In case any of you were wondering how Reno would take being bodily removed from Tseng's life....now you know.

Tseng rang the bell at 7th Heaven's back door, feeling all in all pleased with his day. There had been no disasters, no accidents, no mountain of paperwork, and he'd found a liquor down at the little specialty shop that he was certain Vincent would like.

Tifa opened the door. "Oh! Tseng! What a nice surprise. I imagine you're here to see Vincent."

He smiled, offering her the little box of sweets he'd picked up with the liquor- always bring a gift, after all- and nodded. "The only reason I don't come in the business door. Is he in?"

"Yes. Well, he hasn't really been going much of anywhere, as of late." Tifa took the sweets from him and led him through the front room. "I'm honestly surprised he's been able to move as well as he has."

Tseng blinked. Vincent wasn't social, that was for sure, but he was usually busy with something or other. "Oh? Has he been ill?"

Tifa turned to look at him. It dawned on her. "You don't know, do you?"

The bottom quietly dropped out of his stomach and vanished out of sight. He put the bottle on the bookshelf before he could lose hold of it.

"What happened?"

"He got jumped by a few muggers Tuesday night." Tifa noticed how white Tseng was, and quickly ushered him into a chair. "It was so bad we had to take him to the hospital."

Tseng sat shakily and twisted his hands together. "How bad? What exactly was done to him?"

Tifa handed him a cup of strong tea she'd been about to settle down with. She knew Tseng would want to compose himself before he saw Vincent.

"A few broken ribs, his arm, and his leg."

He tried a sip, burned himself, and just clutched it in both hands, his grip tight enough to squeeze the blood from his knuckles. "Muggers, you said? He was hurt that badly by muggers?"

"So he said. But…" she trailed off. She wasn't sure if she should be the one to say this.

"But what?"

"There were electrical burns on his arms. Something made by a... rod."

Electrical burns. From a rod. Reno. Tseng stood up and held the tea cup out for Tifa to take. "I'm going to kill him."

Tifa took the cup. "Not if Cloud gets him first. From what I could tell, it was a complete surprise attack."

"Tell Cloud to stay out of this." He fumbled for his gun, remembering somewhat belatedly that he wasn't carrying it- household with children after all- and went for a knife instead. He'd gut the slimy little traitor and be done with it. "It's not his business."

"No one is gutting anyone." Vincent leaned against the doorjamb, a crutch under one arm, the other in a sling.

"He knows better," Tseng hissed, torn between hurrying to fuss over Vincent and tearing out of the house to kill Reno RIGHT NOW. "We don't touch each other's loved ones. Ever. He knows what he's done."

Tifa watched the two men, and heard the kitchen door open. "Guys, can you take it somewhere else? Marlene and Denzel just got home from school, and I do not want then hearing about this."

"Where? I can't think of any- you didn't come down the stairs like that, did you?"

Vincent nodded. "I can get around well enough- the doctors tried to get me to use a wheelchair but it would have been silly. Come on, Koichi." The pet name slipped out before he could stop himself. "Let's go tell the children hello, and then we can go up to my room."

Tseng scowled, but his expression softened at the pet name. He went over to Vincent's side, reached for him, then stopped. He didn't know which ribs were broken and didn't want to hurt Vincent.

Vincent smiled. "The left side hurts less than the right."

He swapped sides and kissed Vincent's cheek, comforted by his scent. "But they both hurt."

"Indeed. Tifa, are any of those cookies finished yet?"

The woman smiled at the affection between the two men.

"Yep. Hopefully the kids won't have demolished them by the time we get there."

"You are not bribing me with cookies, Bat," Tseng muttered. "I'm still going to have a long, very physical chat with Reno."

"Fine." Vincent whispered as they followed Tifa. "Too bad though- chocolate chip." They came into the kitchen, and he smiled. "Hello Marlene, Denzel. How was school today?"

"Bribery," he repeated, with a touch less resolve than before. "I can't just let him off scot-free."

Marlene grinned up at Vincent, holding a handmade card up to him. "I told my teacher that you got hurt and we made a card for you! The whole class signed it!"

Denzel just mumbled a 'hi, it was fine' and edged around Tseng.

"Why thank you. I'm sure you didn't have to have the whole class sign it." Vincent took the card with his good arm, showing it to Tseng dutifully.

Tseng examined the card and smiled faintly. "Of course she did. This is big news for a class of elementary school children. You rate nearly as high as new siblings and lost teeth."

Not catching the joke, Marlene grinned and hugged Vincent's good leg, then both of Tseng's, and went to get a cookie.

Vincent carefully tucked the card into his bathrobe pocket and grinned at Tseng. "Would you be a dear and fetch me a cookie? Or seven?"

Ooooh, that grin wasn't fair! "I am not a furry quadruped hunted for sport and meat, but yes, I will get you cookies, on the condition that we share them."

Marlene returned with a cookie and looked solemnly up at both of them.

"Mr. Turk?"

Tseng looked down. "Yes?"

"When are you gonna marry Mr. Valentine?"

Vincent's eyes widened and Tifa sputtered into her tea, eyes big as saucers. Both of them looked at the other, then at Tseng.

Tseng thought about it for a moment, then crouched down to face Marlene eye to eye. "We haven't been dating long enough, Ms. Wallace. And even if we had, Vincent is in no condition to be spirited away to somewhere that two men can actually be married to one another."

"But you're going to marry him someday?"

He looked up at Vincent with a very small smile.

"We'll have to see."

Vincent couldn't help it. He blushed, a bright red he was sure made his white bandages stand out even more. Tifa coughed, grinning at Tseng's honesty with Marlene- she appreciated that.

"Now, if you'll excuse me, I've been ordered to get cookies." He stood up and stepped around her, edging past Denzel to fetch a plate to put the cookies on and trying very hard to act normal after what he had just said.

Vincent looked over at Tifa, who winked. "Okay, guys, into the living room- I want to see that homework out and started." She herded the two in front of her, pausing to duck back into the kitchen. "Tseng, you're more than welcome to stay for dinner- we're having Wutai meatballs."

"Thank you. If I'm still here around then, I'd love to stay."He deliberately didn't look up, carefully arranging cookies on the plate. What if Vincent hadn't liked what he'd said?

After the others had left, Vincent limped over to where Tseng was fiddling with the cookies. "Koichi."

"Yes?"

He leaned over and kissed Tseng softly, and then pulled away. "That is possibly the sweetest, most romantic thing anyone has ever said about me."

Tseng went quite red. "Thank you. And....you're welcome?"

"Indeed. Now, come- it's a bit of journey to get up the stairs."

"I'm sure it is." He finished with the cookies. "Can I help in anyway?"

"Nope. Just let me get up them one by one- Cloud tried helping and we both ended up on the floor at the foot of them." Vincent carefully made it up the first one.

Tseng winced. He'd fallen down more than his share of stairs before. "Fine. But I'm coming up behind you."

Vincent smirked as he made it up to the 10th stair. "Wouldn't that be lovely- unfortunately I'm not in quite the right condition for that." He threw a knee-knocking smile over his shoulder. "However, as soon as I heal up..."

"You," Tseng growled, reaching to goose Vincent, "are not playing fair, and you know it."

They hadn't gotten to that point, yet- two months in, and Vincent had really only seen Tseng in just his skivvies twice. Either way, teasing the younger man about it was quite worth it.

"You keep this up, and you're going to regret it when you've healed."

"Am I now?" The last step, and Vincent stood on the landing to watch Tseng walk up behind him. "But it could be worth it."

"That depends on what you think is worth it." Satisfied that Vincent wasn't going to go tumbling back down the steps, Tseng transferred the cookies to his other hand and put his free hand on the small of Vincent's back, very lightly.

Vincent chuckled.

Tseng rolled his eyes. "You're evil. Just for that, you aren't getting these cookies."

"What? No cookies?" He nudged his bedroom door open and let Tseng in. "But that's horrible! Tifa baked them especially for me!"

"Should have thought of that before you made me carry them and teased me." He paused, and smiled. "And let a little girl help me make you blush."

Vincent sat on his bed, settling back against the pillows he used to prop himself up. "Well, let's be honest: the question threw you for a loop, too."

Tseng curled up beside him, looked rather fixedly at the cookies. "I just said what felt right. Was that wrong?"

"No. Not at all." Vincent took a cookie and chewed thoughtfully before swallowing. "Promise me one thing?"

"Yes?"

"Don't go after Reno."

Tseng considered this. "Why not?"

"Because there would be no benefit to it, and honestly, an eye for an eye. I... we did break his ribs."

"An eye for an eye does not come with interest. He sent you to the hospital. You sent him home for a couple of ice packs and a bottle of booze." Tseng glared at a cookie. "And he knows better. He knows what he risks by breaking the rules."

Vincent sighed. "Fine. If you must. But I don't want to know."

Tseng leaned over and kissed Vincent's cheek. "I won't kill him, I promise. But.....the job is all I have had for a long time...what do I have left if the only things I hold sacred are violated?"

Vincent smiled, feeling a teeny blush this time as he picked up the remote he had sitting on the nightstand. "I understand that quite well. Now, Tifa showed me how to tape TV shows on this- I taped one on duct tape."