Nurse Tifa (Final Fantasy VII)
Title: Nurse Tifa
Characters: Cloud/Tifa
Rating: Teen
Disclaimers: I do not own anyone/anything from the forum Final Fantasy. Square Soft/Enix owns Final Fantasy and its characters. There is no copyright infringement intended. I do not make any profit/money or take any credit.
Summary: She found himself at the train station, weak and injured, so she took it upon herself to heal him.
A/N: Prompt for February 13th - Cloud/Tifa - Playing Nurse - ‘She found himself at the train station, weak and injured, so she took it upon herself to heal him.’
Timeline: Final Fantasy VII
Word Count: 1,374
Betaed: No
~~~~Nurse Tifa~~~~
Tifa Lockhart scanned the area with narrowed eyes. There was something off about the train station, she could feel it deep within herself but she couldn’t place her finger on it. Why was there something off about this normal night?
She stopped in her tracks when she heard a grunt and turned to see the train conductor kneeling down beside someone talking in a low voice. Tifa shifted and her heart jumped when she spotted familiar blonde spikes before shaking her head. It couldn’t be him; there must be other people with blonde hair.
The train conductor stood up, shifting off to the side and gave Tifa a clear view of the man. Her heart stopped as her world shrunk as she recognised the man sitting there. On automatic, she walked over him and knelt down, her hands reaching out to cup his face. He lifted sluggish blue eyes to hers confusion swirled in them for a brief moment before a spark of recognition showed up.
“Tifa?” he asked his voice slurry.
“Cloud,” she whispered, tears filling her eyes red eyes before she leaned in, pressing her forehead against his. She couldn’t believe that he was here, that he was right in front of her.
“Madam, do you know him?” The train conductor asked. Tifa shifted her head to look at him and nodded.
“Yes, he’s my friend,” she told him. “What happened?” he shook his head.
“I found him here just after the last train came in. I was about to call the hospital.” Tifa shook her head.
“It’s ok, I’ll take him back to my place,” she assured him.
“Are you sure?” he asked and Tifa nodded as she looked at Cloud again.
“Yes, I don’t want to be away from him again.”
“Ok, do you need any help in getting him there?” he asked. Tifa shook her head.
“I live nearby,” she assured him, shifting her body and wrapping one of Cloud’s arms over her shoulder and helped him up. Cloud groaned, slumping against her, his head lolling slightly causing his spikes to caress her cheek for a moment. She closed her eyes, turning her face into his hair for a brief moment. “Come on, let’s go home.”
It took a while as Cloud couldn’t move very well but they managed to reach Tifa’s bar. She nudged the door open as the customers never left it fully shut and helped Cloud in, attracting the attention of her patrons and Barret, who was currently behind the bar serving them.
“’It’s about time, Tifa!” Barret hollered before he caught sight of a SOLDIER leaning against her and anger filled his face, “What the hell do you think you are doing?!”
“I know him,” Tifa informed him. “And don’t swear!” she scolded him, half leading, half pulling Cloud into the bar and over to the stairs that would lead the way up the stairs.
“Just because you know him doesn’t mean you gotta bring him home!” Barret informed her heatedly as he moved closer to them. “He’s one of Shin-Ra’s puppets.”
“Knock it off,” Tifa warned Barret before she disappeared out of sight. Barret sighed, shaking his head as he turned back to the bar and spotted everyone watching him.
“What?!” he barked out. Not wanting to get on his bad side, everyone returned to what they were doing.
Meanwhile, Tifa had managed to get Cloud into her bed. Cloud landed with a thud before Tifa huffed, shaking out her shoulders to get feeling back into them before she started untying Cloud’s boots, pulling them off. She set them to the side before adjusting Cloud’s clothes so they wouldn’t be restricting and uncomfortable during his sleep.
Looking at his face, she reached up and pressed her hand against his forehead to feel that his was burning up. Worried, she hurried down the stairs into the kitchen where she grabbed a big bowl, filling it up with cold water before dumping some ice into it. She grabbed some clean dishtowels, hauled up the bowl and made her way back up the stairs.
Entering the bedroom, she placed the bowl onto the bedside cabinet and dipped a dishtowel into it before wringing it out and placed it over Cloud’s forehead. The dazed man let out a soft groan before Tifa made her way into the bathroom and opened the medicine cabinet, looking for the medicines that would help to bring down temperatures.
Finding the ones she needed, she grabbed them and made her way back into the bedroom only to stop when she spotted Marlene standing by the bed peering at Cloud with a curious expression.
“Marlene?” she asked. Marlene lifted her head up to look at Tifa before she looked at Cloud once more.
“Who is he?” she asked. Tifa moved in closer, placing the medicine on the table before she sat down on the bed and pulled Marlene onto her lap.
“This is Cloud Strife, he’s a friend from my hometown,” Tifa introduced. Marlene tilted her head as she looked closer.
“His hair is kinda funny,” she whispered. Tifa smiled indulgingly at Marlene.
“His hair is spiky,” she corrected.
“Will he be ok?” Marlene noticed the towel on his forehead and had saw Tifa had gotten the medicine. Tifa sighed.
“I hope so,” she admitted before she looked down at Marlene. “Anyway, it’s time for your bed.” Marlene pouted but didn’t protest as she slipped off Tifa’s lap and headed out of the room. She looked back for a moment to see Tifa stroking back Cloud’s hair before disappearing out of sight.
Tifa removed the now warm towel and dipped it back into the water, leaving it there to soak; she picked up one of the medicine and poured some of the gooey liquid onto a spoon before she shifted Cloud’s head. He groaned, obviously not happy with the disruption but she pressed the spoon to his mouth and his lips parted, allowing her to feed him the medicine.
A lot of distaste crossed his face as he swallowed the bitter medicine but Tifa gave him some water to keep him hydrated as much as she could before she lowered his head and grabbed the towel, wringing it out and placing it on his forehead once more.
This was the first time she had ever played nurse. Barret was more than capable of taking care of his own wounds and Marlene rarely got sick. It was strange to be the one who was caring for Cloud. Even when they were kids and he was beaten up by the older bullies, he still stood strong, unwavering. To see him lying there, weak and pale, it scared her more than she liked to admit. She only hoped that she wouldn’t lose him, she had just found him.
Tifa shifted so she was kneeling on the ground, Cloud was resting in the middle of the bed and she needed to be able to move quickly if he woke up in pain. She watched him for a moment, taking in the changes from the last time she had seen him.
His hair was now short; his eyes had a green tint to them but not enough that it was noticeable straight away. He was taller and leaner. He was dressed in SOLDIERs outfit indicating that he had gotten his wish but she couldn’t help the nagging feeling deep within her, that there was something she was missing.
Shrugging it off, she felt her eyes growing heavy and decided to take a short nap. Just enough to refresh her so she could look after Cloud, her head fell onto the bed and her eyes slid close, allowing her to feel at peace for a short time.
Cloud blinked when sunlight slowly woke him up. He frowned when he saw that he was looking at a ceiling before he felt his left hand was tangled up in another. He turned his head to see Tifa was half sitting half slumped on the bed, her free arm cushioning her head while her other hand was holding to Cloud’s and he smiled as his memories from the night before came back to him. He closed his eyes and sighed.
He was home.
The End