Road Trip

This is no fun.

At all.

Zilch. None. Zero. It's actually negative, if that's even possible.

"Cloud. Hey, Cloud."

I glance up, spotting Barret. When was the last time he called me Cloud? What happened to asshole, or bastard, or Spike? Or even the dreaded chocobo references.

"What?" I'm suspicious. I'm always suspicious. I bet he's going to try and have a serious talk with me about being a man, and being responsible, cuz that's what Barret does...or tries to, at least. He walks around as surrogate father even though technically the only one who has reproduced in these parts is Cid.

Which is probably the worst candidate out of all of us. Wait, let me actually think this through. I mean, we all know Cid's kid is going to be messed up...but Yuffie as a parent? Vincent? It's not so much that I think Vincent is incapable, I just think he lacks the proper...well, feelings to be a parent. I think he would be awkward.

Awkward.

As in the silence that Barret is stretching out.

I forgot he was there.

"What?" I ask, a little more exasperated.

"Oh...uh, let's go get a drink, hey? Celebratory one." I don't think that's a word.

But I won't tell him.

"Sure." I shrug. I stand, and we leave the hotel room.

After the bachelor party, me and Tifa passed out on our bed. Ted Edwards, cop by day, stripper by night, kept the ladies entertained. Yuffie got her second wind, and Reno hooted and hollered with the best of those horny ladies, and Tifa and I went upstairs, and just laid there. Partly because I missed her, and partly because the room was spinning too much to really move, and by then my lips were pretty much liquid mush from all the alcohol. Tifa talked, though...she talks a lot when she's drunk.

And I realized, laying there, that I didn't think it was Ted Edwards that bothered me so much...I think it was just everything, all my priorities were getting shoved around and rearranged. It was like what Tifa said that night...how after we got to Cosmo Canyon, we wouldn't really be able to see each other. We haven't really had that much time together lately, anyway. There was that night, with the stars and the field, but reality has a cruel way of coming back.

And I haven't seen Tifa since we left that morning for here, for Cosmo Canyon. I see her fleetingly, across the room beside Yuffie who is usually scolding hotel staff for screwing the decorations up or some other mess.

The elevator dings as we hit the lobby floor. Wow, I'm really out of it. My wedding is coming up. I'm getting married. Should I be scared? Am I scared? I feel kind of numb, like all of this isn't real.

'Shape up, bud.'

I sigh; I don't even have the heart to talk to them.

'I don't like being ignored, jackass.'

Shut up. Better?

'Weak. Lame. I shower you with insults. BLEH!'

"Shit!" I look up in time to see Barret's massive forearm collide with my chest. He knocks me behind a potted tree, and I glare at him.

Dude. Really?

"Just...hang on."

I peer through the plastic leaves as Barret walks around the tree, and towards the bar.

"Yuffie!"

Oh, wow. How nice. He was hiding me from psycho.

"Hey, where's Cloud?"

"I think he's taking a nap. Oh, I saw one of the hotel people taking down that curtain you had put up in–

"Son of a bitch! Why don't these people listen to me?! It's not like we haven't paid them enough. GET OUT OF THE WAY!"

Yuffie storms past Barret, and through the main doors. I walk out, catching up with Barret, and we head into the bar.

The hotel at Cosmo Canyon is pretty fancy now; people like to travel here because it is really a beautiful place. That's why Tifa wanted it here, the sunset on the desert. It'll get cool once the sun goes down, but we're having the reception in the hotel.

I slide onto a seat at the bar, and Barret orders us something.

"Listen."

Here it comes. I knew it.

"Sure you've known Tifa longer than I have...hell, you've known her longer than anyone has, but that doesn't give you the right to take her for granted or do any of that other stupid shit you used to do."

"I appreciate your faith."

Barret sighs. "I'm only sayin this cos she's my girl. You know, she asked me to give her away."

I nod my head. "Wouldn't have it any other way."

"Man what's with you?" I actually look at him. "You're like death walking. Man up, you're getting married. The fun hasn't even started."

"You make it sound like it's that bad."

Barret chuckles. "Consider it an inside joke. You're not really happy if you can't complain about it. I know that makes no sense, but there was shit my wife used to do that would just piss me off, and get under my skin." He gets this look in his eyes, and I feel guilty, making him step back in that time and place. "She knew exactly which buttons to press, and exactly how to push me to my limits. But I loved her, because I'd get mad, I'd get so angry, but, it was worth it. Because I could do the same back to her...and ya got to have bad with good. Cid will tell you it's all bad, but that's just Cid being Cid. He's got to bitch and complain about nothing. He really loves it. You can tell."

I nod my head. "Ok."

Then Barret grins evilly. "So. You ain't ready to be married until you do know exactly what it is that drives Tifa crazy. What is it?"

I feel my spirits lift slightly. "Well...she gets really mad at me when I'm doing bills or planning my routes, and I'll click my pen. Her hair stands on end, and she always walks over and grabs my pen, and throws it at the wall. She gets really mad when I interrupt her reading. She always says, 'Cloud. This is my one thing. Give it to me. Go away.' Or if I talk during a movie, because I don't normally, I just do it with her, because her face turns red, and she normally punches me. Though that kind of hurts."

Barret chuckles. "Whenever she first moved in, I never put away laundry. It just sort of stayed in a constant cycle of dirty, to clean, in the laundry room. She changed that, but she'd get so mad if I didn't put my clothes up."

I smirk. "I'll file that for later use."

"If you do that I'll punch you so hard your face will fall off."

I turn sharply, nearly losing my balance on the stool. "Tifa."

Tifa stands with her hands planted on her hips, serious. But then she breaks into a good natured smile.

"You know what drives him crazy? Smudge Fenrir."

I narrow my eyes, but she looks at Barret. "I finally got away from Yuffie. She was yelling about some curtain, and I told her I had to go to the bathroom."

Wait...

"I was wondering what took you so long. I had to have a serious talk with him." Barret thrusts his thumb at me. "It was getting old real fast."

Geez, thanks buddy.

"Thanks Barret." Tifa reaches out, grabbing my hand and pulls me off the stool.

We walk out of the hotel, moseying up the streets. She intertwines her fingers with mine, and I feel my whole body just relax. I've been missing this, us. Just us.

She leans her head on my shoulder, and I can tell she has too. "So, I don't know how much time we have before Yuffie goes psycho and finds us. She has this uncanny ability of finding me when I try to grab a moment of peace. I think she put a tracker on me."

"I wouldn't put it past her."

She grins, squeezing my arm, and we lapse into silence. There's something different about this silence, though. Granted, I have a lot of silences, but Tifa can feel it, the tension stretched in the air.

She pulls on my arm to get me to stop. "What is it? What's wrong?"

And then I see it flash behind her eyes, even though she knows there's no way in hell I'd do that to her, and even though she believes in me, I see it. The faintest doubt spring up there. I can't blame her, and I'm surprised I haven't seen this look more. I deserve doubt to be thrust in my face at every turn.

She looks down, immediately shamed. She shouldn't be.

I tilt her face up. "It's fine." Or it will be. I'm just in a funk. A spoof.

A tizz. I've got an itch that I just can't scratch.

...my brain is avoiding the problem.

I don't even know what the problem is.

She squeezes my hand. "We'll figure it out."

I know we will, but I'm sort of worried that I won't be able to in time, or here. Or...something. I have this old throb in my legs, something that I had grown used to.

I've changed. I'm not going to lie, but I am still me. I still sometimes choice the less honorable option of fight or flight, and not in an actual physical fight. I have this automatic reaction to dive for an escape, to avoid the problem completely until it sorts itself out, or until I can handle the problem or someone else fixes it. I don't think anyone else can fix this. I think I'm the only one who can. I don't think Tifa can...she can help, but only I can fix this. I need to stop hesitating. I need to do something. I know what the problem is. I know what I need to do now.

Some things just haunt you.

I turn to Tifa suddenly. "Will you come with me?"

"Of course." Then she shakes her head. "Wait. What? Where?"

It almost lifts my spirit, seeing her sudden answer even before she knows what she's said.

"Out. Of here."

"Where? How long?"

I shrug. "We'll be back in time for the wedding."

"But that's the thing, Cloud. The wedding. There's so much to do! We're getting married in three days. If we ran off now every one would freak out! Yuffie will have a heart attack and make Reno get the helicopter after us!"

I stare at her, feeling something tug at me again. I can learn to handle my itch. I can handle this problem.

I hope.

And she sees my eyes, and she understands suddenly. "Well, we better leave now if we want to make it back soon."

"Right."

I steer her towards the parking deck.

As I she climbs on Fenrir, I turn around to hand her goggles to her, and she smiles, real and big, and in such an unburdened way I can't believe, because we are getting married in three days, and we are leaving this city. We're going on a road trip, and she should not be this calm. She should be freaking out.

But I also see something else. She's coming to help me, and I know she's been helping me because the old me wouldn't have asked her to come with me. The old me wouldn't have even told her I was leaving, three days till marriage regardless.

But we are leaving.

And here we go.

And hopefully Tifa's good luck will balance out my terrible luck, and we'll get back in time for the wedding.

Our wedding.

I'm crazy.

A/N: Eh? What's this? Where are they going?! I DONT KNOW. Oh wait. Yes I do. Thanks for all the wonderful reviews last chapter...they really made me laugh! I'm so tired...finals...why? WHY?! College shouldn't be graded...it should just be. Course, college shouldn't be ridiculously expensive, and text books should be own by the college like in high school, but I guess that won't be happening. Sigh. I'm poor...boo college.