A/N: Rated M for language and sexual content. Standard disclaimer applies.

Updated 6/18/2020: Edits throughout. Additional scenes with Tifa and the Turks to show how they have become friendly. Also new scenes with Marle and Yuffie. These chapters are going from around 2,000 words to more than 6,000 words, so there is a lot of new content.

Chapter 5:

What are your demons?

The words echoed in Tifa's head as she struggled to sleep. She had been tossing and turning for hours, unable to get the words Reno said to her out of her head. Sure, she was the one who first brought up the concept of "demons," but she was referring to Cloud.

She had convinced herself in her grief over Cloud's leaving that he was simply battling the demons of his past. She knew it was bull, as she felt guilt over things in her past too, as did everyone else on the planet. Yet she and just about everyone else on the planet moved on. They continued living. They found ways to either suppress the guilt or – for the lucky few – forgive themselves.

Tifa was in the former category. She carried her guilt with her wherever she went. She busied herself – with helping Marle, building Edge, fighting monsters, and working the bar – to suppress the guilt she felt. If she kept her mind focused on other things, she wouldn't have time to think about her mistakes.

Everyone was different, and she just hoped Cloud could find the path that she did. As the days after he left turned into weeks and then months, however, she began to lose hope that Cloud's path would lead him back to her.

It was 4:30 a.m. Tifa squinted her eyes at the bright screen of her phone. She knew that checking the time would almost guarantee she wouldn't go back to sleep but did it anyway. She thought that maybe she could bring up an article on her phone to read until she became tired again. It never worked, but any time she found herself struggling to sleep it was the first thing she thought to do.

Instead of reading, however, she quickly found herself scrolling through her contacts for one particular name.

She knew she shouldn't call. She learned months ago that one shouldn't call the person who broke their heart. It was embarrassing, and it showed weakness. Who would want to take back such a weak person?

She hadn't called Cloud in a little over a month. She knew it wouldn't make a difference. He never really answered his phone even when he was living with her. He only used it to make calls, not to receive them.

Tifa stared at his name on her phone screen until her vision went blurry. She imagined that if she stared at it long enough, he would call.

He didn't.

He had made no attempt to contact her after he left. Tifa had cried nearly every day the first two months, though she had managed to suck it up while she worked. She still cried herself to sleep some nights, but that had become less frequent over the past month as she battled more monsters with the Turks. Yes, the Turks were actually – against all odds and all her predictions or desires – becoming her acquaintances.

She ran her thumb over Cloud's name on her screen, as if doing so would allow her to actually feel him. Suddenly, the screen changed, and she realized she had accidentally called his number. Tifa's heart began to beat faster as she considered hanging up. The damage was done, she thought, and she might as well try to hear his voice when his call went to voicemail.

"The number you have dialed is not in service. Please try again," a voice said after several rings.

Tifa's heart sank.

What have you done? What happened?

She began to panic as her mind filled with all the possibilities that could lead to his phone being turned off permanently. Maybe he lost it. Maybe it was destroyed somehow. Maybe… he's hurt somewhere or even…

Tifa shook her head to clear the thoughts. She didn't even want to consider such a possibility. She would rather think that Cloud had dumped her but was alive than believe he was dead.

She continued to stare at her phone until the tears flowed again. After about 20 minutes of crying and screaming her frustrations into the void, she fell asleep.

A few hours later…

"Get it together, Lockhart," Tifa said as she supported herself on the bathroom sink and studied her features in the mirror.

It was weird, but she had always thought she looked quite beautiful after she had been crying. She certainly didn't believe she was anything to look at while she was crying, but something about the way her eyes puffed afterward made her feel pretty. It was hard to explain.

She stepped into the shower to refresh for the day, deciding that she needed to know something for sure.

It was still early in the morning, with just a few people heading to work. The monster attacks were consistent, but most people were still able to get to work without being bothered. The Edge Police Department had also grown over the past few months and was regularly patrolling in order to assist people who were attacked.

The sky was still a deep, hazy blue – the color of Cloud's eyes when he was in a pensive mood. The morning fog hung over the town like a cool mist, making the late spring humidity almost bearable. Tifa kept her guard up for any signs of trouble, but she made her way down the main road of Edge easily. Her bar had been built along this road, which stretched from the Old Midgar Sector 5 gate to outside the new city. Seventh Heaven was about halfway between the Meteor statue and the entrance to Old Midgar, about an hour's walk.

Tifa breathed in the stuffy morning air as she approached the Sector 5 gate. Since Edge switched to using oil and coal, the smell of mako no longer hung in the air like hot, wet, garbage. Even without the plate above to trap in the smell down in the slums, it was still noticeable to her until the city no longer had to rely on mako power. She wondered if the people who lived above the plate could smell it, or if it was faint enough for them to ignore. Maybe she only smelled it because it was so pungent in the slums.

The Sector 5 gate had been sealed shut so people wouldn't have to be reminded of what Midgar looked like or the calamity, but a regular-sized door was built into the wall next to it for people to pass through if they wanted. It was a heavy metal door that took some effort to push, meant to deter most people from wandering in to the dangerous, abandoned city. Fiends had multiplied in the old metropolis, fighting alongside junkies and gangs that were run out of Edge.

For Tifa, entering Old Midgar was like stepping back into time. The slums were destroyed, yet just as dangerous and inhabited by some of the old dangers as when she had lived there. Paths had been cleared through the rubble of the plate, and some shanty towns had been built by the criminals that moved into the town. She hadn't been back here since before the gate was closed. Reeve no longer needed to send people into the old city to find supplies and equipment, as Edge could now manufacture what it needed and had enough money to import anything else.

Tifa had heard about the slum lords and degenerates but hadn't seen it with her own eyes. She was now walking past a row of shanty homes that made her uncomfortable. She knew who the junkies and gangbangers were back in the slums – and they learned not to mess with her – but she didn't know if these were new people. Luckily, it seemed they were all asleep, probably passed out from whatever they had done the night before.

She slipped past the shacks and moved on to her destination, an old decrepit building that had somehow avoided damage from Meteor and looked exactly as it had when Tifa first saw it nearly two years earlier. The stonework out front was crumbling, but the large wooden doors still stood solid. Tifa pushed the heavy doors open enough to get through them and see the morning sun casting its rays through what remained of the stained-glass windows. She walked down the center aisle, past the broken pews and the few that were still in somewhat decent condition. Her boots tread softly on the old creaky plank floor as she took notice of how the Sector 5 church hadn't changed one bit.

It was comforting and haunting at the same time. Now Tifa truly felt like she had gone back in time, while at the same time the memories of her dearly departed friend hung heavy in the air. Tifa stopped when she approached the flower garden. Somehow, the white and yellow lilies still thrived even though their caretaker had long since perished. Aerith's spirit must still linger. Tifa crouched down to brush her fingers over the petals of a yellow lily, staring into its center and zoning out.

Flashback…

"You made it," she said to Cloud as he returned with Barret from blowing up the Sector 1 reactor. The blond just grunted at her as he strolled toward the front doors of the old Seventh Heaven – with a yellow lily pinned between his shirt and his suspenders. "Where'd you get that? I can't remember the last time I saw a real one."

She didn't think about it at that moment, but the last time she had seen a real flower was in Nibelheim, before the incident five years before Cloud came back into her life. The lily stuck to Cloud's chest reminded her of the Nibelweiss flowers that grew on the Nibel mountains just outside their hometown. They had been her favorite flower, but she hadn't thought about them in years. There was no point. Flowers didn't grow in the slums, and she couldn't afford to buy them from above the plate – if there were even florists up there.

And then Cloud did something unexpected. He grunted again, as if he were annoyed, but he reached for the flower, plucked it from his suspenders, and dramatically presented it to her with just the slightest smile on his face.

Tifa lifted her eyebrows at his gesture. "Huh?" she asked, staring at Cloud and not the flower. Cloud Strife, the hero from her dreams, had just brought her a flower? She blushed and had to look away from him, hoping he didn't see how red her cheeks had turned.

"How sweet! When did you get so thoughtful?" she asked, not meaning to sound so mean.

"A guy can change," Cloud said. "Has been five years."

He sounded almost... flirtatious. Had he changed?

But just like that, the moment was ruined. Tifa hadn't seen Cloud in seven years – at least that's what she thought at the time – and her confusion caused him to stumble and recover by saying he needed to talk to Barret.

Present day…

"Cloud, where are you?" Tifa asked the flowers.

He had been gone three months, so she knew the odds of him being here were slim, but she had to know. She looked around. The boxes and chairs that littered the walls of the church were still there. Nothing appeared to have been disturbed and nothing was new. If Cloud had been here, there was no trace of him left.

Tifa thought that maybe he simply came here to talk to Aerith, since it was closer to home. It didn't look like anyone had been here in years, actually. Tifa felt like crying, but she had no more tears left from last night. Three months…

Maybe he was at the Forgotten Capital again. Maybe he didn't want to be found. Tifa thought that if she followed him it would anger him, like she was just some lovesick puppy that couldn't take a hint.

She hugged her arms around her stomach and turned to leave the church, walking slowly back toward the front door as she tried to hold herself together. As she was passing through the doors back outside, she could have sworn she heard a sweet voice say, "Hmm?" but when she turned back, she saw nothing.

Tifa looked up at the sky when she was back outside. The morning sun was hidden behind clouds, turning everything a steely blue. It would rain today. "No more steel sky," Tifa said softly to her friend as she continued to stare upward.

She started walking back to Seventh Heaven as a light drizzle began. She stopped at Marle's orphanage on her way to see if she could help with the children.

"Tifa! How are you? What are you doing here so early?" Marle asked, noticing the light mist that had settled on Tifa's head.

"I was just out for a walk, thought I'd stop by," Tifa said, still hugging her sides. Marle motioned for her to come inside.

"You can help me make breakfast, I remember how good you were with a skillet," Marle said with a wink as Tifa followed her into the kitchen. Tifa chuckled as she scanned the counter to find a bowl of whisked eggs and a skillet on the stove.

"Glad my cooking left such an impression," she said as she turned on the stove to continue with the eggs as Marle started slicing some bacon strips.

"So where were you off to so early in the morning?" Marle asked. Tifa sighed.

"I went to the Sector 5 church," she stopped pouring the eggs into the skillet. "To see if he was there."

"Oh, sweetie, I'm sorry," Marle said.

"I knew he wouldn't be there. I don't know why it made me sad."

"You still miss him. It's still fresh."

"Yeah…"

"You should be going out with people your age; take your mind off things," Marle suggested.

"All my friends are in other towns."

"So, make some new ones! You're beautiful and famous, you should have no trouble meeting new people."

"I guess you're right."

"I'm always right."

Tifa chuckled. "I know, Marle."

"You have to have gotten close to someone in town by now other than me, right?"

Tifa thought for a moment and shuddered. Then she groaned.

"Actually, the people I see the most are the Turks," she admitted, the words feeling like acid in her mouth.

"Those murderers? What do they want?"

"They've been helping fight the monsters in town. They've also helped with the construction."

Marle narrowed her eyes as Tifa scrambled the eggs.

"They tried to kill us all," Marle said.

"I know. I think… they regret it though," Tifa replied, surprised at herself for almost defending them.

"They said that?"

"Yeah. A couple of times, actually."

"Do you believe them?"

"Can you ever trust a Turk?" Both women laughed.

Marle sighed as she began placing bacon strips on a separate skillet on the stove.

"Well, they've got you laughing again. That's positive, at least."

"Marle."

"Tifa, I've seen a lot of crazy things in my life," Marle began. Tifa knew she was in for a bit of a lecture. "I'd be lying if I said I didn't believe people can change. I've seen it. Now, that doesn't mean you should embrace them or even forget what they did, but if you have people in your life right now that make you smile, don't reject them."

Tifa couldn't believe what she was hearing. But then, Marle always had a soft spot for lost souls.

"I can't get past what they did," the younger woman said, mixing some cheese into the eggs.

"I know, I was there, too," Marle replied. "But honey, that was two years ago. We've all moved on."

"Biggs and Jessie didn't," Tifa snapped, harsher than she intended. "They couldn't."

"And neither could those people who died when the reactors blew up," Marle said, immediately placing a hand on Tifa's shoulder to stop her from reacting. "I don't say that to be mean, I just want you to have perspective. We've all done things we regret; things we never wanted to do in the first place. But don't people at least deserve a second chance?"

"Are you seriously telling me to consider being their friend?"

Marle laughed. "No, of course not. But you brought them up. The idea must be on your mind."

Tifa scoffed. Marle had to be wrong. Tifa wasn't thinking about the Turks at all unless they were physically near her – and she didn't like when they were near, even if they had been helping the people of Edge a lot.

"I don't know…" she sighed.

"You don't have to marry one of them, but if they can make you smile once in a while, don't fight it," Marle responded. "You don't have to prove to anyone that you loved him. We know. That doesn't mean you have to wallow in misery until he comes back."

Tifa considered Marle's words as they served breakfast to the children. The kids from the Leaf House made up most of the children at the orphanage, but there were a few kids Marlene's age and a few that were a little older than the rest. Tifa had seen the children play together and get into arguments, but during meals, they were all cooperative and quiet.

"Hey Tifa, has Cloud come back yet?" Oates asked.

"Oates!" Marle scolded.

"Sorry," Oates wilted. "It's just that, some older kids were bullying us the other day, and we were hoping he could teach us some self-defense moves."

"He's not back yet," Tifa informed the boy. "But I could teach you, if you like."

Some of the children perked up at her offer.

"I usually train in the morning alone, but I can come here and teach you during that time instead," Tifa added, to the children's delight.

The martial artist thought Marle was right about one thing: She needed to find things to take her mind off Cloud. Teaching the children, along with helping at the orphanage and building Edge, would all help.

On her way back to Seventh Heaven – the rain had let up while she was at the orphanage – Tifa was snapped out of her thoughts by skittering down the street in front of her. It wasn't the sounds of any fiend she was used to seeing in Edge, so she ran toward the commotion to see what was going on. A swarm of head hunters had invaded the city. Tifa squinted at them to be sure of what she was seeing; these were creatures native to Mideel, so why were they in Edge?

She didn't think too long before she ran toward one and drove her fist through its head. Another came up alongside her and she kicked out, smashing its carapace in its muddle. Two more jabbed at her with their front talons. She leapt into the air and landed with her heel on one's front leg, snapping it in half. The creature cried out in pain and Tifa hurled it toward its partner. The two tumbled backwards several feet, landing in front of two Edge police officers.

Tifa nodded to the officers as they took care of the beasts, leaving the bartender to return to her home. She entered and walked upstairs to brush out her hair, which had become frizzy from the earlier rain.

Today had taken a strange turn. Not only were the monster attacks increasing, but now creatures from other continents were appearing in the town? Tifa wondered if the two occurrences were related. They had to be, but she didn't understand it.

And what about Marle's suggestion? Tifa didn't think she was purposefully refusing to enjoy herself, it's just that nothing seemed to make her happy. It was just a fluke that Reno had made her smile and then laugh, right?

Later…

Like clockwork, the two Turks were in her bar shortly after opening. Tifa realized she was no longer tensing when they entered her bar. They were just regular customers at this point, not potential enemies. She took a deep breath and served their drinks, prepared to leave the two as soon as she set down their glasses as she usually did.

But for once, Rude had figured out something he could say to her. It wasn't anything profound, and he worried it wasn't interesting enough for her, but he had to try.

"Hey Tifa," he began, his voice stiff as always. "Can you believe this guy's birthday is next week?"

He ruffled Reno's hair as if he were a child. Reno swatted Rude's hand away and looked at his partner indignantly. "Hey, c'mon, yo."

Tifa's face softened a bit. She had never thought of the Turks as humans, let alone humans who celebrated their birthdays. She almost chuckled at the thought of these two tough guys wearing party hats and eating cake.

"Oh yeah? How old will you be?" she asked the redhead while wiping the inside of a glass.

Reno glared at his partner and shook his head before hanging it and looking at his hands around the glass of scotch in front of him. "30," he mumbled.

Tifa's eyes widened slightly.

"I had no idea you were so…"

"Young? I know. Second in command of the Turks before 30, pretty impressive, right?" Reno asked proudly.

"…old," Tifa finished her sentence and bit her lower lip in cautious regret. She really thought Reno was closer to her age with how immature he acted.

The redhead blinked and looked dejected, clearly never having been called "old" before. And 30 wasn't old, he thought, even if he didn't want to be crossing that age line. Must be the fact that Tifa was only 22, everyone seemed old to a 22-year-old.

"Old?" he asked, sulking. Rude actually let out a short laugh at his partner's misery.

"I'm sorry, it's just, I thought you were younger when we were fighting," Tifa offered, surprised that she actually felt bad about her comment.

"Well, I was younger back then," he replied, cocking his head and sticking out his tongue. Tifa snickered before moving on to other customers.

And it went on like that. Over the next several weeks, Tifa found herself actually letting herself be included in Reno and Rude's conversations. She still hated them, she told herself, but she took Marle's words to heart about letting herself get distracted. Tifa occasionally had to remind herself who was making her laugh – the people who dropped the plate on Sector 7. But the Turks who came into her bar didn't seem to be the same sadistic corporate shills she had known back before Meteorfall.

She no longer hated the sight of them and was more friendly toward them when they were in the bar. They told her things about their jobs and Shinra, occasionally letting small details of their lives slip out. Reno even flirted with her sometimes, earning a grumble from Rude. Tifa kept her guard up, never letting them know too much about her and putting Reno in his place if he got out of hand. She didn't tell them about Nibelheim or her life in the slums, or anything about where her friends were or what they were doing, but she would talk about her day sometimes, if they weren't drawing her into one of their nightly debates.

They didn't come in for Reno's birthday like she thought they would. He and Rude were there the day before and after, but apparently the Turks had a particular way to celebrate birthdays that they refused to explain to Tifa. She imagined explosives were involved.

"Hey Lockhart," Reno said to her one night, "settle a bet for us."

The bartender slung a dish rag over her shoulder and leaned over the counter to let them know she was listening, her eyes still roaming the bar in case other patrons needed her.

"If there was a Colosseum or Battle Arena just for monsters, what do you think would win?" Reno asked before quickly raising his index finger toward her. "But it has to be something currently roaming the world, no one-time fiends like Jenova."

Rude nodded along as his partner spoke.

"Rude here says a master tonberry would rule, but my money's on a good ol' Midgar zolom."

"Hmm," Tifa said, considering the question.

She tried to think back to her travels and what creatures gave her the most trouble. The Midgar zoloms living in the swamp outside the Mythril Mine certainly were contenders, but those master tonberries were nasty in the Northern Crater. She also didn't want to just agree with one of them, though it would be funny to see how they reacted if she did.

"What about a malboro?" she countered.

The Turks looked at each other in surprise. "We didn't even think of that," Rude said.

"Yeah, I think my gil would be on a malboro," Tifa added. "Monsters don't tend to have too many immunities to status effects."

"Crafty, Lockhart," Reno said. Tifa lifted a finger to her temple as Reno tended to do.

The bartender returned to her work, again reminding herself that she shouldn't be fraternizing with anyone associated with Shinra.

After weeks of similar exchanges, Tifa decided she had to call Yuffie in the hopes the Wutai ninja would scold her back to reality.

"The Turks?" Yuffie screeched into the phone, causing Tifa to hold the receiver far away and brace herself. "The hell, Teef!"

Tifa giggled. "That's what I needed to hear, thanks Yuffie." She was sincere.

"Wait, wait, Tifa! Have they really changed?"

"Probably not, why?"

"I mean, what if they did, right?" Yuffie laying on her bed while talking to her friend.

"Goodbye Yuffie, I have to get ready for work," Tifa realized the conversation was futile.

Later…

The bar was set to open in an hour, so Tifa was busy with her daily ritual of preparing for customers. She removed the chairs from their resting places upside down on the tables and placed them properly on the floor. She cleaned each of the tables and polished the bar and swept the floors. She was removing the last batch of dishes from the dishwasher when she heard a loud crash outside followed by screams and several additional loud sounds.

She instantly recognized the commotion as yet another monster attack and rushed out of the bar to discover a large pack of Kalm fangs had invaded the city. Tifa put on her Premium Heart weapon and ran toward one of the fangs, which had a child pinned to the ground. Just before she reached the fang, she swung her leg around from the side to kick it in its ribcage, sending it yelping as it tumbled away from the child.

Two more fangs lunged toward Tifa. She thrust out her fist, planning on punching one into the other, but only managed to make contact with one as another fist shot out to attack the other. As both creatures fell to the ground, Tifa found that Rude was standing next to her in battle stance. The two fighters nodded to each other and separated to take on more fangs, which appeared to be growing in numbers.

Tifa could hear the sound of animals being electrocuted and smelled burnt flesh and fur. She turned around to see Reno dispatching a creature that was sneaking up behind her. He gave her a grin to indicate that he had just saved her ass again, but Tifa just shook her head and ran toward the next beast. She could take care of herself in a fight, even if she did find the Turks helpful.

Whenever she or the Turks dispatched one Kalm fang, two more seemed to spring up. By the time they had killed a couple dozen of the creatures, Tifa was starting to tire. She looked around to see that Rude was also starting to slow down. She then tried to find Reno but couldn't. Near the end of the block, however, a large group of fangs appeared to be attacking something on the ground. Every few seconds, Tifa would see sparks appearing and one of the fangs would yelp in pain and take a step back, but others would take its place. She and Rude looked at each other and fought their way toward the group.

Reno was lying on the ground frantically stabbing at the fangs with his EMR, which seemed to be running out of power. By the time Tifa and Rude got to him, they could see he was covered in blood, but they weren't sure it was all his. He was trying to hold the fangs off while also reaching for his backup pistol and fending off others with his EMR. Tifa and Rude worked to remove as many of the fangs as they could to help Reno get up. When he was up, the three stood back-to-back as they were surrounded by the beasts.

"Got any bright ideas?" Reno asked. Neither Tifa nor Rude responded. "Good plan."

Reno began firing into the pack and using his now depleted EMR as a baton. Tifa and Rude continued to fight as best they could.

Finally, Edge police officers arrived and were able to help the three kill the remaining monsters. When the last of the fangs fell, Rude and Reno staggered into Seventh Heaven behind Tifa.

"Yuffie took most of our materia, but I should still have a Restore lying around," Tifa said as Reno and Rude collapsed onto their usual bar stools.

She disappeared upstairs and the two men could hear her footsteps above them. She emerged back downstairs a moment later holding a glowing green orb. She cast it on each of them and felt her energy return. Despite its name, "cure" didn't actually cure everything. It could heal many cuts and bruises and could lessen the seriousness of major wounds, but it wasn't a replacement for medical care.

Even after the spell she noticed blood dripping from a deep gash on Reno's forehead. In the past, she would have left him to his injury, but since she had become – dare she say – friendly with them over the past couple months, she was despising them less. Somehow, against all odds, they had broken through her defenses and become something close to friends of hers. Tifa's nurturing instincts kicked in and she grabbed a towel and a first-aid kit from behind the bar.

Reno still appeared too out of it to even realize he was bleeding. Tifa walked over to him and pulled his shoulder back so he would turn to face her on the barstool.

"Whoa, hey Lockhart, what are you doing?" he asked, as if he were finally about to get the retribution he knew he deserved.

"You're wounded," she said as she began cleaning the gash.

She pressed the towel to his forehead to stop the bleeding and then wiped the remaining blood from his skin. Reno considered objecting – Turks can take care of themselves, after all – but he found that his face was quite close to Tifa's breasts as she bent over him to care for the injury. He couldn't see down her tank top, unfortunately, but it was a rare view from above he was not going to pass up.

"Nice view," he said with a grin as she started to dab bactine on the wound.

Tifa noticed what he was looking at and scoffed at him.

"Look up at the ceiling, perv," Tifa said before making sure he felt the bactine.

Reno winced but did as he was told. He lifted his head up but made one last attempt to look down her shirt. As he did so, he noticed blood was dripping onto her boot and the floor. He couldn't see a wound on her leg from where he was sitting.

"Lockhart, you're bleeding," he said.

Tifa finished placing a bandage on Reno's head wound and took a step back to look down at her legs. She could see the blood on her ankle and the floor but didn't see a wound on the front of her legs. She rotated her right ankle to point her toes outward. She could see the end of a deep gash on the upper part of her inner thigh, but the rest was on the back of her leg.

"Ugh, great," she said. "That's going to need stitches. I'll go get my kit."

"You're going to do that yourself?" Rude asked, having remained his usual silent self while Reno was tended to, quietly wishing he had been the one to get injured.

"Of course, I've had to stitch up a lot of my friends," Tifa responded.

"Yeah but you can't reach that," Reno said.

"Sure I can, I'm pretty flexible."

"Okay, I'm going to save that comment for a later day," Reno smirked. "Seriously though, let me stitch you up."

Tifa scoffed again.

"No way," she sneered. "I'll go to the emergency room." It was one thing to engage the Turks in conversation or even consider them acquaintances, it was quite another to let one of them touch her, even if it was in a medical capacity.

"You really should let Reno do it, he's actually good with a needle," Rude interjected, his voice and tone still cold.

Tifa shook her head.

"Look, you can go to the emergency room, wait for several hours, continue to bleed everywhere, and then pay a huge bill, or you can let me help you, yo," Reno pleaded.

Tifa silently weighed her options. On the one hand, she didn't have time to wait around to be seen in the emergency room and she didn't want to fork over a ton of gil just for some stitches, but she had to weigh that against the cost of allowing Reno anywhere near her nether regions. She apparently took too long to decide, prompting Reno to complain.

"Wait, are you seriously debating this?" he asked.

She had been stitched up by non-doctors before when she was traveling with AVALANCHE. Either Jessie or Aerith, or sometimes Yuffie, would usually tend to her deeper wounds, and she would do the same for them. One time Cloud offered to help her, but Aerith interjected, much to Tifa's dismay. Still, Aerith was much better at that stuff than Cloud, so it was better that she handled the wound.

"Lockhart!" Tifa snapped back to reality at Reno's call. "Just lay down on the floor, I'll be done in two minutes!"

"I bet you say that to all the women," Tifa quipped.

Reno's jaw dropped open. His pride had been hurt, but he had to admit he never expected Tifa to make a joke like that, and certainly not to him, even if she had started to begrudgingly tolerate them and even joke with them at times. To his side, Rude let out a barely audible snort, but when Reno glared at him, he found his bald partner standing just as stiffly as always.

"Both of you, shut up," Reno hissed.

After a short snicker, Tifa took a long, deep breath before finally answering.

"Fine, but if any part of you touches any part of me other than this wound, I will kill you," she threatened.

"Got it, no fun," Reno said with his hands raised in the air defensively.

Tifa glared at him before walking behind the bar to get her suture kit and a dish towel to use to cover herself. She returned to where Reno was standing – still with that stupid grin on his face – and pushed the kit against his chest. She took one more deep breath, making sure to lock eyes with the red-haired Turk and give him a menacing expression, before she slowly moved to lay down on her stomach.

"Oooh, black," Reno said, eyeing Tifa's undergarments while getting down on his knees. "Nice."

Tifa whipped around to shoot daggers at her former enemy. Reno's grin widened as he tried to look innocent.

"One more comment like that and I'll – "

"I know, I know – you'll kill me," Reno said, again putting his hands up defensively.

"No, I was going to say I would smash them," Tifa replied, propping herself up on her side so that she could grind one fist into her other palm as she spoke. The movement caused her wound to stretch and strain. She welped.

"Okay, Lockhart, it's all out of my system. Dr. Reno is here to help."

Tifa rolled her eyes and laid back down, making sure to place the towel over her backside and between her legs to stay covered.

She winced the second she felt Reno's hand on her as he tapped her thigh to indicate she needed to move her leg so he could get better access to the wound. She closed her eyes and tried to pretend that it was not Reno whose hand was on her thigh, just inches from the hem of her skirt. She hated the fact that he was the first man to touch her there in nearly a year. Even worse, she hated the fact that her body seemed to react to it, as she felt butterflies in her stomach as he tended to her injury.

She could feel the pinch and pressure as he drove a suture into her skin and slowly worked to close the wound.

After a minute or two – though it seemed like much longer due to her antipathy toward him – she no longer felt movement on her leg.

"That's it, all done," Reno said triumphantly.

Tifa glanced over at Rude for confirmation. He gave a slight nod. She slowly got up and reached behind to feel the stitches, just to make sure they were done and she was no longer bleeding. Satisfied, she picked up the suture kit and the towel before adjusting the hem of her skirt.

"Thank you," she said without emotion.

"Hey, no problem," Reno said, cheerfully. "So, I think you owe me another free drink."

"This is the last one," Tifa insisted as she took her first step toward the bar. She limped a few steps, getting used to the stitches she could now feel when she moved.

The two Turks sat at their usual barstools and waited patiently for their drinks. Rude regarded Reno a bit skeptically after Tifa's comment. Reno had never mentioned getting a free drink at Seventh Heaven before. Rude found it odd; that seemed like something Reno would want to brag about.

Tifa gave them each a free scotch, making sure to shortchange them on alcohol just as she had done for Reno the last time he asked for a freebie.

"Some fight today, huh?" Reno asked when Tifa was near their corner of the bar later in the evening once the business was busier. "Think you'll have to start paying us for all our personal bodyguard work, yo."

"Hmm, I seem to recall being the one to save your ass today, yo," Tifa said, mocking Reno's tone. For the second time that day, Rude snorted in delight.

"Just a fluke, babe," Reno retorted. Tifa rolled her eyes and returned to her other customers.

Both men watched her work, though Rude wasn't aware that Reno was also watching the barmaid and not scanning for other women. Cloud had been gone four months, and the Turks were seeing Tifa start to lighten up. Whereas before she always looked just two seconds away from crying, now she was able to hold the neutral smile she had before the blond jackass left.

They saw her laughing at customer's jokes, sometimes genuinely, and she seemed to enjoy participating in the Turks' banter. She seemed particularly good at picking on Reno. Rude loved watching his partner get put in his place, and Reno found himself enjoying that as well.

Tifa was still struggling with her opinion of the Turks, but couldn't say she truly hated them anymore. She hated what they had done back in Sector 7, for sure, but she could no longer hate them after months of getting to know them. She didn't know when it had actually happened, but at some point they stopped being her enemies. They were just two people trying to protect and contribute to the town, like her.

She just hoped her AVALANCHE friends could understand somehow.