wow! all those delicious reviews. You guys are awesome! Oceanee, best beloved - wow, comments for each chapter! I giggled like a nutter. There's been some question as to the kids age simply because I made a mistake a while back - I'm going with 12 and 14, though with their lives they're a little bit older and younger inside than usual for those ages. And, kind of you to give them recovery time ;) Poor saps need it. skykhanhunter - yep, there he went. nemo - I'll try to catch it next time. And yeah, its come a lot farther than I intended. Weird ride. IWOBYD - isn't it though? only trouble can come of it, I'm sure :) Yuffie doesn't get much for the next couple of chapters but don't fear, she'll come into her own shortly. Jini - w00t! yep, I'm going to try to keep up the pace for a bit too so hang on! Cal - glad you liked the mix. Some things from the game just had to be kept even if I had to torque to suit, right? Ktisis - yeah, growing up's a bear. I'll tell you how it goes whenever I get done doing it - lol. And wow! what a GREAT review! I don't think I've ever gotten a 'what the crazies?' before. That made me grin like an idiot. So glad I'm keeping things jumping for you. And ah, I'm glad you liked Tifa's response. She just wouldn't give me anything else. She's never boring to write for. ah, best beloved demonegg - yeah, Tifa's a fangirl. She's so far over the moon for Cloud anyway, it gives me an excuse to write lines like that. And yeah, Cloud is a dunderhead but he's trying. He's very trying ;) He'll try a bit harder in the next couple of chapters too. Zack gets some answers too - and then again, maybe they aren't. Fairheartstrife - oh, best beloved, your reviews never fail to make me glow for days on end. I'm so pleased you find the characters so involving and that you gush about them so much just makes me want to write more to live up to that. Chapter 68 is for you :D best beloved Biskitty - so glad someone's giving Shera love for having Vincent scare the heebie-jeebies out of her! Yeah, she's having a rough couple of days with the males she's having to deal with. Poor Leon - he does need a fan club. I should let you take him home on the weekdays so he doesn't feel neglected. LOL - I think - with you calling Tifa easy - I'm going to dedicate this chapter to you. You and her both deserve it. awwww :'D - you make me happy. I'm so glad you hopped on for the ride. Pull up a comfy chair, I'll see if I can't live up to expectations. Dis - it would be a short story if Seph kicked it so early on, wouldn't it? We'll see. I'm doing my best to keep things guessing and yeah... my beta reader hates me for my cliffhangers. I get frying pan threats rather regularly. And speaking of which, thanks to Peek-chan for not braining any of the characters in these chapters even though I would swear I could hear the screaming all the way over here. zi-ling - hope things end up at least semi-sane for you eventually. We'll save you a chair.

and now - the chapter I know you guys have all been waiting for...

Chapter 66: Sex

Tifa would have liked to have been able to sort through everything she'd been told but by the end of the Shera's story she was tired again. It must have showed because everyone filed out with various farewells, Shera promising they wouldn't be far if she needed them. After that, Tifa was glad to crawl into a bed that smelled like clean sheets, finally feeling clean herself and snuggle down into the pillows. Denzel, Marlene and Aerith all joined her, piling carefully on to the bed around her and Tifa fell asleep surrounded by their warmth and their weight and the comforting smell of 'family' around her. At some point later on, she woke up briefly to inhale the wonderful smell of … Cloud… Somehow he'd fit himself into the bed with the rest of them and his solid steady warmth was against her back again. She recognized the weight of his arm over her waist and it made her smile as she slipped back into sleep.

When she woke up again, Cloud was gone and Denzel and Marlene were awake and whispering quietly to each other as they lay against her. Aerith slumbered in a ball against her back.

"Hey," Tifa whispered to her siblings and they immediately turned and burrowed close, big eyes lifting to find her face for reassurance and then relaxing. She gave them smiles and touched both of their cheeks.

"So," she asked softly, "what's this place like?"

She got a very quick run down of the place, full of details that were important to growing children and she doubted most of the adults would have noticed. Apparently, they'd been out and about a bit, when they could be persuaded from her side by Yuffie. After listening she decided she'd been in bed long enough and she very carefully sat up so that she wouldn't wake up Aerith. With a little bit of silent Lockhart communication, she ended up with her shoes on and her hair in a ponytail and silently followed her siblings out the door.

She wanted to – she needed to do things on her own. Everyone had been vague on how long she'd been unconscious but she thought, from what no one was saying, that it had been a long time. Which meant other people had been taking care of her and while Tifa didn't mind that so much from time to time the thought of being an invalid had her heart rebelling in her chest.

As she walked, following her siblings confident direction, Tifa took the time to inhale deeply and look around at where they'd ended up. She wasn't sure why it was called Cosmo Canyon because, as far as she could tell, it was all built on the side of a mountain in the middle of a red desert. Most of the passages between buildings and even rooms were outside and everything seemed to be carved into the side of the mountain. The sun was hot and bright here and that felt good, especially against Tifa's chest but within a short time she found herself tiring. Nicely enough, the spot the kids had selected wasn't far from her room.

There was apparently an out of the way balcony of sorts around a bend in the path where someone had put chairs and a little awning of sorts. It was very roughly done but Tifa settled herself down in one of the chairs with a sigh and shut her eyes. Her chest didn't hurt as much today – the materia was apparently working now that it could – but she still felt weak.

The children had obviously been here before because they already had a stash hidden back in a natural shelf in the wall and Denzel brought her some water and dried fruit before settling down in a chair next to her himself and opening up an oatmeal bar while Marlene got a book out and settled back against Tifa's legs on the ground. Tifa exhaled deeply and started to relax. She didn't particularly enjoy being alone – but she did enjoy quiet, non-expectant times with just certain people. It gave her time to relax and settle herself inside. She shut her eyes and tipped her head back to rest against the back of the chair.

There was a little breeze, barely enough to even ruffle Tifa's hair and it brought her the scent of ancient sun-baked rock and dry dusty plants. Under the awning, the sun wasn't too hot but had a persistent heat that slowly baked its way into her bones. Sick for so long, the warmth felt good and clean. In the quiet she could hear the sound of Marlene's pages turning and farther away, barely on the edge of things, she could hear what she associated with people going about their lives. It was calming and relaxing. Denzel nudged her and she reached out a hand without opening her eyes to take one of the breakfast bars from him and eat it slowly.

"Cloud slept with us last night," Marlene finally spoke up and Tifa made a humming sound to show both that she knew and that she was listening. It was quiet for a long time and finally Marlene said:

"I like Cloud. Denzel does too."

Ahhh, Marlene was the elected spokesman than. It meant the children had something in mind and that they'd already discussed it among themselves.

"I like Cloud too," Tifa agreed mildly. There was a long pause.

"Do you want us to not sleep with you tonight?" Marlene asked and Tifa's eyes flew open.

"What?" it startled her and she looked down at her little sister, surprised to find Marlene looking so calm. Had she been very wrong in assuming her siblings would want to pile on with her for the rest of their lives after thinking they'd almost lost her such a short time ago? Sure, they were a little old for it – but so was Aerith. And Tifa for that matter. Marlene's brows came down, her 'adult' look and she looked seriously back up at Tifa.

"Well, Denzel and I were talking – and we thought, if you wanted, we could sleep somewhere else tonight." When Tifa just looked blankly at her, she added: "So you could sleep with Cloud. Alone."

Tifa blinked once. And then she blinked again. A horrible suspicion was starting to dawn on her.

"Alone?" she repeated carefully and Marlene nodded, refusing to back down. Next to them both, Denzel was starting to shift uncomfortably. It was on the tip of Tifa's tongue to corner her kid sister and ask exactly why she would think Tifa should sleep 'alone' with Cloud – but Tifa was pretty sure she wouldn't want to hear the answer. Instead she shook her head.

"No, Marlene. I don't need to sleep alone with Cloud. We're not that way together."

"Duh," Marlene offered her observation and startled Tifa again before the little girl added: "But you could be. And then he'd stay and you'd be happy and he could always sleep with us."

It was so many mental jumps that Tifa shut her eyes and actually shook her head a little. Reaching up, she rubbed between her knit brows.

"That's not – that's not exactly how it works, Marlene," she began and Marlene sighed.

"Yes, it is. It happens that way all the time. Sometimes a LOT."

"Really?" Tifa opened her eyes to give her sister a horrified look. "How do you know that?" Marlene shrugged as Denzel made gurgling noises of horror.

"Mura's mom got a dad for Mura that way. They slept together and then he married her. And Ned's mom got him a new dad almost every year that way. But we don't want a lot of guys. We just want Cloud. Edi, she was two grades up from me, she said that guys wouldn't want to stay with you if you didn't sleep with them. But I don't think that's right because Cloud's stayed with you and so has Leon and Zack and Barrett and you're not sleeping with them."

Tifa reached over automatically and thumped Denzel on the back as he choked on his food. Marlene was on a real roll.

"Mrs. Neville who lived next door never slept with anyone and she was all alone. And I've heard some of the guys at the bar and they would say they'd like to sleep with you when they thought I couldn't hear them so I know its not like guys don't want to sleep with you. You sleep with us and Aerith all the time and that's because we're a family and we're going to stay together forever. So maybe if you'd sleep with Cloud too than we could make him part of our family like Aerith and he wouldn't have to feel like he had to go away."

"Marlene – " Tifa started to protest, trying to sort through so much new information she wasn't sure where to start but Marlene kept going.

"And he kissed you this morning before he left while you were sleeping. And that's got to mean he wants to be a part of our family too, right? So you should sleep with him and then he'll know it's okay to stay."

There was a long pause after the tirade in which Marlene looked expectantly up at her and Tifa tried desperately to decide exactly what 'sleep with' meant in Marlene Speak. Because – half the time it sounded one way – and the other half of the time it sounded another and while technically they hadn't had The Talk yet, mostly because Marlene hadn't even showed any interest in boys yet – Tifa still knew that some kids that Marlene hung out with had probably already figured a few things out on their own…

A timely interruption by just about anyone at this moment would have been welcome but no one came strolling conveniently around the corner.

"Ah," Tifa began because Marlene was still watching her expectantly and she could sense Denzel's attention as well even though he was pretending to be engrossed in his bag of food. She exhaled.

"Oh boy. Okay. First of all, I never want you sleeping with a boy because you think it will make him stay. You shouldn't sleep with anyone that's not family."

Marlene made a face.

"You mean like sex," she stated and Tifa had to hit Denzel on the back again to keep him from choking and he hadn't even been eating anything that time. Marlene shrugged. "I guess you and Cloud could have sex too but sleeping together seems more important."

"Sex?" Tifa managed in a strangled voice and she wasn't sure if it was that Marlene was so casual or at the sudden thought of her and Cloud –

"Sure," Marlene shrugged. "Kissing in bed. You know, sex."

"Kissing in bed?" Tifa felt as if she was just on repeat. Marlene gave her a scowl as if expecting her to keep up.

"Yeah. Like in the movies and on TV. They always end up kissing in bed and then they wake up together the next morning and that's sex. Then they always live happily ever after but that's the movies and stuff and that's not real. Sex doesn't mean they'll stay. It's when they want to always fall asleep next to you and wake up the same way every day that means they'll stay."

Tifa blinked at the simple wisdom. Marlene was still going though.

"So you and Cloud can have sex if you want but we want him to stay so you've got to sleep with him."

"huh…" was about the extent Tifa could manage and Marlene looked calmly up at her. Next to them, Denzel muttered:

"I beat up the kids that try to tell her otherwise."

Tifa turned her head to look at him.

"Thank you," she told him sincerely and Denzel shrugged and went back to his food to hide his embarrassment.

"Yeah," Marlene agreed. "Some of the other kids have really disgusting ideas about what they think sex is."

"Wow," Tifa leaned forward to rest her face in her hands. All because Cloud had kissed her on the forehead when he'd gotten out of bed this morning. At least that's what she was assuming. She'd been asleep but where else would he have kissed her? Her cheek? Usually Cloud aimed for the forehead when his face was against hers. Or her throat but that made her stomach take a wild dip and she quickly concentrated back on what she was supposed to be thinking about.

Which wasn't kissing Cloud.

It was about sleeping with him.

A horrible thought washed over her and she asked:

"You haven't talked to Cloud about this, have you?"

"Of course not!" Marlene sounded insulted. "Edi says that guys aren't smart enough to figure these kinds of things out on their own so the women have to make up their minds for them."

Tifa made a mental note to make sure Marlene didn't hang out with Edi anymore – and then realized how pointless that mental note was.

"How about I think about it?" Tifa suggested and Marlene crossed her arms over her chest.

"But you like him. We know you do. And you're taking for-ev-er."

It made Tifa snort a laugh and she reached down to ruffle Marlene's hair.

"That's part of being an adult," she told her, much to Marlene's disgust. "And I want to do things right with Cloud. I don't want to hurt his heart."

What she didn't tell Marlene, couldn't tell Marlene because it hurt too much, was that Cloud didn't want to be a part of their family. Or rather – he wanted to be a part of someone else's family more. And it didn't matter if he slept with her family now or not – when the time came, he'd go back to the petite, auburn haired woman who had held his heart all along.