Work for the turks starts around 7 in the A.M. Reno gets there at 7:30. Lunch break ends at 2:00. Reno gets back at 3:00. Everyone goes home around 8:00, give or take an hour. Reno is there til 10.

"Fuck… Why am I always late?"

"Because you're slack." Tseng strode into the office where the turk's desk was, and threw a manila folder down; it was stuffed with paper. He gave a small laugh. "Just kidding, but seriously. Get here on time more often, Reno. I think Rude and Elena are running out of excuses for you."

"Right. Thanks for the heads up. I'll have to write some more up for them." He rolled his blue eyes, and sat back in his chair. Everyone but he and Tseng had gone home, and now he had a crap load of work to complete.

"Welcome. Get to work." Tseng had a small smile at the edge of his lips, and turned to leave. "I'm leaving. See you tomorrow, Reno. On time, I presume."

"Yea, yea." He sighed and opened the large folder that'd been recently slammed on his desk by 'Dot-Head'. Faster you work, faster it's done. He tried thinking positive and saying something his mother would've said, but it didn't work as well when he said it himself. He just sighed again, and began to work.

9259

Reno pulled up to his apartment complex around 11 o'clock. It'd been a long day and he couldn't wait to crash. He climbed the steps up the flight of steps to reach the second floor. What the… what the hell?

Sitting on his front step was a girl.

A young girl.

"H-Hey. I don't know who you are bu-"

"Are you Reno?" She asked, looking up. She had bright auburn hair like him, and big blue eyes as well. They could have been siblings. In the sheer moonlight, he could see her cheeks stained with dry tears.

"Uhr, what's it to you?" Who was this girl? "Who are you, yo?"

She stood up, towered over by his height. She must have been the same height as Elena.

"Do you remember Decil?" She asked, presuming he was her target. "I'm his daughter… yo." She almost smiled, mocking him.

Reno flinched. Decil? He hadn't spoken to his brother in years. Why would his daughter appear in front of him like this? He hadn't seen her since… since she was two. She looked like his niece, but…

"Wait… Do you have a name, kid?" Only one way to find out…

"Ramona."

"Ramona, huh? I like it. You don't remember Uncle Reno, do ya?"

"Nope. Sorry." She looked away. "Dad's dead. Been dead for ten years. Mom just died. She had some sorta disease. She wrote you a note." She paused, "You don't have to take me in or anything. Just take me to some orphanage or something."

He paused. "I'm not leaving you out here. It's freezing. Let's talk about it inside." He shook his head. If I'm 24… I was twelve when she was two… so she 14?

"Look, uhm… 'Uncle Reno'…" She spoke swiftly, but was cut short by the older man.

"Don't call me that. Makes me feel old. Just, call me Reno." He had always hated formalities.

"Okay, well… Reno. I'm not a kid, I can take care of myself. I didn't know where to go, and Mom told me to come here. I'm sorry to barge in. Obviously you have a life; you don't need a girl in it."

"You're what? Fourteen? You-"

"Fifteen." Ramona corrected.

"Fifteen, whatever. Either way. I lived on the streets at your age, and it's not pretty." He had no idea why he was saying all this. "I can't just… throw you out, ya know." Oh but you could, Thought his inner demon.

"You could. I can fight. I have a weapon. I had to protect me and Mom once Dad left." She wiped her eyes and flopped on his soft beige couch. "I know how to get food. I'm good at-"

"Stealing? No. I don't care." Why was he doing all this? "Protecting yourself and getting food is only half of it. Where are you going to sleep?"

"Why are you doing all this?" Only now did he realize what she really looked like. Her hair was short, and wispy on one side, but the other half was covered by a light blue and white hat; it was loose on her head, and had a handmade pompom on the top. He could barely see her left eye due to the hat, but it was cute. Not a womanly, oh-look-at-her cute, but an innocent, little girl cute. So much like her mother.

He thought for a second. Coming up with nothing better, he said, "Because I know your father would do the same for me." Which was true. Decil was an amazing man, and he was always looking to help. Reno wasn't. Reno was the one who took care of himself, and only himself. Not because he didn't want help, but because no one offered it.

Decil and Reno were eight years apart. When Decil was eighteen, he was drafted by SOLDIER. Reno didn't see him for two years. By then, Decil had a wife and a daughter. Reno was twelve, and still stuck in the orphanage. When they left, it was the last time he'd ever seen his brother. Reno left the orphanage when he was thirteen, living on the streets, stealing, sleeping in storage buildings, like some sort of Aladdin.

"It's fine. Really, yo." He lied. What the hell was he supposed to do with a 15-year-old? He couldn't take her to work. But then again, he really couldn't leave her here.

She had tears in her eyes, but swallowed them down. She walked up to Reno, unsure of what to do. "May I?" She held her arms out, wanting to hug him. She hadn't known him for five minutes, and he was already accepting her into his life without a second thought.

He smiled unsurely, and hugged her. It was a warm embrace, and finally they parted. She looked over to her things that she'd placed on the couch. It wasn't much; a few shirts, two pairs of pants, and a small jewelry box. That was it.

"Thank you. I don't know anything about you, and I haven't seen you in thirteen years, but… you already act like it's your duty to protect me." She smiled up at him, like her father once had.

"Maybe I think of it as one, yea. I mean… I don't know." What was he saying? He didn't know what to do with teenage girls! He could barely take care of himself! He looked around his apartment, which looked like a mosh pit had just swept through. It was hideous.

"Well, I'll do anything I can to help you out." So much like her father, too. "I can clean, and cook, and help out…" Cleaning and cooking where two things Reno hadn't done in a very long time. Maybe this wouldn't be so hard.

"Alright, yo. Well, we gotta get up early in the morning, so… let's head to bed."

He braced himself for what may come in the morning, bu assured himself it would be okay. "You get the guest room." He pointed down the hall.

Ramona walked down the hall, almost cheerily. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight yo."

9259

"Reno!" Reno groaned. His alarm was going off, and had woken Ramona about half an hour ago. She'd expected he'd wake up by then, but instead received no validation to her claim. "Reno! Get up! Shut that thing off!" Ramona had already gotten used to not calling him 'Uncle'; she also hated formalities. It only took her one night of wandering the house to get used to its simple layout.

"Grah… Why? What time is it, yo?" He asked, not bothering to flip over and look at the time. His alarm was across the room on his dresser; he moved it there after breaking the last five by strewing them off the nightstand and into the wall. Ramona knocked on his door, and after no response from Reno, she decided to come in anyway. "Yo! Shut the damn thing off!"

"Reno…" She stopped the alarm by pressing the large snooze button on top, only so it would quit beeping long enough for her to find the 'Off' switch. After little success, she unplugged it from his drab gray wall. "Reno, get up."

He simply moaned and groaned at her in return. She rolled her eyes.

"What was that alarm for? Do you have to go to work or something?" She asked, curious.

"I wish I didn't." He responded. Reno may have taken pride in his job, and the work he did in it, but that didn't mean he was up and ready for it at 6:00 in the morning.

"Well then get up, you lazy redhead! You can't be late!" Late… Great. A second Tseng. He thought. "You said we had to get up early."

"Okay, first. You are a hypocrite for calling me a redhead, ginger." He paused and finally raised his head from the pillow and flung himself out of bed. "Second, it's too early. It takes us about half an hour to get there with little traffic."

"Alright," she addressed him. "I'll, uhm… wait, and you said us? You're taking me with you?"

"Well I can't leave you here. It's too dangerous. And I can't have you running off like a big girl, yo." He sighed, picking up a dirty dress shirt from the floor, and flinging it at the door. It landed at Ramona's feet.

She laughed. "Alright, I'll get ready." Reno nodded his head and headed for the bathroom. Ramona shut the door behind her as she headed for the guest bedroom. He had a feeling that with Decil's daughter in his life, I might change for the better.

9259

Ramona walked out of the hall and into the room where she'd previously slept, satisfied with the result of her tirade. She opened the top drawer, where she had placed her shirts, and picked the one with the least amount of stains. It was green striped, and button-up; obviously Reno worked someplace at least semi-formal, and by his personality, she figured he dressed as far down as they'd let him. Not that that was a bad thing…

She smiled to herself. Reno was kind, and obviously cared about his brother. She was surprised he didn't interrogate her like the shopkeeper had. All she'd asked for was directions, but of course, young girls like her should not have been out in the streets of Midgar like that. Not to mention the neighborhood she was headed to…

It hadn't mattered, though. The last thing her mother had said to her was, "Find Reno. Stay safe. I love you, Ramona." Whatever her mother willed, Ramona did. If Reno was to be her new guardian, and her mother trusted him, then she would do what it took to fulfill his requests. Although sarcastic and at times even cynical, she was prepared to die for her mother. Reno had now taken her place, and if he earned it, she would do the same for him.

"Where did your life go, Ramona?" She spoke softly to herself as she dressed. She let out a half-laugh. "Who are you kidding? What life?"

After her father died, she and her mother had been abandoned from SOLDIER's care. They lived in a shack outside of Midgar, and Ramona brought home food for the two of them. Her mother never questioned where she'd gotten the food, or money to buy it; she already knew.

Ramona shook the memory away, and finished dressing. What would happen would happen, and she could live without dragging the past behind her. She may have looked like her mother, acted like her father, but this was a trait she shared proudly with no one in her family but Reno.

9259

They arrived at the ShinRa building at around 7:05, not bad timing for Reno, thanks to his new companion. Elena, who was already there, smiled up at Reno as he and Ramona stepped out of the elevator. "Who's this?" She asked politely, standing up to greet them.

"I'm Ramona." She explained, smiling back at the bright blonde.

Elena smiled to the young girl. "I'm Elena."

"She's my niece. I'm taking care of her from now on, Laney."

"Wow, Reno. That's, that's a huge responsibility you're taking on." Elena looked shocked that Reno could as he claimed.

Ramona looked to Reno, and back at Elena. "I'm not that hard to take care of. I'm really independent."

Elena looked surprised, but continued smiling. "That's great, I mean, when did you decide that? How come you didn't tell us?" She looked back to Reno.

"I didn't know myself til I got home to find her sitting on my steps at eleven last night." He paused. "It's a family matter. I am her new guardian. I'm going to take the best care of her I can. I can't leave her at home – I had to bring her here."

Out of nowhere it seemed, a tall tan-skinned man walked up to them. He wore dark sunglasses, even though they were inside, but he pulled it off. He was much taller than both Reno and Elena, bared a shiny bald head, and was dressed in what appeared to be a work tuxedo. She looked to 'Laney' and noticed she wore the same.

Reno, on the other hand, wore the same pants, but left his coat undone, his shirt untucked, and unbuttoned at the top. He didn't even bother with a tie.

"Ramona, this is Rude." She looked back to the larger man, and grinned, not wanting to look intimidated. He smiled back, and stuck out his hand; Ramona shook it firmly.

"You're very strong." Ramona beamed at the compliment.

"You're not to shabby either!" She had a feeling she'd like it here.

The elevator door opened again, but no one payed any mind to the Turk arriving. Tseng looked toward Reno and Ramona with a strange face.

"What is that?" He asked, referring to the girl.

"W-What?" Ramona turned to face a new man, one with long dark hair, pulled into a ponytail. He had a dot on his forehead, and a stern look on his face. Trouble was the first word to come to her mind. "M-Me?"

"That would be 'what'." He said, the same look plastered on his face.

"I have a name, Dot-Head. It's Ramona. And I'm-"

"My niece. I have to take care of her from now on. She's the reason I'm here on time." Reno smirked, knowing Tseng wouldn't complain if she was a good influence.

"Really?" He paused. "Is that so?"

"It is." She said, giving him just as stern a look as he was her.

9259

Like it?

Disclaimer: I don't own anything but Ramona, Decil, and his wife!