the trick is to keep breathing

It was not because of the vase.

Although technically it was because the vase was there, on the wrong side of the table and filled with the wrong kind of flowers, that Tifa had scolded Marlene for being careless. A fairly important customer had come to talk to Tifa about the bar, and the seemingly trivial mistake was escalated because the due customer just happened to be severely allergic to the due flowers.

They didn't find that out until their guest began to wheeze and break into hives and an emergency vehicle had to be summoned.

Marlene couldn't have known beforehand. The flowers were nice and pretty and smelled wonderful. But Tifa sent her to her room regardless, along with Denzel in a separate one and didn't call either one down for lunch. Tifa herself spent most of the remaining afternoon trying to think of ways to patch up that didn't require cops and money and too extensive apologies.

It gave her plenty of excuses to not speak with the other two adults in the house. She didn't even have to look at them in the face. She didn't need to remember that earlier that morning Vincent had kissed Cloud - a brief, chaste, and decisive one - and she had witnessed the whole thing from her doorway. It wasn't intentional and they didn't see her; Vincent was too busy trying not to blush while Cloud was too busy trying to act shocked. Tifa just took a step back inside her room and quietly closed the door.

The rest of the day followed suit with sirens and agendas and two wrongly accused and angry children. And someone's heart withered while someone else's was offered on the palm of their hands.

It was not because of the vase. But Tifa wanted to smash it anyway.

~~~

A/N: Sorry, I don't know where this came from. I meant to write a happy fic, and, um, well. I guess this counts as a dirty move in the battle. :-(