Author's note: I do not own Final Fantasy VII or its characters. This is set after Advent Children.
As We Dream By the Fire
"You look like a very contented cat."
Tseng's voice made Elena open her eyes and glanced over at him. She was stretched out on the rug in front of the fireplace in their snug little cabin. Rufus had practically banished them the two of them to Icicle Inn for the next two weeks. Their boss claimed that between their last five missions and the work they had put in training the new recruits over the past six months, they deserved a vacation. Elena certainly wasn't going to complain. She and Tseng had headed off to Icicle Inn for two weeks of rest and relaxation, leaving Rude in charge.
Elena smiled at her partner. "I'm quite comfortable. You should join me."
Tseng held out a mug to her. "I think I will."
The two of them had barely arrived and settled in to their cabin when a storm had hit the town. Not that either of them minded. In fact, Elena thought that it was rather nice. They had enough food and supplies to last, and it cut them off from the rest of the world. Uninterrupted time alone was something that they rarely got, and Elena was going to enjoy it. She sipped at the hot toddy that Tseng had just handed her.
Her partner sat down beside her, and Elena shifted so she could rest her head in his lap. Tseng smiled down at her and ran his fingers through her hair. They had finally gotten past the more awkward stage of their romantic relationship which was something Elena was grateful for. It had been very odd for awhile since their professional lives had meshed much better than their personal lives, but it hadn't taken them too long to find a happy medium between the two.
The two of the simply sat in silence for a while, just enjoying one another's presence and the warmth of the fire. Given their work as Turks, moments of quiet and peace like this were fairly rare. She could probably count on one hand the number of dates they had that were completely uninterrupted. So the isolation was both rather novel and nice. Elena could still hear the snow falling outside though. There was already over six feet of the stuff on the ground, and the storm did not seem to be letting up any time soon.
"How bad is it out there?" she asked idly.
"Well, we probably won't be going any where until the snowplows can deal with the streets, and given that no one sane is going to be out there at least for the rest of the evening, I'd say at the earliest sometime tomorrow." Tseng glanced down at her face. "Why?"
Elena just smiled. "Just trying to figure out a plan for our time here. Of course, we could just spend the entire time indoors."
He laughed and kissed her nose. "I think I could live with that. We can just play things by ear."
Setting her mug aside, Elena sat up so she could slip her hands into Tseng's hair and pull him down for a proper kiss. Somehow, she really didn't think that the bad weather was going to a damper on their vacation what so ever.