Disclaimer: Not mine.

Author's notes: Thanks for the reviews!

As Reno had predicted, the fire had gone out within two hours. Elena had fallen asleep with her head on his shoulders sometime during that period. With fire gone, it meant that they had to move into the tent that they have erected earlier for the night.

He poked Elena gently but received no response. From their previous missions, he knows that she is a heavy sleeper; a poke will not wake her up. He jerked his arm up as hard as he could and Elena toppled sideways onto the ground. Her eyes shot wide open as she hit the ground.

"Ouch," she muttered.

Suddenly realising where she was lying, she stood up and brushed off the dirt from her clothes. She was now fully awake and did not look happy at all, Reno noted.

Hands on her hips, she asked in a stern voice, "Reno, what's going on?"

"Fire's out. We are moving into the tent," he said, kicking dirt over the embers to smother it.

Elena made a face, "You mean the dead guy's tent?"

Reno shrugged, to him, a tent is a tent. "It's fine if you don't want to. Just means that there is more room for me. You can stay out here and freeze."

Running out of comebacks, she sulked and made her way into the tent. It was cosy and warm but had a slightly musty smell due to age. She had to agree with him though, without a fire and the tent, they would have suffered from severe hypothermia by now. Resting her head on the canvas ground, she turned to her side and tried to sleep while Reno was cleaning up outside.

She ignored the sound Reno's heavy footsteps as he entered the tent and settled his body down on the ground for a well-need rest. However, when she felt his arms encircling her waist, alarms went off in her head and she pushed him away roughly.

"Reno, what the hell?" she exclaimed.

He seemed taken aback by her outburst. "Um, isn't it what they do in movies for extra body heat?" he said sheepishly.

"I'm doing fine with my own body heat, thank you very much! It's actually pretty warm in here" she snapped, "What kind of movies have you been watching anyway?"

He wriggled his eyebrows at her and she groaned in disgust; she knew perfectly well what sort of movies he is into. "You are such a perv, Reno."

His only reply was a mischievous grin, the whites of his teeth had an eerie glow in the darkness of the tent.

"You sleep in your corner," she pointed to a section a couple feet away from her corner. Reno moved grudgingly.

Then, using the butt of her gun, she indicated an invisible line separating their respective sleeping areas. "And, if I find you crossing this line, I will make sure you will never have the chance to celebrate Father's day", she warned him.

That comment wiped out the grin from his face almost instantaneously. "Jeez, most women would kill to be in a situation like this with me," he complained.

"I refuse to be that woman," she stated matter-of-factly, "I refuse to be a freakin' cliché."

"In case you haven't noticed this is pretty much as clichéd as it gets," Reno gestured around him for emphasis, "Boy and girl stuck in a dark cave sheltering from the storm sharing a one person tent. The only thing missing from the equation is boy and girl making out."

There was silence as Elena let his words sink in.

"Line. Cross. You die," she stressed and pointed out the non-existent line between the two of them.

Reno mock-saluted her and turned so that his back faced her.

"'Night, Elena."

She grunted in reply.

"I got the chopper prepared for take off in two hours," Reeve informed Rude. It is three in the morning and Rude had not left the lounge, his coffee remained untouched.

If Rude was worried about his team mates, Reeve thought he had done a brilliant job at hiding it since his expression had remained impassive during the whole ordeal.

In the Turks, Rude was expected to be calm and collected at all times, especially at moments like this, when the life of two-thirds of his team is hanging by the thread. Behind the shades, his tired eyes were bloodshot. But Reeve doesn't have to know that.

Rude knows that he can't afford emotions at this stage; he has to think with his head not his feelings.

Think like a Turk.

Sleep escaped Reno that night. He drifted in and out of a semi-conscious state, never fully asleep. Elena, on the other hand was dead asleep.

Contrary to what most Shinra employees may think, Elena did not act like a rich, spoilt brat when on field missions. She is capable of sleeping anywhere on the land when the situation permits. This is one of those times.

Reno got up to stretch his stiff muscles and walked out to the entrance of the cave to assess the current weather conditions. The cold blast hit him in the face the moment he stuck his head out of the cave. It was pitch black outside; the blizzard they encountered in the afternoon had gotten worst.

He withdrew his head into the comfort of the cave and walked back into the tent that he shared with Elena. Reno crossed the invisible line that Elena drew earlier to check on her. He snickered to himself when he heard her soft snores and reminded himself to tease her about that later.

"Mm guh."

Reno stiffened in his tracks when he heard her unintelligible mumblings; the threat that she threw at him earlier rang in his head. When she shifted slightly and continued snoring, he let out a sigh of relief. His eyes rested on her features and he was taken aback at what he saw.

Late into the night in the bars, guys will talk about watching their girls sleep and how it would be the most wonderful sight. Granted, most of these guys were drunk as skunks but they amused Reno and Rude so they listened to the ramblings as a source of entertainment.

Looking at Elena, he realised the she was in a whole different league.

"Stop staring at me you perv'," Elena mumbled, breaking him out of his reverie. He pushed his face closer to hers to ensure that she was still asleep.

She must've sensed his face looming above hers because her eyes fluttered open in an instant. Reno jumped back and was ready to make a run for it; in case she decided to reach for her gun. But she merely stood up and stretched.

Elena rubbed her eyes and glared at him, "What sort of sick stunt were you trying to pull?"

He smirked and leaned back against the wall of the tent. "Nothin'."

"Stop lying, Reno. I saw you looking at me. 'Fess up."

Another glare.

"Fine," sighed Reno in defeat, "I was watching you sleep."

She cocked an eyebrow at him, "That sounds really creepy on so many levels," she retorted.

"You know, I have watched lots of girls sleep before…"

Elena interrupted him before he could finish his sentence, "Oh have you? I thought you just bailed out immediately when you have the chance to."

"Hey!" he protested, "Anyway, my point is, I have watched girls sleep before and not to blow my own horn, but they all looked pretty damn hot."

She tapped her feet impatience; Reno had the habit to go off tangent in conversations involving his conquests. "Your point is?"

"They are hot. But you are in an entirely different league."

"Um. Thanks…I guess?" she said hesitantly.

"Entirely different league of ugly, I mean," Reno corrected himself and flashed the most obnoxious grin that she'd ever seen.

"Eh?" Elena was loss for words. While his comment was completely unexpected, it was not out of his character either.

Reno burst out in laughter. "I hear about all these stories about chicks looking like angels when they sleep. I've seen a few myself, and then I look at you and you look nothing like it."

She couldn't help but feel offended at his comments. In a desperate moment of vanity, she wished she had a mirror on her.

"You know, you make these little tiny snoring sounds when you sleep?"

"I was tired!" she crossed her arms around herself in defence.

"And you were drooling!"

Elena wiped the sides of her mouth furiously with the sleeves of her jacket and thought fast of an excuse. "It was comfortable and I had a really good sleep!"

Her excuses were like fuel to his insults; there was no stopping Reno now.

"Oh and you had hair stuck all over your face. Man, you were not a pretty sight," he said casually.

"Don't diss the hair!" she cautioned, combing her hair with her fingers. She was sure that it is stuck out at odd angles due to her sleeping position.

"Aw, Elena," he said in a sorry attempt to quell her anger, "Don't be so offended. Some girls happen to look good at all times. You are just not one of them."

She stomped on his foot as hard as she could with hers and walked off in a huff, ignoring his yelp of pain.

"OW!"

Everyone on in the Shinra's executive common room only had one thought in their mind about the mission; suicide. The thought became more apparent in their faces as Reeve briefed them on the rescue mission.

The only person that did not seem affected by the sombre atmosphere was Rude, who will be piloting the chopper to the Northern Crater.

His co-pilot was pale and fidgeting nervously when Reeve updated them on the storm forecast. The two medics that will be accompanying the rescue mission had their heads huddled together, discussing amongst themselves the risks involved. Rude was quite happy to take on the mission alone, but Reeve thought that a full team would make it easier.

The rescue crew will be flying Shinra's best SAR (search and rescue chopper) for the mission. Reeve explained that their first objective is to get to Junon safely for a refill before taking off immediately to the Northern Crater. Once in the Northern Crater, they would attempt to locate the missing chopper using the tracking system. All Shinra vehicles have a tracking chip implanted in them.

Reeve predicted that Reno and Elena would probably leave their chopper in search for shelter as the blizzard worsened. Therefore the team was advised to utilise the built in thermo-sensor on the SAR chopper.

"The storm will be the worst obstacle in this mission, but I assure you that you are in capable hands," he gestured to Rude who remained stoic.

"You will take off in an hour," Reeve concluded.

As Rude was leaving the conference room, Reeve caught up with him and they walked down the hallway together. Reeve two short strides match one of Rude's.

"If Reno and Elena managed to survive the night", Reeve added dryly, "or each other, it should be easy to locate them once you are in the Northern Crater."

Rude nodded in reply.

Showtime.

"You know what I just realised?" Elena asked rhetorically. She paused and took a sip of water for dramatic effect.

"That you are a psychotic bitch?" snapped Reno, nursing his foot that was still stinging from Elena's boot.

Waving away his comment (and his exaggerated moans of pain as he rubbed his foot) with her hands, she answered her own question, "That I don't care about what you think about how I look when I am asleep."

"Really? Is that why you broke my goddamn foot when I said you are ugly?" Reno retorted sarcastically.

"Don't be silly. It's not broken" Elena chastised, "And, to answer your question, yes, I don't care what you think because, it's not like I will be sleeping next to you anytime soon."

The flirt in him took over and he flashed her a charming grin, "That can be fixed, you know."

"Also," she continued her speech, unaffected by his attempts to hit on her, "Since I am not going out with you, I don't have to make an effort to look hot for you."

"That, too, can be fixed," he quipped.

Elena glared daggers at him.

Not understanding (or ignoring, she can't tell) the hint, he continued pestering her, "So, does that glare represents a 'no'? Or is that your best bedroom eyes? Because if it is, it isn't very good."

She hurled her water bottle at him.