Hi! Thanks for reading! Hope I didn't bore you with that last chapter there :) anyway thank you for reading!

I do not own FF VII!

Chapter two: Maybe this can work

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"So you mean to tell me, you and dumb ass called it quits?!" Yuffie exclaimed loudly and stood up from her position on the toilet. Tifa only shook her head in response, despite the fact Yuffie could not see her. Yuffie again spoke, needing desperately to know what had happened. Ever since Yuffie met the crew, Tifa and Cloud were together. Maybe unspoken, but together none the less. "Well what the hell did he do this time?! Come home drunk with another broad?!"

"No Yuffie..." Tifa sighed as she began rinsing the suds from her thick chocolate locks. "Cloud and I have just grown apart these last few...years I guess. It was a slow and subtle end I guess." Tifa couldn't help but cry silently to herself. Somewhere deep inside, the 15 year old girl inside of her still longed to be loved by her strong and brave SOLDIER. That's just a stupid fantasy, Lockhart. Get real. He can't change. "It ended this morning. Cloud was supposed to take Marlene and Denzel to the parade today, and he told me he had a job. Then I yelled at him and told him he needed to be there for the kids. Then He told me that I was acting like a nagging old house wife, which pissed me off and I told him if I was ever gonna be a wife it wouldn't be with him." Tifa at this point had tears streaming down her face and she was biting her lip desperately trying not to sob aloud.

"That was an awesome thing to say! Way to go Teef!" Yuffie cheered. "What did he say what did he say?!" She asked curiously.

"Fine we're done." She started. "So he said that after he gets home we'll decide living arrangements." Tifa said with a hint of sadness in her voice. She reached down near the nozzle and grabbed her loufa. Once effectively covered in soap, Tifa began soaping up her tired body.

"Ah Teef." Yuffie said, placing herself back on the toilet. "How do you feel about all of this?" She asked, concerned for her friend.

"I really don't know, Yuffie." Tifa said, while continuing to wash. "Part of me wishes I never would've said that to him, but another part of me know's he'll never get over losing Zack, and then Aerith too. I guess it's just time to move on." Tifa spoke honestly.

"Man... Love's so complicated." Yuffie said as she propped her elbows onto her knees and put her face on her hands.

"Well in our case, it's extremely complicated." Tifa said as she began rinsing herself of the sweet pomegranate smelling soap.

"Yeah..." Yuffie started. Her head cocked to the side when she heard the front door open. "Oh it sounds like they're home. Call me if you need to, I'll be at Vincent's if you need me." She said before leaping out the window.

Tifa sighed yet again, turned off the water and grabbed a towel and began drying herself off. She was dreading the upcoming conversation. What's he gonna say? How is this going to play out? I hope we don't scream at each other, and at least settle thing civilly.

"Tifa? You home?" Came Cloud's voice from down the hall.

"I... I'm in the bathroom!" Tifa replied, scrambling to pull on her underwear and hopping about. Cloud was always one to barge, so she wanted to be somewhat clothed when he did so. Quickly she grabbed her bra and put it on just as the door came open.

"Oh, sorry..." Cloud said with a blush, unaware she was undressed. He then turned and stood outside the door.

"H.. How was the parade?" Tifa asked, a little winded from dressing so quickly.

"Well they enjoyed themselves." Cloud replied. He had still felt the sting of what she told him earlier within his heart, but at this point he couldn't blame her at all. "They're with Barret right now. I figured you could use the night off, plus I knew we needed to talk. Cloud turned his head when he heard the door open again. Tifa emerged and looked directly at him. He could see her eyes were swollen and red, he knew she'd been crying. He sighed and then inhaled deeply, taking in her fresh clean scent. It smelled so inciting. Had this been a year ago, Cloud would wrap his arms around her and kiss her passionately, then he'd kiss gently down her neck because he knew it aroused her. He sighed, remembering the times the shared not too long ago.

"Shall we talk?" Tifa asked, studying her blonde stranger. Cloud gave her a nod and walked down the hall and down the stairs with her. The two took their normal places at the dining room table sitting across from one another. Cloud's blue eyes blinked a few times as he considered the situation at hand.

"Tifa. I realize that I've been absent with you for a long time now. I'm sorry. I really don't blame you for wanting this to be over with." Cloud started.

"Cloud... It's not like I wanted this. Truthfully if you asked me six months ago if we were still gonna make it through, I would've said yes. But then... I don't know what happened." Tifa said with a frown. She was partly relieved the conversation was calm for the time being.

"I just realized that I don't want to lose you, the way I lost Zack, and then Aerith. So I became detached. Tifa I truly don't deserve you."

"Cloud.." Tifa gasped. She immediately felt drown in guilt. She reached her hand out to touch his, but he drew back.

"No it's true." He started. "I really don't."

"Let's just stop this. Look maybe we can make this work, we can try we really can. I didn't mean to say what I did.." Tifa said, looking down sadly.

"You mean that?" Cloud asked, a little hopeful.

"Yeah, I mean it. Let's just go to bed, we'll be okay." Tifa said, looking up at him with large watery eyes.

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"Damn you're really focused on somethin, aren't ya Vinny?" Yuffie asked as she watched Vincent Valentine studying a book intently.

"Mhm..." He replied, annoyed. Yuffie had been there for hours now pestering him, and interrupting his research intense research. Vincent was on the verge, hours away, from an amazing break through discovery. He was intent on bringing Lucrecia back to life to give her the second chance at life he felt she deserved.

"Well can I help with anything?" Yuffie asked, leaning against a red leaver. As her weight pressed against it, the leaver was pressed down and two closet doors swung open wide and began sucking everything into them. Papers, vials, tools, Yuffie, everything flew toward the vortex. Vincent grabbed Yuffie's wrist and pulled her to him, then reached and yanked the leaver back up, closing the doors and stopping the suction. Yuffie stared at Vincent with wide, terrified eyes. "What was that?!"

"Don't do that again." Vincent scolded.

"I'm sorry okay?" Yuffie said with an embarrased blush. "Now what the hell was that." Yuffie asked, crossing her arms.

"I'm working on something. It's almost complete." Vincent said. Soon after his reply, his eyes widened as he looked upon the table he had delicately placed his research. He then sighed heavilly. It was all gone. Everything he had been working for was gone. Before he had a chance to kick Yuffie out before he strangled her, the two heard a pounding on the closet doors, followed by a female scream. Vincent gasped and rushed to the leaver and pushed it back down. Immediately the doors swung open, this time though, there was no suction, but a terrified and shaken Aerith who collapsed to the floor.