" Now this made sense to Cloud for this was what Tifa was normally like. There was comfort in predictability and knowing.
"Well, there is a Men's Store up ahead so why not try for you and Denzel. If we don't get the chance today, Marlene and I can go along next weekend for our stuff."
"Sure," replied Cloud with a smile. He was feeling a lot better now at her answers so went along with whatever she was now saying.
As they entered the store, Tifa went towards the racks to look for shirts for Cloud while he just stood in a corner waiting for further instructions. It wasn't like he didn't want to shop, he just trusted Tifa's judgment in the clothes she'd buy for him. After all, their family was very well dressed especially the kids. While he was standing, he happened to listen to a couple of ladies talking while shopping. Now, it wasn't in his nature to eavesdrop but the subject of their discussion were Denzel and Marlene so he couldn't help it.
"The boy looks just like his father, they even have the same hair and face angles. But the girl looks odd, neither like her mother or father," said Lady Number One to which Lady Number Two had to respond with her theory obviously.
"Maybe she takes a liking to any of the aunts or uncles. I've heard it is pretty common for the first born daughter to look more like her aunt than either the mother or father."
"Really? Where did you come across with that piece of information?" asked Lady One.
"Oh just hearsay from the old people in various families. She looks awfully young to be the mother of two kids though," Lady Two replied with a shrug.
The talk naturally kept going on but Cloud was too shocked to pay any attention to his surroundings. These are not our kids! And Marlene does not take after any of her aunt or uncle, hell Marlene didn't even have an aunt or uncle as both of her parents were single kids, Cloud thought as he pondered over the conversation, and did I just refer to Tifa and myself as Marlene's parents, he added as an afterthought. Man I need air! Tifa and I have not sired any kids until now. Wait! Why am I still thinking of Tifa and kids and myself and us. Oh Cloud, just stop thinking and find something to do. Something useful to divert your attention. With these thoughts going through the blonde warrior's head, he failed to notice Tifa calling him to check out a couple of shirts and so was brought back to reality when she waved a couple of them right in front of his face while poking him in the shoulder with her other hand calling out "Earth to Cloud," in good humour.
"Hey! Sorry I was distracted," he replied a little unnaturally and then added after glancing at the shirts, "These shirts? Yeah these are good. So we need any more or are we good to go?"
"Hmmm … no … we are good for now," Tifa added slightly pondering over Cloud's response. He seemed like he was having an internal debate on something so decided to come later for further shopping. "Let's get these accounted for and then we'll go home, okay?"
"Yeah," Cloud replied briefly as he made his way to the counter. He was thinking of paying for them when he noticed that Tifa already had the cash out. Just as he reached the counter he heard the cashier ask Tifa about who to address the receipt to and if they wanted to open a shopping account here for their special offers adding under which name if they did agree on that. Thinking for just a second in his mind, he responded to him, "Yeah, you may open it. The name is Strife. S-T-R-I-F-E," and with that he put his hand on the small of Tifa's back and guided her out calling behind him, "Let's go Denzel, Marlene."
"Cloud? What was all of that about," asked a very confused Tifa after being led out onto the street. She had not seen what happened coming any time soon and was looking for a justification to Cloud's acting that way.
"Well, you may want to shop here again so I decided why not open it in any case," he replied without shedding any light on why he chose his name. He had no intention of explaining that and so just moved on with the kids leaving Tifa standing there confused. "Hurry up Tifa! The last one home will have to cook dinner for the rest of us," he added turning around and smirking.
Tifa scoffed as she replied, "Ahan … as if I am the one on rest the entire week and you guys are cooking day in and day out," and moved to join the others while the people on the streets just saw the brief altercation between the young couple and smiled at their retreating form.
A/N II: Thank you for the review on Chapter 7, it really helped to be honest. I hope to improve with every update. Sorry if I tend to disappoint you guys. There were two grammatical and 1 spelling mistake in the last chapter which I corrected on my copy but couldn't find on the one I uploaded in the Doc Manager. I'll try to be more careful now! As always review please! Much thanks to slightlyroxy and frosterd and all those guests who take out time to review (^.^)