A/N: rated M for lemony goodness later on - and rampant alcohol consumption ^_^

chapter 1

7th Heaven, Midgar
Friday
6 a.m.

So this is what morning looks like, Tifa thought to herself.

She stepped out onto the sidewalk with Denzel in tow and locked the doors of 7th Heaven behind her. She didn't do this often – leave her bar and lock it up behind her. She pulled down the mesh screen and locked that, too – quickly, so she wouldn't get to thinking about what she was doing. She zipped up her jacket against the cold early morning air and shut her mind to it all. This leaving stuff was harder than she had thought it would be. Last night she thought she'd really made up her mind. But now …. She tucked the keys to the bar inside her pocket and turned away before she could feel sad.

Midgar. The sky was gray as far as she could see, so it was a typical morning – like all mornings, even in summer. She had come here so long ago at the beginning of summer, straight out of high school. One night she had been graduating. The next morning she'd arrived in Midgar on the train to live with her aunt, and … find Cloud. She'd found him, all right.

"Denzel, zip your jacket," she said.

He was sleepy. She couldn't blame him. Neither of them were used to being up this early. She put an arm around his thin shoulders and moved him along the sidewalk, but not before checking to make sure the truck she ordered was there. It was. She moved Denzel along a little faster. The truck was exactly what she wanted – a sturdy four-wheel drive good for traveling.

Denzel put on his brakes, "Where are we going, Tifa?"

The most important pieces of their luggage were on the sidewalk - his small duffle and her larger leather overnight bag. She let Denzel stay where he was while she threw the luggage in the truck's bed. The rest of their things still needed to be packed, a job for which she hoped to hire Yuffie. She brushed her hands off on her jeans and moved him closer to the passenger side of the sturdy truck,

"We're leaving."

"Leaving!" He pulled away suddenly, "Leaving for where?"

Tifa opened the passenger door, "We're … we're leaving the city, Denzel."

"Really?" He said, watching her. He blinked in the early morning mist, trying to think. The only thing that came to him was, "What about Cloud?"

Denzel and his questions. She had hoped they would at least be out of Midgar before he started in with those.

She nodded at the open door, "Get in."

"What about Cloud?" Denzel said again, inching back toward the building that was the bar and, up above and in the back, their home.

Tifa reached out and grabbed his hand, "Cloud's gone."

Denzel hesitated, "Cloud's g- …."

She put him in the truck, "Cloud left last night."

The last thing she needed was a struggle out on the sidewalk with Denzel. First an argument with Cloud, now Denzel? In any event she was determined to leave Midgar. With Denzel. There was no way she was leaving him behind. Walking around the back of the truck she took one last look at their belongings, making sure they were tied down for the long trip. Through the back window she could see Denzel making a fuss.

She opened the driver's side door, "Settle down."

Denzel's temper, something he learned from her, no doubt, flared, "Where's Cloud? We're not leaving without Marlene, are we?"

"I'll tell you about Cloud once we get out of Midgar," she said, turning a key in the ignition. The truck's engine purred to life. The engine sounded new. "You can ask me anything you want once we're on the road."

He could ask, and he probably would. Denzel and his questions. There was no way she could tell him everything. She would tell him enough. He was leaving Midgar with her, and that was the only thing that was really important.