Chapter three: Starting anew

Tifa woke up the next morning finding her bedroom too bright for her liking. She cracked an eye open only to shut it tight immediately. "Too bright!" she groaned, not talking to anyone in particular.

Strangely though, she felt as if somebody moved around and pulled the curtain. Yes, this was much better; at least the annoying light didn't bother her anymore. If only she could get rid of her headache too. Dammit, why the hell did her head hurt so much? She didn't hit it anywhere, did she? No, as long as she remembered, she closed the bar last night and-

The events of last night came to her in a rush, took away her breath and made her to smack herself mentally. 'Gaia!'

How did she end up like that? She couldn't remember. One minute she was chatting with Reno and the next thing she knew was Cloud walking in on them while they were standing next to each other at somehow a dangerously close distance. Hell, she could even recall the feeling of Reno's hand on her face. She screwed up big time. She groaned again and her headache intensified.

"Here, try this."

Her eyes flew open at the unexpected voice.

A steaming cup of black coffee was extended toward her. She followed the gloved hand which was holding it till her eyes landed on the sight of the man whom she wished she didn't have to face this soon. 'What is he doing here?'

He responded to her still gaze with his calm, cool eyes. When she didn't say anything, he tried again.

"It might help the headache," he said with a nod toward the cup in his hand.

How did he know? True enough, her head was throbbing painfully at that point. It was definitely one of the worse cases of hangover she had ever dealt with. Unconsciously, Tifa reached out and took the cup. A look of relief flashed across his face as she did so, but so quickly that she wasn't even sure if it was really there.

She took a sip of her coffee. The familiar aroma and taste calmed her nerve and mitigated her headache. He watched her silently as she drank her coffee.

"What time is it?" she asked in a terrible husky voice.

"Nine thirty."

With that, she bolted upright instantly. WHAT?! She had overslept! Kids… School…

"Marlene and Denzel are at school and yes they had breakfast before they left. No need to worry." he said gently.

Tifa let her breath out, relieved, then glanced at the blond in front of her, feeling irritated. She couldn't understand why he had decided to show up and read her mind on this particular day!

She put her cup aside and got up, still feeling awfully dizzy. "Well thanks. For the kids and for the coffee. I guess it's time for me to get back to work."

"Tifa," he held her wrist and stopped her. "Tell me what's wrong, I want to know what the problem is."

Tifa looked down at where his hand was resting on hers. Her heart rate rose noticeably. It was as if her skin was burning under his touch even through the glove. 'Gosh, Lockhart haven't you got any dignity left?' She looked up.

"What gave you the impression that something's wrong?" She challenged, still very aware of his hold on her.

"Last night–"

"Last night, I was just having some fun! Okay, so it might have got a little out of hand. Why are you trying so hard to make me feel bad about it?"

"Tifa that's not true. You know that."

"Then what?"

He stared deeply in her eyes and answered in a low tone. "Tifa I want to know what is bothering you. I don't want to see you wasting your life like that."

Okay so that was the point? He thought that she was wasting her life because she got drunk with Reno? But she didn't waste her life waiting years with the false hope that he might be able to reciprocate her feelings one day?

Tifa felt her temper was rising dangerously. However, getting into a fight with Cloud was the last thing she wanted. She took a deep breath to calm down herself then turned her head and looked at him.

"I've done that mistake for a very long time, but not anymore, I can assure you." she said in the most quiet voice that she could manage.

It was then that he let go of her hand and stared at her mutely, seemingly not sure how to interpret her equivocal words. Tifa felt guilty for a second, It wasn't Cloud's fault that he didn't have the same kind of feeling that she had for him. Was it? She continued in a softer tone.

"So if that's what concerns you, you can stop worrying now."

"Well I'm … I'm glad to hear it." He stated flatly after a few seconds.

They held each other gaze for a little while; an ensuing silence fell over them.

She loved this man, oh Gaia she loved this man. And what she would pay to take away this love. Because it was hurting. It was hurting so much.

Cloud turned away first and broke the eye contact as well as the silence.

"I… I gotta go now…see you later." He said hesitantly then turned around and looked at her expectantly as if seeking for a confirmation.

Tifa nodded and watched silently as he left the room, feeling far weaker to say anything. When she heard the front door closed, she felt a lump formed in her throat.

She collapsed on the edge of her bed, trying to figure out how exactly they ended up like that.

Despite the confidence she showed earlier, she was pretty disappointed with herself. She was just not going to admit it to Cloud. How on earth did she let herself to get that drunk? Out of the whole ordeal, she found only two comforts. First, that she hadn't been found like that by either Marlene or Denzel. Second, that they were interrupted before anything could have happened that she would seriously regret the next day.

However, it was somehow strange that although the whole night's events were still obscure in her mind, she could remember Cloud's facial expression when he first found them clearly: Shocked and betrayed. As the memory refreshed, a bitter satisfactory smile tugged the corner of her lips.

Tifa went downstairs, expecting to see a mess, since she didn't clean the bar last night. However, she was surprised to find the bar clean and spotless with all the dirty dishes washed and neatly in their places. On the table, was a plate full of fried egg and sausage. Still warm. The lump returned to her throat.

Ten days passed. Each day so stretched, passing so slowly, that you didn't really need to hold a count to know how much time had passed. In these ten days, nothing had changed and at the same time, everything had changed. Every day they went through their usual schedule, with Cloud making his deliveries and Tifa running the bar. They talked to each other as they always did. So, everything looked the same from outside. But there were changes that probably could only be picked up by the two of them. There was something different in the quality of their conversations, not as easy, not as effortless as it used to be.

And Reno, yes Reno was whole another story. It took Tifa all the reasons in the world to convince the man that no, they didn't have a moment, and no, it didn't mean anything. Fortunately having been almost as wasted as her, Reno didn't seem to remember much of that night either.

"Hey!" A voice shouted in Tifa's ear over the noise of the bar and pulled her out of her musings.

She looked up, startled and her eyes met a pair of large brown eyes. She shook her head. Of course, who else?

"What?" She asked, annoyed.

"I said cheer up!"

"Yuffie, don't you work for the intelligence department of WRO?"

Yuffie arched an eyebrow, "Yeah, so?"

"Aren't they supposed to be much quieter than you?" Tifa teased.

Yuffie rolled her eyes, "Very funny! But hey, it's not my fault that you didn't hear me. Seriously, I was talking to you for like five minutes and you didn't even notice."

Tifa nodded toward a costumer to show that she had heard their order and started mixing different spirits together to prepare the cocktail.

Yuffie watched her for a moment then said, "Aren't you a bartender Teef? Aren't they supposed to be friendlier, warmer and a lot more flirtatious than you? Yuffie asked with a wicked grin on her face.

Tifa merely glared at her and handed the cocktail to the costumer. Yuffie's face brightened up at the sight of the drink.

"Oh man, I'm definitely gonna have one of those!" she stated excitedly.

"Definitely not!"

"Definitely am! I'm not a minor anymore, you know!"

"Well there's no way on Gaia that I'll serve you that while you're supposed to help me around the bar." Tifa answered coolly.

"Oh gosh! You're turning into an old woman Teef, y'know that?"

"I have absolutely no doubt! Now go take the orders of the newcomers."

Yuffie pouted sulkily but went off doing as she was told, muttering under her breath about elders with serious hearing problems.

Tifa rolled her eyes and chuckled to herself. Yuffie had returned from a mission in Wutai a couple of days ago and had a few vacation days left before going back there. She had spent most of her evenings hanging out in Seventh Heaven. Helping Tifa with the bar was the original plan, yet here she was bouncing around from one corner to another, making an effective pest of herself. Then again, the kids loved it whenever Yuffie decided to show up. They spent hours listening to her interesting adventures and funny stories. Not that Tifa had anything to complain. Yuffie's carefree attitude never failed to lighten her mood and it helped her to get her mind off other things. However, it seemed that even Yuffie's presence couldn't stop her from zoning out all the time.

Yuffie returned after a few minutes with the small note of orders.

"Hey, Romeo is here tonight, again!"

"Who?" Tifa asked while studying the note, not really paying attention.

"Romeo! You know who I mean!" Yuffie said in a hushed tone.

Tifa looked up at her confused, "I do?"

"Yeah, the guy who's sitting alone in the left corner. The one with the dark green shirt."

Tifa looked toward the said direction. There was a young man sitting at a table by himself. He was gazing absent mindedly at his glass of drink in front of him. Tifa didn't know the guy, he wasn't one of his regulars. His face was kind of familiar though. Maybe he had been there before. Suddenly the man lifted his head and caught her gaze. Tifa looked away flustered.

"Well?" Yuffie prompted.

"I don't know him, I guess he's new. Do you know him?" Tifa asked, still feeling the man's eyes on them.

Yuffie raised her eyebrows, "Is that all you can say? At least I know that I've seen him all these afternoons that I've been here. You must be walkin' around with your eyes closed!" she shook her head dramatically, "Every day, he comes here, has a single drink and then leaves. I like him already, he always leaves a generous tip. And…" She stopped mid sentence, smirking.

"And?" Tifa asked uneasily. She had a feeling that the guy knew exactly that they were talking about him.

"And he has his eyes on you," she finished.

Tifa blushed slightly. Not because of what Yuffie had just said, but because she knew the man was still watching her intently. When finally he decided to look away, it was like a huge projector went off suddenly

"Oh and how do you know that?" Tifa asked although had already lost her interest to the subject. As a barmaid, she was used to men hitting on her on a daily basis.

"I just know, trust me. I can tell it from the way he looks at you! He's into you."

"Since when are you interested in romance Yuffie?"

"I'm NOT! Hell , never! But it doesn't mean that I don't notice this stuff."

She put the dirty dishes in the sink and started preparing the ordered dishes and drinks.

"Teef?"

Tifa looked up to see Yuffie was studying her carefully the whole time.

"Why don't you date?"

This question caught Tifa off guard. "What?" she croaked, momentarily unable to come up with a proper answer.

"Y'know," Yuffie continued none the less, "I always thought that you and …" she paused, apparently not sure how to finish her sentence.

"What?" Tifa demanded.

"Nothing, not important," she replied.

Tifa didn't delve any deeper. She could sense the dangerous topic coming up and she had no desire to talk about it. Not at all. Yuffie's train of thought proved that she had every right to trust her instincts.

"Where's spiky by the way? When's he goin' to be here?"

"I don't know," Tifa answered truthfully. This was another thing that she was trying to do these days: Not counting every minute and every second for Cloud to be home.

Yuffie huffed, "I'm surprised that he's not anxious to spend some time with his special friend!"

Tifa tried not to laugh. As far as she knew Cloud, he was probably using every excuse to come home later, so that he didn't have to put up with Yuffie's pranks and mischief and her constant complaints about her Materias.

"What?" Yuffie asked accusingly.

"Uh, nothing… Hey, can you check on the children? They've been very quiet over the last hour!"

"Okay," she answered still suspicious, then she suddenly beamed, "Right after I collected my tiiiip, " she squealed and pointed with her eyes toward the man's now empty seat. Sure enough, on the table was a paid bill.

"Please?" pleaded Denzel.

"No."

"Please?"

"You'd be bored."

"No I won't! I promise! Please?"

Cloud sighed and looked at the persistent face of the boy in front of him. Although he wasn't about to admit it aloud, he admired his stubbornness in achieving what he wanted.

"Okay, Ask for Tifa's permission." he finally said.

"Yes!" Denzel jumped into the air and ran to Tifa who was setting the tabel for the familly dinner.

"Tifa, can I go with Cloud on Saturday?"

Cloud watched as the brunet straightened up and tucked a strand of hair out of her face. 'You could've talked to her yourself, you know?' His inner sound commented impartially.

"You mean doing deliveries?" She sounded confused.

"Yeah, Cloud said it's fine with him. It'll only take him the afternoon."

Tifa cast a side glance at Cloud and he nodded slightly. The moment that their eyes met, he felt something stirred in the pit of his stomach. He missed her, odd as it might sound, but he missed her. He missed talking freely with his friend. Tifa looked back at Denzel.

"Would you wear a helmet?"

"Sure!" was Denzel's enthusiastic answer.

"Would you finish your homework before you leave?"

"Yes! Promise!"

"Alright Denzel, but if you'll get tired you should let Cloud know, deal?"

"Deal! Thanks Tifa."

Tifa smiled at him and went back to work. Cloud blinked. He hadn't realized he was staring at a point for quite a time now. He turned and came face to face with Yuffie. He pulled away.

"What the …" he stopped abruptly and glanced toward the kids, who didn't seem to notice anything.

Yuffie, on the other hand, didn't even flinch. She watched him with a cool expression on her face, chewing her gum. "You can be so blind sometimes, you know that?"

"What do you mean?" he asked with a glare.

"Dinner's ready!" Tifa called out.

"Oh I don't know, try to figure it out on your own," Yuffie told him before turning away and leaving him with his dark thoughts.

It is really strange how people become obsessed about something once it is pointed out. After that night, Tifa kept seeing the man in the bar, usually in the same spot. And just like Yuffie had mentioned, he didn't stay long, he usually left after a drink or two. Yet, he was one of those whom people would say they have presence. Those who were easily noticed without much of effort.

Tifa made her way to one of the recently vacated tables and collected the dirty dishes. It was Saturday night, one of the busiest and most hectic nights of Seventh Heaven. She quickly sprayed the table's surface with a cleaner liquid and wiped it clean. It wasn't the first time that it crossed her mind that she needed an assistant in the bar. Sure, Cloud was eager to help whenever he was around, but she needed a more permanent assistant. With the Increasing popularity of the bar, maybe it wasn't such a bad idea to hire someone.

Tifa went to the kitchen and put away the dishes.

"How's it going Marlene?"

The little girl didn't answered right away. She squeezed the bottle she was holding some more to complete the complex design on the food, the tip of her tongue sticking out in concentration. Then she put the bottle away and flashed a grin at her.

"Pretty good! Order 14 is ready!"

"Perfect! Thanks honey!"

Tifa grabbed the plates and went back to bar. With Denzel off with Cloud that day making deliveries, a very bored and insistent Marlene, had asked Tifa to let her do the design of the dishes. Gaia only knew why, since Seventh Heaven was never that kind of fancy bar. But as long as it kept Marlene happy and her kitchen clean, she wouldn't protest.

Tifa handed the orders and turned toward the man who had taken one of the stools behind the counter a few minutes ago, and gaped.

'Romeo!' she thought and instantly smacked herself inwardly. Damn Yuffie and her stupid nicknames.

The man caught her surprised gaze, "Hi," he offered politely.

Tifa snapped out of her musings, "Um … hi," she said with a glance over the man's usual spot, half expecting to find it occupied. It was empty.

"What can I get you?" she asked, forcing a smile.

"Can I have a beer, please?"

"Sure!"

Tifa got a beer bottle and opened it with a swift motion.

"Here you are."

"Thanks."

He lifted the bottle and made a cheers gesture toward her before taking a sip. He was a handsome man, Tifa noticed. With dark brown wavy hair, dark green eyes and a tanned complex. 'Not as handsome as Cloud,' Tifa pondered, who looked more like an angel shuffled accidentally between human beings, of course if you could ignore the giant sword he always carried on his back all the time. However, this man was handsome in his own simple way.

"It's a pretty busy night."

Tifa looked at the man, amused. Oh so now Roemo was also up for small talks?

"Yeah, It is. Saturday nights always kinda are."

"Your friend's not here tonight."

"Yuffie? No, she was here temporarily, just helping me around. She left yesterday."

"Oh so the head of intelligence department of WRO wasn't actually looking for a part time job?" he joked mildly, his eyes alight with playful laughter.

Tifa raised her eyebrows, "You know her?"

"Not personally. See, I work for WRO too."

"Is that so?"

"Yeah," he held out his hand, "I'm Alex by the way."

Tifa found herself reaching and shaking hands with the man. 'Well, that's odd!'

"Um, nice too meet you, I guess you already know my name."

"Sure, after all, it's Tifa'sbar."

"So not Seventh Heaven?"

"No," he shook his head and smiled, "sorry if it disappoints you, but that's how this place's generally referred to."

Tifa laughed and this time for real, "So Alex, What do you do in WRO may I ask?"

'Since I'm completely clueless.' she added silently. Despite being tall and fit, the guy somehow didn't quite match as an army man, or at least in her eyes. Yuffie also hadn't recognized him. His answer, however, astonished her.

"I work for the engineering department. I'm an architect."

"Oh, wow, sounds interesting…Any–"

"Tifa?" A soft voice called. They both turned to see Marlene standing in the kitchen's doorway.

"Yes Marlene?"

"Tifa I can't reach the strawberry syrup."

'Strawberry syrup? God, what does she want to do with that?' Tifa thought, horrified at the mere thought of possible choices.

"I'll be there in a minute sweetie."

"Okay," She disappeared in the kitchen once again.

Alex turned toward her. "Sorry, what were you saying?"

"Wha..? Oh, I just wanted to ask if I know any of your works by any chance?"

He nodded and his eyes flickered towards the kitchen once again. "Surprisingly, yes I think you do," he replied.

Tifa tilted her head and looked at him questioningly.

"I was part of the team that build the school when Edge first was developing."

"Really? School? I've always liked the school's building."

"It's not fancy. But at that time, we couldn't afford more and the safety of the building had to be considered above everything else."

"Yeah, I suppose that's what matters the most. After what the children of this planet have gone through …" Tifa trailed off, seemingly forgot about her surroundings.

With a shake of her head, she returned to reality and looked at her companion. Alex was staring at her with so much interest and, concern? that she felt somehow uncomfortable.

"Um, hey," called a young woman before either of them could say anything, "hey, can I have three beers, two Martinis, one Black Velvet and one Paradise?" She smiled sheepishly and gestured toward a group of people who had just arrived, "We are celebrating!" she explained.

Tifa looked over the group. She nodded once she was convinced they were all adults.

"Sure, in a minute." She smiled at the woman. Then she turned toward Alex, "Uuh…"

"Please don't let me hold you down. It was nice talking to you Tifa," he said with a smile.

"It was nice meeting you Alex," she returned the smile.

And it was true. At least she now had a real name for the guy instead of Yuffie's silly nicknames.

"Who was the man you were talking to?" Asked Marlene several minutes later, when Tifa finally got a chance to check on her.

"Just a costumer," Tifa answered while reaching for the strawberry syrup from the the top shelf. "Still can't tell me what you wanna do with that?"

"It'll be something good, What was his name?"

"Um, Alex," Tifa answered, a little bewildered by Marlene's Curiosity. Usually, the little girl wasn't much interested in who the costumers were. "And just for the record, I don't think strawberry syrup would go with mashed potato!" she added.

"I wasn't going to try that, and Alex is a nice name, don't you think?"

"I guess, It's a normal name," was her short, uncertain answer.

Yes a normal name, for a normal man, with a normal job. Normality! Yes that was the word she was looking for. She was filled with the sense of normality the whole time she was talking to him. And she had enjoyed it. What was just so great about being normal? Oh, well, she guessed she knew the answer to that one.

A/N: Hey guys, here was the third chapter. Really sorry fo the long time gap, but life was very busy these days. Hopfully, I'll have more free time from now on so I try to update more regularly.

Thanks for reading,thanks for your reviews guys.

Keep reviewing please, let me know what you think about it.