Author's Note: Ok, so I apologize if these chapters all seem the same to you, but they're still entertaining right? I'm trying my best. xD I promise we will make progress in the next chapter, in the meantime enjoy this one. =P I'm reading a couple really inspiring stories right now so hopefully that is helping/will help. I have big plans for this story, plans that I just realized I should probably think about in depth soon....lol Anyhow, I have to sleep now, as annoying as that may be. Here is a chapter for you guys, read it, review it, love it, hug it, never leave it.....uuuuhhhhh moving on. xD I look forward to reading and replying to all your reviews soon. ENJOY!
"I'm sorry things are moving so slowly, but until Reno is released from the hospital there's not much for you to do," Tseng told Elena the next morning as she sat in his office, awaiting her assignment for the day. This chair is so much more comfortable. As strange as it was, this was the only thought running through her head. The dark red plush chair was certainly more comfortable than the green one from the infirmary. "On that topic, I would like for you to spend some more time with Reno again today. I went to see him yesterday before I left and he told me he'd really enjoyed that time. I knew he'd warm up to you, no matter how much he pretended to hate you at first." Elena was ripped far away from any thoughts of chairs by this statement.
"Really?" she said, with an excellently faked surprised sort of sweetness. That little bastard! He's trying to get me trapped there with him again.
"Yes, it's surprising coming from Reno, but he's full of surprises," Tseng only seemed slightly thrown off by the touch of fakeness in her speech and on her face, "As mean and heartless as he seems, when you get to know him you'll realize he does have a heart under it all. So anyway, you can go over there now. Maybe Rude can spar with you later." Tseng looked up as the very man in question came through the door, slightly faster than was usual.
"I'll go to the infirmary with Elena," Rude announced, glancing from the blonde to the Turk leader, "I wanted to see Reno for a moment."
"Very well," Tseng dismissed them both with a small wave of his hand. Elena could feel her heart sinking with every step she took out of Tseng's beautiful office and down that plain hallway.
"Thank you," she said, once they were in the shiny elevator. Rude simply nodded in response. Elena wondered if he had somehow figured out what had happened. Reno wouldn't have told him…or would he? She had no clue. This redheaded devil was an enigma, that was for sure. With a quiet ding, the elevator doors slid open smoothly and silently on the infirmary level.
"Mornin' sunshine!" Reno happily called as the downcast blonde entered his room, "Oh, ya brought back-up did ya?" He had caught sight of Rude, trailing behind her. Although his words revealed that he knew why Rude was here, his tone or the look on his face didn't change in the slightest from anything more than an amused cheerfulness.
Elena plopped down in that cramped pine green chair, crossed her arms and looked out the small window onto the gray city, refusing to even look at the redhead. She knew he was looking though, and she also knew her cheeks were burning which made matters worse.
"Ha, no more interrogation?" Reno poked her arm and pretended to be sad, "And I was so lookin' forward to it. What's up big guy?" He ignored Elena for the moment, turning his attention to the still silent man standing near the door. Rude didn't say anything, simply staring at Reno. Reno stared back, the overbearingly bright smile quickly turning to one of annoyance as he rolled his eyes and turned away.
"Aw, come on," he whined, "I'm just tryin' to have some fun in this shitty place." Rude remained silent. "Fine!" Reno said loudly, "I'll behave. Well, I'll try, but you know how I am. Uncontrollable." He grinned devilishly and looked at Elena when he said this. Feeling his glance on her, she flicked her eyes back towards him briefly, only to frown and look away again. She was a bit fascinated with how the two seemed to converse with only one speaking. Rude made a soft grunt, turning and walking out of the room.
"Damn," Reno complained, "He's no fun." Elena, despite herself, let her gaze slide over to rest on the redhead. He was frowning down at his hands, which rested lightly in his lap. He was sitting up a bit today, propped up on several fluffy white pillows. They looked awfully comfortable, and Elena wished she was back home in bed.
"He told me to stop botherin' ya, uh…what was your name again?" Reno supplied, turning his bright gaze on her suddenly.
"Elena," she said flatly, glaring at him. The memory from the previous day would not leave her alone. She'd had a hell of a time getting to sleep last night, and today wasn't going much better. She couldn't look at his face without remembering how close it had been. She couldn't hear him speak without feeling his lips against hers. She couldn't see his hands without recalling their soft touch against her skin. Oh, stop it! Elena resisted the urge to slap herself, violently shoving all such nonsensical thoughts from her head.
"Ah, 'Laney, right. I remember now," Reno was saying, nodding his head, "So 'Laney how ya likin' the job?" He watched her closely, an amused twinkle in his eyes and a smirk gracing his lips. It annoyed Elena to no end to know that he found her plight so hysterical.
"Um, it's nice," she was surprised that he was initiating a conversation, but went along with it anyways, "It's kind of fun and it pays the bills." Alright, if he wants to think this is funny, fine, I'll just have to show him that I don't care. She made a point of making eye contact, since before she had been avoiding looking at him.
"Wait until something serious happens," Reno momentarily lost his cheerfulness as he gave her a solemn look, "You won't think it's fun then. But it will still pay the bills. And that's why you'll stick with it. Besides, what the hell else are ya gonna do? Ya don't get paid this good for killin' people anywhere else." His eyes drifted off towards the end of the bed and Elena got the feeling he wasn't talking to her anymore. The situation became more and more awkward as silence continued pouring into the void between words. "What do ya think of Tseng?" Reno's mood has swung back to cheerful just as quickly as it had swung away.
Before Elena could answer, the door opened and the doctor Elena had seen on one of her previous visits entered, nodding politely to her and ignoring Reno.
"Hey, ya said ya was comin' yesterday," Reno accused, "Don't get my hopes up like that. I thought maybe ya'd finally walked off a cliff or somethin'."
"Nice to see you too, Reno," the doctor smiled, a charmingly fake smile as he looked up from the clipboard in his hands, "How are you doing?"
"Not dead yet," the redhead answered, turning slowly to the drip next to his bed, "But I'd be doin' better if ya would just-" The doctor cut him off.
"No! Ok, for the last time no!" It seemed as if the doctor might have finally lost his patience. "You will not get any more pain medication no matter how hard you ask. We've been over it a thousand times, and ultimately it's your own fault we can't safely give you more. So deal with it." Reno crossed his arms, delicately to avoid hurting the broken one, and pouted. He didn't say anything though, which Elena guessed was his way of accepting defeat. Or maybe he's just waiting for the perfect moment to strike… She couldn't help but wonder if anyone had ever gotten the best of Reno. It wasn't an easy thing to imagine. She had almost completely forgotten the awkwardness of the previous day, distracted by Reno's conversations and the doctor's visit.
"Let's check on your knee," the doctor said in a moment, obviously much calmer now. Reno completely ignored the man, staring out the window as if no one were in the room but himself. The doctor rolled his eyes and pulled the sheets away, revealing very long legs clad in over-sized black sweatpants.
"Shit, it's cold in here," Reno announced, to no one in particular, rubbing his hands against his upper arms. He wasn't wearing a shirt, most likely for the convenience of looking after the wound on his back, Elena decided. She also decided that if she'd had any doubts previously as to Reno's attractiveness, they could all be forgotten. With those crisp clean sheets out of the way, she could fully admire the hardened, toned muscles over his abdomen and arms. He was definitely the lean type, not as bulky as Rude by far. Making a smart decision, Elena focused her attention on the cast on Reno's right knee. The pants leg was pushed up and it was evident that they'd tried to make the cast as non-bulky as possible. In fact, it looked like mostly just plain bandages, wrapped tightly around his knee and some of the leg above and below. There appeared to be a bit of plaster worked in around the actual knee to keep it from bending much.
The doctor poked and prodded, getting no reaction from Reno as far as Elena could tell. He didn't make a sound and any facial expressions were hidden from her as he was deliberately facing the other way. Delicately forcing Reno's knee to bend slightly, the doctor observed it carefully, continuing to poke and prod the whole time. He quickly stopped moving it as Reno uttered a sharp hiss, his leg jerking away suddenly.
"Sorry," the doctor said, making a quick note on his clipboard, "Can you move it back?" Reno straightened his leg out again, without a sound, but Elena could see how tense his shoulders were. "Good," the doctor said, smiling at Reno and tossing the sheets back up, "That's all for today. I'll be back though, don't worry."
"Yeah, try not to fall into any pits, or eat anything poisoned, or blow up in a fiery explosion, or drive into a lake, or jump of a bridge until then," Reno said sarcastically, wrapping the sheets back around himself with a tiny shiver. Elena glanced awkwardly away, realizing she'd been staring. She found herself looking up at the machine making the quiet beeps that represented Reno's heart. Ha, so he does have one after all. She laughed inside, nothing but a small smile showing through, as she remembered Tseng's comment from earlier.
"Wishin' it beat just for you, babe?" Reno commented blithely, noticing the direction of her gaze and the smile on her face.
"What?" Elena was jerked back to reality, confusion on her face and then a flash of understanding, followed by a little blush, "No." Wow, awesome comeback, Elena. She thought sarcastically, annoyed with herself for blushing. I seem to be blushing an awful lot lately. She refused to acknowledge the connection between this mysterious condition and Reno.
"Real convincing," he smirked, laying back among the fluffy pillows, "I'm takin' a nap now so you can hang around and be all creepy like that, or you could go do somethin' else. I'm not sayin' ya have to go back to Tseng, do whatever ya want. Just tell him you were here the whole time."
"Actually I was going to spar with Rude more once I left," Elena said, trying to demonstrate that she had important things to do other than sit around and be toyed with.
"Oh, do you now?" Reno seemed interested, turning his head toward her and pushing the pillows down with his hand to have an unobstructed view of her face, "Found his weakness yet?"
"No," she said, wondering if she should feel embarrassed to not have made this accomplishment. I'm sure it would be an accomplishment, does the guy even have a weak point? "Do you know it?"
"Obviously," Reno said, leaving Elena pondering how exactly this fact was obvious, "We all know each other's weakness. It's part of bein' a good team. And I'm not sure why, but Shinra's all into us doing that teamwork shit. As far as I'm concerned, knowing that stuff just helps me beat them up better." He grinned.
"Well I guess I'd better keep my eyes open for weaknesses," Elena said absentmindedly, mentally reviewing her sparring match with Rude from the day before, trying to locate any signs of a weakness.
"Hmm, whatever," the redhead yawned, wrapping long arms around himself, "You can go away now."
"Nice seeing you too," Elena said sarcastically, glad to be freed from that awful chair, and glad to escape before any repeat performances of the previous day could occur. Or was she so glad about that? That merits some thought….No! You're happy, you don't want him to take advantage of you.
As she left the room and walked down the white hall, Elena was startled to find the nurse from the day before glaring daggers at her. What did I do? She wondered, leaning against the elevator wall after firmly pressing the button for her floor. Perfectly synched with the ding that sounded when the metal doors slid open, it hit her. She's jealous! Rather than thoughts of how absurd that was, a sort of smugness welled up inside, leaving Elena with a bit of a smirk of her own. She quickly killed that feeling though, focusing her attention on all that Rude had taught her at their earlier training session. She knew she would be expected to remember it all perfectly, and she fully intended to meet all expectations they had of her here. Either that or exceed them. It's just who she was, and how she worked.
"I'm ready whenever you are," Elena said, feeling no need to announce herself this time as she poked her head into Rude's office. He nodded, not even taking his eyes away from the computer screen as he finished typing something. Standing up, he walked out of the room and back down the hall with her in the direction of the gym.
Author's Note: Here you are, end of the update, what are you going to do now? Does if have anything to do with the greenish button on the bottom of this page? (Hint: Yes is the right answer!) =) I'm special guys, accept it, embrace it. Anyway, any thoughts or feelings on this chapter are appreciated. Suggestions are also taken, ideas, things you'd like to see, whatever. I try to work things in if someone wants something special. Of course, I can't completely change my story plot, but if you want a line here or there, that's cool. xD I'll do my best. Anyway! LOVE YOU GUYS!!!