A.N. Again, apologies for the late update. I've had a mad month!

This is just one of Reno's bad days, really.

Hope you enjoy!

Reno shook the snow out of his hair as he slid back into the Shinra building. It was being refurbished, ready for Rufus' return to the world. Reeve had taken on the project with glee, calling it his 'pet' and slyly fitting in an office for himself on the third floor, where the WRO would now be based.

Tseng had decided someone should be on site to oversee the work and ensure that everything was done according to the plans. And, he had added quietly, to make sure Reeve didn't get too carried away.

Looking up the familiar curving staircase, lined again with its familiar red carpet, Reno thought he might already be too late. Two Stone gargoyles were perched on either end of the reception desk, scowling at him as he approached.

"Can I help you?"

A woman with a clipboard emerged from a side door. She smiled brightly at him as she shuffled behind the desk.

"Err, yeah. I wanna see Reeve?"

"I'm afraid the Director is not here at the moment." She tried to look apologetic. "Would you care to leave a message?"

Reno sighed. Once, simply wearing the Turk uniform would have granted him instant access almost to anyone anywhere in the building. He felt like screaming at her, after the morning he'd had: up at an impossible hour, missing the train, having to make his way up from the slums, getting caught in an impromptu snowball fight and now this. He knew Tuesti was here. He was a Turk, after all. But Tseng had threatened him with filing duty for a year. No more scaring employees. Damn.

"Fine." He took his frustration out on his EMR, gripping the handle hard enough to feel the shape imprint on his hand. "Tell Reeve that Reno's here and that he wants to speak to him."

"Reno what?"

"Huh?"

"Your last name, Sir?"

"Don't worry about it; he'll know who I am."

She shook her head, putting her pen to one side.

"Sorry, Sir, I can't do that. Its company policy, you see."

"Company policy? Who's company?"

"The company who own this building, Sir. If you have a problem with our policy, it would be wise to take it up with them. Until then," she tore the paper with his note in half and sent him a sickeningly sweet smile. "I'm afraid unknown members of the public are not allowed to leave messages."

He was getting a headache. It was building up in the back of his head, taking strength from the high pitch of her voice and the rivulets of melting snow running down his back.

He leant forward, leaning on the desk.

"Now look, Miss..."

"Farfield. Luce Farfield."

"Miss Farfield. If you don't let Reeve know I'm here, I assure you, you will regret it."

She blinked up at him, her eyes widening like a startled chocobo.

"Are you threatening me?"

Her hand was creeping underneath the desk, probably to the Security button.

Don't scare the new employees! Reno chose to ignore the voice in the back of his head. It sounded suspiciously like Tseng and, if the banging in his head was any indication, seemed to be tap-dancing somewhere in the cloud of his developing headache.

"Just give him the damn message and we won't have to find out."

He suspected that he had said the wrong thing when a man, appearing from a side door, grabbed both his shoulders. He was built like a fridge and looked down his long nose at the tensed redhead.

"If you'll accompany me, sir, I think we can sort this mess out."

The girl smiled brightly up at the newcomer. She was blushing, ever so slightly, and pushed a lock of blonde hair out of her eyes.

"Thank you Joss. Now, sir, if you would accompany my colleague?"

Reno groaned. He really hadn't wanted any trouble.

"Let go of me."

The man started to turn him away from the desk.

"I'm warnin' ya, let me go."

The man smiled and nodded condescendingly

"Yes, sir. Of course."

He was walking, resolutely, towards the door, dragging Reno at his side.

"Fine. Have it your way."

After his years in the Turks, Reno had more than enough practise fighting against big, burly men like the guard. At one time, he had even managed to irritate the Shinra Army Captains and the Soldiers enough that they had worked together to get their revenge. It had all been going well for them – they had Reno pinned to a doorframe and, having not expected to actually catch the Turk, were debating heatedly what the next step of the plan was – when Rufus and Tseng had walked in on the proceedings.

Now, with the same technique he had used to unpin himself while Tseng had been throwing his pursuers out, he kicked back against the man's leg, twisting his knee, and twisted his arm so that his shoulder slid free of the punishing grip. Reno danced lightly backwards evading Joss' ungainly lunges and giving his knuckles several sharp raps for his troubles.

Joss snarled and launched himself at the redhead, throwing his considerable weight behind the dive and tackling the lighter man to the floor. Reno slithered out from under him but was yanked back down when the man grabbed a fistful of his hair.

Reno felt the last thread of his control snap and savagely kicked out at the man behind him, feeling his heel collide with something that crunched. Joss yelped and let go as Reno scrambled to his feet, reaching for the EMR at his waist.

"Reno! I wasn't expecting anyone to come by until Wednesday."

The redhead half turned to see Reeve smiling at him from the reception desk, collecting the clipboard from Miss Farfield.

"It… is Wednesday."

Reeve paused, seemingly working out the date in his head.

"So it is. What a mistake!" He smiled ironically and tapped the side of his head. "Get so lost up here some days, now that I'm running everything." He gestured expansively at the almost empty hall. "Everything's so busy, as you see."

Behind Reno, Joss had clambered to his feet, clutching his broken and bloody nose. He glared between Reeve and Reno for a few moments, before nodding respectfully to the Director and wobbling off through a side door, muttering profanities.

Miss Farfield, however, had been staring at Reno with something akin to awe on her pretty face, She had evidently expected him to be instantly overpowered by Joss and was now unsure how to treat him. Reeve caught her expression and laughed again.

"Goes to show, you should never judge a book by its cover. Eh, Luce?"

She nodded, slowly, in reply, and watched the two men as Reeve ushered the Turk up to the new elevators, clucking and chirruping about his projects and plans for the place.

"…And we've had to replace all the computers, of course. State of the art at the time. Amazing how technology changes, don't you think? Ah, here we are."

The elevator doors slid open to reveal Reeve's new office, which had once belonged to Lazard. A new table had been shifted into the middle, the WRO insignia emblazoned at its heart. Pictures, plans and maps lined the walls, from before and after meteor, and a few more recent ones, covered in Reeve's scribbled handwriting.

As Reeve tried to usher his guest through into his office space, he found himself colliding with Reno's back. The Turk was glaring at the chair behind the desk, where a man in an almost identical Turk uniform appeared to be trying out the spinning chair.

"Finally get here then? I thought you might've got lost, Reno."

The redhead's fingers curled into a fist.

"Dorrigan."