7th Heaven: Spying

FFVII
7th Heaven: Spying




Summary: Cutsy family fluff!  
Genre: Warm-fuzzies
Setting: After AC/C, before DoC
Rating: Everyone


Disclaimer: All related Final Fantasy VII names and characters are copyrighted © by Square Enix. However, this story and the OCs are mine. Thank you. </font>



SPYING




The sound of furniture being dragged across the floor, and an excited squeal came from the downstairs bedroom as Cloud walked past. Hearing an angry yowl, he halted at the closed door, wondering what Marlene and Denzel were doing in there. Where they jumping on the bed, again? Tifa would not be happy.

He gripped the knob, ready to enter, but paused when he heard Marlene’s normally dainty voice, yell, “—when I grow up, I’m going to be Tifa--”

“I’ll be Cloud,” Denzel interrupted.

“You have to be strong, but now, this is what we’re playing,” she stated, “I’m the Florist and you buy flowers off me--”

Denzel’s muffled voice came back in a grumble. “What am I going to do with flowers?”

“Make the house pretty,” she sang.

“You should be a mechanic and fix my truck.”

Cloud envisioned the boy, holding his military toy truck that had every light and sound possible to have in a toy vehicle, courtesy of Reeve on Denzel’s last birthday. Sadly, the thing was broken. Damn thing, Cloud cursed under his breath at not fulfilling his promise to fix it. He made a mental note to do so.

“Yuck!” Marlene yelled, and bounce, went the bed springs. “Machines are dirty!”

Cloud imagined her making her pouty face of disgust, and he chuckled under his breath.

“Plants are dirty too!” Denzel retorted.

That’s right, Denzel, Cloud grinned.

Marlene raised her voice above his complaining. “When I grow up--”

“I’m going to fight monsters,” Denzel butted in, his voice going even louder. He made some shooting noises, just to prove his point.

Marlene continued, “…and I’m going to marry someone who likes flowers. Someone like Cloud--”

“Cloud doesn’t like flowers!” Denzel cried in a horrified voice.

Marlene shrieked, “He does too like flowers.”

Cloud smiled broadly at the closed door, the idea that she wanted to marry someone like him was peculiar, and a little disconcerting.

“Err,” Denzel responded. “When I grow up I’m going to marry Tifa.”

Despite Denzel being only eleven, Cloud frowned with some jealousy, and he couldn’t help but protest aloud. “Not likely.”

“Nooo!” Marlene drew the word out with annoyance, and in a gruff voice, she said, “Yo’ foo’! Cloud’s gonna marry Tifa.”

Good on you, Marlene. Cloud leaned his head on the door, and grinned at her declaration.

“Cloud!” Tifa had come down the passage, and stopped, hands on her hips. “What are you--”

“Shss!” Turning his head slightly, he put a finger to his lips to hush her.

She came up beside him and rested her chin on his shoulder, and whispered, “You’re spying.”

“You have to see to spy,” he replied under his breath.

Tifa rolled her eyes. “Eavesdropping then.”

“You should hear this,” Cloud whispered.

Marlene went on with her lecture, “…and besides, Tifa’s like your mother, you can’t marry your mother.”

Cloud looked at Tifa, and she covered her mouth to stop her giggling.

“Tifa’s my mother?” Denzel’s voice took on a dreamy tone.

“Yes! And Cloud’s your dad!”

“Cloud’s my dad? You really think so?”

A warm glow spread up from Cloud’s core and Tifa poked him in the ribs. “See!”

It was a simple statement. The boy’s wishful questioning brought home how important his presence was at 7th Heaven and in the child’s life.

“Yes, silly. I’m just lucky, ‘cus I’ve got two dads, but you’re lucky, ‘cus Cloud’s your dad.”

“You’ve got two dads?”

“Cloud’s my dad too!” She squealed and giggled like a loon, and Denzel soon joined her.

Tifa whispered in Cloud’s ear, “There you go. Barrett will love that. Not.”

Denzel stopped laughing and said with serious intent, “I guess I’ll marry you then.”

“Aargh!” Marlene yelled, “You can’t marry your sister!  Ugh! Denzel!”

“I’m not going to get married, I’m going to fight things.”

The door suddenly flew open, and Cloud nearly fell into the room with Tifa not far behind him.

Denzel held the handle and creased his brow with suspicion at the two of them. “Ah, we were… just… playing…”

Cloud glanced at the room. They had pulled out Marlene’s long waist high bookcase to the middle of the floor. Books had been strewn across the mat, and the toy box was open and dress-ups were scattered nearly everywhere. Coloured paper flowers were along the top of the bookcase amidst two real flower pots. Cloud reached out his hand and combed his fingers through the boy’s soft strands. “It’s okay, I’ve come to look at that broken truck.”

With an excited smile, Denzel handed it to him. “can you fix it?”

Cloud rolled it in his hands, examining its undercarriage. “Don’t know till I look.” He was getting better at fixing machinery, now that he did so many tune-ups on Fenrir. “If I can’t, we’ll send it back to Reeve and he’ll have to get you a new one.”

“Yeah!”

Cloud and Denzel were about to leave the room.

Tifa stood in the doorway, arms folded. “Hold on, before you go anywhere, you two need to clean up this room.”

Denzel hung his head and Marlene pouted.

“Tifa’s right,” Cloud added, “I’ll look at this while you clean up.” He closed the door behind him.

Marlene’s little voice chirped to Denzel, “You see, she’s just like our mother.”

“Yeah, you’re really right,” Denzel said, “and Cloud’s like our dad.”



Tifa took Cloud’s hand and led him away from the room. “So, how does it feel?”

“That Marlene wants to marry someone like me?”

“No.” Tifa laughed, and shook her head. “That you are the father of two children.”

With his one hand, he drew Tifa into an embrace, and held her close. “It doesn’t feel too bad. How does it feel for you?”

She touched her lips on his and they kissed for moments, before she said, “It feels good, really good.”