"-and then I kicked him in the face 'cause I was like, oh no mister, you ain't getting away with that! And then-"

Someone shoot me, Cloud thought dryly as he and Yuffie approached the door of Seventh Heaven. He had put up with her constant chatter the entire way from Nibelheim; save for the half hour of silence that was gifted onto him when he stopped and bought Yuffie a lollipop.
He had convinced himself that the chatter would lessen when they got home with the threat of Tifa kicking Yuffie's ass looming, but it slowly dawned on him that Tifa actually enjoyed Yuffie's company and would embrace the chatter.

"-and I never ate bananas again. Hey Cloudy, can I ask you a question?"

Doom, he thought as he paused with his key in the front door of the bar.

"...what?"

Yuffie placed her hands on her hips and looked right up at Cloud, a stern look on her face.

What is she scolding me for now?

"When are you and Teef gonna tie the knot?"

He stared blankly at her, his mouth beginning to form a small 'o'.

"...what?"

She sighed dramatically, rolled her eyes and threw her hands up in the air.

"You and Teef! When you gonna get married? I mean-"

Married?

"-you've been friends since you were teeny and you obviously love each other-"

Love? Tifa loves me?

"-and we've all got bets on when you'll propose, tie the knot and then when Tifa pops out the first kid-"

Children! Can I even have children? Wait, they're betting on us?

"-and I kinda need you to pop the question soon 'cause I said you'd do it before the year is out-"

"Yuffie."

"-and I'm not gonna loose 100gil just 'cause you haven't the ba-"

"Yuffie!"

She finally clamped her mouth shut and drooped her lips into a pout.

"I hadn't even thought of marriage-"

Before he could continue what he was saying, there was a crash on the other side of the door. Opening it up, Cloud spotted a vase that must have fallen from the small table resting by the door.
With a sigh, he crouched down to pick up the shards of glass and continued to talk.

"It's...it's not that I don't want it. It's just... I don't think Tifa thinks of me in that way."

There was a snort of laughter from Yuffie as Cloud tossed the glass into the bin near the counter.

"...what?"

"Tifa likes you like that; don't you worry boyo. Now I'm off the find the lady in question!"

And she skipped off down the back into the house in search of their friend. Picking up the flowers and mopping up the water that was in the vase, something didn't sit right with Cloud.
How the hell did it fall off the table?
Once the water was mopped up he took a look at the flowers. They were some of the tulips that grew in the church. Her church. But sadly they were crisp to touch, obviously having been there too long. Tossing the dead flowers into the bin, Cloud ran his hands through his hair as he entered the house.

The first thing he noticed was that there were dirty glasses left on the counter. That alone worried him. Tifa was constantly tidying up the bar and house it seemed, so it made no sense for her to just leave the kids' glasses there. Something wasn't right.
The second thing he noticed was the lack of Yuffie yapping to Tifa. Neither were present in the kitchen.

Deciding further inspection was necessary, he took in the rest of the kitchen. Denzel's school bag was carelessly thrown on the kitchen table, while Marlene's was nowhere to be seen. Checking the clock on the wall, Cloud's brow furrowed. It was one in the afternoon. The children weren't supposed to be home. Beginning to panic, Cloud dropped his gear and flew through the house, looking for somebody to be home.

Where could Yuffie have gone in that amount of time?

With one last burst of energy, he found himself in Tifa's room, a place he rarely found himself. Yuffie was bent over the bed, obviously quite upset over the form that was stretched out across Tifa's plush violet duvet. Denzel was rooting through the drawers of Tifa's nightstand, completely oblivious as to what he was rooting through. Cloud was sure he would blush later.

"She said it was here, it must be here!"

Figuring he should make himself known and find out what the hell was going on, Cloud cleared his throat and moved towards the bed and Yuffie.
Lying on the bed was Tifa, her chocolate-brown hair fanned across her purple pillow, her face ghostly pale. Cloud's brain immediately went into alarm and panic mode and spared no time gently pushing Yuffie out of the way and leaning over Tifa to inspect her better.

"What the hell happened?" he said sharply to no one in particular.

He heard a sniff from Yuffie and a frustrated growl from Denzel. The young boy slammed the drawer shut and fell onto his knees beside the bed.

"I came in early from school a few minutes ago and she slipped and hit her head off the counter. She was still conscious and was able to get herself up here herself and then Yuffie came and helped but now she's unconscious and- and"

Feeling slightly out of his comfort zone, Cloud reached out regardless and pulled Denzel into a quick one-armed hug. The boy did not need to experience the guilt he himself spent years mulling over.

"It's alright Denzel, just call the hospital and tell them we're coming in so they'll be ready for Teef, okay?"

The boy gave a tearful nod and then ran out of the room in search of the phone.

"Yuffie, how was she when you got here?"

Cloud finally looked back at the ninja and was surprised to see her lip quivering.

"She was- was running her words together and-and sounded drunk. She tried to tell Denzel where her cure materia was but-but… I'm so sorry Cloud; I didn't know what to do. Oh my god"

She then proceeded to sob and leave the room with her hand to mouth. Getting more and more panicked at Tifa's current appearance, Cloud slowly reached out and moved her hair from her eyes, caressing her pale cheek gently. As if responding to his touch, she groaned quietly and shifted slightly, opening her eyes a crack before letting them roll back into her head.

"Shit," he cursed under his breath, before gathering her up in his arms and making his way downstairs.

It would be a long day.

A/N: Sorry for the wait, I was actually in hospital myself last week so.. Still sick and all but I tried to get it out as soon as possible. Not as happy with this chapter as the others. Ah well. Let me know what you think! :)

Reviews:

Guest: Thanks for your review! :)

CupofTeaforAliceandHatter: Thanks for the review and your nice comments. :) Yea, I feel sorry for both but I think more so Cloud.

HazzaTL3: Thank you for the 2 reviews! Very much appreciated! There's defiantly going to be some Yuffietine in this but I don't know when and how yet. Yea, I know about Vincent's age but... I suppose he spent 30 of those years in a coffin and never aged in that time? I dunno.. I think it's different from a physically older man.

SapphyreMyst: I honestly love writing Cloud's inner monologue. Great, great fun. Much easier to write than all that serious stuff.. Thanks for the review again!

Violet Joe: Sorry for the wait! Glad to hear you like the story! Thanks for the review though. Happy greetings from Ireland! :)