"Wait Rude!" Elena yelled as she ran after her fellow Turk. Reno meanwhile took him time exiting Rufus' office, quite unlike the frantic exit Elena had managed to do so flawlessly. Arms flaying around, shrieks and curses, the whole lot. He on the other hand, calmly but closely followed behind his coworkers, hands stuffed in his pockets, completely at ease with the recent turn of events. On the contrary, this once again could prove to be amusing. And he was all about the fun, wasn't he?

Rude merely shot Elena glances over his shoulder and couldn't help but smirk a little at her worried look. He only slowed by the secretary's pristine desk to present the document he held. "Give this to Rufus when he comes back," Rude spoke briefly and quickly continued on his way without waiting for a reply.

The secretary smiled faintly at his retreating back, the crisp lines of his Turk suit moving fluently with each strong step he took. But once Reno came into her line of vision, the smile turned into an unhidden scowl. Reno stuck out his tongue at her, but didn't stop trailing Rude and Elena. He figured he tortured the secretary enough… for today.

Reno's blue eyes watched on as Elena's short hair swayed rhythmically with the quick steps she was taking trying to match Rude's longer ones. Rude seemed distracted or uninterested as he kept nodding absently at what the small Turk was saying.

He could hear Elena yapping away, her voice sporadically hitching up an octave or five in her attempt to get Rude's attention. Even though the back of Rude's head faced Reno, the red head could tell what his best friend was thinking by the simple inclination and movement of his bald skull. It had sometimes proven to be even more accurate than actual speech. And right now, Rude wasn't really into what Elena was trying to get through to him. Who could blame him? Reno had already told Rude what had happened between Elena and him.

"Are you even listening?" Elena barely held her anger in check at Rude's constant nodding.

Finally with a huff, Elena placed herself directly in front of Rude thus blocking his path with her small frame. She was slightly relieved that he actually stopped and didn't detour around her. That would have been humiliating, especially with Reno following them. Why was he still around anyway?

She quickly got to the point. "Nothing happened! There was nothing going on when you came in, it was all a misunderstanding. If you'll just let me explain, it's all quite simple-"

"That we don't want anyone to know that we are actually dating," jumped in Reno, putting his arm around her waist and squeezing slightly.

Elena's horror filled expression turned robotically towards the grinning red headed maniac. Reno ignoring her, whispered dramatically to Rude, "It's all hush hush, you know? We just don't want office gossip to start right away, isn't that right pookie?"

Reno faced Elena's gaping one once more and smiled sweetly.

They couldn't tell because of his sunglasses, but Rude's eyes were shifting between his two colleagues at a rather rapid pace. But once again, he nodded and this time said, "Got it."

Elena's immediate reaction was to forcefully extract herself from Reno's arm. "Get your nicotine stained hands off of me!" Quickly turning to Rude who was by now smiling suspiciously, she clarified what was really happening. "Reno is lying, there is nothing going on between us… AT ALL!"

"Aw, come on baby, don't be like that," Reno drawled interrupting her speech. "Rude won't tell anyone, huh buddy?"

Rude merely shook his head no in response.

"See?" asked Reno, his cerulean eyes wide with innocence as he looked into Elena's brown ones. He lied very convincingly.

"Rude don't listen to him!" Elena warned, her voice a low grumble as her bangs fell to cover one eye.

Reno seemed to pause in thought, "But you can't deny what he saw."

The young woman was about to protest once more but then realized he might have a point. "It was still nothing," Elena exclaimed trying to deny him that small victory.

Rude watched their exchange in silence, seemingly forgotten by them both.

"You're right," Reno grinned lavishly, a sly look crossing his features. "That was nothing."

Elena couldn't help but freeze when he said that. Was he implying something? Or was it just part of his joke? Reno didn't seem to notice as he continued talking. "But since Rude now knows, we can make it official. We'll announce it to Rufus and Tseng, the whole world too! Even that noisy secretary down the hall!" he said loudly waving frantically at the woman who quickly went back to pretending to be working instead of eavesdropping. Elena hadn't even noticed that the secretary had been listening. As she didn't want there to be any witnesses, she grabbed hold of Rude's forearm and started walking away from overzealous ears.

Rude glanced questioningly at Reno who just shrugged in response. He didn't know either where she was leading them.

Finally when they stood in front of the elevators, Elena looked both ways to see if there was anyone within hearing distance. Satisfied with what she saw she turned towards Rude, ignoring Reno.

"Nothing happened," she said with as much conviction as she could possibly muster. Elena looked directly into Rude's eyes trying to see what he was thinking. Well, in the general location where she thought his eyes were behind those dark shades. All she could see though was her own reflection looking back at her.

Rude lowered his head so he could better see Reno over his glasses. Casually, he propped them back up his nose with an index finger as a sly smile spread across his lips. "I know."

"You know?" Elena echoed slowly as if her mind had trouble comprehending what she just heard.

"You aren't Reno's type."

"What-," Elena frowned before a rather chatty Rude cut in.

"But Reno isn't your type either."

"Huh?"

"Nice save," Reno said a little sarcastically under his breath, which earned a glare from Elena.

Rude slightly inclined his head in mock thanks as he pressed the up button to call the elevator. "You two would never work," he explained watching the numbers change. Almost as an afterthought, Rude added, "That's not an insult Elena."

Reno watched attentively to see how the young woman would react. He was slightly delighted to see her pout unconsciously. She always did that when something didn't please her.

"I'm not insulted, not at all," she said as pleasantly as she could. But Rude could tell that she was a little miffed. The plastered, strained smile on her face was a clear sign Elena was having a difficult time digesting his take on the situation. Rude found himself wishing for the elevator to move faster.

Her tense disposition didn't go unnoticed by Reno either. He had a hard time containing the smile that threatened to appear at her vexed attitude. Who would have thought she would be insulted if someone had said that they couldn't be a couple?

Suddenly, Elena became nonchalant, "Like it even matters."

Well Reno hadn't expected that so quickly. She seemed to have done a complete 180 as she calmly watched the elevator doors open and walked in smoothly. Both Rude and Reno were attentively watching the small woman for any signs of duplicity. It felt like the eye of the storm where everything was calm before BAM! You got hit by a flying cow.

But Rude was the first to shrug the feeling off as he got in and pressed his floor button. Reno's blue eyes narrowed in suspicion however he warily followed his best friend's move. He placed himself next to Rude making him a physical shield, while Elena remained on the opposite side still eerily calm.

Swoosh, the doors closed, oblivious to the unease inside its single compartment. Rude usually so composed, could almost feel a bead of sweat trickle down his neck collar. Reno just kept his hands in his pockets keeping himself indifferent on the outside but very intrigued on the inside. What was she concocting in that blonde head of hers?

Suddenly the answer came when Elena pressed the stop button causing the elevator to halt its movement. "I want answers and I want them now!"

"I-,"Rude started his explanation only to be interrupted by Elena.

"Not you Rude. Him." Her eyes narrowed in the red head's direction.

Reno couldn't help but sigh in exasperation. She was beginning to sound like a parrot and quite frankly boring him.

"Fine. I'll tell you Elena!" Reno said gravely, their eyes locking as he bent slightly at the waist to look at the small woman.

She was taken aback by his offensiveness. Elena had expected Reno to dance around the question like he had up to now. This sudden change made her wary.

"You got drunk at the party. And by drunk I mean you practically made me look sober," Reno said mercilessly totally ignoring the look Rude was giving him.

Elena however didn't seem to be surprised. "Well I had figured that part out since I woke up with a hangover!" she spat back with much vehemence.

"Good," Reno yelled back. "The party was a blast, kudos to Rufus by the way. Everyone was drinking, dancing, having fun and yes that even includes you Miss. Tight ass with a stick where-." His rant was cut short when Rude loudly launched himself with all the desperation of a tortured man towards the panel and hurriedly jabbed the open button. He practically pried the slow doors open and jumped out in a sprint in his need to get away from Reno and Elena's fighting. The running footsteps disappeared within seconds of his abrupt exit.

The two Turks left behind both stared in shock as the doors calmly closed but soon resumed as if nothing unusual had happened. It was very telling of what they'd deign consider unusual and worthy of their times.

Reno continued where he left off. "At the end of the night, you stumble out with all the grace of an intoxicated hobo from Sector 7 ready to drive yourself home!"

Outrage and anger flushed Elena's cheekbones as her mouth opened and closed. "I would never do that!" she sputtered out uncertainly.

"Oh, but you did." He let that hang in the air a bit, waiting to see if Elena would remember anything. Reno faced a crossroad now. He could say the truth or cover it up for her own good. After all, it had been taken care of. Taking a deep breath, Reno made his decision.

"Thankfully I had been able to catch up with you. You had fallen on the asphalt and bruised your knees, you were barely walking at that point. So I called a cab for us, went to your place and the rest," he shrugged his shoulders. "Is pretty obvious."

Elena remained motionless, just staring at him with wide, upset eyes.

"So…you…I," Elena was trying to sound strong but her voice betrayed her.

A minute of silence followed. "Yeah," he breathed.

Stillness, dense and complete, replaced the previous shouting. Reno was casually looking at the floor, his hands stuffed in his jacket's pockets once more waiting for Elena to say or do something, anything. He needed her to talk for once and say everything would eventually be okay.

But Elena kept her eyes fixed straight ahead, her arms tightly crossed over her chest. Abruptly, Elena pressed the open button and said in a soft voice, "I have to go"

Reno simply nodded, his eyes still lowered. "Yeah," was his only response again.

Without another word Elena left. At least she wasn't running, he thought.

I am writing this as I am getting ready to go to work. So a little rushed and not as edited as I would like it to have been. But it's a new chapter! And i am making it more complicated now. Sigh.