Short chapter today, but the next section is longer, and really amusing. May get that up in the next few days, because I don't think anything actually matches up with the main story. For those of you who like Matti, he has some short stories coming up, the next one is utterly hilarious. Let me know what you think!

Ff7 belongs entirely to square enix

Mary sat silently in a transporter with Matti. They were assigned to do a mission together, just a quick one day thing. Something had happened that morning to piss Mary off, but she knew part of it was not Matti's fault, and he probably did have a somewhat reasonable excuse, so she was trying to keep it to herself and not say anything. She knew it was probably unnerving for him, since she was always the one to keep up conversation, but she was afraid that opening her mouth would allow her bitchy brain to say some very mean things. She looked out the window, trying to clear her mind and get rid of the anger.

"Are you alright? You are being awfully quiet." Matti finally asked her.

"I'm just mad at you." Is all that she said in reply. Crap, that is not what I meant to say.-She thought to herself. She had meant to say that she was just cranky and in a bad mood. Definitely need to keep my mouth shut the-.

"I'm sorry. My stomach did not agree with me this morning." Matti explained for why he was so late that morning. Mary didn't reply, and Matti suddenly felt like he was in trouble for no reason.

Mary felt a little better, knowing that his excuse was reasonable. One of the reasons why she was so mad, and had managed to work herself into a frenzy that morning, was because she had thought of some excuses, and most of them had just pissed her off. At least now she knew that it wasn't just Matti being lazy.

Matti and Mary had been given their assignment the night before, and they had then discussed when they would meet and when they would leave. Mary had suggested a time earlier in the morning, and much to her surprise, Matti had agreed. Since he had agreed she had assumed that as an adult, he would be there. But while Mary waited for Matti in the garage that morning, she started to doubt how much of an adult he really was.

Mary had waited out in the garage for over 40 minutes. She had been perfectly fine the first twenty minutes, figuring that Matti was just running a little late. After half an hour, she had really started to get annoyed, and that was when her inner monologue had started. While doing some squats to try and relax her nerves, she went through conversations with Matti in her mind, most of them ending up with her yelling. Part of her really wanted to yell at him, but another part realized that it would not be nice. She was pretty close with Matti, they were typically allies. Mary didn't want to ruin the alliance that they had seemed to form, and so she really didn't want to have to yell at him. But as the waiting time neared 40 minutes, Mary continued getting angry, and when Matti finally emerged from the elevator, it took a lot of effort to not yell at him.

Matti walked to the transported and started it, without giving Mary an excuse as to why he was late. It was a good thing, in a way, because if it had been a weak excuse Mary might have slapped him right then. But, it also made her a little mad, because he didn't even apologize for making her stand outside for 40 minutes, but she tried to hide it and loaded her bags into the vehicle. Nothing was said as they both sat in their seats and began their drive.

When they arrived at their destination, Matti took a turn down a road that Mary was not expecting. "Why did you go this way?" She asked, as it made no sense to her.

"Habit I guess. I didn't think to take that other road." He replied, somewhat glad that she seemed to finally be able to talk to him. He didn't understand why she was giving him the silent treatment, and it was starting to really annoy him.

"Okay. So, I think you can drop me over there, and I can work on my stuff. I'll text you when I'm done and we can figure out what are doing after that." She said, as she unbuckled and got out of the vehicle.

"Sounds good. The front door didn't close." He informed her as she grabbed her stuff from the back.

"Stupid doors, they never close on their own. Angeal yells at me for slamming his doors, but I'm more used to these ones that you have to slam." She said, as she closed the back door and returned to the front to properly close the door. "See you later." She said, as she walked away.

It was an absolutely boring job. Mary had set up some surveillance cameras and was now sitting in a shop monitoring her screen. Nothing was really happening, and it was letting her mind wander, back to what had happened in the morning. She had begun to feel a little less cranky as she set up the cameras, and so she felt she needed to explain and apologize to Matti. Mary pulled out her PHS and sent a longwinded message to Matti.

-Sorry about earlier. I got angry after a while, and most of the anger was just my inner monologue. I'm not really that mad at you, but I'm pretty cranky so I didn't want to yell at you undeservingly. It is just easier to not talk when I'm like this. I figured it wouldn't affect you as much as when Piper ignores you.-

Mary put her phone back into her pocket. She continued monitoring the screen for any changes when she felt her PHS vibrate. She pulled it out and started reading the message. Instantly, her anger started to return. She noted that she had to be getting extremely cranky for this small ordeal to be bothering her so much.

-I don't want to deal with any of it. I was a few minutes late, people make mistakes. You know I'm slow in the morning, and I didn't appreciate being ordered to do something. You are not my girlfriend or my mother. I didn't deserve the silent treatment.-

Mary took a deep breath and tried to let her anger go, but it didn't work. She started tapping her fingers on the table she was sitting at, and she was sure she was sporting an extremely pissed off face. She desperately wished that she could call Angeal and vent, but he was on mission. She started to think of who she could vent to, but quickly realized that everyone was busy, and that was why Matti had been the one to drop her for her day mission. Mary practically growled as she turned her attention back to the screen.

"Matti and Mary appear to be having some sort of fight." CAGS reported to Ryu.

"I don't care; they are not my problem today." Ryu hissed at her AI before she ducked a punch that was thrown her way.

"Would you like me to monitor them more closely?" CAGS asked, even though Ryu had said she did not care. CAGS had become very accustomed to reading into what Ryu was feeling instead of what she said.

"Fine. Alert me if one of them actually snaps." Ryu muttered.

"What?!" Mary snapped as she picked up her phone.

"Mary…" She heard on the other end of the line.

"Sorry Director. Is there something you need?" She said. Though she was saying more polite words, the harshness was still in her tone.

"Just checking in. Is something wrong, you seem stressed?" Tseng answered.

"Everything is going according to plan. Though, I would love to punch Matti in the face."

"Mary…" Tseng warned again.

"Don't worry, Director. Even if I want to, I never actually would. If there is nothing else you want, I would like to go back to work now."
"I will not keep you any longer." Tseng replied as he closed his PHS. Mary took a deep breath before returning to her screen.

Two hours later, and Mary was even angrier than before, and more bored as well. The mission was turning out to be uneventful, and Mary decided to shift her attention to try and think of someone she could talk to, to try and vent her anger. She was sure if she just talked it out with someone that it would help, but she was pretty sure talking it out with Matti would end in screaming, so she wanted to avoid that. She knew most of her anger was still because she was cranky, though some was directly caused by him. She quickly pulled out her PHS when she realized who she could call.

"Yo, what's up Mary?" She heard when the call went through. Mary smiled at the abrupt voice on the other end. It was one that was sometimes annoying, but it managed to calm her in the current circumstance.

"Hey Reno, not so good actually." Mary began. "I'm really upset and need someone to vent to, if that's okay."

"No problem. Just got back from my mission. What's up?" Reno asked. "Tired of waiting around for your lover." He teased. "When does he get back anyways?"

Mary sighed. Reno was the perfect person to talk to for this. He had a surprisingly wise point of view, he was a great listener, and Mary knew that he would be neutral. She had worried about talking to her friends behind Matti's back; for fear that they would turn around and tell him. She knew that Reno wouldn't do that. Mary had become surprisingly close friends with Reno since their incident after Elena's death. Mary always found it easy to talk to him; she knew he wouldn't judge her. They also shared a very perverted sense of humor.

"They are supposed to return tomorrow night, but you never really know." Mary replied solemnly. One of the reasons why she was so cranky was because Angeal had been gone for more than a week, and she had been having a hard time sleeping. She really missed having her personal heater wrap his arms around her while she slept. She missed other things as well, but that was the one that was affecting her the most.

"So what's up, yo? You sound pretty pissed." Reno replied, wondering exactly what could have set her off.

"A little incident happened with Matti this morning, when he was supposed to transport me to my mission. It wasn't really a big deal, but I got a little angry, and through the day I've just gotten angrier, so now I just need to vent to someone." Mary replied. She took a deep breath before continuing. "We decided a time to leave last night, and I waited for him at that time this morning. He was about forty minutes late, and in that time I had an inner monologue going and I got mad at him. I knew some of it was crankiness so I tried not to yell at him. That resulted in a silent car ride, and when he asked what was wrong I told him I was mad at him. He didn't take it so well. He apologized and gave his excuse, and all seemed fine."

"So what's the problem, why are you still so mad?" Reno asked.

"I sent him an apology afterwards trying to explain that the mad was more me than him. He got all pissy with me and gave a bunch of lame excuses that are total crap. I was trying to explain and be nice, but he poked my nerves. Now I just keep going over it again, and again. It is driving me nuts. I'm definitely cranky because I feel like slapping him, or maybe breaking a bone or two." Mary said, her tone revealing how worked up she was currently getting.

"And what were these lame excuses?" Reno said. He figured that Mary would really need to get it all out, or she would continue to think about it and get angrier.

"First he said he was only a few minutes late and people make mistakes. A few minutes late is fine, forty is really pushing human error. He also said that I ordered him to be there when it was early and he isn't a morning person. Crap, total crap. I asked him, and he agreed to the time. If he didn't think he could handle the early time, he could have said something. And he said I'm not his mother. I'm not treating him like a child, I expect him to be an adult and be where he agrees to be. And he is mad at me for giving him the silent treatment. It's not like I was rude, I answered him if he asked me a question, and I thanked him for the ride. I just didn't talk his ear off like I usually do. Shouldn't he just enjoy the one ride of silence, you'd think he'd be sick of my voice by now…" Mary started to trail off. She was already starting to feel better. "I'm just upset that I was trying to be kind and explain that I'm cranky and trying not to be mean. And he just got upset with me. Really, I am allowed to be a little cranky sometimes, and I don't have to talk all the time. I was trying to spare him my bitchy response. It feels like he wants me to bitch him out."

"I highly doubt that, yo. You can be very unsettling when you are bitchy. He is probably just defensive 'cause he doesn't see that he did something wrong. You should try to explain your side to him." Reno suggested. "And since when does Matti take orders from you? If that's the case, maybe you should let Tseng know he is becoming a pushover." Reno joked.

"I know, right. The thing is right now the inner bitch wants to scream at him, that's why I was being quiet. Plus, he doesn't do well with seeing others points of view. I know that he had a good reason for being late, but at the time I didn't. And that was why at the time I was mad at him. I told him that and he still got all pissed at me. I don't think further explanation is going to help any."

"Then what are you going to do?"

"Hope that he doesn't push it, and try to avoid him until the inner bitch goes away." Mary answered. "Thanks Reno, for listening. I feel much better now. It looks like something might be happening; I have to go back to work. Bye." She said, as she closed her PHS. She thought it was a little rude, but she was a Turk on a mission, she didn't have much time for politeness. Reno shrugged as he closed his phone turned back to the stack of boring paperwork on his desk.

Mary watched the screen as the target came into view. She followed his movements through the multiple cameras, meanwhile typing notes that were being sent to Matti's AI. She really hoped that he had been just as miserably bored as she had been the past few hours. Mary watched as Matti followed the target, waited until he could easily get what he wanted, and then disposed of the man. When Matti was done, Mary sent him a message that she would meet him in an hour at the drop off point. It would give her enough time to pack up her stuff and retrieve the cameras without raising suspicions. When everything was finished, she met Matti where he had dropped her off, and loaded her bags into the vehicle.

"Body all taken care of?" She asked, as she sat herself in the passenger seat.

"Yup. We can go back to ShinRa now." He replied. The ride back was just as silent as the way there, but this time Matti did not try to break the silence. He was also a little peeved at Mary, and he didn't feel as though he deserved the silent treatment that he had gotten earlier. He turned on the radio and cranked it to fill the silence.

When they returned to the office, Mary returned the cameras to their place and picked up her part of the paperwork to fill out. She didn't say anything as Matti passed her and went to Tseng's office to report. She worked quickly to finish her own work before Matti could return. She wanted very badly to just be in her own room, or maybe Angeal's, and away from the drama. She had started to feel better after talking to Reno, but the car ride had made things very awkward.

Mary made her way into the apartment, and made her way to the kitchen to grab food. She hadn't eaten all day, and she felt like she was starving. After making herself a late lunch, she sat in the living room to eat. She had forgotten that she wanted to avoid Matti. Unfortunately for her, Matti walked through the door right when she had finished eating, and she didn't have time to bolt. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"Alright, now that we aren't on mission, what the hell is your problem?" Matti asked angrily. "I was a few minutes late, it happens."

"First off, since when does forty count as a few? Second, I am really not that mad about that. I was, but once you told me why I calmed down. I'm still pissed because you shit on my apology. And the excuses you gave then are total bullshit." Mary shot back at him. She was now in bitch mode, and she could no longer control it.

"Excuse me? Exactly what about what I said was bullshit?" Matti said defensively.

"Well, let's see. I did ask you, I did not order you. You agreed to it, I didn't force anything on you. Unless, you know, you've become a total fucking pushover. And things happen, but I assume that as an adult you can manage to get somewhere that you say you are going to be in a reasonable amount of time. I bet if you made Tseng wait for forty minutes, he would shoot you for your tardiness. And seriously, what is so bad about me not talking your fucking ear off for twenty minutes? That should be a blessing to you." Mary almost yelled at him.

"I did not appreciate the silent treatment. You were being unnecessarily rude. I was not deserving of that. I was late because I was having stomach issues." He defended himself. He was not going to back down, not after thinking about it for a few hours.

"Alright, seriously, I barely gave you the silent treatment. If I had, I wouldn't have talked to you at all. So stop being a baby. And I was angry about you being late until you told me the stomach thing. The reason I was angry for so long was because you never told me why you were late when you showed up. You didn't even apologize. You just acted like it was no big fucking deal that you were forty minutes late. I skipped my run to meet you at the time we agreed!" Mary screamed, she was not going to let Matti win. The bitch had come out, and she was not going to back down to save someone's feelings.

"I didn't think I had to apologize. It wasn't a big deal. So, you had to wait for forty minutes. We sat around for hours today waiting for that mission, what's the difference?" Matti asked. Before Mary could answer, the door opened and Angeal walked in, with Zack and Genesis a few steps behind him. Without saying anything, Matti took a step back to get out of Angeal's way.

Mary opened her mouth to answer Matti when she felt strong arms turn her around and throw her over a shoulder. "Hey! Put me down!" Mary yelled, as she was walked out of the living room. Angeal didn't care that she was in the middle of an argument. He had gone without seeing her for a week, and he couldn't wait any longer. He didn't expect it to be so hard, but he had a very difficult time focusing while away from Mary. He had also become easily agitated, and had yelled at Zack a few times. "This doesn't mean you win!" Mary screamed down the hallway, as Angeal opened his door and walked them both into his room.

Angeal gently pulled Mary off of his shoulder, and pushed her lightly against the way of his room. "I missed you." He said, as she cupped her face in his hands and brought them together for a demanding kiss. When they finally separated, Mary smiled widely and flung her arms around Angeal neck.

"I missed you too." She said, as she went in for another kiss.

An hour later, Mary and Angeal returned to the living room, freshly showered and changed. They sat on the couch, and Mary curled up into Angeal's lap. By that time, most of their small group had returned from their missions, and were sitting in their usual places in the room.

"Did you solve your crankiness problem, yo?" Reno asked from the other end of the couch.

"Yup. And you still didn't win Matti." Mary said, as she wrapped her arms around Angeal's waist.

"I still don't even know why we were arguing." Matti muttered. Piper poked him hard in the side, not wanting another fight to ensue. "What was that for?" He asked.

This is why I hate being a girl…every once in a while my inner bitch won't shut the fuck up and this type of drama ensues… For anyone who also reads the lemon story, there will be a story for what happens in Angeal's room posted later tonight.