I finally gave in and decided to post up this chapter. I suppose it will be good in the sense that you guys have something to read and I can start anew with the next chapter, making this whole series either a lot more interesting in a scary way or choose another path to take. Well, enjoy.

Jessie awoke to the sounds of Yuffie training, much too loudly, the grunts and yells of the girl attacking the hapless punching bag shocked Jessie. She swore that when Tifa had told her that the quiet ninja girl was actually loud and rambunctious, but hadn't believed her. Now she could. She admired Tifa and Aeris' effort to get Yuffie back into school, sharing their feeling of lack of education to have stunted their job prospects earlier in life. However, she herself had carved a niche in society for herself. Her salary wasn't paying as much as Rufus Shinra ever made in a month, but it was enough for her to live comfortably.

She went to the backdoor and peered through the flyscreen to watch Yuffie's assault on the punching bag. She cringed at the horrendously loud 'thock' of Yuffie's foot connecting with the punching bag. Yuffie howled in pain and fell to the ground, she had positioned her foot wrong and kicked the bag in a way that at connection, she had dislocated her ankle. 'Shit,' muttered Jessie, racing out to help the young ninja girl.

'You know, you ought to be more careful, can't be fighting monsters then losing your footing and placing yourself in a not so pretty pickle, now can we?' said Jessie hurriedly, gently easing Yuffie's foot out of her shoe.

Yuffie merely sat there shocked and dumbfounded. Jessie had been watching her and she didn't even know it. Yuffie felt her cheeks burn as she realised that she still would require so many years of training. She cringed as Jessie handled her foot, though gently and wondered how this gentle woman could be a friend of Tifa's. Of course, lately she had been seeing a very lovey dovey gentle side of Tifa, since her hooking up with Aeris. 'Thanks,' murmured Yuffie, still embarrassed.

Jessie smiled warmly, 'It's nothing. Now, let's see if you can hobble to the kitchen.'

She assisted Yuffie to lean on her and they made their way slowly to where the wafting aroma of Aeris' cooking was causing instant salivation.

'God that smells great Aeris!' groaned Yuffie.

Aeris turned and gave a shriek, throwing the pan of pancakes up in the air and it clattered to the floor as she rushed over to coddle Yuffie, much to the amusement of Jessie and Tifa. 'Aeris! I'm okay! Geez Mum!' muttered Yuffie, blushing even more furiously.

'Why was I not informed that you were injured!?' demanded Aeris.

Tifa laughed slightly, but was silenced by a glare from Aeris. Jessie put up her hands in defence, 'Aeris! It's okay, she just sprained her ankle is all. Over exerting herself in some training. Can we get some ice please?'

Tifa got up and went to the freezer just as Aeris was about slip on the fallen pancakes. Tifa chucked an icepack at Jessie who caught it with ease, and then she caught Aeris as she gave a shriek of surprise and fell. 'Whoops, careful there, baby. Don't want you hurting yourself or anything now,' chuckled Tifa.

Aeris frowned, 'Yes well, if everyone would sit down and eat, I'll be a lot more content.'

'Well, it's good to see that Yuffie is in good hands. Haha, I'm surprised Barrett didn't beg for you to raise Marlene,' commented Jessie.

Tifa punched Jessie playfully, 'He's not THAT bad! Besides, Marlene would get sad about it eventually.'

Jessie looked at her quizzically, 'Have you both ever considered adopting?'

'Why would we? We have a kid right here!' laughed Tifa, pointing at Yuffie, whose face had syrup dripping off.

Yuffie gave her an expression of mock anger, poking her tongue out and then diving straight back into her pancakes.

Aeris touched Tifa's face, 'I guess we never really thought about children. Why do you ask?'

'Oh, I just figured that you'd be the type to want them. You seem so motherly,' replied Jessie.

Aeris smiled her very maternally radiant smile and proved Jessie's point to Tifa and Yuffie. Yuffie scarfed the last piece down before adding, 'I see what you mean.'

'Aeris has always been like that, ever since I met her. She's always made sure that the team was well rested and all that. She was after all, the main healer,' stated Tifa.

Aeris raised her hand, 'Um, since when did this conversation become about me?'

Tifa grinned and kissed her cheek, 'It's because we love you. You're very goddess like.'

Aeris blushed and rolled her eyes, then proceeded to eat her portion of pancakes. The others joined her, though Yuffie was now chugging a litre of orange juice. 'Woah, Yuf! Just exactly how hard were you training this morning?' exclaimed Tifa.

Jessie laughed, 'Very hard. So hard she broke the bag, it was leaking sand.'

The doorbell rang yet again, much to Aeris' annoyance. 'No way. No way in hell. You have got to be kidding me!' she exclaimed and ranted on her way to the door.

Sure enough, Harmella's face appeared behind the door. Aeris frowned, 'What do you want now? A cup of sugar? Or maybe a bowl of please-just-leave-us-the-hell-alone?!'

Harmella rolled her eyes, 'You are so aggressive Aeris, if I didn't know any better, I would say that turned me on. I just wanted to introduce myself to that lovely redhead that appeared at your doorstep yesterday.'

'What makes you think I'll let you do that, let alone enter my house?' asked Aeris, dangerously quiet.

Harmella gestured past her, 'No need.'

Aeris turned to see Tifa and Jessie curiously wandering over. Tifa crinkled her nose at Harmella, 'Oh, it's you.'

'Surely I'm not such a terrible neighbour?' began Harmella, eyeing Jessie with great interest.

'Oh, I don't know about that. I always had a pretty bad impression of you ever since you tried to hit on my girlfriend and then Yuffie and very possibly Marlene...! Please just freaking leave already,' said Aeris through gritted teeth.

Harmella made a move to walk through the door, but Aeris barred her way. 'Have it your way, but don't be fooled. She's a looker and well, I like what I see,' sang Harmella, sashaying back to her house.

Jessie gazed after her in a daze, 'Who was that?'

'Our evil, and unfortunately not dead neighbour,' replied Aeris flatly.

Jessie giggled, 'Wow, this is a whole new side of you I never thought could exist.'

Tifa scratched her head, 'Well, when it comes to Harmella, Aeris is... more than uncomfortable and can get very catty. Or maybe, just protective. Well, that's how Mums are!'

'I see,' replied Jessie, grinning.

Aeris fumed silently, visualising herself blasting Harmella into oblivion. Heck, she'd probably resurrected Sephiroth just to get him to Super Nova her! Tifa gave her shoulder a quick, loving squeeze. Aeris turned and pecked her on the cheek, 'I'm sorry.'

'Don't be,' was the simply reply from Tifa.

Jessie cocked her head for a moment then dashed off back into the kitchen. Tifa grinned in gratefulness, leaning in to brush her lips against Aeris' to help her forget her angst. Aeris leaned against Tifa's strong, lithe body, grateful for the warmth and care that she emitted, grateful for the sense of security she exuded too. Tifa kissed her cheeks and lips again lightly, 'Feel any better?'

Aeris nodded, wiping a small tear, 'Yes thank you Tifa. I love you so much and you remind me why every day.'

Tifa blushed, 'I try.'

Aeris pressed her face against Tifa's chest and then looked up and engaged Tifa in a passionate lip lock. It was fairly chaste with no tongues, but passionate none the less. 'I'm okay now...' trailed Aeris, her face becoming a mask of livid fury.

This freaked Tifa out, but as soon as she looked in the direction of Aeris' gaze, she immediately understood. Harmella was peeking through the window. She had actually dared to look. Tifa vaguely wondered if this woman seriously had no life of her own or was simply a masochist, in a bad way...

Before Tifa could recover from shock, she barely registered that Aeris was headed straight for the front door, probably to give Harmella a good ass whupping. As much as their horribly nosy neighbour deserved an ass whupping, Tifa doubted the other neighbours would see it that way. She managed to grab Aeris round her waist just as she was about to leave the threshold of their property. 'Woah there,' murmured Tifa.

Aeris glowered at the smirking Harmella who just sauntered back to her house. Tifa kept an eye out to make sure she actually went back into the house before she lead Aeris back to their domain. Yuffie was at the door, a confused look, 'What's wrong? Are you okay Aeris?'

Tifa nudged her lover inside, 'Aeris is okay. She's just.. a little agitated. Help me clean up breakfast, won't you Yuf?'

Yuffie shrugged in agreement, 'Of course. Oh, and Jessie's in the guestroom reading that log you kept during our quest against Sephiroth.'

Tifa nodded. She turned back to gaze at her silent love, 'Aeris?'

Aeris clutched Tifa in a moment of dramatic urgency, 'I don't like this aspect of me. I can't even control myself.'

Tifa stroked her hair gently, rocking her in a soothing manner, 'But she's not dead, nor is she draped across a bunch of spikes, so other than you being understandably mad and annoyed at that woman, I don't think anyone would begrudge you a desire of wanting to slash her tyres. Honest.'

Aeris shook her head, 'It's not just that. I didn't tell you before, but the other night I had a horrid nightmare, I was actually mutilating her body. The wounds were so fresh and enticing me to make some more... Knives were strewn before me... It was horrible... and just now. When I realised that she was there watching... I had this thought, what if I had taken one of Yuffie's shurinkens and tortured Harmella for days, whittling away at her face, until only her stupid grin was left... oh Gaia. I can't believe I'm telling you this.'

Tifa was again in shock, unsure of how to answer or what to even say to such a revelation, 'Nightmares? Why didn't you tell me?'

'I thought they were silly, but I fear that this is more than just horrendous nightmares...' breathed Aeris.

Tifa screwed up her brow in confusion, 'But why you? Why now and why at all? Are you sure this isn't just built up stress from our great battle?'

Aeris shook her head, 'I don't know. I can't think why this is happening... And it can't be Sephiroth, not only did Cloud finish him, but... even he wouldn't do this. For that short moment that I was most strongly conversing with the planet about him... There was no indication that he would plague anybody with horrid dreams for he was tortured that way himself. It can't be because I'm an Ancient is it? I thought the Ancients were peaceful people...'

Tifa didn't let Aeris gather such horrific thoughts any longer. She touched Aeris's forehead lightly, then flicked her with playful gusto, 'Don't be silly! We barely know anything about the Ancients, but what I do know is that you are one and you are the most beautiful and most gentle person in the whole wide world and I love you. It's just a dream. And well... she is a VERY horrible person who I admit have considered throttling to death. So come on, if you start wanting to massacre the neighbour, then we might have a problem.'

For a moment, Tifa felt her heart stop, wondering if her ploy had worked. She really didn't know how to go about discussing this new sleep trouble of Aeris', but she knew that lamenting about it wasn't going to do her girlfriend any good. She breathed a quick sigh of relief as Aeris gave a shadow of a smile. 'I suppose you're right. I don't know. I guess it just scared me, the idea of it... Thank you Tifa, I will not think about it anymore, instead I'll focus on getting Yuffie to do her homework. Maths in particular,' said Aeris, winking at the mention of homework as Tifa gave a look of disgust.

'Eurgh! Maths! Poor Yuffie!' Tifa exclaimed.

to be continued...

So…. is it still interesting? Review and let me know. And yes, I know the word count is pretty pathetic…. pout