Disclaimer: -insert witty comment about how FFVII could not possibly belong to me here-

Chapter 5:

Nervously, Tifa applied another layer of lipstick, only to wipe it off with a kleenex a moment later. Too dark and she'd look like a harlot. But not enough and she'd look like she didn't even care. She sighed, frustrated, and went back to worrying over her hair. She had it down, with just the ends curled, but would it be better to wear it up? She supposed fretting wasn't going to get her anywhere, and started digging through her make-up bag -tiny as it was- for her clear lip gloss. Rubbing her lips together, she smiled...that was a bit more natural. She didn't want to look like she was trying too hard, now. She checked the clock again, trying to calm herself down. God, she was acting like a high schooler! Granted, she hadn't had a real date since her high school days, but still! She couldn't tell if she was anxious or excited, but by the way she kept randomly smiling, she'd go with excited...with a hint of anxiety for flavor.

She was just putting her heels on when she heard the doorbell ring downstairs, and she swore, looking to the clock. 7:55...he was early! She nearly ran to her bedroom door, but stopped herself, deciding that she had better look composed, if nothing else...although she'd realize that didn't really matter when she pulled the door open.

"-sorry, no one by that name lives here. You must have the wrong address." Cloud's voice floated up the stairs, and she relaxed a little, wondering who it was as she started down the stairs.

"Oh, really? But she said she lived over top of this bar, Seventh Heaven, and this is the only place that looks like what she described..." Tifa blinked, pausing on the stairs to listen to that voice. That familiar voice.

"Maybe she gave you the wrong address on purpose, I don't know. I just know that what you're looking for isn't here." White hot rage flooded through her whole body as she reached the lower floor and came in view of the side door, where she could see Cloud's back, blocking the way into the house, and beyond him, she could just barely make out Calden, trying to look past him. Marlene and Denzel were poking their heads around the corner of the stairwell, presumably having been upstairs, and she heard the footsteps of the teenaged babysitter she'd hired from somewhere upstairs. Cloud wasn't even supposed to be here, and yet, there he was, trying to chase her date away.

"Cloud." Her voice was low, dangerous, and hardly above a hiss, but Cloud heard it, and looked back over his shoulder towards her, inadvertently moving his head out of the way of the very man he was trying to block, so he could see Tifa there as well.

"So...you do live here, then." He seemed relieved, and Tifa's cheeks flooded red as she came closer to the two men, Cloud now stepping back to let Calden into the house. She glared at Cloud, then smiled at Calden.

"Yes, I'm sorry about the misunderstanding. Cloud has a problem with understanding people, a kind of communication disorder." She explained away, then looked at Cloud, forcing a smile. "Do you think you could excuse us for a moment, Calden? I need to have a word with Cloud in private." She smiled apologetically, then turned around and led the way into the kitchen, not even turning back to make sure he followed...he'd better, if he knew what was good for him.

When she turned around inside the kitchen, Cloud was just closing the door behind him, looking at her defiantly. Of course he was going to be difficult. "What the hell was that?" She hissed, hands turning to fists at her sides.

"Like you said, it was a misunderstanding...I thought he said something else. Are you sure he even knows your name? Didn't sound like it." Tifa folded her arms over her chest, she could tell from the way she kept looking away, off to the side, that he was lying. And he knew she knew it.

"Like hell. Your ears work fine, and he knows my name." When he didn't say anything else, Tifa decided she ought to just continue. "Look, I know you and Barrett feel some misguided need to protect me from the men of the world, but this is taking it too far. I don't care if you hate him, who I date is my decision, and you can't just prevent me from seeing someone because you think I can't take care of myself. I'm perfectly capable of-"

"I never said you weren't." He interrupted,clearly bored of her rambling. Tifa looked at him in confusion.

"Why, then? If this isn't some stupid protective thing, what is it? Do you just have some compelling urge to prevent me from being happy? Because what, you can't be contented in wallowing in your own misery unless someone else is sharing it? What is it Cloud? Tell me!" She was angry, and confused, and he just kept looking at her with those defiant mako eyes of his, and it was making her crazy! She was about to add more to her rant about how he had communications issues and if he'd just open up she could try and help him, when suddenly he was right in front of her, with that stupid impossible speed he'd been using lately, and her body was being crushed against his, and his lips were on hers, and his hands were tangling in her hair, and all she could think of was her stupid, stupid dreams, and her hands moved without her consent, locking around his neck, and her lips opened and her eyes closed, and she rose onto her toes to bring herself closer to him, until her mind took over again and she shoved Cloud back, panting. After staring at him with incredulous eyes, she brought her right hand back, and slapped him so hard his head audibly snapped to the left, leaving a red mark on both his face and her hand. He stayed like that, unmoving, staring at the floor, and without another word, Tifa brushed by him, trying to fix her hair as she made her way back to the door, pausing in front of it to rub her lips together, hoping her lipstick wasn't noticeably smudged(even though she was sure Cloud was wearing a good portion of it by now) and tug her dress back into place, before she opened the door and stepped back into the entrance hall, smiling to find that Marlene and Denzel were talking to Calden now, stern looks on their little faces.

"-and you'd better have her home by eleven!" Marlene finished, and Denzel nodded. Calden looked at the two of them in disbelief, a smile on his face, and he nodded solemnly.

"Not that either of you will be up at that time, since bedtime is at nine, and you're not going to give the babysitter any trouble, right?" Marlene spun around in surprise, and nodded profusely. Denzel frowned.

"But you're going out, why can't we stay up just until you get home? It's not-"

"Fair, I know. But you have school in the morning, and I don't. Be good, now, and I'll get you guys a treat after school tomorrow." She smiled, and hugged Marlene and kissed the top of Denzel's head before she looked up to Calden. "Sorry about all that, shall we go?"

Calden smiled. "Certainly."

Taking a deep breath, Tifa somehow managed to keep an outward appearance of calm as she walked with Calden, but inside she was a swirling mass of confusion. Back at the house, it hadn't sunk in yet, but now, as she climbed into the passenger's side of Calden's car, she couldn't think of anything but what had happened back at the house. She nodded and smiled at Calden, making brief and positive comments about whatever he was talking about, but she couldn't focus on anything right now.

Because Cloud had kissed her.

And she'd kissed him back.

And she'd hit him really, really hard.

But most of all, she just kept thinking about how Cloud had kissed her.

Suddenly, going on this date wasn't making a lot of sense, and yet, she couldn't even think of the words she'd need to get to it.

"So, Tifa, how would you feel if we were suddenly and inexplicably transformed into a couple of cabbages?"

"Yeah, that's great, Calden." She mumbled, staring out the car window at nothing in particular, thinking about the rough feeling of Cloud's lips against hers. Right up until the car shrieked to a halt, and she was jarred to awareness. "What is it? What's wrong?" She looked around, muscles tensing, half expecting a lizard-monster to suddenly leap out of the shadows and attack. Traveling was bad for your mental health in these parts, she decided, when nothing happened.

"You are. Ever since we left the house, you've been...absent, distracted...it's like you don't even want to be here." Tifa blushed, embarrassed that he'd caught onto exactly what she was feeling, and she shook her head quickly.

"I'm really sorry, it's just that...well, I've had a bit of a...um, stressful day." She sighed, it was fine until five minutes to eight. Damn Cloud and his spikey-hair to hell.

"Does it have anything to do with that blonde guy? Umm...Cloud, was it?" Tifa sighed. Wow, he sure had a way of hitting the nail on the head.

"Well, kind of. But I really don't want to get into it now. Please, let's just go, and I'll be better, I'm sure, once I've unwound a little." She assured him as best as she could, smiling, and with a little hesitation, Calden started the car moving again, and then made polite, yet interesting, conversation until they arrived at the restaurant.

They continued like this until about halfway through appetizers, when Tifa nearly choked on a lettuce leaf as Calden spoke.

"So, you have kids." Tifa grabbed a glass of water, managing to swallow a few gulps before she blinked at Calden in surprise. "Sorry, sorry. I really didn't mean to just throw it at you...but, well, you kinda threw them at me. And I wanted to let you explain on your own, but it's kind of driving me crazy."

Tifa swallowed another gulp of water before replying. "Well...I have kids in the sense that I care about, am responsible for, and am raising Marlene and Denzel, but I'm not their mother, if that's what you're thinking. Marlene is the daughter of a friend of mine, and I look after her while he's away. Denzel on the other hand...well, his family died during the aftermath of the chaos from two years ago, and Cloud found him. He's been with us ever since." She explained, they had too much history to sum it all up in a few sentences, but she supposed that would do.

"And...what about Cloud? I'm sorry, but I really need to know...what is he to you?" Tough questions all over the place. Before tonight, she would have told him Cloud was a close friend, nothing more, without hesitation, but now...

"He's a friend." She answered, sounding certain despite the doubts that lingered still. "He helps me look after the kids, pay the bills...you don't have anything to worry about, Calden." Tifa assured him, but she wasn't entirely certain she wasn't just trying to convince herself. Could she still try to pretend she didn't feel anything for Cloud? She smiled at Calden warmly.

"That's good to know. He was kind of..."

"He's a bit overprotective. We've been through a lot together...grew up together, even!" She smiled through her interruptiong, even though she'd hardly even associated with Cloud when they were kids, it still seemed significant. Calden nodded, and dinner went on more casually. By the time they were finished, Tifa was exhausted, and Calden drove her home.

She leaned back against the door after waving good bye to Calden, and touched her lips softly, thoughtfully. Calden had walked her to her door, and he'd kissed her, but she'd hardly felt it. It was...so ordinary. Nothing like the tidal rush of emotions when Cloud had kissed her earlier. But that could just be because of how angry she'd been at Cloud when he'd kissed her. Maybe she was confusing adrenaline with passion. She shook her head, and dropped her hand, locking the door behind her as she started down the hall. She had almost reached the bottom of the stairs, when she noticed a light at the end of the hall, spilling out from the family room, and she remembered that it was probably the babysitter. She'd completely forgotten!

Digging through her purse for the few twenties she'd placed in there earlier, she entered the room. Only the lamp in the corner was turned on, and she was surprised to see not the babysitter, but Cloud, fast asleep in his favorite arm chair. Looking around, she determined that the babysitter was nowhere in the room, and curiously, she stepped forward to Cloud's chair, and didn't stop until she was right next to him. Slowly, she knelt down next to him, and after checking yet again to make sure they were alone, she brushed a strand of blonde hair from out of his face, her fingertips brushing his smooth skin ever so lightly, the motion sending tingles through her hand, and up her arm, into her chest. Unexpectedly, he moved slightly, and Tifa jumped back as though burned, as his eyes fluttered open slowly.

Sleepy eyes fixed on her, looking unaware of what was going on. "Mmm, morning, Teef." He murmured sleepily.

"Where's the babysitter?" She asked, the first words that popped into her head, and she was glad they weren't embarrassing. Cloud blinked, rubbing his eyes, and Tifa almost smiled, noticing the comparison between him and a sleepy kitten. Then she chased those thoughts away...she hadn't decided whether or not she was mad at him yet, but she was certain she didn't think he was cute. No. Certainly not.

"Oh...yeah. Job got cancelled...so I sent her home." He explained, and once he had, Tifa turned around abruptly and headed for the stairs, afraid of what she might say next if she stayed down here. Cloud seemed to wake up by the time she reached the top of the stairs, because she heard him call up the stairs after her, "hey, Tifa! I need to talk to you." And then his footsteps were on the steps.

"I'm going to bed." She reached her bedroom door by the time he bounded up onto the second floor, and somehow, she managed to ignore the pleading look in his eyes and slammed the door behind her. She sighed, half of her hoping he'd let it go, the other half oddly hopeful that he'd break down the door and make her listen. The latter part of her was disappointed when, a few seconds later, she heard another door down the hall slam shut, and she breathed a sigh of mixed relief and disappointment. At least she'd have til morning to work out how she was feeling, right?

And wouldn't it just figure that tonight, she'd dream of him.

A/N: WHAT'S THIS?! An update, just the day after the last one?! ABSURDITY! Sheer absurdity, I say!

And yet, here you have it. Go figure, eh?

Review, pleases, it makes me write faster, for srsly.