Disclaimer: OMG I forgot this on my last chapter! Will the vultures of copyright descend upon me? I highly doubt it. As always, nope, don't own anything, fanwork, not making a profit here.

Chapter 8

"We really need to make this place more accessible to the disabled." Tifa pointed out as Cloud carried her up the stairs to the bar. "I think this might be a health code violation or something…" She could walk okay, as long as she used a cane, but the doctor had said she wasn't supposed to exert herself, so when Cloud had offered to carry her, she'd accepted.

"Who needs ramps when you have me?" He didn't seem to have any trouble managing her and the stairs, and she shrugged.

"It would be a new dimension for Strife Delivery Service." She teased. "But somehow I don't imagine all my customers would enjoy being your damsel in distress." They had reached the top of the stairs, but he didn't bother putting her down, instead carrying her through the bar to their apartment.

"Why wouldn't they? You like it just fine."

"Yeah, but I'm a sucker for a pretty face." Cloud scrunched up his pretty face at that, giving her a dirty look.

"I'm not pretty." He said flatly.

"Are you kidding? You're like, the prettiest person I know. You're prettier than I am!" She told him, smiling, teasing him, but it was true. "Remember Don Corneo? He chose y-"

"TIFA." He said in a warning tone as they approached her bedroom, but Tifa just chuckled before she continued,

"-you over me, and Aeris! And your disguise wasn't even that good!" Seeing Cloud turn up in a dress at the Don's place had probably been one of the best moments in Tifa's life. He'd made a very convincing woman, despite what she said about his disguise.

"You don't even know the things I had to do for that get-up." Tifa blinked, she never did ask about that. She figured he just paid for it. He set her down on the bed, and she looked up into his eyes.

"Surely it can't have been anything worse than wearing it?" She asked, genuinely curious, but at that Cloud seemed to realize that he'd said too much, and he turned to leave. Was he blushing? She reached out for his hand, grabbing him by the wrist and pulling him back. "Now you HAVE to tell me! Cloud Strife!"

"I don't have to tell you anything. I only did it to save you from the creep!" Now he was pouting. Tifa bit her lip to keep from laughing, but refused to relinquish her hold on his hand.

"Aw, poor Cloudy." She patted the back of his hand. She hadn't really been in need of saving at the time; Don Corneo was a creep, but she could've handled him, or else she wouldn't have gone in on her own in the first place. But Cloud didn't know that, and he'd rushed in to save her anyways. "I'm sure the Don was really just a closet homosexual, and that's why he chose you." That seemed to placate him, and he sat down next to her on the bed.

"It was all her idea, you know." He admitted, and Tifa knew just who he meant. "Aeris." He murmured her name anyways, and a bittersweet smile came to Tifa's lips. She gave his hand a reassuring squeeze that he returned.

"I figured you wouldn't come up with that on your own. I bet she bullied you into it, too." She teased. "I bet you just wanted to break down the door, buster sword in hand and tear the place up."

"I could have. I was just worried you guys might get hurt if I did it that way." He answered, still a little defensive. "I couldn't believe it when he chose me…especially after I saw you in that dress." He grinned, and Tifa laughed a bit.

"Well, I did work pretty hard getting myself dolled up, you know. I wore heels and everything."

"Yeah, I remember." He said with some relish, glancing at her out of the corner of his eye. "You got pretty dolled up the other night, too."

"Well, it was a date…" she pointed out, her expression falling a bit, she brushed her hair back behind her ear as she wondered where he was going with this.

"And he came to the bar to see you." Tifa nodded, not sure what else to say. "He didn't leave at close."

"He was just helping me close up." She told him, suddenly aware that she was still hanging onto Cloud's hand.

"And then he was going to go home?" Yes, he was going to, she almost answered, but she didn't like this, this being interrogated.

"Maybe." He was looking right at her now, and his expression darkened and he frowned at her. "Why did you kiss me?" He rose an eyebrow, then scoffed, pulling his hand free of hers.

"Isn't it obvious?" He stood up, and Tifa frowned.

"It isn't! It is not obvious, Cloud! Not to me!" She protested, and he turned back towards her, a pained expression on his face. "Why?" She insisted again, getting to her feet because she didn't like having him so far above her, holding her weight a little awkwardly on her good leg.

"Because…I didn't want some other guy to kiss you." Tifa's eyes narrowed, so he just didn't want her to be happy? He must've noticed her expression, because he rolled his eyes again, scoffing. "Not like that. I don't want you to date other people because I want you to be with me."

Tifa watched his expression while he spoke, and he didn't look away. He wasn't lying. "I didn't think you felt that way about me."

"Come on, I've been in love with you since we were seven." He rolled his eyes at her, and she was confused. "You never noticed me, but I noticed you. Everyone did, it was impossible not to." She had been popular…but Cloud always just acted like he hated everyone. "Why do you think I made you come up to the water tower that night? Made you that promise?"

Tifa looked down and smiled. He promised to come back and save her if she needed him. Be her knight in shining armor, her hero. Her very own SOLDIER. That was the first time she really noticed Cloud. "I thought you were in love with Aeris." She looked up, her smile faltering.

"It was never like that with us…she was in love with somebody else, too." He explained with a shrug. "Besides, even if I did, you were right. I don't want a memory instead of you." During their time with Avalanche, Tifa had developed such strong feelings for him, but everything was so cluttered, with saving the world and all. When things had calmed down, he went on the road, and while she waited for him to sort things out, she'd come to realize that he might never get over Aeris. Even if he did…what was to say that he would ever return her feelings?

Two months ago, she'd thought things might finally change, after he seemed to come to terms with what had happened with Aeris. He finally seemed to be moving on, but then he'd left again. And Tifa had gotten on with her life. She didn't want to spend another two years pining for a man who didn't want her. "Why did you leave?" She asked quietly, her eyes imploring. "I asked you to choose between us and a memory. You said us…and then you left again."

Cloud stared at her for a moment before he answered. "I had some things to finish up. It took longer than I thought. But Tifa…I'm not leaving again. The whole time I was gone, I just kept thinking about you and the kids. About being a family…a proper family, finally."

Tifa stared up at him for a moment uncertainly. "You can't leave again. Not for very long, at least. Take jobs in and around Edge. And when you're gone you have to answer your phone! Every time." A smile started to form on his lips, and he moved closer. "Hey! None of that, either. You want a proper family, you have to do it properly. You can take me out on a date. No more stealing kisses!" Cloud chuckled, shaking his head, and took a step backwards, to show his compliance to her terms.

"No more kissing other guys, too." He added his own terms to her list, and she nodded in agreement. Calden couldn't even hold his liquor, after all.

"We shouldn't tell the kids yet. In case it doesn't work out, I don't want to get their hopes up."

Cloud shook his head slowly, but he was still smiling. "Already planning for failure? All right, we'll do it your way, but you don't have to worry so much. This is gonna work." Tifa smiled a little bit at his confidence, she wanted to believe him. "Aren't you usually the optimistic one? Have a little faith."

"I always have faith in you, Cloud."

Cloud wanted to go out that very night –it wasn't like she was going to be opening the bar, after all—but Tifa insisted that she still felt kind of lightheaded from the blood loss. She'd gone home against the doctor's orders, they'd wanted her to stay another day for 'observation', but she didn't like the idea of being watched like a guinea pig. Besides, it was true she'd had worse injuries…the doctors had all been very impressed by the long, jagged scar that stretched from just beneath her navel to nearly the top of her shoulder, from where Sephiroth had nearly run her through all those years ago. She'd survived that, she could handle this.

Instead, she spent a quiet night curled up on the couch with Denzel under one arm, watching an old horror movie on TV while Cloud and Marlene flicked through a motorcycle magazine, picking out the bits they were going to use to build her dream bike once she was old enough.

Things were peaceful, aside from Tifa's occasional yelps when something jumped out onscreen, or Denzel's complaints when Tifa clamped her hand over his eyes at what he deemed 'the best parts'. Until there was the loud bang of the door crashing open from downstairs, and Cloud was immediately on his feet, grabbing the sword he'd elected to keep close by in case anything else showed up. Tifa was up nearly as fast, before she was reminded by the shooting pains up and down her leg that she wasn't necessarily at her best. She clutched the couch for support, refusing to sit down when there was potential danger afoot.

She needn't have worried.

"WHAT THE $%&% HAPPENED HERE? SPIIIIKEY!" The booming voice echoed through the apartment, and before Cloud even had a chance to lower his sword, Marlene had jumped up in delight.

"Daddy!" She exclaimed, rushing down the hallway with no small amount of enthusiasm. Cloud put down his weapon before he followed, and by the time Tifa had grabbed her cane, they had already made their way into the living room, Marlene perched up on Barrett's wide shoulders.

"Tifa! What happened dow-wwwwWHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR LEG, WOMAN?" She looked down, and the shorts she was wearing did nothing to cover up the thick bandages covering her thigh.

"Same thing as happened downstairs. We got attacked by these strange creatures…they must've wandered up from the depths of the ruins, or the wastelands, or something." She shrugged, they weren't really sure where the creatures had come from, but at least now they knew what to do about them. "I'm fine, really!"

"SPIKEY, WHAT THE HELL IS THIS? You're supposed to be protectin' her, dammit man!" Cloud was probably lucky Barrett was using his only hand to hold Marlene up on his shoulders, or he'd probably have gotten hit.

"It wasn't his fault, and I've told you before, I don't need protecting." She reasoned, sitting back down on the couch. Barrett took a seat in an armchair, and Cloud perched on the arm of the couch next to Tifa. Once they'd finished reassuring Barrett things were fine, he told them about his latest surveys. Tifa didn't realize how late it was getting until she felt Denzel drooping against her arm.

"Oh, Barrett…we moved Denzel into your old room, when you said you were going to be gone a while longer." Tifa frowned, Denzel and Marlene used to share a room, but once he'd recovered from his geostigma, they'd thought it might be good to let the kids have their own space.

"No worries, Teef. Barrett can have my room, I'll just sleep with you." Cloud grinned, winking at her, and she rolled her eyes, very much aware from the explosion of rage that followed that he was only doing it to wind Barrett up. He was still pretty protective of Tifa.

Once Barrett had stopped yelling and trying to throw Cloud out a window, Tifa decided to clear things up. "I'll sleep in Marlene's room, Barrett can have mine until we can move things around." That seemed to satisfy everyone, with Marlene going on about how it would be just like a slumber party! Tifa wondered if she'd be able to escape without getting her nails painted florescent pink.

She brushed her teeth and was just on her way to the little girl's bedroom when she noticed Cloud was leaning in the doorway to his own room, watching her go by. She paused in front of him, wondering what he was up to. He leaned forward to whisper in her ear, "you know, if she wiggles around too much, you can always come join me." She gave him a stern look before she continued on into Marlene's room.

Marlene had slept with Tifa before, although usually, it was when the little girl was scared or lonely, and usually, they were in Tifa's larger bed. Tonight, Marlene just seemed to psyched up to go to sleep, what with her dad coming home, and her 'slumber party', she just kept chattering on.

"Marlene…you need to go to sleep. You have school in the morning, sweetie." Tifa reminded her, but even once she was fast asleep, she kept kicking her little feet around, like she was still playing in her dreams. After a kick that nearly connected with her injury, Tifa decided to cut her losses and go sleep on the couch. Quietly, she slipped out of bed and headed down the hall…only to pause outside Cloud's open door. She bit her lip, fighting back the temptation...and losing.

Silently, she closed the door behind her, then blinked to adjust to the darkness. The window was open, so a bit of streetlight trickled in, enough for her to make out the shape of Cloud's bed, and Cloud sprawled out on top of it. She hoped he'd be better company than Marlene had been, leaning over the bed and then poking him in the shoulder. "Cloud?" She whispered, tilting her head to the side. He opened his eyes slowly, smiled stupidly, then reached out to pull her down to him. She lost her balance and fell on top of him, but he hardly seemed to mind, flipping her over onto her back, he kissed her. She turned her head away, pushing on his shoulder. "I said no more stealing kisses!" She hissed, although her voice lacked any real fury. Cloud blinked, seemingly confused, before he clued in.

"You mean this is real?" He leaned back, giving her some room to breathe, as he seemed to wake up. "I thought I was dreaming." Then he grinned. "So you couldn't resist, huh?" Tifa pushed his forehead back, but he was still grinning.

"Shut up. We're only going to sleep!" She insisted, and Cloud nodded, but he was still grinning like an idiot.

A/N: Okay, so I have a...loose idea of where this is going, but for the most part, it's just gratuitous Cloti. I haven't played FFVII for a long time here...did I get everything all right?