Chapter 20: Waking Up

Tifa woke even earlier than usual. She'd kept the bar open late last night and just as she'd been in the process of serving last rounds and closing it down, Barrett and Leon had come back in. They'd looked exhausted but alive and fairly unbruised so she'd sent them to the kitchen for the plates of food she'd left in the ice box for them and then sent them straight up to the kids' room to sleep. Now Tifa carefully untangled herself from the small pile she, Marlene, Denzel, and Aerith had all had to make to fit onto one of the kid's mattresses, careful not to wake anyone. She hadn't gotten much sleep last night and what she had gotten had been restless. She wanted some time to herself before she had to face the day and everyone else and so she slipped out of the room on silent bare feet and padded to the bathroom to get dressed before ghosting downstairs. The bar was freezing this early in the morning and it was even darker outside the windows than usual but it was quiet and private and there was a certain comfort in knowing that everyone she cared about was upstairs, safe and sleeping warm.

She went into the kitchen and stared out the window at nothing for a long time. Then, with an exhale to let things go, she leaned down and started rummaging through the cabinets to find food. It was going to be pancakes today. It was all she had left. Which meant a trip to the market today or else it would be pancakes for dinner too and while Denzel wouldn't mind living off pancakes for the rest of his life, Tifa would have felt guilty. She was just in the process of putting the mix together when she heard the kitchen door squeak. No sound of steps afterward meant Aerith and Tifa turned with a soft smile, ready to face her friend and those too insightful questions.

Except it wasn't Aerith.

It was Cloud.

And his blue eyes were aware and focused on her.

Tifa froze, cup of flour in her hand. And then Cloud looked down and his blond hair fell over his forehead to hide his eyes. One of his hands rose to rub at the back of his neck.

"I couldn't sleep anymore," he stated softly and Tifa felt her shoulders relaxing and a smile touching the edges of her lips.

"I think you've done enough sleeping for the next month or so" she agreed, turning back to what she was doing. She felt Cloud hesitate and she didn't interrupt. Letting him decide what was next. After a long moment, he moved over to the counter she was working at.

"Milk" she told him, pointing to the carton next to him and he handed it to her so she could pour it into the mix. Hating the sudden awkwardness, Tifa put him to work, including him in helping her make the pancake batter. Soon the only awkwardness was the way he attempted to stir the batter – even worse than Denzel – as Tifa set the plates out. Eyes narrowed in concentration on the batter he was attempting to more beat into submission than stir, Cloud finally asked quietly:

"How did I get here?"

Tifa paused in sorting the plates on to different trays and looked at him. He was trying to mash one of the lumps in the batter against the side of the bowl to make it mix in with the rest. Trying not to smile she reached out and took the bowl and spoon away from him and started whipping the batter properly.

"You don't remember?"

He shook his head, brows low over his eyes as he watched her.

"Bits." He shifted so his back was against the counter and folded his arms loosely across his chest. "I remember – a train station. Cold." His eyes lifted to hers. "You. I remember – a lot of you."

It was Tifa's turn to concentrate on the batter she was stirring.

"Do you remember talking to me?"

His pause was long.

"A – little…" he finally admitted and Tifa wondered which 'little' he remembered. And if she really wanted to know. She nodded and handed the bowl back to him while she leaned over to sort through the cupboard to find the large frying pan.

"I found you in an alley. Train station in Sector Seven. I brought you home. Marlene and Denzel seem to have decided to adopt you."

"The kids" his voice sounded relaxed at that and she turned her head to give him a smile, taking the bowl back to start spooning batter onto the pan. "That's the brother and sister you talked about."

She nodded.

"Marlene was born just before my mother died." Funny – Tifa never mentioned her mother's death and yet she thought Cloud had probably already known. "Denzel is adopted."

Cloud's blue concentrated eyes found hers.

"Street rat?" he asked and she nodded. Because he said it with a familiar tone and she remembered him talking about sitting in the alley. And being 'adopted'.

"Lucky kid" he told her and she smiled and went back to flipping pancakes.

"We were the lucky ones. He makes our lives better by being here."

"Tifa" his voice was soft. "How… how much did I tell you?"

She pressed her lips together and slid the pancakes onto the nearby plate before starting the process again.

"You're the little boy that used to hang around the edges of our play group when I was a kid here. You used to sit outside and listen to me practice the piano." She paused, debating how much to say. "You remember finding our ball for me when I lost it."

He exhaled and stood silently next to her, chin tucked against his chest. His bare chest, she noticed, having grown so used to seeing him that way that it hadn't, until now, occurred to her that that was unusual. Or that he must be cold.

"I'm not," he told her, voice low and her eyes jerked from his chest to meet his eyes. One edge of his mouth turned upward. "Cold." At her look he took her hand in his and laid it against his chest. She could feel his heartbeat and the warmth of his skin. "They made it so we don't feel the cold the way real people do."

"SOLDIER?" she asked, looking up at him, fingers spread against the wonderful heat of him. His brief smile was sad.

"Probably them too." His eyes didn't leave hers as he added: "You're going to burn those."

"oh!" it took her a moment to realize what he was talking about and then she was spinning back to the pancakes and scooping them off the pan. Wincing and thinking she'd give those to Barrett, who liked his 'crisp'. Behind her she heard the familiar sound of Cloud coughing a laugh.

"Shouldn't you be calling Yuffie or something?" she asked with mock exasperation and he exhaled another chuckle.

"I lost my cell phone."

Tifa winced again as she poured more batter.

"I broke mine yesterday." Something about landing on it with another body on top of hers at just the right angle. She'd meant to borrow Barrett's – but he'd been gone and then frankly she'd forgotten by the time he was back.

"We'll hijack Barrett's when he wakes up."

It was quiet for a moment and then he stated:

"I thought you were making a lot of pancakes."

The look she gave him over her shoulder was a mix of dry humor, absolute adoration for how clueless he was, and a 'you can't imagine' look.

"I've got everyone in my room and then four more in the kids' room. Plus my father."

"You really do adopt people."

It made her smile and she shuffled more pancakes onto the plate and repeated the routine again.

"You have no idea."

"Was that – Aerith? From the convention?"

Tifa nodded.

"She came over to help me with everyone."

It was silent again for another long pause. His voice was hesitant.

"Tifa? Am I an - 'everyone'?"

This time Tifa took the pan off the burner when she turned to face him. And found him standing much closer than he'd been the last time she'd looked. Her eyes found and lost themselves in the ocean blue of his and in that blue she saw –

"Do you want to be an 'everyone'?" she asked, reaching up to move the pale gold of his bangs out of his eyes. His eyes searched hers.

"Does 'everyone' get to stay here?" and it was the little boy that looked out at her as he asked it.

"As long as they want to."

His hands found the counter on either side of her and he watched her eyes closely.

"I think I'd like to be one of your 'everyones' then. If you'll let me."

She couldn't help the soft smile she gave him.

"I think that would work, Cloud."

His own lips turned up in answer to hers.

"Good."

"Tifa?"

Tifa's eyes broke away from Cloud's to look over his shoulder and saw Leon standing in the doorway. In response, she laid her hands against Cloud's chest and pushed lightly.

"Go sit down" she told Cloud and then turned her attention on Leon. "Come over and take this tray up to Cid. I don't think he should have to leave Shera's side if he doesn't have to. I've put the last of the broth on it for Shera too but I want her to have something with protein in it soon so I'll go food shopping and pick up some meat today." Practiced she slid a plate in front of Cloud as he did as she'd asked and handed Leon the tray with the other hand. "I'm going to go wake up Aerith and the kids. They've skipped enough school. Leon, if you get back down here before I do, help yourself to the pancakes. Coffee's in the pot."

Leon followed her out the kitchen door and reached out with his free hand to catch her arm as she started up the stairs. Turning to face him, having hoped to avoid this, she was surprised to see his face was more concerned than angry.

"Is he bothering you?" he asked seriously, brows lowering and threatening to pull his freshly stitched wound. Tifa shook her head. Leon nodded but didn't look entirely convinced. "You'll tell me if he does?"

Tifa gave him a weak smile.

"I will," she agreed and he nodded before letting her go. She went up the steps before him and ducked into her bedroom. 'Bothering'… it wasn't the word she would chose for Cloud and there were a lot of words she'd chose.

After she woke up Aerith and the protesting kids, she slipped into her father's room where he was still sleeping and went through the trunk of clothes in the corner. They were clothes he'd worn back when he'd been – better. Once upon a time, her father had been a big man. She made a pile of clothes that satisfied her and then put everything else away. She'd washed Cloud's shirt but there was no way he could wear it. Luckily, Shinra trooper pants were common on just about everyone in Midgar, being cheap and easily available. The shirt however would tie everything together far too well and Tifa thought having a Shinra trooper in the house with a party bent on destroying Shinra probably wasn't something that should be advertised.

She took the pile she'd chosen back to her bedroom to find it empty. Apparently someone had realized Cloud wasn't in the bed. It made her smile to herself and she made the beds before setting the clothes on hers. Now that they realized their 'patient' was up and around, she couldn't imagine how she was going to convince Denzel and Marlene to leave long enough to go to school.