Disclaimer: I do not own FF7 or FFAC. You guys know the drill. =)

Rating: M for language, violence, and lemony situations.

Author's note: Ahhh Cloud once again saves the day. But I think the kids want his head on a stick. Lol. Here's chapter 16. Review and lemme know how this one hit ya. Thanks guys!

With more effort than he cared to exert at this point in time, Cloud finally got the children to go back to bed. The fact that he had practically bribed them with all the sweets they could eat when they got up might have had something to do with it. 'Tifa is going to kill me when she finds out,' he mused, his eyes blinking heavily. Fatigue was beginning to set in.

Yuffie had decided to go ahead and stay for the night so that she could also keep an eye on their injured friend. Cloud and his ninja friend had made their way down to the bar, sitting on the stools with slumping forms.

His comrade reached for a bottle of alcohol and two glasses, handing one to Cloud and keeping one for her as she began to pour the dangerous liquid into the glasses. Cloud's sleepy eyes fell down to watch the glass fill. He contemplated pushing it away at first but realized that he never drank; one drink now wouldn't hurt him. And besides, he had a reason to drink, Tifa had been hurt and it had been his fault. Yet again he hadn't been able to protect the ones that he cared for.

"God this stuff is strong," Yuffie gasped, nearly spitting the drink out. She grimaced as she forced the liquid down her throat, letting out a cough once she had swallowed the remains, "Try it."

Cloud stared at her for a moment longer before he took a drink as well, swallowing its contents down his throat. He licked his lips and then turned back to her, his expression unchanging.

"Well I thought it was gross," She grumbled, her fingers tapping the glass with her embarrassment, "So what do you think happened?" The ninja asked, wanting the subject to change away from her.

He shook his head, even his spikes seemed tired, "I don't know. I tried to tell her when she asked to borrow it that it wasn't a good idea. I don't tell her not to do things just to be an asshole; I have a legit reason for almost everything I do."

"Is that so?" Yuffie asked him, a hint of sarcasm in her tone.

His blue eyes shot up to find her staring at him, her face amused and annoyed at the same time, like he was missing a huge sign, "What?"

She let out a wail, "Are you being serious right now, Spike? Everything you do you have a reason for why you do it? Well then would you like to tell me why the hell you fuck with Tifa's emotions like you do? No, let me finish!" She snapped, watching him open his mouth to protest, "Why, tell me why when you feel the same way! I pretend to be a bumbling idiot, and I am most of the time, but when it comes to Tifa, who is my best friend, I notice things that hurt her. I notice things that she adores or things that she loves and I watch how those things react to her. So my question is... what the hell are you waiting on? Trust me, by the time you get a move on she'll be an old lady and then the love life is gonna suck by then."

"That's all you think about I swear," Cloud shot back at her, earning a blush from her in response, "No wonder Vincent is always tired."

Yuffie slugged him straight into the shoulder, smiling when she watched him wince ever so slightly, "You deserved that. We aren't talking about my sex or love life right now, Cloudy-poo. I'm trying to be honest and hold a decent conversation with you right now, besides, Vinny likes it. Now, what are you waiting on?"

Cloud shifted with discomfort, taking another swig of alcohol, "I…I'm just unsure."

"When aren't you unsure, Bipolar Bob? Maybe if she had silver hair like Sephiroth you would be more responsive. Whenever it concerns that beast of a man you seem to know exactly what to do. It's official; I'm dying her hair tomorrow morning." She told him, instantly regretting using his nickname and speaking of Sephiroth in front of him. The dark look she received made her laugh nervously, "Oopsie, um sorry…let me rephrase, why are you so unsure about Tifa? You weren't unsure about Aeris."

"Sure I was," He mumbled, calming down slightly.

"Well you sure didn't act like it. You were so head over heels for that girl that everyone noticed…everyone. I just don't understand how you can even be unsure about Tifa."

"I just…I can't even begin to fathom how things would work, what if it went south?" Cloud asked her, completely involved in the conversation. She smiled brightly. It was truly an occasion when Cloud actually participated in a conversation and she wasn't about to let it go for the world.

"Do you even hear yourself? What if it went south? How could it? Tifa has dealt with all of your weird shit for years and she loves it, any form of you, she loves. That includes your schizophrenic days, and your normal days. Whatever normal is for you," Yuffie added, casting him a look of slight disgust.

He felt a rumble sound through his chest. Even when she was trying to help she was aggravating, "Could you please stop the bashing session and just talk to me like a human being?"

She giggled slightly, "Fine, I'll lay off the attacks. Alright, so do you understand what I'm trying to say though? Tifa loves you in all your craziness. And the worst you act the more she loves you. It's almost like the closer she gets to having you the more insane you drive the poor girl. And the way you two act around each other when you aren't bickering like an old married couple is intoxicating even for on-lookers! There's such chemistry that I'm almost afraid that the room is going to burst into flames, and trust me; I'm not the best with fire. I have a meltdown."

He stared at her, unblinking. Again she turned a crimson color, "That was a joke, Spike. Try to keep up."

"I don't understand. What chemistry? Is there something obvious that I'm not seeing?" He asked her, finishing off his drink, letting Yuffie pour him some more. If the alcohol was what she owed his sudden ability to hold a conversation then she would keep him fueled with the demon drink.

"Obvious? Cloud everything around you is obvious you're just too absorbed in yourself to even notice!" She told him, wanting so much to slap some sense into his handsome head. How could someone so breath-taking be so dimwitted? 'Vincent's both, why can't Cloud at least be cute and observant for Tifa?' Yuffie thought, taking a sip of her drink.

"There's nothing but chemistry when it comes to you and Teef. Honestly I'm surprised you really haven't noticed. My grandma probably noticed and she's dead!"

Cloud coughed a little at the mention of her dead grandmother and the extreme she was using to show him just how stupid he was being, "But I just…if things don't work out then I don't want what I have with Tifa to go away."

"Cloud, you and Tifa are practically a couple now. You two always have practically been a couple just without the label or the physical affections. But I heard that the physical affections aspect has recently changed…or at least on two occasions anyway."

It was his turn to feel his cheeks turn pink, his eyes instantly falling to the ground, "It was a mistake."

Yuffie's jaw dropped, "A MISTAKE? WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU? WHAT DO YOU MEAN A MISTAKE?"

He shook his head, "Not that it felt wrong but I…I was trying to keep her from going on a date with Reno. I didn't want him to hurt her."

The spunky ninja was clenching at her glass like it was an enemy, "Cloud Strife, you didn't want Reno to hurt her so you decided to take it upon yourself to do it?"

"It's not like that."

"No it wasn't like that. You didn't want her to go on the date with Reno, you fucked her twice, you flirt with her, you sleep in bed with her, you spend increasing amounts of time with her, you worry about her, you protect her, and you comfort her. You do all of those things because of how you feel!" She yelled at him, getting to her feet and poking him in the chest with an angry index finger.

He bowed his head, shielding his face from her scrutinizing gaze, "Perhaps."

Her arm and hand relaxed, "Excuse me but were you just confessing something to me?"

Cloud got to his feet as well, his face expressionless but his eyes worried, "What if I was?"

Yuffie jumped into the air, throwing her arms around his neck in a hug, "Cloud, that's great! Now how about you stop talking to me about this and you tell Tifa how you feel? We're all pulling for ya. You can do it, Romeo. And trust me, things won't go south. They're about as south as they'll ever going to be."

The blond remained tense under her hug. Physical contact with anyone was more than he cared to endure, although with Tifa it was a lot easier. Yuffie caught on to his discomfort and laughed, tightening her grip around his neck, "What, am I making you uncomfortable, Cloudy-poo?"

He lifted his hands and unlaced her fingers from around his neck, giving her a slight push away from him, "Uncomfortable isn't the word. You can take Tifa's room for the night. I'm going to sleep in the family room so I'll be there in case Tifa wakes up and needs something."

The young girl winked at him, "Well what she wants she can't have right now, it might break a few more bones."

Cloud's blue eyes narrowed in on her, raising an arm, he pointed at the stairs, "Go."

************

Yuffie had sprang up the stairs with great ease, vanishing into Tifa's room without another word, she laughed the entire time, however. Cloud had followed behind her more slowly, taking his time in soaking in his surroundings. The pictures that filled every wall made him smile. She had been trying to make them look like a family for so long and he had simply refused to notice her effort. It was really a sweet gesture.

He walked the hallway, stopping by the kid's room to make sure that they were indeed asleep. Sure enough, slight kicks of Marlene's legs and muttering from Denzel confirmed their unconsciousness. He continued on until he reached the family room, sneaking in without making the slightest noise, taking a seat in an armchair across from Tifa's sleeping and battered form.

Smoldering mako eyes watched her in the darkness, the moon adding to the eeriness of his blue orbs. He let out a yawn, lulling his head to the side to rest in his hand. She seemed so peaceful, a smile forming on her lips. Immediately this caught his attention, causing his eyes to open wider so he could take in the full power of her smirk. Cloud couldn't help but wonder who she was dreaming about and if it happened to be him.

His attention settled on the formation her lips were making, the way she held her mouth, how pink and full her lips were. Everything about her was core shattering. It was maddening to sit in this room and not have her to talk to. He knew that she needed rest and that she felt horrible but it was driving him utterly mad to just sit here and look at her. He had just experienced an epiphany with Yuffie and he had wanted to share it with her.

Suddenly her face turned dark, her pretty pink lips falling down into a frown, her brows furrowing. 'That one could be me too,' he mulled over in his head the possibilities that the smile could have been someone else in her dreams and it was enough to make him grit his teeth. 'It was probably that damn Turk,' he thought further.

"Leave him alone," she whispered in her sleep, her white teeth flashing under the moonlight. Her body tensed slightly before the dark look left her face and she returned to looking peaceful.

Cloud shifted, contemplating the meaning of what she had just said. 'She's just dreaming. You afraid you messed up for the last time? Afraid Tifa moved on and it wasn't with you? You're a fool.'

He leaned back into the armchair again, this time letting his eyes fall closed. His mind swirled with thoughts of Tifa's dreaming and then it quickly changed to Aeris. She wasn't as clear in his mind as she had been before, she seemed almost hazy, like he couldn't remember the details of her being like he could before. And then Tifa came to his mind and she was crystal clear like she was being shown in high definition. This calmed him, his body relaxing against the chair. Sleep gnawed at body, calling him to its realm, and he complied. If Tifa woke, he would hear her. He would be there for her…he would always be there for her.

Awww there's chapter 16. Wasn't it cute? Yuffie's such an instigator lol. It's great. Well lemme know how this one felt for ya, chapter 17 up in a day or so.

Much love,

~Nikki~