Disclaimer: FFVII and respective characters belong to Tetsuya Nomura/Squeenix.

Author's Note: A couple of people asked for more at the end of "Silence" and after months and months of thinking, here it is. The sequel chapter-fic to "Silence." Enjoy.


Three months had passed since the incident.

Reno had been hospitalized for one of those months, due to his considerable blood-loss. Elena also was kept under close surveillance until the doctors were sure that she would make a quick recovery. Both of the Turks survived with nothing more than small scars, serving as reminders of that day.


Reno awoke the sound of his alarm blaring, the echo resonating inside his head. He grunted in irritation and swatted at the alarm clock on his bedside table, effectively knocking it off of said table, but not deactivating the alarm.

Groan.

"I'm going to shoot you dead, you fucking alarm clock," Reno muttered, rolling over and falling out of bed. As he laid on the floor – or rather, the mess of dirty clothes covering the floor – he sighed. Ignoring the blaze of the alarm clock, the bright morning sun shining through the window, and the pain in his rump from his landing, he stood and stretched. The feeling of his muscles contracting as he reached toward the ceiling was refreshing, but the feeling of the scar tissue on his stomach pulling at his still-healing muscles sent a searing pain up towards his chest.

"Damn it," He growled, though not very enthusiastically. Bending over carefully, he picked a soiled white shirt off of the floor and inspected it. Deeming it clean enough for work today, he slung it on, pulling the sleeves over his arms and buttoning it halfway. He then tugged on a pair of pants, zipping them but leaving them unbuttoned, and threw on his jacket.

With little effort, he grabbed the alarm clock and gave it a jerk, tearing the cord from the wall and silencing it's wailing. Relieved at the newfound silence, Reno picked his goggles off of his bedside table and pulled them over his head, readjusting them to rest on his forehead, and tucked his mullet into a ponytail holder.

Grabbing his Electro-Mag Rod he sighed, looking around his landfill of an apartment.

"Okay. Ready to go," And with that, he walked out, shutting his door and jiggling the doorknob, effectively knocking the broken lock into place.


The gentle sound of the ocean waves crashing against the shore brought Elena peacefully out of her slumber. Her new alarm clock that had different settings – sounds to help her fall asleep, and sounds to wake her up (gently, mind you) – was helping her recovery along quiet nicely. It was true, she had been out of the hospital for nearly a month now, but her mentality was still a bit unstable. Tseng had suggested that she take some time off to get her head back in order, but she wouldn't hear anything of it.

She was a serious woman, at least when it came to her work, and she wouldn't let anything stop her from doing it. Even when she first awoke in the hospital, her left side bandaged from the bullet wound, and the needle of an IV in her hand, the first thing she thought of was work.

However, with some strong words and a stern look, Tseng quickly put that thought out of her mind.

"You're here to recover, Elena, not to make yourself sick with stress," he had said, exasperated, but appreciative of her extreme work ethic. "Whatever work there is to do, Rude and I can handle until you and Reno have recovered and are allowed to come back to work. If worst comes to worst, we'll have someone replace you temporarily – like you did for Reno when he was injured. Do you understand?"

Of course, the man's Wutain accent had hypnotized her as it always did, and she had agreed without much of a fuss at all.

Now fully awake, Elena reached over, and with a skilled ease, pressed the "Alarm Off" button, instantly stopping the calming sounds of the ocean. Rolling over, she sat upright and swung her legs over the side of the bed. Stretching, the scar tissue in her side giving a slight tug, she yawned and stood. Grabbing her bathrobe from a hook beside her bedroom door, she threw it on and went into the kitchen to make some coffee.

Looking towards the clock, her eyes widened. Was it really that late already? Forgetting about her half-made coffee, she ran back to her room and quickly got into uniform, grabbing her gun and holster and making a run for the door.


As Elena bustled into the conference room, Tseng arched a single eyebrow at her late appearance.

"Elena," he remarked, sounding almost amused, "First Reno's early, and now you're late. Are the two of you switching roles today?" He failed to comment on her disheveled appearance as well, although it was not comparable to Reno's.

Elena took a seat at the table, setting her bag beside her seat and her coffee (which she purchased from a café on her to work that morning) on the table before her. Rude silently passed her one of the prepared reports sitting on the table, and she smiled gratefully at him, a sort of apologetic look in her eyes. Reno grinned smugly at her from his seat directly across from her, leaning back in his seat with his hands tucked casually behind his head. She contemplated throwing her hot coffee on him for a moment before the thought passed – that was no way to get a promotion, although she was sure Tseng would find it entertaining.

The already silent room grew even quieter as Rufus entered the room, followed by Reeve Tuesti, head of the WRO.

"I'm not going to waste time with introductions – you all know why you're here," Rufus stated as he stepped up to the head of the table and Reeve took a seat beside Elena, smiling warmly at the girl. She returned the gesture with a small nod before turning her attention to Rufus.

"As ShinRa Company continues to get back on it's feet, looking for new and better sources of energy, we have decided to aid the WRO in it's efforts. You all know that my family is responsible for most of the damage that has been done to this world-"

"Now, Rufus," Reeve interrupted the young man, not feeling comfortable with that statement, "You and your family are not all to blame. A lot of the damage that was done was because of Sephiroth, Meteor…many other things besides ShinRa Company's influence."

Rufus nodded slightly at this, a small smirk on his lips as he regarded Reeve.

"That is true. But I still feel responsible for the damage that my Company has done alone – the dropping of the plate on Midgar, for example. Unfortunately, those things can never be repaired or resolved, so we must point our efforts elsewhere. Thus the money will we be sending the WRO until it's goals are achieved," as he continued, the plan for aiding the World Restoration Organization was discussed and revised, and Reeve and Rufus came to an agreement on the money that was to be leant to the WRO every month for projects and general funding because, "The WRO is not making enough progress with what little funding it has left."

After the meeting, Tseng and Rude returned to whatever it was they had been doing prior to the conference, as Rufus and Reeve returned to the Executive's office for further discussion of their plans.

As Elena stood from the table, tucking her copy of the conference report and plans under her arm, she slung the strap of her bag over her shoulder and picked up her now-empty cup of coffee. Turning to throw said cup away, her view and general path to the trashcan was blocked by a certain redhead.

"What are you doing, Reno?" She frowned deeply, his smirk unnerving her to no end.

"Oh, you know, just want to say thanks and everything for saving my life – I mean, you kept me conscious while we were waiting, and if you hadn't been there then I'd probably be toast right now. Since this is the first time we've seen each other since…well, since what happened. Feel like I owe ya' thanks. So thanks," his smirk continued to grow as he spoke, until he was all-out grinning at the female Turk.

"Oh. You're welcome, then," she responded half-heartedly, her voice void of any general emotion as she made to side-step him to reach the trash. He stepped along with her, however, still managing to block her reach of the garbage, and her way out. She continued to look at him with distaste for a quiet moment before she spoke again.

"You said thank you, what more do you want?" She continued to frown, eyeing the man in front of her up and down with a general look of disgust.

"Nothin' much," Reno said, his eyes twinkling with mischief. "Just…you remember what we were talking about while we were waiting in that…dismal hallway?" His grin grew a little wider. Elena's frown deepened.

"Unfortunately," She said, then added as a counter, "Is the word 'dismal' even in your vocabulary? Or did you just hear it somewhere, not knowing what it meant, and figured you'd give it a try?" Reno simply shook his head, choosing to ignore her comment about his vocabulary.

"Well, I've had my drink already, as I'm sure you know," He continued, slinging his Electro-Mag Rod over his shoulder as he spoke, then grasping it with both hands and sort of hanging his arms off of it as he looked towards the woman suggestively.

"I can smell it, yes," Elena's eyebrow raised, impatient for him to get to the point.

"And I'm sure you remember the other thing I wanted…I mean, you've got the memory of a Midgar Zolom," he drawled, and Elena was certain now that he was simply trying to waste her precious time.

"It must have slipped my mind," She said with obvious distaste, displeased at being compared to such a creature; did a Midgar Zolom even have that great of a memory? She would have to look into it, as she was certain Reno didn't know.

The man leaned forward, his eyes narrowing slightly and his voice lowered.

"C'mon, you remember," he urged as the blond leaned back as to avoid being any closer to her co-worker, "A…blowjo-"

The sharp sound of Elena's hand meeting Reno's face echoed through the empty conference room.

"You pig!" She snarled, now completely disgusted as she pushed past him, angrily tossing her empty coffee into the garbage and storming out of the room. Reno walked out of the room laughing and holding his face, which was now an attractive shade of pink.

"Is that a no?" He shouted after her as she stomped down the hallway towards the elevators. The only response he received was Elena's frustrated shriek as the elevator doors opened and a few terrified interns hurried out, eyeing her uneasily as she entered the elevator and began pressing the 'Door Close' button with vigor.

"I guess that's a no," Reno shrugged, still grinning as he turned and began to walk in the opposite direction towards the stairs.