Wooow, sorry this took so long. Between real life stuff, other fics, and beta-reader issues, this took awhile to come up. I hope fervently that the next chapter won't take as long, and I apologize again for the wait. Same disclaimer applies, and I hope you enjoy.

Chapter Two: Sudden Nightfall

Tifa woke up the earliest, getting showered and ready for the day before going downstairs to start breakfast. She made sure not to wake Barret, who was sleeping on the couch in the living room upstairs. Then again, the man is snoring so loudly I doubt that he’d wake up even Meteor hit again, she thought with an eye roll.

She was halfway through making a batch of pancakes when the first of the “late-risers” could be heard upstairs. Spiky blonde hair was disheveled as Cloud moseyed down the stairs.

“Good morning,” Tifa greetedhim, and her response was a nod and a bleary eyed stare. She managed not to chuckle, although she couldn’t hide the smile. She leaned onto the bar, staring at Cloud, who took a seat. “Caffeine?”

He blinked, and nodded. “Plenty.”

She patted him on the arm before she brewed him some coffee and continued making breakfast, whipping up the batter for the pancakes and breaking out the blueberries.

A few minutes later, as she continued to make breakfast, the coffee was finished. Tifa poured a cup for Cloud, and plopped it in front of him. She watched as he took a sip, and heard a quiet murmur of thanks. He was beginning to wake up, from what she could tell. Before she could resume breakfast, she heard him say, “Tifa?”

“Hmm?” She smiled, unaware of what he wanted to talk to her about.

“About yesterday,” Cloud paused. Either he was trying to word what he wanted to say, or he was hesitant about the surprised look on her face. She couldn’t be sure. “You sure you were all right? You got kind of- I don’t know. I don’t want to say flustered, but-”

“It’s all right. I just... was surprised, that’s all.” And I’d be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy that a little. She shook her head at Cloud’s disbelieving stare. “I’m fine, really,” she said when he continued to frown at her, unconvinced. “Honestly, I was just surprised. I shouldn’t have just walked in like that though, so I’m sorry about that.”

A shake from Cloud’s head was enough to tell Tifa that he didn’t mind. It was an enormous relief for her. He can be such a private person, and there still seem to be some eggshells in our relationship, she thought sadly as she returned to making breakfast. I don’t want to scare him away.

Heavy footsteps from up above signaled Barret’s arrival. Tifa quickly went to pour another cup of coffee, knowing Barret functioned even worse without it than Cloud. She set the mug down on the bar counter as soon as Barret shuffled over to the bar. He didn’t even acknowledge the two until he had the first few sips. “Thanks. Mornin’ Tifa. Mornin’ Spiky. Kids still asleep?”

Tifa nodded. “Yeah, but they won’t be for much longer, considering they went to bed earlier than usual last night.” She poured the pancake batter onto a frying pan, smiling contentedly as the liquid batter sizzled on the pan. “This should be done shortly,” she promised.

A few minutes later, two sets of little feet were hurrying down the stairs, following the aroma of pancakes.

“Pancakes! Good morning everyone!” Marlene squeaked as she ran over to sit next to her father.

Denzel wandered over, not quite as excited, and sat next to Cloud. “Hi Cloud, hi Tifa,” he greeted, stifling a yawn.

“Well, some of us finally woke up,” Tifa teased as she set out the pancakes. “Just in time too. They’re all finished,” she announced. She pulled out some plates. “Okay, so, I’ve got blueberry and regular. Who wants what?”

Tifa, having spent years with Barret, always knew to make extra when it came to feeding him. Even making a double batch of pancakes was barely enough. While Barret was a big guy, he still ate a lot of pancakes, and then there was Cloud, who had quite an appetite, and Denzel did too (although he had an excuse for this, considering he was a growing boy).

“These are dam- ng good pancakes Tifa.” Barret managed to catch himself that time. “Blueberries are dang good too. Glad I dun live wit’ you, though. I’d get freakin’ fat off your cookin’.” He laughed a little, and pointed a finger at Cloud. “Surprised Spiky over there is still skinny, unless he’s somehow hidin’ the flub.”

Tifa and Cloud chuckled, although Marlene was looking at Tifa expectantly.

“What is it?” she asked Marlene after she caught her staring at her.

Marlene gave her a “duh” look. “Well, does he hide it?”

Tifa looked at Marlene in confusion. “Why are you asking me that?”

Tifa realized her mistake a moment too soon, and before she could fix her error, Denzel answered, “Well, you saw Cloud naked yesterday, didn’t you?”

For about five seconds, not a word was said. Marlene and Denzel looked at her, not realizing the impact of what they had just asked. Tifa’s eyes widened, and she was flushing as she looked at Cloud, who was trying not to gape, eyes wide as Tifa’s. Barret just stared at Cloud, pure shock on his face.

After those five seconds, however, his face contorted into rage. “You son of a bitch! What have you been doing to-”

Cloud barely avoided Barret’s fist as he rolled off of his chair. He tried shouting at Barret, but the man was cussing and hollering louder than Cloud was shouting. Marlene screamed at her Papa, begging him to stop, and Denzel kept shouting at Cloud to get down. Tifa just sat there, stupefied.

When Barret lifted his gunarm, however, Tifa sprung into action quickly. By the time her chair clattered onto the floor, Tifa already had Barret pinned to the floor, her foot squashing his gunarm down as her other leg’s knee pressed against his windpipe. “That’s enough! Marlene and Denzel are in the room! And I will not have you shooting up my bar!”

She frowned at the two kids, whose eyes were as wide as their breakfast plates. “Upstairs, now,” she said, her tone firm.

Within moments the two were scrambling upstairs. Neither Marlene nor Denzel voiced their wonder about what they had said that made Marlene’s Papa so mad.

“The hell, Tifa?! Lemme-”

“I said enough. Listen to me, Barret!” She jerked his face towards hers. “Listen to me! We weren’t doing that, or anything else! I walked in accidentally on Cloud while he was getting dressed. The kids just assumed the worst, so calm down.”

After a minute of cursing and trying to breathe, Barret gave in and nodded. Tifa hopped off and helped him up.

Cloud eyed Barret warily, waiting for him to make another sudden attack, but the older man just scratched his head. “Damn. Sorry Tifa, didn’t mean to fly off the handle like that. But you’s like my other daughter, you know? Even if it is Spiky, I dun like to think that-”

“I know.” Tifa reached up and patted his cheek. “It’s not like I don’t understand why, Barret.”

He looked over at Cloud. “Sorry for the punch, Spiky. Good thing you got good reflexes. Woulda had a fun time trying to tell everyone why you had a black eye tonight,” he said.

Cloud just shrugged. “Could have made up something. Doesn’t matter.”

“Come on you two. Help me clean all this up. I have to go up and talk to them then,” Tifa said as she began picking up the plates.

However, Barret took them from her. She frowned quizzically at him, but he brushed it off with a big grin. “Why dun you go up and talk to ‘em and Spiky and I can clean up? Least I can do, since I ruined breakfast and all.”

If she wondered why he was feeling helpful, she didn’t say anything about it. She merely nodded, set the plates down, and smiled at them before heading upstairs.

Barret crooked his finger at Cloud. Cloud froze. He glanced at the door, then back at Barret, and sighed. He walked over to him, and helped him bring the rest of the dishes to the counter.

Barret remained silent as they scraped off the food and dumped the dishes in the sink. “You do dishes at all?”

“I would, but Tifa would be mad. Last time I did, I cut open my finger. She doesn’t trust me with them anymore.”

The larger man snorted, but didn’t say anything further when Cloud glared at him. “Okay then. I’ll wash, you dry,” Barret said.

It was a strange sight. Two tall, strong men standing at the bar, washing dishes and drying them. It was also awkward, as Barret didn’t talk once the whole time. Cloud was starting to wonder if he had just been imagining things or Barret had just beckoned him over to help with the dishes when the bigger man finally spoke up.

“Now, I know what Tifa said is true about her walkin’ in on you and all, and that you didn’t do anything to her.”

Cloud nearly dropped a plate in surprise. “Barret-“

Barret shook his head. “Uh-uh. You listen up Spiky. When you two first moved in here, I didn’t think much of it. Back then, you always needed someone to take care of you: that’s just how you were. You needed someone to keep an eye on you.”

He nodded along with what he said, his tone growing more confident. “Tifa was best for that. She knew you the best, and you got along best with her. At least, that’s what Red told me anyway.” He paused, handing Cloud a fork to dry before continuing. “Not that I dun think the same. But lately, I’m startin’ to wonder.”

Cloud frowned. “Wonder what? Nothing’s changed,” he insisted, his tone shakily neutral.

“That’s what you keep tellin’ yourself,” Barret said, rolling his eyes. “ but I’ve noticed it, and so have the others. Somethin’s different between you two. Tell me somethin’. When Tifa walked in on ya, what did she do?” he asked, his tone incredulous.

Cloud blinked slowly a few times before explaining to Barret what happened yesterday and how Tifa reacted. “I asked her about it today. She said she was just surprised.”

Barret snorted. “Damn long time to be actin’ ‘surprised’.” He sighed, and pointed a sharp look at Cloud. “Look, one of these days, and I mean real soon, you gotta talk to her.” He jabbed a finger at him. “‘Cause I tell you what, somethins’ changed between you two, somethin’ important. Dun know how you dun see it. Even I ain’t that dumb.” With that final remark, Barret emptied the sink, now dish-free, and walked upstairs, leaving Cloud to his thoughts.

Marlene and Denzel didn’t really get into trouble, per se. After all, it was a genuine question on their behalf, and they didn’t understand why Barret freaked out like he had. While Tifa couldn’t tell them the main reason (they were still a little young for ‘the talk’ yet), she told them that seeing people naked had a lot more implications than the pair had originally thought.

“In other words, some things are best left unsaid, okay?” Her tone and eyes were soft, although the look she pointed at Barret was anything but. “Your Papa just took it the wrong way, that’s why he got so angry and yelled.”

Barret then apologized to Marlene and Denzel, explaining he had a bad temper, but that it was no way to handle things. “You should always talk things out first,” he said, glancing over at Tifa for encouragement, and to know if he was saying what he was supposed to. While she didn’t do or say anything, Barret still took it as a good sign.

Once that little debacle was handled, the rest of the day went relatively well. Barret kept his temper in check, and decided to play checkers and cards with Marlene and Denzel instead of running around like the night before. Sadly, he was beaten at those games as well. Checkers were not the man’s cup of tea.

“How the heck did you do that? You nabbed three of my guys!” Barret exclaimed, throwing his hands up in the air.

“Well...” Denzel began, pointing to the board. “You just had them lined up really well. For me. You were trying to get this one up here, so you moved these two up. Makes sense, but then I moved this one down. If you moved this one up here, you would have avoided it altogether. But instead you went to get my checker. You got it, but now you lost three of your own.”

Marlene giggled at Barret’s flabbergasted expression. “It’s okay, Papa. Denzel’s really good at this. You shouldn’t give up your own guys just to get an enemy checker though.”

The kids ended up spending a lot of the day teaching Barret the tricks and cons of checkers and go fish.

While Barret’s brain was trying to comprehend all of that, Cloud and Tifa were occupied with preparing for the onslaught that was coming that night. A lot of the time was spent cutting up and preparing food. They made a lot, and Tifa was finally finishing up the last thing, which was preparing the alcohol. With Cloud’s help, she moved several packs of beer to the bar. They had bottles of wine ready for consumption in the back, along with bottles of vodka and gin.

By the time the two of them had a breather, it was almost three in the afternoon. “Thanks for helping, Cloud,” Tifa said, smiling appreciatively at him as she put everything into the refrigerator.

“You’re welcome.” Cloud didn’t really mind all the culinary work he had done that day. Tifa left him with the easy tasks, like cutting up vegetables and deli meats. Mindless tasks for the most part, save for avoiding getting fingers chopped off. Mindless enough for his thoughts to wander off to other things, mainly what Barret said earlier that morning.

Was it... that obvious? He thought he hid his feelings well. But it seemed that while he was opening up to his friends the past two years, he also opened up feelings he really didn’t want to show and felt he had good reason to hide.

He loved Tifa dearly. That much was true. When it came to Tifa, he wanted to keep her safe, happy, and make sure she never found out about his feelings. Cloud never felt he deserved Tifa, and after his whole guilt trip, he felt he didn’t deserve to even contemplate anything like that. He wasn’t a very emotional or endearing kind of man. He was hardly romantic, and he didn’t think Tifa would get the kind of relationship she deserved fromhim.

“Cloud? Are you all right?” Her voice pulled him from his thoughts.

Cloud blinked a few times as Tifa looked at him expectantly, her brow slightly furrowed in worry. “Yeah? Sorry Teef. What is it?”

“Nothing. Just a little worried. You weren’t saying anything the first time I called for you.” She peered up at him curiously, and tapped his forehead lightly. “Hmmm. What’s going on in that head of yours, I wonder?” Her tone was teasing, although Cloud stiffened. He gave her a smile, hoping she would drop the subject. He knew Tifa honestly couldn’t read minds, but sometimes the man couldn’t help but wonder.

“Thinking about tonight. You think we’ll have enough?” he lied.

She laughed lightly. “Enough? We probably made too much, as usual.” She sighed. “Oh well. Good leftovers for the next week or so. Come on. We should get ready before everyone arrives.” She pulled off her apron. “I’m hot and sweaty, so I’m going to take a shower.” She went to head to the stairs, but before she did, she stopped and peered over her shoulder. “Try not to walk in on me.”

Cloud smile wryly. “I’m not you.”

Tifa huffed dramatically, and Cloud laughed, even as she stomped up the stairs in fake annoyance.

At exactly ten after five, Tifa and the others inside Seventh Heaven could hear the loud chattering that heralded the approach of the rest of Avalanche. She looked at Cloud, unable to suppress a grin. “You ready?”

He visibly winced, but nodded anyway as someone knocked heavily on the door.

Tifa opened the door, and smiled at the horde that stood outside. “Hey guys!”

“Hey, Tifa!”

“Tifa! Tifa!!”

“Hello! How have you been?”

The poor bartender was assaulted with a tirade of greetings, but despite how overwhelmed she felt, she still grinned. It was so good to see everyone: Cid, Shera, Yuffie, Nanaki, Vincent...

“Wait. Where are Reeve and Shelke?” Tifa noticed that only five came through the door, not the seven she was expecting.

Vincent was the one to answer her. “They were delayed by a problem with the WWN. They send their apologies, and promised to come as soon as the malfunction is fixed.”

“A problem? Did they say?” Tifa asked as she shut the door behind her. She hoped it was nothing bad, nothing that would signal more trouble or another kind of attack. The WRO was still recovering from the losses they suffered in the Deepground battle at Midgar, even though a year had passed already.

Vincent shook his head. “No. Shelke couldn’t identify it, which is strange, but they said not to worry.” Shelke was the most knowledgeable person alive when it came to the WWN. Her not knowing something was never a good sign.

Tifa shook her head. “Easier said than done. I mean, if Shelke doesn’t even know... well, let’s try and enjoy tonight. I’ll feel better, though, when they show up.”

The next two hours were eventful. It didn’t take Cid long to knock back a few drinks, and more than once he challenged Vincent and Barret to a drinking contest.

Vincent had politely declined, and Barret refused to do that in case Marlene saw him. Although she and Denzel went off to play with friends, he already had thoroughly embarrassed himself in front of her that morning and didn’t wish to make the same mistake.

While preparing a soda for Yuffie (“I don’t care where or who you are! You’re still underage!” Tifa had scolded her earlier.), Tifa noticed from the corner of her eye that Cloud was frowning worriedly.

“You think it was something bad?” he asked. “They’re still not here yet.”

Tifa hesitated, biting her lip thoughtfully before answering, “Maybe it was a glitch and it’s taking awhile to repair. Vincent told me that repairing the WWN is a rough job. I feel sorry for Shelke sometimes; it must be hard to take care of something like that.” But she couldn’t shake off the feeling of dread that had settled into her stomach, and from the look on Cloud’s face, he couldn’t either.

“Hey Tifa! You got any stronger shit back there?” Cid looked over at Tifa, raising his empty glass. “Beer’s got fucking nothin’ on me.”

“Cid Highwind! Honestly, you don’t have to get drunk every time we come here!” Shera followed this up with a hard punch to his arm, making the pilot nearly drop his glass.

Cid cursed. “Damn it woman! I just want a good time!”

Tifa laughed, but shook her head. “Sorry, Cid. Not ‘til the kids are in bed. Here Yuffie, I got your soda.”

The hyperactive ninja hopped over the bar, and morosely took the soda. “Darn it. One more year and then I can drink with the rest of ya. And then,” She struck a dramatic pose, and pointed a finger at Cid, “I’ll challenge you to a drinking contest!”

“Ha! That’ll be the damn day!” Cid leaned back in his chair, looking amused. “You won’t ever make it to your fourth shot! Little frame like that, alcohol’s gonna knock you shit out cold.”

“Cloud beat you!” Yuffie retorted.

Cid frowned visibly, and crossed his arms. “That was a damn fluke. I drank too much beforehand. If I was as sober as he was I would have won fer sure.”

“And whose fault is that, I wonder?” Nanaki gave the man a condescending look. “You were foolish enough to go into that contest already drunk beyond reasoning.”

Cid glared at Nanaki. “Ah, shut the hell up. Who asked you? Besides, I mighta been shit drunk but he just barely beat me.”

“Don’t kid yourself, Cid. Cloud won easily.” This time Vincent was the one to shatter Cid’s delusions of grandeur, if they could really be considered that at that point. “Give him some credit.”

Cloud couldn’t help but chuckle. “Thanks, Vincent.”

After more incessant squabbling between the comrades, Cid, after being thoroughly reminded that drinking contests were not the best of ideas, decided that he would do an arm wrestling challenge. He first took on Barret. Sadly for him, arm wrestling was one of the games Barret was actually good at.

He was currently challenging Vincent. Everyone else was watching, with Yuffie, for whatever reason, as the referee.

The tumult from the contests allowed Cloud to duck out without being seen. He found Tifa in the storage area, trying to get a box off of a shelf. She didn’t hear him come in, and it wasn’t until he was right next to her did she acknowledge him. “Cloud? What are you doing back here?”

“Here. I got it.” He reached up and lifted the box easily for her, and she gave him a small smile.

“Thanks.” She took the box from him and set it down. “Did you come back here to get something?”

He was tempted to go along with that. A nice, easy lie, ripe for him to take and run with it. He could say he was looking for a different type of beer. However, he would curse himself for being a coward for the next several days if he did so.

Instead, he shook his head. Today, he would run with the truth. “Actually, I wanted to talk to you about something.”

“If it’s about what happened earlier with Barret and the kids, I’m sorry. They sort of figured it out, and you know how those two like to exaggerate.”

Cloud laughed. “No, that’s not what I meant. I kinda figured that one out.”

She nodded. “Okay, good. So, does whatever you want to talk about happen to be about what’s been bothering you?”

He stared at her in confusion. “Bothering me?”

She sighed. “Something’s been on your mind lately. I see it whenever you look at me. Today it was really obvious. What’s wrong, Cloud?” Her eyes saddened. “I thought we were past keeping secrets from each other,” she said quietly.

She hit him right where it hurt most, and he knew she knew it. The hurt look she was giving him on top of that was making it even worse. “Tifa, it’s not like back when I had Geostigma or- or anything like that, I mean it. It’s completely different and well,” He scratched his head, frustration mounting. “I just- Barret talked to me today and he said something’s definitely different about me, and about us.”

She cocked her head to the side. “Us?” she asked, her tone a little confused.

He sighed heavily. “Yeah. Us. Tifa, I- I... I don’t know how to say this, so, I-” He let out a pained laugh. “I’m still no good at this stuff. I just, for you I...” He reached for her hand, and gently clasped it between his two hands. Tifa looked up at him in surprise.

“Tifa, you mean everything to me, and I-” He never finished his sentence. Sharp pain shot through him suddenly, pain he hadn’t felt since his days living with Geostigma. However, he couldn’t identify the source. It consumed his body, resonating throughout without having a focal point. He collapsed, clawing at the floor, and he could barely hear Tifa yelling for him, yelling for the others to help.

“Cloud! Cloud!” Tifa kept shaking him, but whatever was going on with Cloud completely blocked her and everything else out.

“Tifa!!” Yuffie slid to a halt at the storage entrance. “Oh no, not Cloud too! Something’s wrong with Barret and Red! They’re like, in pain or something! And we don’t- ahhhh!” Yuffie clutched her head as she collapsed against the wall. “The hell’s happening?!”

“Yuffie! Cloud! Someone! Guys?!” What’s happening to my friends?! Tifa frantically kept trying to get Cloud to respond, but she noticed he had completely passed out. He was barely even breathing, and the same happened to Yuffie. “Barret! Vincent! Red! Shera! Cid!” she called out, hoping one of them was still conscious.

“Tifa! What’s going?” She could hear Shera’s voice. Thank God, someone is still up with me.

“We need to call a doctor or something Shera! The phone’s upstairs, in my-“ Her voice choked as she, too, was overcome by the pain. She heard Shera gasping in surprise, more than likely being overcome by the same thing. Tifa fought hard to stay conscious, and locate the source of the pain. It feels like it’s all over me. Like every part of my body is being... ripped out or something. What’s going on?! Why... oh no. No no no... I can’t-

Tifa collapsed, lying over the top of Cloud, as everything went bright, and then she saw blackness.

Nothing.