A/N: karissycloud was the one who came up with the question what would happen if Cloud turned out to be scared of thunder (would Tifa laugh at him or comfort him). This is my interpretation. I hope you like it. :D Also, I am so sorry for being a lousy updater, but thank you so much for supporting this story and having so much patience with me! I was blown away with the amount of positive response that this got! :D Since it's Valentine's Day, I decided to try and do something for the few readers that are still left. :P Short chapter is short, but I hope you enjoy!

Thank you: Guest, Shade the Hero, Guest, LindyLinn, xCassie97x, cocosnest3, fyriagita, Mitiya, Tayashia, JukedSolid, Zer0P0int, CrimsonMoon7, A Free Dolphin, Red-Rhapsodos, Cloudshellbullet, t-rats, Lockhart11, sdphantom10, ilickboxes, Smuthermuffin, C. Rinkuki Takato, MIDTERMS, ArthurianMerlin, shealakiah, wild-imagination6695, MrKipling22, nightwriter212, CommanderofInsanity, and Lord Divestre Croft. :)

~ She wasn't one to get startled that easily, but this man was like a ghost, his movements always soft and fast. He could probably kill her before she could brace herself if he wanted to and that really said something...

The room was far too dark for his liking. Normally, he would not have minded that, but this darkness had a certain creepiness to it, even though he couldn't exactly put his finger on why he thought that.

From his point of view, he couldn't see much of what was going on in the room. Maybe that was a good thing, since he had an empty feeling in the pit of his stomach, almost as if something bad was about to happen. His head was heavy, as though someone was keeping him deliberately in this drugged state. When he tried to lean in slightly to make out the vague shapes in the rooms, his head bumped against an invisible barrier. Glass. He now knew that he was in a tube, filled with a weird, green-ish, faintly glowing substance. Upon closer inspection, he could vaguely distinguish more of these pods that were standing in the dark room, but he couldn't see what was in them. Perhaps more people? But did that mean...was he in a laboratory?

Breathing was as hard as seeing for him. He only saw some vague silhouettes and even then he was not sure whether he was imagining the whole thing.

That was when he spotted a white figure, hunched over a table, as if he was looking over some documents. He wasn't too sure, but it looked as though this figure in white had long black hair, tied in a low ponytail. Was it a woman then?

When they moved, something in their eyes would glint evilly, or maybe they were just wearing glasses. He knew from memory that the eyes that belonged to the figure were cold and not unlike death.

With a jolt, Cloud woke up, realizing that he wasn't floating around in one of the green tubes in that cold lab of death, but in a bed, tangled in the sheets and covered in sweat. After glancing at the alarm clock on his nightstand, the blond realized that it was three in the morning, also known as the Witch's Hour.

It took him a moment to recover completely and get his heartrate back to normal, but when he did, he decided to get up and splash some water in his face. He carefully entered the hallway, so as not to wake up the three other inhabitants of the house. The kids, especially Denzel, seemed to be a light sleeper.

In the bathroom, he went straight towards the tap and tried to get enough water in the cup of his hands to splash his now completely pale face with. No, he had not looked into the mirror yet, but he knew himself long enough to know how much he looked like crap right now. Good thing he hadn't walked into Tifa; the poor woman seemed to have enough worries on her own already, without him adding to that. What had gotten into her to take a complete stranger into the house was still a mystery to him. Either way, it was a debt he could probably never repay.

Cloud could only wonder what those strange dreams meant and why he kept having them over and over again. Every time, he would see a bit more of the events than the previous night, but it still made very little sense to him.

Of course, the main question was here: Was this just a dream...or a flashback?

Something told him that he did not want to know the answer to that question.

"Ugh... Nothing again," Tifa muttered exasperatedly under her breath. Not that she was surprised at this point.

She had tried looking for the blonde stranger on the internet, from the more famous social media platforms to online dating sites (because she had to admit that he was really, really handsome. A guy like him couldn't possibly be single, but at least this way she knew she'd looked through all options).

Hmm...maybe he wasn't the type to like social media, she thought to herself. He was a bit of an enigma after all, even without the memory loss. The old Cloud probably hated sharing personal info with everyone else. At least that would explain the fact that he didn't seem to exist online...

Another thing she had noticed was how bad he was with the most recent technology. It was as though he had lived under a rock for the past three years. Tifa had spent at least an hour the other day explaining him bits and pieces about how the television worked and such. That couldn't possibly be considered normal, right? Even Denzel and Marlene seemed to know everything about technology without her teaching them, and they were just kids.

"Hey. Did you want to see me?"

Tifa let out a soft gasp, nearly dropping the pen she was holding. She wasn't one to get startled that easily, but this man was like a ghost, his movements always soft and fast. He could probably kill her before she could brace herself if he wanted to and that really said something, considering her martial arts skills... That thought made her shiver right on the spot, so she decided to change the subject.

"Yes. I couldn't find anything about you on the internet or this town's past records. Seems like no one knows you're missing yet either, so I'm not sure what to do next."

Which was odd to say the least. Or maybe he didn't have any family left, but that thought was too painful to say out loud.

He sighed, averting his gaze. "Oh...that's fine I guess. Thank you for trying."

Suddenly, the thunder roared so loudly that she even saw Cloud flinch. As soon as he noticed that she'd seen that, a faint color touched his cheeks. He opened his mouth to say something, but when he heard the thunder strike again, he flinched once again.

It was then that Tifa realized that he was probably scared of the thunder. "No worries, it wasn't that close to here," she said, at an attempt to calm his nerves.

He merely nodded. It made the pretty bartender wonder what had happened for him to dislike the thunder that much, since Marlene had stopped being afraid of the thunder as soon as she had turned four years old. Little did she know that the truth was so heartbreaking that it was better left unsaid...

"I actually wanted to talk to you about something too," Cloud then said, scratching the back of his head.

Tifa tilted her head to the side. "Yes, what is it?"

"I was wondering if I could work for you..."

She raised her eyebrows at that. "You mean like...a fellow bartender?" she guessed.

"Well that, and a bouncer and...a babysitter. You know, for when you need to leave the house or something."

Tifa blinked, wondering if she had heard that last part right. She gave him a onceover. By the looks of it, he could do as bouncer; he was rather lean. If not, he could always use that massive sword of his that she couldn't lift up by herself (she had tried it when he had showed up at her doorstep, unconscious. The wooden floor had the marks to prove that she hadn't been able to pick it up).

"Are you good with children?" she asked, to which Cloud shrugged in response.

"There's only one way to find out. The kids seem to like me, if that goes for anything."

That part was true; despite the fact that he was always a little slow and didn't talk much, the children seemed to think that he was the most awesome thing since lightsabers. That was what made her decide to give him a chance.

"Very well then. You get a novitiate of two months, but don't be fooled by their sweet looks. They can be little devils alright. Is that okay with you?"

He nodded. "Thank you. I'll try to find another job too."

"Don't mention it."

She just hoped that he wasn't going to regret it.

Tifa was about to start the washing machine when she heard the phone ring. Thankfully, Cloud happened to pass the room, so she could ask the blond if he could finish it up and turn on the machine.

"I need to look at what we need to order. You know how this works, right?" she asked, still remembering the television incident of a few days ago.

"Yeah..." he replied slowly.

"Good. The washing powder is in the white closet over there. I'll be back as soon as I can, okay?"

With that, the dark-haired beauty left him behind. Cloud scratched the back of his head sheepishly, giving the white washing machine a onceover. It couldn't possibly be that hard, right? He just needed to add a little of this weird pink powder...and a little of the blue one for extra effort…

"Got it," he muttered under his breath, before closing the machine's door.

Needless to say, it did not take Tifa too long to realize she had made a big mistake by trusting the clueless spiky-haired man with her clothes. When she opened the washing machine again, she saw that not only all of her clothes had shrunk, but some of them, including her favorite dress, had turned pink.

"Oh no... You said you know how it worked!" she said hotly, turning towards a rather sheepish Cloud.

"Oh… Except that I… didn't exactly… I'm dead meat, huh?"

"More or less," was the threatening response. "You've got ten seconds to get out of my face. One… seven… eight…"

Cloud's electric-blue eyes widened considerably at that and he made a dash to the front door.

When he was gone, Tifa sighed and ran a hand over her face. "Oh Shiva, please give me the strength to go on with my life without murdering that man."

Tifa made a mental note not to let the guy cook any meals for them. He might just burn down the whole building.

She didn't have more time to ponder over that possibility, because at that moment, her mobile phone rang. After fishing it out of her pocket, Tifa saw that the person who called her was Yuffie. That alone was a good enough reason to get nervous.

"Tifa speaking."

"Hey Tif! I just realized how long it's been since we've seen each other, so I was thinking. Why not meet up over the weekend or something? You could drop the kids off at Barrett's or something."

The pretty bartender agreed that it had been too long, so she replied with, "Sounds like a good plan. See you on Saturday?"

"Yup! And be prepared, 'cuz I have a little surprise for you! Well, gotta go. Take care!" the ninja cried.

Before Tifa could protest or talk her out of the idea of surprising her, the young woman had already hung up on her. The brunette let out a deep sigh, wondering if she could handle two disasters in one week.

A/N: I would really appreciate it if you could take a look at my latest poll and vote. Thanks in advance! :)

Next chapter: "So care to tell me about that sexy beast that you've been hiding from us all?"