Elena slumped down into her chair completely drained. The constant chase that AVALANCHE and Sephiroth were leading them on was wearing her—and all the other Turks—well past the brink of exhaustion.
The blond wanted nothing more than to go to sleep for about a month. So, of course, she was pulling a double shift today, and escorting Scarlet from Midgar to Junon tomorrow.
It was just not her week.
She hated being the "Turk On Call" as they referred to it at the office. The one Turk that stayed all night and took any emergency calls that might come up through the course of the overnight shift. She hadn't done it until recently though, when the full time overnight Turk was killed on a call. His life had been eventful enough, apparently, but she found the job to be damned boring.
With a tired sigh, she looked down at the paperwork laying on her desk. She wasn't in the mood to do any of it, but it would help keep her awake to be busy.
She'd filled out two rather long report forms when she found the plain white envelope. It was business sized, and of the kind that anyone in the building might have tucked away in a desk drawer. It didn't have an address on it, or even her name. Curious, she opened it and pulled out a neatly folded sheet of computer print out.
Elena,
Words cannot describe
The emotion that has flared in my heart for you
Words cannot express
Everything you have come to mean to me
You came
At an unexpected time
With your youth
Excitement
Idealism
Hopes
Beauty
I hated you for that
In time
I grew to love those things
You taught me
To be young again
To feel the excitement of our lives
That ideals weren't a bad thing
And that hope often kept you though the night
And that beauty must be fully appreciated
I can only hope
That you read this and smile
That you do not hate me
That you can let me love you from afar
For
I am certain
That you could never love me back
Though you hold my heart forever
The poem wasn't signed, and since it was typed, she had no idea who it was from. She wondered if she'd be able to look at her co-workers in the morning without asking if they knew who had left it for her.
A hint of blue in her doorway made her look up to see Rude standing there.
"I came to let you know I was going home," he told her.
"Thanks," she replied. "Hey, have you got a second first?"
The bald man nodded and walked over to her desk. She handed him the poem.
"Do you have any idea who left this for me?"
He nodded again.
"Really? Who?" She wasn't entirely surprised. Rude saw nearly everything that happened in this building, despite those ever-present sunglasses.
"I can't say." Rude turned to walk away.
Elena looked at him for a moment with suddenly knowing eyes. "It was you, wasn't it?"
He froze mid-step. "I didn't think you'd figure it out."
"Well, it was either you or Tseng; Reno's grammar isn't this good." She got up from her desk and walked over to him. "Is it true?"
"Yeah."
"I'm flattered. Really."
"Is that all?" Even without being able to see his eyes, she thought Rude looked hurt.
"I don't know. No one's ever just poured out their heart to me like that before. Its almost surreal."
Without warning, Rude put a hand on either of her cheeks and pulled her mouth to his for a kiss. When they broke apart, he asked, "Is that real enough for you?"
Elena was a bit breathless. That was far from her first kiss, but it was the first with that much feeling behind it. "Yeah…"
He let go of her face and stepped back from her. "I have to go. Tseng said something about sending me to Junon with Scarlet instead of you, so that you could get some sleep."
As he was walking to the door, she surprised herself by saying, "I'm free Wednesday, if you want to get together."
"I'd like that."