New Happenings

Cloud and Tifa waited for Marlene and Denzel to come to the front office. Having never been to a public school before, and only having been to the kid's school rarely, Cloud was unsure of how to act under the disinterested drone of the office lady. He tapped his foot and fidgeted and wondered how big this school was that his kids weren't here yet. Tifa poked him in the arm, "Sit still."

"I can't."

Tifa gasped, "I'm going to make a call. We need to…we need to clean the house."

Cloud's eyebrows rose. He nodded and motioned for Tifa to leave. Unfortunately, after Tifa left, Cloud was alone with a withered old bag of bones who probably used to like her job at some point. He stood and inspected some of the miscellaneous knick-knacks around the office until Denzel walked in.

"Cloud? Why are you picking me up?" the boy asked.

"Tifa and I just wanted to spend some time with you and Marlene. We haven't had time to do much together lately."

"Oh," Denzel smiled, "So Marlene's coming, too? Where are we going?"

"Sir," the office lady interrupted flatly, "If you could sign your son out, please?"

Cloud walked over, "Ah, sure. Could you sign out Denzel Arevalo and Marlene Wallace?"

"Your name, sir?"

"Cloud Strife."

The woman clicked through her computer, "Very good."

Marlene walked in the door, "I didn't-!" she started before noticing Cloud, "Cloud! Why are you here?" the third grader asked.

"Cloud and Tifa wanted to spend time with us since we haven't done much together lately," Denzel explained.

Marlene cocked her head to the side, but shrugged and took Cloud's hand, "Where's Tifa?"

Cloud nudged Denzel's shoulder and walked the kids outside as Tifa hung up her cell, "Right here. I signed them out, Tifa."

"Oh, thanks!" Tifa trotted over and knelt to the kids' face level, "How about we go out and have some fun?" she asked.

"Where at?" Denzel asked.

"I don't know. Maybe we could go get Goldie and ride around?" Tifa stood and looked at Cloud. Out of town and not going home were both excellent plans of action given the circumstances.

Cloud nodded, "Sounds good to me. How does that sound to you two?"

Marlene and Denzel glanced at each other sullenly. Sometimes it really stunk living with people who grew up in the middle of nowhere. What fun was a kid to have in Nibelheim? That place wasn't even mentioned in Social Studies.

"Can we stay in town?" Denzel asked, "There's lots of stuff to do here, and it's not really far away."

"And chocobos smell so bad," Marlene added.

Cloud and Tifa looked at each other. What are you gonna do with kids who grew up in the city? They never learned how to have real fun. Kids are supposed to love getting covered head to toe in dirt!

"Okaay…How about…We go watch a movie?" Tifa suggested. She'd settle for out of the neighborhood.

"Ooh! There's this one movie that came out recently that I really wanna watch!" Marlene exclaimed, "It's that one with the Ice Queen, and she-"

"NOOO!" Denzel wailed, "Not that one! I already have the songs from it stuck in my head and I haven't even watched it!"

"Aww, c'mon, Denzel! Cloud, Tifa, pleeeeease can we watch Frozen?" Marlene begged.

Cloud and Tifa glanced at one another. They made a movie about Shiva?

"Maybe. We'll see when we get to the movie theatre," Tifa answered, successfully postponing the issue of what movie to watch until later. She pulled out her phone and called someone, "…Shelke? We're going to the movie theatre, can you lock the door?...I don't know…Really?...Okay, I'll call him if you want to come…Of course you're welcome to. Do you know where the theatre is?...Alright, see you in a bit, maybe?...Alright, bye Shelke."

"Is everything alright?" Cloud asked.

"Yeah, the house is being cleaned now."

"Why's it being cleaned?" Denzel asked.

"Someone graffitied the front of the house after you left for school while Cloud and I were busy."

"Oh…" Marlene looked at the adults suspiciously, but didn't press Denzel's question. A couple of phone calls and a walk later, Cloud, Tifa and Shelke were in front of the movie theatre listening to an 8-year-old girl and a 12-year-old boy argue between a princess movie and a monster movie.

Two and a half hours later, Cloud felt like he'd had enough clichés thrown at him to last a lifetime. "Fear is your enemy." "Let's lock our young daughter in the castle for the next 15 years and teach her to fear her powers." Logic. "Of course! Love!" Duh. Cloud had never seen a movie as feel-good as that one in his life and he saw that one coming. And they lived happily ever after. Okay, sure. Marlene loved it, though, and was singing several of the songs on the entire walk home. Joy.

"Next time, I get to pick the movie," Denzel grumbled.

Cloud looked over at Tifa, "Is everything cleaned up?"

"Yeah, I stepped out before the movie ended to make a call."

"Why didn't I think of that?" Cloud scoffed.

"That movie was utterly predictable," Shelke said sarcastically.

Cloud rolled his eyes in agreement.

The mish-mashed family arrived back at the Seventh Heaven to find a wobbly door and a somewhat sterile tang to the air. Marlene and Denzel glanced at each other once again, but ignored the changes and went inside happily.

Despite Cloud and Tifa's attempts to reach Mrs. Gainsborough, no connection could be made, and so life had to carry on as normal, but with increased caution. In need of money, Cloud started taking long jobs again, and was shortly called out to the sticks to deliver a large package. Luckily, the Blood Bullets left Cloud and Tifa alone for some time after the suicide bomber incident, and business began to pick up once again.

One day while working through a decent lunch rush, Tifa heard the unmistakable sound of a motorcycle pull into the garage. A moment later, Cloud walked in, seemingly pleased with himself.

"Cloud!" Tifa trotted over to him and gave him a hug, "You know, I think I like these long trips of yours less, now," she said teasingly.

Cloud smiled and gave Tifa an equally innocent hug, but his kiss was blocked. Cloud looked a bit hurt at Tifa.

"You need to shave."

Cloud rubbed the short beard on his chin and frowned.

"No kisses until you get the carpet off your face."

"I'll shave this evening."

"Then you can get your kiss then," Tifa smiled and went back to the stove to finish her customer's meal, "You got another bike?" she asked over her shoulder.

"Yeah. Payment for a delivery. Let me help you with the rush, though," Cloud walked over to the sink and turned the faucet on and turned to Tifa, "The usual? It's good to see this place with people in it again."

Tifa laughed, "No kidding. Thanks, Sasquatch."

Cloud chuckled before grabbing the dish soap and squirting it into the sink.

After Tifa had gotten rid of the last staggering stragglers, she brought the dishes back to Cloud and helped him finish them.

"So, how did you get a bike for a delivery?" Tifa asked.

"First of all, you know as well as I do that the trip sent me out into the middle of freaking nowhere, and that the guy had time-sensitive items that he needed in a shorter time than I'm usually able to do."

"Yeah?"

"Turns out Mr. 'I Need an Anniversary Gift Pronto' lives in the middle of a monster-infested forest. I had to catch at least three chocobos just to get to the guy. Two of them got eaten. I swear I was considering putting a pen in the garage for Goldie so I could just take her when I had to go far."

"Except then the whole block would smell like chocobo."

"Exactly. So I get there, and the guy sees what state I'm in-"

Tifa laughed, "How bad was it?"

"Beaten around by several encounters with monsters and reeking of chocobo. He wouldn't even let me bring the gift inside, despite how heavy it was."

Tifa snorted, "Lovely."

Cloud rolled his eyes, "So, as an apology, the guy gives me his bike. Apparently his wife was wanting him to get rid of it, anyway. So now it's mine," he said with a smile.

Tifa laughed, "So I guess I won't be seeing you very often for a while?"

Cloud bit his lip sheepishly and scratched the back of his head. He shrugged.

Tifa rolled her eyes, "Just make sure to clean off so you don't get grease in the house."

"Yeah."

That evening, Tifa inspected Cloud's shave and laughed at his tan line, "Nice work. You look like you again."

Cloud raised an eyebrow and pulled Tifa to him, "Can I get my welcome home kiss now?"

"Mmm…Sure, why not?"

Tifa leaned up and kissed Cloud. They stood embraced for a few seconds before children came and interrupted with exclamations of "Awww!" and "Ugh…"

For the next couple weeks, Cloud (and Denzel when he wasn't at school or doing homework) stayed in the garage anytime that wasn't mealtime or sleeptime. Cloud would occasionally surface for air to sit and talk with his family. Tifa heard all kinds of music from the door. Most of it sounded very "manly" though. Tifa would giggle when she imagined Cloud listening to hard rock, electronica, and typical garage music. It just didn't fit.

One day, when Tifa got back after picking Marlene and Denzel up from friends' houses, heavy bass could be heard blasting from the garage. Marlene burst into laughter, "It's WEIRD!" she cried.

Tifa and Denzel laughed, too, "Do you two want to drop in on Cloud?" Tifa asked with a mischievous smile.

The children nodded eagerly.

Tifa crossed the house and opened the door. An electronica band was booming out of Cloud's stereo, and Cloud was singing along as loud as he could and swinging his head around (still couldn't hear him over the stereo, though).

"The Angel of Love is upon me," the band and Cloud sang (his hair hit him in the eye and he fixed it before continuing), "And Lord, I felt so clean! Like a preacher on Sunday, my heart was serene! I waded iiiinto the water. I was baathed, I was droowwned!"

Tifa laughed with the children, "Cloud! Haha! CLOUD!" she called.

"Like the siiiiners before me, I knelt DOWN on the groouund! Ohh, leeet me slee-eep fore-e-v-" Tifa paused the stereo.

"-ver mo-o-oore-" Cloud continued for a beat and struggled to hit the deep note. He stopped suddenly and jumped to his feet, whirling on a smiling Tifa and co. He blushed deeper than his voice had gone, "Tifa!"

"You have a lovely voice, Cloud," Marlene said innocently. But Tifa had seen how much she had laughed a minute ago.

Their performer was obviously panicked. He searched his mind for any way to save himself. He pinched the bridge of his nose, "You guys…That wasn't…You can't just…"

Tifa laughed quietly and walked over to Cloud, "Like you don't listen to me sing in the shower," she said with a poke to his ribcage.

"Yeah, but you actually sing we-" Cloud stopped in his tracks, "MARLENE!"

The girl shrieked and ran from the room, laughing her head off. Denzel slapped a hand over his mouth in shock and ran laughing from the room as well.

"Oh, no you don't! Get back here!" Cloud tore after the two kids, leaving Tifa to fall to the floor crying with laughter. The sound of Cloud banging on Marlene and Denzel's bedroom door echoed down to the garage a moment later. Tifa wasn't sure if she'd seen Cloud this mad since they were kids! She got to her feet and ran upstairs.

"You are in so much trouble when you come out of there, young lady!" Cloud yelled through the door. He turned away from the laughter in the children's room and froze when he saw Tifa. He dropped his gaze to the floor and tried to hurry past.

"Hey," Tifa hooked his arm and turned Cloud to face her, "It's not that bad."

Cloud wouldn't look Tifa in the eye, "I think I just want to be left alone for a bit. I'm thoroughly mortified…but just so you know:" Cloud searched for the best way to put something, "I wasn't being creepy. I was just, um, lingering for a moment. And Marlene saw me. I, uh…that just made it sound worse, didn't it?" he said with a sigh.

"Nah. I get it," Tifa smiled at Cloud, "I'm glad you enjoy my singing, but for future reference, I'll sing even if I'm not in the shower. I won't sing at the drop of a hat," she said with a laugh, "But you're allowed to ask."

Cloud shook his head, "I'll be downstairs," he brushed past Tifa and hurried downstairs.

I already had the bulk of this chapter done, It was a matter of finding a place to fit it. This I think is one of my favorite chapters :)