To Mrs J, for being my language teacher and encouraging me to start reading again to improve my writing, also, congratulations on the birth of your baby girl.

This chapter is for you.

When Cloud awoke in the morning, daylight was already shining in. The morning sunlight filtered through the window, giving the room a soft ambience. He felt a small hand on his slightly larger one. Turning around, he realized it was Tifa's. He squeezed her hand gently, and counted his blessings.

To him, waking up beside Tifa every morning was the greatest joy he could have; to listen to her soft breathing, the quiet buzz of traffic on the street. It assured him that everything was alright, and that everyone was safe.

But he knew no matter how safe one believed they were they could all be taken away in a moment. He had people taken away from him; people he loved and treasured dearly - his mother, Zack, Aerith...others he had treasured, he lost.

He had thought of himself as a plague initially, a bringer of ill-luck to those around him. That was why he started distancing himself from people, people he loved, so that they would not die.

But he came to realize that he wasn't alone in the pain of having people leave them. Tifa had; Denzel had...heck, everyone probably had too.

That's why it was important to treasure everyone around them; every waking minute, every minute spent in slumber, cause they may be here a minute, gone the next. That's what Cloud had learnt so far in life.

As Cloud stirred, Tifa's eyes peeked open.

"Good morning" whispered Tifa softly.

"Good morning, how did you sleep?"

"Alright, my back feels better." She moved slightly and her hand reached to stroke her swollen belly with an air of maternal love.

Cloud knew, of course, that all children were carried by their mothers for forty weeks, and then born. In those forty weeks, they grew from a cluster of cells to a new born baby, very much human. But to Cloud the idea that Tifa was nurturing a living being inside of her, seemed magical but yet strange, to the point of being an almost foreign idea to him. He could not believe that there was a child inside of Tifa, and could believe even less the idea that the child in her was also his.

"Hey, how did you sleep?" she cooed in a motherly fashion to the unborn child.

Tifa watched as Cloud sat up slightly in his place and gently, yet awkwardly put his hand over her belly, love evident in every single action, as awkward as they were.

"Hey, there…uh…kid," said Cloud to Tifa's swollen stomach, clearly at a loss for words.

"I think he's going to be a boy"

"How do you know?"

"Motherly instincts," said Tifa smugly.

"Does that even exist?" questioned Cloud skeptically.

"Yeah, remember Mrs. Roberts from down the street? When she was pregnant, everyone said it would be a boy, but she knew it was going to be a girl and it really was."

Cloud was still stroking Tifa's stomach, as if it was the most precious thing in the world.

"Then, have you thought of any names?" asked Cloud

"I was thinking…Zack."

Cloud didn't expect it. He thought that he would be the one more like to suggest the name. Zack was, of course, a person that Cloud held close to his heart, a person he spent moments thinking of everyday, just so he would never forget him, not that he was likely to but just as a precaution, but still…

"Cloud?"

Tifa was looking at him with a concerned look, "if you don't want to name him that…it's alright really, I understand."

"No, it's not that Tifa,"

"Then what is it?"

"You know, I used to live in the past and dwell on the memories. About how things would have been different if Nibelheim hadn't happened or how they would be if Zack and Aerith had lived. But I realized that, the past isn't what matters, and what matters is living for every single minute that you still have, and everyone that is still around."

"I know." Tifa replied. "Cloud, I know."

Cloud smiled at Tifa and gently cupped his hands on her cheeks. Leaning closely onto her, his lips touched hers, and for a few moments, they were both in complete ecstasy.

"Morning!" shouted someone that Cloud recognized as Denzel, as the door opened in a rather violent manner, followed by the thump of the excited footsteps of two children running into the room. Next was immediately followed by the same voice shouting "Eww!"

"Denzel! I told you should have knocked!" shouted Marlene at Denzel, reproaching him for intruding into the couple's private moment. Cloud pulled back from Tifa, facing the kids.

"Uh…see ya later!" shouted Denzel awkwardly as he raced out of the room, grabbing Marlene along with him.

"What was that for?"

"I forgot…I promised to take them out later," Cloud said, smilingly

"Later?"

"I took a day from work."

"Wow."

At this, Cloud gave Tifa a quizzical look. "What?"

"Did anything happen?"

"What do you mean?"

"I thought nothing could come between you and work?"

"From today, I'm making family my priority. Like I said, I'm living for now, for this moment; for you, the kids, and the gang. Work is never ending if you really want to look for it, but people you love don't stay by your side forever."

With this, Cloud leant down and gave Tifa another kiss on the lips. It wasn't the same type of kiss, filled with passion and desire that he had given just now ("or rather, tried to, before the kids came barging into their room" thought Tifa), but rather it was chaste, gentle; one that was reassuring, and made one feel that the rest of the world could wait; that time would stand still for the two of them.

And the both of them learnt that day, that you didn't have to wait forever before you would find love in its most perfect form, unconditional and perfectly giving. It didn't have to be proven with "I love you"s, neither did you need to show it with material gifts. Love was trust – trust that someone would give up everything they had for you; that someone would always be there to hold your hand and catch you when you fall; that someone would always love you, no matter if he said it or not.

The love seen in movies that everyone desires can't always be found, even if you wait for forever, but real love can be found in the little minutes that pass you by, when someone makes a sacrifice, when someone places all that trust in you, believing that you would never violate that trust.

And at that moment, Cloud and Tifa had perfect trust in each other. They had perfect love.

Happy Valentine's Day