I'm sorry I'm taking forever to update now.
I'm really busy all this month and this week I have driver's training. I wanted this up by monday, but I got frustrated and believe it or not...
This... uh, chapter if I can even call it that...
Was erased about four times and re-written.

So, hopefully the next two (three?) chapters I post will be at least of... some quality.

I'm in the infirmary when I open my eyes again. I shut them again quickly. It's much too white in this room for me. I'm covered in bandages and gauze and I absolutely hate this patient gown. There are breezes in places I think there should not be breezes. Reno visits me, Rude too, but mostly Reno.

I can barely move and I've been bed ridden for what feels like forever but I know that I've only been here for a week or so. The medicine that these doctors have me on restricts how much I can move. Moving hurts too much as it is.

"Cecilia?" Reno calls.

"Yeah," I call.

He throws open the curtain thats there for me to feel like I have some privacy, but all it does it make me feel like a claustrophobic prisoner.

"You're looking better, yo," Reno says grinning and pulling a chair over.

"Do I?" I ask with a smile. "I must be the, because you're always telling me how terrible I look."

"Yeah well…" Reno says not quite looking at me. "When're you getting out of here anyway?" he puts on an annoyed face. "What it been? Eight days?"

"I get out once I can walk by myself," I tell him. "I don't know how long I've been here, but I've been guessing it's been about a week."

"Nah," Reno says with a wave, leaning back in his chair. "You've been in here longer than that, yo" Then he changes the subject, "… So, can you walk?"

"Why're you so interested?" I ask.

"Because you still owe me a drink."

I blink at him. I had actually forgot about that. How long ago had that been? If I don't remember how does he?

"C'mon," Reno says brightly getting up, "let's see how well you can walk."

I sigh and push my covers off, and even that sort of hurts me to do. I move my legs slowly and tenderly to the side of the bed and scoot myself to the edge. Gingerly I put some weight on my legs and right away I can see this ending badly.

The moment I put all my weight down, my legs give out. I let out a small gasp as I start to collapse towards the floor. All I can really do is shut my eyes and wait to hit the floor but I don't. Instead I hit something else that's warm and it feels familiar in a way that I can't place my finger on.

I look up and of course it's Reno who's caught me. I'm still amazed at the speed he can move at when he wants to. I push myself off him and start to use him as a sort of support pillar for myself.

"How about we go see Rude, yo?" Reno suggests. He sees the look on my face and he laughs, "I'll help you."

"Where is he?" I ask.

"Doing his paper work. It'll take us five minutes to get there."

The five minutes he meant was for if you could walk normally. With me on the other hand it's looking more and more like twenty. Reno's surprisingly patient with me and even offers to just carry me.

"It would be a real easy and fast if you just let me carry you, yo."

"No. I can walk."

We're almost to the elevator to take us up to the 64th floor. What would take Reno three steps is going to take me thirty seconds. It's a long time when you think about it and I'm starting to get fed up with myself.

Reno sighs and just tells me to keep going. Telling me It'll be good for me to get out of the infirmary.

"Rude!" Reno calls once we're close, but he's still a little too loud for the quiet of the Shinra building.

Rude looks up and he's still wearing his shades. Or maybe they're new ones because they're not broken anymore. They do look strikingly similar to his old ones though.

"Cecilia," he says in greeting, looking up only briefly before going back to his paperwork.

I have to say I feel much better now that I'm somewhere familiar.

Reno helps me sit down in a chair and even sitting upright like this hurts. I can't wait to be better so that everything stops hurting and so I don't need to depend on others to get me from point A to point B.

"How's work?" I ask. Hearing about work from Reno and Rude is the only thing that is allows me to know what's going on outside. The doctor doesn't even like that they tell me. He says that it adds stress to me, but I find it more stressful not knowing.

Rude looks like he's going to answer, but Reno cuts him off before he can saying, "Same as always."

I frown a little. "You don't have a mission update for me?" I ask. "I haven't left that room in- what did you say? Eight days?"

"We had a recon mission, yesterday" Rude says. He looks at me now. "Today we had another assassination to carry out. Reno took care of it in good time."

"Oh," I say.

Even though I know Reno. Even though I know what he's like, I still can't help but become a little scared of him every time I hear that he's killed. Rude is even a little scary being able to talk about it like it's nothing. Like he didn't just end someone's life.

"Rude, really, yo?" Reno says seeing my discomfort.

"She said she wanted to know," Rude says, adjusting his shades only a little.

"Rude's right," I say, "I asked."

Reno looks over to me. It looks like he might want to say something, but I can't tell. He closes his eyes and sighs. He leans sits on Rude's desk, right on paper's Rude's probably going to need soon, as always. "Alright, whatever you say then."

Somehow we get talking, Reno and I, not Rude really because well… he's Rude. I try to include him but he gives me short answers and nothing else. I find myself wishing I have the energy to keep up with Reno's talking but I can't. I feel like I'm going to fall asleep in the chair and I want nothing more right now than to crawl into the hard bed they have for me in the infirmary.

"Anyway so I was thinking- hey, you going to fall asleep on me, yo?" Reno says.

"Huh?" I blink and look up at him, not sure on what he'd just said or what he'd been talking about. "Sorry, Reno, what?"

Reno grins which I find a little surprising. "Alright lets go back then."

He slides off the desk and I reach for his hand for help. He takes it and helps me to my feet. I don't collapse to the ground again, but I have a feeling it's because he's holding most of my weight.

Then he lets go of me and quickly grabs me from under my knees to hold me in his arms. The whole ordeal is a little painful on me but now that Reno is holding me I'm quite comfortable.

I'm finding I don't want to move or do anything but to stay right here. My face gets a little hot when I realize that Reno's actually quite muscular. I always thought Reno was just a lanky man, but he's solid and not just skin and bones.

It hurts to try and keep as little of me touching him as possible and I let myself sink into his hold. Even though I can't see his face and I feel like I could just go right to sleep here… I have a feeling he's grinning to himself.

The walk is quick and I feel myself nodding off. I'm doing all I can to keep my eyes open.

Reno kick the door to the infirmary open. I hear the doctor say something in protest and then splutter a bit more when he sees Reno's got me. I'm not supposed to leave my bed.

"She's fine, yo," Reno tells the doctor walking past him and sitting me on my bed.

"Thanks," I mumble. I don't know why I'm so tried, but it's getting really hard for me to keep my eyes open and I just want to sleep. I'm not thinking straight. I know because I'm thinking about how cold the best is and how warm Reno is-

I shake my head clear.

"Yeah, yo. Not a problem," Reno says with a grin and a wave. "You know what might speed up your recovery?"

"What?"

"Once you get better Heidegger said he'll send us all to Costa De Sol."