Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, its characters or storyline. This collection is mine, as are McCallister and the family members mentioned in this.
I changed the style up a bit for this one. Still not completely back to full humor, but some dry chuckles snuck in there. Either way, I kinda like how it turned out. This also takes place once again in my Alliance-verse…for obvious reasons. Enjoy!
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006 – As the Years Pass
(For The Sacred and Profane; Prompt: Tifa and Squall growing old together.)
Married for 10 years
As soon as Leon saw that dark haired head and that bright green backpack, relief flooded him like a wave. Holding the phone to his ear, he fought the urge to run over to the little girl, scoop her up, and take her home immediately. But that wasn't how these matters worked.
"Found her." He told Tifa over the phone.
"Oh thank God." Tifa was still crying. "Where is she? Is she okay?"
"Just outside the bus station. I'll bring her home." He assured his wife.
His and Tifa's nine year old daughter Mikayla was sitting with her back to him, swinging her legs slightly as she read what looked like a bus schedule. Forcing away the terror that had been eating his insides for the past three hours, Leon approached her with all the nonchalance that he could muster.
"Hey." He greeted, walking up behind the bench.
The girl's head snapped around and she fixed sassy green eyes on him. "D-dad?"
Leon leaned forward, forearms on the back of the bench beside her. "What are you doing way out here by yourself? Your mom and I have been worried."
She pouted and turned back around, folding her arms. "I'm running away. You and Mom don't love me anymore. All you care about is stupid Liam. He doesn't even do anything cool."
Leon sighed. Their three year old son Liam had been hoarding all of his and Tifa's attention lately: more hospital trips and medical counseling than he ever cared to think about. He could see why Mikayla felt slighted, but it still hurt deeply that their actions had caused her to feel that way.
"Of course we still love you, Mikayla." He moved to sit next to her. She slumped in her seat to show her displeasure at the action, but didn't voice it. "It's just that your brother has been really sick lately. You know how your mom and I always take care of you when you're sick?"
Her face was getting red and he could sense tears of anger coming fast from her.
"He also needs his big sister to take care of him too." He added.
She sniffled and lifted two fists to her eyes, "Nobody needs me."
Leon couldn't take it anymore and slid his arms around her, pulling his daughter close. "Shh, don't ever, ever think that, Mikayla. We need you and love you more than you could ever imagine. I'm so sorry that you've been feeling like this." He kissed the top of her head.
"I'm sorry I tried to run away. Please don't hate me."
"Not possible, munchkin." He rubbed her back until the tears subsided. "Listen, there is nothing that you could EVER do that would EVER make us love you any less. I promise."
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Married for 20 years
"And Liam's got a double header at six o'clock tonight. I wish I could make it."
"I know, but he understands." Tifa nodded, watching Mikayla frantically packing.
"Oh, but I should be able to make Katherine's recital." Tifa's eldest daughter straightened, looking flustered, "It'll be close though, college orientation is that morning…" She bit her lip, eyes darting around, and then lunged for her weekly planner. "Maybe I could—"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Tifa grasped her eighteen year old's shoulders. "Breathe." She chuckled, "Your sister is seven years old, I'm sure there will be plenty of recitals. You, however, only get one first-move to college."
Tifa and Mikayla walked outside, where Leon was jamming the trunk of Mikayla's car shut. It looked to be no easy task, and he was almost out of breath by the time the latch clicked shut. Tifa and Mikayla both offered applause when it did, and he looked back, saw that he had an audience, and gave a little bow. Their thirteen year old son Liam did the same as he managed to cram the last of his sister's shoe collection into the passenger seat.
"I checked the oil, the engine, the tires' air pressure, and it's got a full tank." He said, tossing Mikayla the keys. "Just control your lead foot and you should be fine."
"Yes, Father." She snickered, hugging both of her parents before hopping into her car.
Tifa sniffled and Leon put an arm around her as the car backed out of the driveway.
"Call to let us know you arrived safely!" He called after her.
"You worry too much." Tifa snickered at her husband before yelling, "Don't forget!" She sighed and leaned into him. "I feel old."
Leon chuckled, "We aren't old yet."
Liam waved, his shaggy brown hair bouncing as he did so. "Don't get pulled over again!"
Both Leon and Tifa looked at him. "Again?"
Liam paused, trying to backpedal out of it. "I mean…for the first time…in ever…"
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Married for 30 years
"No." Leon said flatly. "New drivers do not get new cars. No."
Tifa was only half listening, lifting their two year old grandson David up and down in her arms. "I know." She cooed in her baby-talk voice, eyes wide at the baby. "And Katherine's not expecting a new car. Just not the Rust Bucket."
"Mikayla learned how to drive on that thing. Liam learned how to drive on that car. Kat is just going to have to pay her dues." Leon said firmly. "I don't see the problem."
"It's a death trap." Announced Katherine as their youngest daughter came into the room.
Leon looked irritated at her as the teenager took David from Tifa. The baby squealed and stuffed his fist in his mouth. Mikayla and her husband were house shopping that afternoon and had asked Tifa and Leon to watch David for them, to which they had immediately agreed.
"C'mon, Dad. Yuffie is selling her old yellow Beetle car." She pleaded.
"And that's NOT a death trap?" Leon lifted an eyebrow at her.
"At least it looks like a female should be driving it." Katherine sassed.
Leon didn't look like he was budging. His daughter lifted her nephew up, showing off those big blue eyes and pudgy cheeks. She popped her head beside David's, mimicking the puppy face and pouting her lips out. Leon remained deadpan, exchanging a look with Tifa. Tifa tilted her head and lifted her shoulders, as if to say 'might be worth looking into'.
"Pleeeease, Dad? How can you say no to this face?" Katherine looked at David.
Leon groaned and walked over, taking David from the girl. "Fine."
"Booyah!" Katherine sprang off the couch like a wind up toy.
"But you're going to have to make the down payment on that yellow monstrosity."
"Thank you!" She jumped on him, then jumped on her mother, and then bolted for the door. "LoveyouguysI', bye!"
Tifa laughed at Leon's expression and then looked at little David. "Everybody's driving. Now we're old."
Leon shook his head. "We aren't old yet."
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Married for 40 years
"Oh, I feel old." Tifa lamented, dropping her head briefly on Leon's shoulder as they danced at Liam's wedding reception.
"Now don't start that." Leon chided playfully, looking down at her graying head. "How do you think Cid feels?"
"Drunk, by the looks of it." Tifa glanced over to Cid, who was clearly trashed and telling dramatic stories—of the war, probably—to an uncomfortable looking Katherine.
"Besides, you don't look a day over 35." Leon tutted at her.
Tifa looked up at him. "I think you're off by about twenty years, there, bud."
"I would hope so, otherwise how in Kingdom Hearts do we have a 38 year old daughter, a 33 year old son, and a 27 year old for a daughter?" He teased.
David and their other grandson Alex were horsing around by the wedding party, living it up around the bridesmaids. Tifa sighed as the twelve and eight year olds were mooned over by the young friends of her new daughter-in-law.
"My legs used to be that smooth. My hair used to be that dark. My boobs used to be that perky." She looked up at Leon. "And you used to have a lot less wrinkles around the eyes."
Leon looked like he regretted nothing, "You have gray hair and I have wrinkles. It's their faults." He pointed over to their three adult children.
Tifa chuckled dryly. "Well, I guess we could forgive them for that."
Leon smiled at her and suddenly paused in their dancing to dip her in his arms. Tifa laughed happily as she held onto him, and they got a few 'oohs' from the rest of the reception.
"Dad, c'mon." Liam called him out across the dance floor, where he was dancing with his blushing bride. "You're showing me up here!"
"See?" Leon snickered at Tifa. "We're not old yet."
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Married for 50 years
"Grandpa, tell me a story."
Leon had hardly realized that the five year old girl had hopped up on his lap until she made the demand. The hospital chair was uncomfortable, so he wasn't sure how he had managed to doze off. Tifa was in the bed, dozing by the looks of it. The doctor said the chest pains weren't a heart attack, but they were still running tests to find out what had caused her to collapse.
Liam had dropped his daughter Penny by to 'keep the old man company' while Liam and Katherine talked to Aerith and Cloud in the hallway. Mikayla was on the first flight back from her traveling job after hearing what had happened. David and Alex, both in college, were driving back as well.
Wiping the sleep from his eyes, Leon shifted in his seat, moving the little girl to a more comfortable position on his lap. "Okay, kiddo." He yawned, "What kind of story?"
"The one with Miclaster and Grandma." Penny offered a smile that was missing a few teeth.
That got a tired grin out of Leon. She had never been able to pronounce McCallister's name properly.
"All right then…A long time ago, before your dad or your Aunt Mikayla and Aunt Katherine were born, there were these big, ugly monsters called Heartless." He made a claw with his hand in front of her face. She giggled and swatted it away, so he went on. "And this one time, a particularly smelly one with a big nose tried to attack McCallister. It backed her into a corner, and she was completely unarmed…But then, your brave grandma showed up—"
"And opened a royal can of butt-kicking on it." Tifa said weakly from the bed.
Both Leon and Penny immediately looked over; Leon with relief, Penny with excitement.
"Did you really, Grandma?" Penny's eyes sparkled.
Tifa shifted slowly, and Leon considered calling a nurse to check on her. "You bet I did. And that big old monster ran away, crying like a baby—"
"Haha, like a big ugly baby!" Penny cheered.
"—and he never bothered McCallister or anybody else again." Tifa finished, reaching over and patting the girl's head.
After she patted her head, Leon took her hand in his, giving her a loving squeeze. Tifa offered him a little wink as Penny hopped off his lap, declaring that she wanted to be a butt-kicker like Grandma as she bounced around the room. Tifa gave Leon a calming smile, as if to say 'it'll take more than this for you to get rid of me'. Leon returned the smile, lifting her hand to his lips and kissing her knuckles: which were both scarred from the old war and wrinkled from age.
"How about now? Are we old yet?" Whether 78 or not, the mischievous warmth in her eyes still got him every time.
Leon shook his head slowly. "Not even close."
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Married for 60 years
Their house was the quietest that it had been in their entire marriage. Mikayla, Liam, and Katherine had all grown up. David and Alex were both grown up and had their own kids. Penny was in high school, and Katherine's twins Henry and Rita were already 9 years old. Tifa's hair had all turned grey and she had put on a few pounds. Leon had a severe limp, his old wound from the war coming back like an old friend to taunt him. She had to wear a hearing aid and his eyesight had been going for years, as had his hairline. These were just those things that come with time.
"Sixty years is quite a milestone." Yuffie's oldest grandson Cale asked. Being a journalism major, the young man was eager to try out his columnist skills by writing about their long-running—and widely admired by the town—marriage on the eve of their anniversary. "How do you make a marriage last this long?"
"Patience." Tifa bobbed her head, sitting next to Leon on the loveseat. "And understanding."
"Yep." Leon agreed, "I can't tell you how much patience it takes to survive this woman's cooking." He nudged her shoulder.
Tifa huffed. "And the understanding of a saint it takes to tolerate a husband's abysmal taste in furniture."
"I'm the one with horrible taste?" Leon gawked at her, winking at Cale. "We used to have this old couch—"
"Oh not this again." Tifa smacked his knee. "I can't believe you remember that old thing."
"Remember? It used to haunt me." Leon teased.
Cale smiled at the two who were in their mid-eighties at this point. "It sounds like you two have it down to a science. Congratulations. My grandma used to tell me all sorts of stories about you two."
"Uh oh." Leon lifted his eyebrows with a grin. Tifa just giggled.
Cale jotted down a few notes. "So, really, how do you put up with each other for over 60 years?"
"Like I said." Tifa nodded sagely. "Patience, understanding, love…and lots of cocaine." She finished with dry humor.
Leon nodded solemnly in sarcastic agreement.
Cale pointed at his notebook. "You realize that I AM publishing this in the newspaper?"
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A/N: Mikayla, Liam, and Katherine made their first appearance in another story I wrote called Til Death Do Us Party. I loved this prompt, and I find old couples to be adorable, so it was fun tinkering with the concept of Leon and Tifa weathering the years together.
Still loving these prompts, guys! All of these requests for Lefa oneshots warms my little shipper heart!