A/N: Okay, well, I got hit with the idea for this while chatting with a friend earlier. I wanted to explore a might-have-been relationship between Aeris and Tseng, in the time when Zack has gone missing (and stays missing for five years) in "Crisis Core". I personally feel that this is a relationship that is just FULL of possibilities. I always thought maybe there was more than meets the eye to these two, based on a few key scenes in the game (Aeris crying for him when they think he's been killed by Sephiroth, for one). And maybe her rejection (as I've written out one possibility here) plays a part in his attitude during the events in the Original Game. Anyway, I hope some other Tseng/Aeris fans will enjoy this. Part two DOES contain a scene of violence, and some citrus, but neither of the scenes are terribly graphic.

Disclaimer - I don't own Tseng, Aeris, or any of the other characters mentioned herein, and I'm making no money off of this. I'm just doing this for fun!

Part One
Tseng

It was a cold night, and he wondered why she was still here. It wasn't as though this busted-up old church offered any kind of warmth. But still she knelt, tending to her miracle flowers, oblivious to everything else in the world. Occasionally, she would hum, a sad, sweet song, and he knew she was thinking about him again.

It had been over four years, and yet, every day, she came to the church, wearing pink. Tseng knew it was because she'd promised Zack that she would wear pink when next they met … but Zack had been gone for four years. And it hurt Tseng to see her, so young, still holding the torch for someone who likely wasn't coming back.

Tseng knew that Zack was still alive, somewhere. Though the official word was that Zack had been killed in action, Tseng knew there was more to it than that. He just didn't know what, exactly. His best guess was that he had deserted after the Nibelheim incident, but beyond that, he hadn't a clue. Normally, he wouldn't care. It wasn't his job to give a damn, after all. But this was different.

The reasons why it was different were not ones he cared to dwell upon, however. He set his mouth in a firm line as he tried to convince himself he was only concerned about her safety; that he didn't spend most of his waking hours wishing for her to look at him the same way she'd looked at Zack.

He knew she heard him when he entered the church and walked across the floor. He was stealthy, sure, his years as a Turk hadn't been for nothing. But he didn't like to sneak up on her. He never had. Surveillance of the subject was supposed to be covert -- but she was more than just "the subject" to him. Before he'd met her, it had been easy to refer to her as "the Ancient", to remain detached from whatever it was that the science department wanted her for.

It wasn't easy now. Because she wasn't "the Ancient", she wasn't a test subject. She was Aeris. She made flowers grow in the middle of winter. She gave him something akin to hope, which, when you'd been a Turk as long as he had been, was really saying something.

She lifted her head from the flowers, but didn't turn to look at him. He wondered if she was smiling or frowning. Were his visits to her a blessing or a curse in her eyes? He heard her sigh, almost inaudibly. "Hello, Tseng," she said quietly. She still hadn't looked at him. He would have questioned how she knew it was him, but there was no need.

Aeris didn't get many visitors these days.

"It's cold, Aeris," he said in a cool, but not unkind voice. "And late. You should be at home, with your mother."

"Do you have any news?" It was the same question she asked him every day, and every day, he had to give her the same answer.

"Nothing, I'm sorry," he said, and found that he truly meant it.

Aeris stood up then and faced him. "He isn't dead." It wasn't a question, it was a statement. "Don't look at me like that."

"Like what?" Tseng asked, suddenly concerned that his face had betrayed him.

"Like you pity me, like I'm some stupid girl just waiting around for a dead guy. He's not dead," she said again, her green eyes flashing with anger and hurt.

"I don't pity you," he said, his voice level. He had to stop himself from reaching out to touch her. "Aeris, you really need to get out of here. It's freezing."

"I don't mind," she said placidly.

"Well, I do," he retorted. "You'll catch a cold if you stay here all night."

"Oh." Aeris' expression was unreadable to him now. Then she smiled, just a little, and he cursed inside his head. "You're worried about me?"

He blew out a frustrated breath. "I'm always worried about you," he told her earnestly. He put his hands on her arms and looked at her steadily. It was then that he noticed that her skin was like ice. "Damn it, Aeris, you're practically an icicle right now! What is wrong with you?" It came out angrier than he'd intended, and he released his grip on her arms. Shrugging out of his suit jacket, he put it around her shoulders.

She didn't pull away or protest, she just pulled the jacket around her more snugly and turned her head to take a deep breath, her nose against one of the lapels. His brow furrowed as he watched her. "What are you doing?" he asked her.

"No one's ever offered me their jacket before," she said simply, her eyes wide. "Zack didn't -- doesn't -- wear one."

"So why are you sniffing it?" he said, his tone dry.

She giggled a little. "Isn't that what you're supposed to do? In books, the girls always smell the coat that the hero gives them." She frowned then. "Not that you're a hero or anything. Don't you ever get tired of babysitting me?"

"That's not what I'm doing, and you know it," he said sternly, though he couldn't stop staring at her in his clothes. The jacket was way too big for her, and it made her look small and fragile. He turned away quickly, because if he didn't, he might do something stupid. "There are many who wish you harm."

"And you're going to protect me from them?" she asked. "How can I be sure that you aren't one of them?"

He looked back at her, saw that there was no mischief or humor in her expression -- she really was fearful of him. After all the years that they had known each other, she still didn't trust him. That hurt more than it should have. "You know I would never hurt you," he told her. "And Zack trusted me."

"Zack trusts you," she corrected him. She cocked her head to the side and studied him. "And I know, you know, that you wouldn't hurt me. You would have done it by now, right?" He noticed that she was shivering, despite his jacket.

"Let me walk you home," he said then, putting his hand at the small of her back and trying to lead her toward the door.

To his surprise, she didn't fight him, and he didn't move his hand. She didn't say anything on the walk through Sector 5, but the silence wasn't uncomfortable. He'd never done this before, walking her home. Usually he was called away for other business before nightfall came. He'd been to her home, outside of it, anyway. Just never with her accompanying him. He was amazed at how well she handled the knowledge that nowhere was sacred, that there was always someone watching her.

But despite all that -- this was probably crossing a line. Hell, he knew it was. He was personally invested with this "subject", he couldn't deny it. He cared about her, he wanted her to care about him, and he knew that was foolish. She'd made it perfectly clear that her heart belonged to Zack, and she was bound and determined to wait for him, until there was nothing to wait for.

He had dark thoughts, from time to time, about just telling her that Zack was dead. But in the end, his conscience always won out. He couldn't do that. He had promised himself, long ago, that he would never lie to Aeris, for any reason. He wasn't about to break that promise.

He should probably request a transfer. Someone not so involved should be the one watching over Aeris. But he was loath to leave her, and he couldn't stand the thought of anyone else seeing her every day.

They had reached her house by now, but she made no move to go inside. The area around her house was lovely -- full of flowers, like her church. It smelled like heaven here. He marveled at the girl in front of him. She really was a wonder.

He once again had to fight against the urge to do something stupid. Something career-endingly stupid. She was looking up at him with those big green eyes, her expression one of confusion and worry, and all he could think about was how much he wanted to kiss her. Or maybe lead her over to that flowerbed and …

Well, that certainly wasn't appropriate.

"Tseng?" she asked then, and he turned his attention back to her. "You said that I could trust you. So … You'd tell me, right? If you know anything about where he is?"

He exhaled heavily. "I would," he said honestly. "I promise."

Aeris nodded. "I believe you. And you know, if Zack trusts you, I think … I think I can too." She smiled at him then, a real smile, and it went straight to his groin. He hoped he didn't grimace too noticeably. It was ridiculous the pull this woman had over him. Absolutely ridiculous. He prided himself on his level-headedness, his ability to meet any challenge head on and remain calm and collected. But Aeris was unlike any challenge he'd ever come up against. A force of nature, she was.

She shrugged off his jacket and handed it back to him. "Could you … I mean, could you come in for a minute? I have something … I want to give you." She looked apprehensive as she asked, and his thoughts became less and less professional.

Going into her home would be just one more broken rule. And what exactly was it she wanted to give him? Going against his better judgment, he followed her into the small-but-tidy house.

"Shh," she said as they entered the kitchen area of the house. "My mom's sleeping, don't wake her." She turned on the light and headed toward the staircase. He moved to follow her, but she shook her head and pushed him back. "Hey!" she whispered loudly. "Where do you think you're going?" she teased playfully.

"Just following you," he said, and he hated the hesitant tone in his voice.

She laughed. "Uh, my mom would lose it if she caught you up there. Why don't you just wait right over there, okay?" She pointed to one of the chairs at the table.

He sat down as she headed up the stairs, and he found himself wondering how many times Zack had been here, or if he'd been allowed to go upstairs with her. The thought made him glower. Luckily, Aeris returned then, before he could spend too much time pondering the missing SOLDIER. She had an envelope in her hand.

"I know that what you guys do is dangerous and serious," she told him, sitting down at the table beside him. "And I believe you when you say that you'd tell me … but in case you can't …" She pushed the envelope across the table to him. On the front of the envelope, in pretty, feminine script, it just said, Zack. "If you see him, will you give him this?"

Tseng sucked in a breath, as if he'd just been punched in the gut, and in truth, that was how he felt at the moment. There were many things he wanted to say then -- part of him wanted to shake the girl silly for being so naïve -- did she really think, if Zack was still alive, that he was coming back to her after all this time? He wanted to curse her for still being so hung up on the guy. He wanted to punch something.

But his years of training came into play, and he stood up stiffly, formally. He slipped the letter into the inner pocket of his jacket. "I'll do what I can," he said, his voice back to being cold and impersonal. She made it easy to keep things professional when she did things like this.

Something flickered in Aeris' eyes then, like she could tell that he was discontent. Time to go, before she wanted to talk. He didn't think he could handle it right now. "Good night, Aeris," he said, heading for the door.

She stood up and followed him, placing her hand on the door before he could open it. "Thank you," she said sincerely when he looked at her. "It means a lot to me, to have someone I can trust again."

And then she hugged him. He froze as her arms went around his torso and she rested her head on his chest for the briefest of minutes. He couldn't make his arms work enough to return the hug, but he did lower his head enough to inhale the scent of her hair -- heaven, just like her flowers.

This was not good. This was wrong on so many levels. And yet, he couldn't make himself pull away from her.

She finally released him, and then she opened the door. "See you tomorrow, Tseng," she said, the mischievous glint back in her eyes. He knew then that she knew, whether he made his presence known or not, that he was always watching her.

X-x-X

But he didn't see her the next day, or the day after that. In fact, it was over two weeks before he made it back to Sector 5. He'd been busy with other assignments, and they had kept him away from her. It was probably for the best, he surmised. In the time away, he'd been able to convince himself that reassignment was the best for both of them. His mind was much clearer, he was able to focus on his job so much more thoroughly, when Aeris was out of the picture.

The only reason he'd come today was to tell her, in person, that he was requesting a transfer. She didn't need to know the reason why. With any luck, she'd be happy to get rid of him.

It was shortly after ten in the morning when he walked into the church. She was sitting beside the flowers -- still wearing pink, damn it -- her legs stretched out in front of her, her head bent down as she focused on whatever her task was. Her hair had fallen over her shoulder and was obscuring the view of her face, but Tseng didn't need to see it -- he knew the look her face got when she was concentrating intently.

Her head snapped up when she heard his footfalls on the floor. Her eyes widened and she smiled a little. "You're back," she said, and he would have sworn that she actually sounded happy to see him. She stood up and walked over to him. "And you're just in time!"

"In time for what?" he asked, concerned. She had that Look on her face again -- the one that always spelled trouble for her victims.

He knew her too well.

She held up what she'd been working on so intently just moments ago. "A wreath?" he asked, eyeing the circle of flowers warily.

"A crown, silly," she told him amusedly. "Bend down here, let me see how it looks."

"You can't be serious," he deadpanned. "You're actually thinking of putting that on my head?"

Aeris stuck out her lower lip in a pout. "I can't see how it looks if I put it on myself, obviously," she said.

"I could tell you," he said then.

Aeris considered it. "Well," she drew out the word, so it sounded like several syllables. "If you promise to be honest, I suppose that's okay." She reached up and placed the floral crown on her head. She'd used a few too many flowers though, and it fell over one of her eyes and sat askew on her head.

Tseng couldn't help it -- he laughed. "I think you better just stick with tending to the flowers, not using them for your arts and crafts projects," he told her, amusement in his voice. It felt good to laugh -- he couldn't remember the last time he'd done that.

She stuck her tongue out at him. "You're terrible," she told him, flinging the flower crown across the room. "I've been working on that for a week." She circled him then, looking at him sternly. "So where've you been?"

"Working," he said gruffly, but he was moved that she even cared.

"You didn't call or anything," she said, her voice small.

"Would you have answered, if I did?"

Aeris shrugged. "Maybe not the first day. But after a week …" she trailed off.

He couldn't stop himself. He touched her shoulder. She stopped her pacing and looked up at him. "You were worried?" he asked, and there wasn't a hint of teasing in his voice.

"You have a dangerous job. Sometimes people leave and don't come back …" She laughed mirthlessly. "If you disappear on me, then I'm really going to be alone." He didn't say anything at that, and she stepped away so that he dropped his hand from her shoulder. "What's that look for, Tseng? You are so strange sometimes. I just don't get you."

"I didn't think you'd even notice I was gone," he finally said, when he could find the words.

"Because my life is just full of people coming and going -- I hardly have a moment to myself, right?" Aeris said lightly. "Of course I noticed you were gone." She sat down on one of the pews, her hands clasped in front of her, as though she were about to pray.

"I'm leaving, Aeris," he said. He hadn't meant to just blurt it out like that, but words were failing him right now. This wasn't going the way he thought it would at all.

"Okay," she said. "I'll see you soon."

"No, I'm leaving," he clarified. "I'm being reassigned. One of the other Turks will be taking over your protection from here on out."

Aeris jumped up quickly. "What? But -- why? Why now? You've been around since I was eight-years-old, Tseng. That's almost twelve years! Why all of a sudden?" Her voice had a hint of desperation in it, and he'd be lying if he said it didn't please him to hear it.

"This … situation is no longer prudent," he said simply.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Aeris asked, her arms crossed in front of her chest.

"It's no longer in the best interest of either Shinra or you to have me here," he said, trying to stay calm.

"And who decides what's best for me? Shinra? Because I'm some stupid Ancient, you all think you have a say in what happens in my life?" Aeris was mad now, he could see that she was visibly vibrating from the rage she was trying so hard to contain.

"Why are you so angry, Aeris?" he asked her then. "We aren't friends."

Aeris' mouth dropped open in shock. "Oh. Okay, I see. Right, of course. All the time you've been hanging around here, that's just because it was your job, right? All the times you've asked me to come back to Shinra with you … we both know if you really wanted to, you could just take me to them. But you haven't. Why is that, huh, Tseng?"

He looked away from her then. The reason he'd never forced her hand was because -- even though he knew her cooperation was paramount to the happiness of the people of the world -- he couldn't and wouldn't force her to do anything she didn't want to do. He'd been trained to kidnap, to kill, to bend people to his will, and with anyone else, anywhere else, this was no problem.

But he couldn't do that to Aeris.

She was in front of him now, poking her finger into his chest. "Answer me!" she demanded. "Why are they making you leave me now? You owe me an explanation, at the very least."

He took a deep breath before he answered her. "They aren't making me leave," he said. "I'm requesting the transfer."

Aeris' expression was crestfallen. "But why?" she asked. She really had no idea. "Tseng, if you leave …"

"Yes?" he asked, hopefulness creeping into his voice no matter how he tried to fight it.

"They'll take me to Shinra. They won't give me a choice. Is … is that what this is about? Because I don't want to go back there? Did you really request a transfer, or is that just what you're supposed to tell me?"

And just like that, he felt the wind being sucked out of his sails. She was worried about being taken to Shin-Ra, of course. It wasn't about him, it had never been about him. And it never would be.

"I won't let them," he told her firmly. "I promise you, whoever takes my place will not touch you without your permission." He sighed heavily and sank down into the pew that Aeris had been sitting in before. "But that's not what this is about. And yes, I did request the transfer."

Aeris swallowed hard. "Okay. Then why? Please just tell me. I'll go crazy wondering if you don't."

"It's complicated," he told her, determined to face this like a man. She was right, he did owe her an explanation. He'd been a fool to assume he would be able to leave with nary a word to her.

"Try me," she said, sitting beside him. Right beside him, with no space between them. Her hand was on his shoulder then, and he turned to look at her. He was close enough to smell the flowery scent of her hair, the powdery scent of her skin. His hand reached up unconsciously and ran down the length of her arm, and he reveled in the feel of her smooth skin. She was making him crazy. And she had no idea.

It would be so easy to let her know, though. All he had to do was lean in a few inches, and he did, despite all his years of training, his friendship with Zack, and all his other, career-related, misgivings. He would be leaving after this, he'd never see her again, gods-willing.

He brushed his lips over hers, lightly at first, but before he knew it, his hand was snaking around the back of her neck and pulling her in closer. She let out a gasp of shock and he used the opening to his full advantage, sliding his tongue into her mouth and over her own.

His fingers tangled in the long, soft hair at the nape of her neck, his other hand at her waist, drawing her even closer so that he could feel all her soft curves against him. And it was heaven. For the brief moment that it lasted before she shoved him away with more force than he would have thought possible from her. She jumped up and hurried to get as far across the room from him as possible.

Her hand was over her mouth and her eyes were wide, but he couldn't read her expression at all. Was she angry? Scared? Turned on? He just couldn't tell. He stood up and started to walk toward her, but she held out her hand. "No, no, you stay right there," she snapped. "I understand now. Just -- leave."

He knew better than to push the issue. He'd gone so far over the line here, and he was ashamed of himself. "Well," he said, making his voice as level and calm as he could, given the situation. "Now you know why."

He glanced back over his shoulder when he reached the door of the church. Aeris was standing, frozen to the spot, running her fingers lightly over her lips, her expression one of bewilderment. Funny, she didn't look angry now.

Oh, hell. He wasn't going to be able to request that transfer after all. He shook his head and chuckled under his breath as he left the church. "See you soon, Aeris," he said to himself as the door shut behind him.