"He lied to me.. Hic. He lied. Bloody.. Hic. Fuckin bastard." She downed the rest of her beer in a gulp and signaled the bartender for another.

"Aw c'mon Tif. That's your seventh bottle now babe. That's more than enough." Reno shook his head at the bartender bringing Tifa her beer as he tugged gently on her arm to lead her away from the bar.

She brushed his hand off harshly. "Who the hell do you think you are? If I wanna drink, hic – I'll sure as hell – hic – drink!" She snatched the beer from the bartender and took a large swig. "I'm not drunk yet," she slurred as she banged the bottle with more force than necessary onto the bar counter.

Reno winced as the bottle hit the counter. Thankfully, the table held. Damn.. Reno sighed inwardly. What the fuck did that bastard do? I've never seen her this messed up before. He frowned. I oughta give his chocobo ass a good whipping. He ran his hand through the shock of red hair on his crown agitatedly and signaled the bartender for a beer of his own.

Next to him Tifa turned slowly in her chair so that she faced him. Grabbing the collar of his suit she pulled her towards him till their noses were nearly touching. He inhaled her scent, currently a mix of vanilla and alcohol – who knew alcohol would smell so good on her? She focused her eyes as best she could on him, which to him wasn't really successful since she seemed to be looking at his ear instead of his eyes. "I… hic hate… MEN.. Hic." She shoved him back to his space at the counter as she turned back to her drink.

Aw geez. Did that chocobo have to ruin it for the rest of us too? Reno rolled his eyes. "C'mon Tif baby we ain't all jerks like that chocobo kid y'know." He rubbed her back lightly.

She snorted. "Baby… That's what he used to call me. Damn bastard!" She spat the last two words out and took another swig from the bottle. His eyebrows raised slightly at the venom in her voice. Tifa, the Ms. Goody-little-two-shoes, speaking with all that hate? Well that was a kind of first. Then again, she is human too.. Just that she always seemed like a saint. Or most of the time she did, anyway. He sighed and took a swig from his own bottle. Tonight's probably gonna be a night full of firsts.

After a lull between her outbursts the woman next to him started to growl and unexpectedly slammed her clenched fist onto the bar counter, causing the wood to splinter. He stared at the split wood bemusedly before lifting his eyes, which unfortunately caught the bartender's. The bartender frowned and gestured accusingly at the splintered wood. He threw a sideways glance at Tifa, who was oblivious to the whole exchange and had already returned her attention to her drink. Wordlessly he pulled out two one hundred gil notes and slid it across the bar counter to the bartender.

Damn.. Drunk and she still packs one helluva punch. He rubbed his aching upper arm absentmindedly. I should know. Previous attempts at removing Tifa from the bar had resulted in his current bruises on the stomach and upper arm, not to mention the huge dent in his male ego. To the uneducated eyes of any one in the bar he had gotten a good ass whipping from the drunk female next to him. They didn't know and probably didn't care that said female was trained in martial arts and her weapon of choice were her fists, as opposed to his preferred EM rod if he really were to fight her. All they saw was a female who'd already had 4 bottles of beer tossing a male, who'd as of yet had drank nothing, on to his ass. Following that last attempt he'd given up and just sat next to her as she continued to try to drink herself into oblivion. He could swear all the people in the bar were secretly laughing at him. And the damned bartender keeps smirking at me. Grrr. Oh how he longed to stuff his EM rod up the guy's ass. Except the amount of cleaning that would ensue, if he did decide to continue using it after that, made him shudder.

He pulled himself out of his thoughts as he realized with a start that the body beside him was quivering slightly as small sobs that she could not fully muffle escaped her lips. Leaning in to check if she was alright he found that she was whispering softly; straining to listen he caught random snippets – "Cloud.. Aerith.. So stupid! ..believed he was over… Such a fool.. Love him". He pulled back, mulling over his thoughts as he formed his own conjectures on what had happened. Sighing as she continued to sniffle, he reached out to her. "C'mere.." He pulled her into his arms and tucked her head into the crook of his neck as she really started to cry. Rubbing her back he sighed inwardly again. Thankfully the bar isn't that full.. She's gonna be the death of my reputation round here. If it was any other girl.. He imagined himself in this position with his last squeeze, a busty blonde who'd basically been an airhead, clung to him like a magnet and bored him after a week, and shuddered mentally.

As her sobs began to die down he reluctantly pulled away from her. "Feeling better now babe?" Her face was streaked with tears and her nose was all red and runny from crying. Shakily she nodded and he reached for a napkin and began to wipe her face. "Ready to go?" he asked as he finished wiping her face dry. She nodded wordlessly. Thank the Planet, she seems a lot calmer after all that crying. Taking her hand he led her towards the door. Only to find that the alcohol had finally taken effect in her system as her knees buckled when her feet touched the floor. "Whoa there!" he caught her before she collapsed to the ground. "Urgh.." she groaned. Urgh is right alright. Shaking his head he pulled her upright and steadied her. She was deadweight as she slung her arms round his neck and leaned against him. He looked down at the top of the head now resting against his chest. I could get used to this position.. He smirked as he pulled her into a princess carry and led her out the door.

The wind whipped at him as he stepped outside, the sudden sharp contrast between the warmth of the bar and the night air causing goosebumps to form on his skin. In his arms, Tifa shivered and snuggled closer to him. He grinned and held her tighter. Don't know how you keep warm in those clothes anyway. He led them over to his car and gently deposited Tifa onto the passenger seat. He slid into the driver seat and cast a glance at Tifa as he pulled out of the lot. Sorry babe, we gonna have to leave your bike here. Ain't no way you gonna be driving in that state. And it's a hell of a long drive back to Edge.

"Reno?"

"Yeah?"

"What's wrong with me? Am I so unlovable?" Her voice was filled with her unshed tears.

He clenched his teeth. "Nah babe.. That thick skulled kid just doesn't know how to appreciate you that's all. You're good just the way you are." He glanced over at her but she looked away, unwilling to meet his gaze.

After a while she broke the silence again. "He said.. He said he didn't think he was being fair to me 'cause he couldn't love me fully." Her voice was barely above a whisper. "He said.. If she came back to life today he'd go right back to her."

The words were soft but he heard it. His fists turned white as his grip on the steering wheel tightened. The bastard.. No wonder she fucking hurts.

"Maybe it's my fault.. I didn't do enough to make him love me more… I really thought.. He loved me. I want to hate him.. But I still love him…" The brokenness in her voice tugged at his heart.

Reno grabbed one of her hands with his and squeezed it. "Babe it's definitely not your fault. You hear me? It's NOT. Your. Fault. Don't go around taking all the blame when it's his problem! I've seen what you're like with him and hell he never deserved all that you gave!" He shuddered as he took a large breath. Realising his hand was still clamped firmly around hers he released it and returned it to the steering wheel. "Sorry," he said gruffly.

After a minute or so she spoke. "Thanks, Reno.." Again, though the words were soft he managed to hear each one. Somewhere in his consciousness the words were wrapped into a box and stored for future appreciation. "No problem. Take a nap babe, the journey's long. The Planet knows why you decided to head off to some remote bar in the middle of nowhere just for a damned drink." As he glanced over at her he managed to catch the faintest trace of a smile on her lips as she made herself comfortable, the first he'd seen since he'd managed to catch up to her tonight.

As her breaths grew slow and even he thought up all kinds of things to do to the moody blonde who had broken her heart to keep awake on the long drive. Thinking about what he'd said and done to her made his blood boil. Damned chocobo. Even I ain't gonna stick a knife into a girl's heart and twist it when I'm breaking up with her. And they call me heartbreaker. Once again he glanced over at his passenger. And to say that to Tif of all people.. She, who'd find some way to blame herself instead of other people for their own failures. He shook his head and sighed. Gazing out at the road, he made a silent promise to be there for her whenever she needed it.

Hours later he pulled up at her driveway and climbed out of the car. Heh. Time to put some old skills to use. He picked her lock with a spare pin he kept for scenarios like this, and the door fell open within half a minute. Hmm. A bit rusty, but will do I guess. He smirked. Oughta tell Tif to change her locks. He returned to the car and gently lifted her into his arms, taking care not to wake her. He navigated about her house easily enough; he'd been to the bar enough times to know its exact layout, and been upstairs once or twice just to annoy her. She stirred as he was about to set her on her bed and he froze, hoping she wouldn't wake. Her eyes cracked open a slit and she groaned softly.

"Shh, you're back home. I'm just gonna put you on your bed alright?" he whispered to her. She started to nod then frowned as the effort made her head hurt. Once again he started to put her down, then stopped as she lifted her hand to his face. "Thanks," she whispered and pulled him down to meet her lips. It was a completely chaste kiss, as her lips just touched his then left. Startled, he blinked a few times before looking down, but her eyes had already closed and she was falling back asleep. He finally set her on the bed and set to work stripping off her shoes and tucking her in. Ain't no way she's gonna yell at me tomorrow for stripping her naked. He smirked as he studied her face. Not that she'd be doing much anyway with the massive hangover she's gonna get. The thought's damn tempting though.. But in exchange for that first kiss.. He smiled. Night of firsts indeed.

Anyway since I'm here… He turned and headed for the spare bedroom. Might as well. He removed his shoes and flopped on the bed. Thank the Planet tomorrow's an off day.. Guess fried eggs, bacon and fruit juice is on the menu for breakfast.. He drifted off to sleep as he mentally set an alarm for 8am the next day.

A/N: Please do R&R! Kind of autobiographical in a sense because it's something that I went through.. Was sort of therapeutic I guess to write this up. Haha. :D I want a Reno tooooo!