AWAKEN

Chapter 21 – Blankets and Kisses Make Me Smile…

*Pairing: Reno/Tifa, Reno/Elena, Tseng/Elena, Tseng/Rhodes, Rude/Cyr
*Rating: T
*Disclaimer: I do not claim to own any of the characters from all FFVII films, RPG's etc. I claim no hold over characters and locations.
*Summery: A little bit fluffy, quiet a long chapter but just to pull people into the in's and out's of the Turk's personal lives. Getting to know them a little bit better and showing that even the hardest of persons has a heart.

* EDGE * APPARTMENT BLOCK 12 * 11th FLOOR * RENO'S APPARTMENT *

*14th September 1998* 22:30 *

Tseng stopped outside Reno's apartment, taking a deep breath before knocking firmly on the door. He paused hearing a bang and then a familiar laugh, followed by a male voice – and not Reno's. He quickly looked around to see if he could disappear before Rhode's got to the door. But it was to late, the door swung open and he was confronted by a gun in his face, before he could speak she pulled the trigger.

In that split second his heart jumped into his throat, but her heard the click – there was no pain. Rhode's burst out into laughter. She wiggled her gun at him.

"Safety" she flicked the switched a couple of times. Then it was as if it registered who he was. "Tseng, mmm… you here for Reno?" she asked, he shook his head. She paused regarding him for a moment before stepping aside.

He walked in and he automatically noticed the large man led on the sofa. "Rude?" Tseng greeted, not used to seeing him so casual and relaxed. Rude quickly sat up, and then grabbed his head in pain.

"I wouldn't try and get any conversation outa him, he can't handle his liquor!" she teased "Is that right Ru?" he merely grunted, rubbed his eyes before slowly getting up. His legs failed him, Rhodes and Tseng grabbed an arm each.

"Thanks" he mumbled

"Rude? Where are you wanting to go?" she asked raising an eyebrow at her drunken friend and then smiling apologetically at Tseng.

"Home" He pointed towards the broom cupboard, Rhodes grinned.

"How about I call you a cab?" She asked. He nodded and then slumped against his boss. Tseng didn't want to admit it but holding up Rude wasn't the easiest of tasks.

Rhodes wandered off and came back a few moments later. "Rights, lets get you down stairs"

"You want me to do it?" Tseng asked watching Rhodes taken most of the huge mans weight.

"No its cool, think I've even carried you home before today" she winked and began to guide Rude out of the apartment. Tseng smiled to him self as she picked up her purse and gun at the doorway.

He was left alone in the small apartment; he looked around at the photos. Frames with Reno and Rhodes squishing their noses to look like pigs, Reno giving Rhodes a piggy back, Rhodes giving Reno a piggy back, Rude looking very unimpressed staring into the camera while Reno stood there with a huge grin, The three of them having just made it into the Turks – so young, The photo of the whole old crew (Verdot; Tseng; Rude, Reno and Rhodes {for their first group photo}; Andrew, Rafe, Rosalind, Cyr, Durman…) and to Tseng's surprise there was still a photo of him and Rhodes together – back to back, holding their guns playfully, posing for the picture back when they were partners. He ran his finger over the photo – looking at the smile plastered across both of their faces…

"Seems like a life time ago doesn't it?" Tseng jumped, and spun around to see a flustered Rhodes.

"Did Rude get off okay?" He turned around to face the fiery red head.

"Kinda, he threw up on the side walk, I rolled him into the cab, gave them my number if there's any trouble… from what he said to the driver I think he's heading to Cyr's" she smiled and Tseng raised an eye brow.

"Poor Cyr, hadn't you better call her and warn her?" he asked playfully

"Ah she'll be fine, the amount of nights she used to turn up on our door step I think its just Karma she gets a midnight caller" Rhodes wrinkled her nose the way she always did when she was playing.

"So… not to be rude yo, but is there a reason for this little visit?" she asked slumping down onto the sofa and the tapping the cushion next to her to offer him a seat.

He sighed and sat down besides her trying to find the words to tell her that they wanted her back on the Turks. He took a deep breath and rolled his eyes realising he should just blurt it out.

"I want you to –" 'come back to the turks' "-be my date" Tseng surprised himself, he wanted to say one thing but the other part, the date part just fell out of his mouth.

"Excuse me?" she asked, raising her perfectly formed eyebrow at him and scrunching up her face with a quizzical expression.

He thought about this for a moment before he reaffirmed what he'd just said and realised he really did want her, not just to be his date but to be his everything again. "I wanted to know if you'd be my date, for the ShinRa ball…" he now felt nervous, he could see she'd picked up on it.

"Tseng" she tried to find to words to say this to him "Okay… well that's sweet an' all but you do know I'm not jus' gonna jump into bed with you just cause I'm saying yes"

"No Rhodes I didn't-" the words registered in his head "-Yes? So you'll come with me?" She grinned and nodded.

He flung his arms around her pulling her into a hug, she laughed at his excitement and gave him a little squeeze back before pulling away. "So is that what you came all the way to ask me?" she asked, he looked at her and she could tell there was more "That's not what you wanted to ask me at all, is it?"

"No, not really, but I meant it when I said it…"

"I know" she smiled urging him to go on

"Well I better just come out and say it then…" he paused and then took a deep breath "…I really had nothing to do with this, its just you're already trained and we can't send you back to the DLTurk's so we're-"

"Offering me a position back at the Turks?" she bit her lip "Reno already told me…"

"He did?" Tseng was surprised, Reno wouldn't even hear him out when he originally proposed the mere idea of it.

"Yeah, he didn't really sell it to me… but I've been thinking about it" she paused for a moment "…you don't think it'll be weird having me back" her big eyes glistened at him, she was so close to his face.

"Yes" he knew the only way to deal with Rhodes what to tell her everything plain and simply. She sorted a laugh again, realising why she loved this man.

She reached up and kissed him, at first he didn't expect the contact, he pulled a way and looked down at her "Are you drunk?" he asked seriously. She moved her body on top of him.

"Just a little bit" she breathed into his neck, placing soft kisses along his skin.

"Are you sure you want to do this" he said breathing out and half wondering why he was trying to talk himself out of it.

"Want to do what?" she asked moving her hands under his shirt to feel his toned abdomen. He smirked as she got up suddenly, sure that she was just playing some twisted game with him.

"You coming?" She asked as her over sized shirt and underwear slipped to the floor.

* EDGE * APPARTMENT BLOCK 7 * 5th FLOOR * CYR'S APPARTMENT *

*14th September 1998* 22:59 *

Cyr yawned as she walked towards her door, answering it after about the hundredth mindless pounding. He was too tired to pear through the peep hold so held her gun to her side and opened the door.

"WHAT!?" she yelled, rarely loosing her cool. Her eyes now focused in on Rude.

"Cyr!! You're up" He stumbled into her and moved into the apartment

"What are you doing?" she asked "Are you drunk?"

He looked at her shocked as he slid into her arm chair "Drunk? No I'm Rude" he said slurring but serious, she couldn't help but allow her lips to smirk – amused by his current state.

"Do you know where you are Rude?" she asked knelling down in front of him, his eyes were closed and head resting on the side of the arm chair.

"Wanted to see Cyr" he muttered, eyes still closed and sleep obviously setting in "Wanted her-" Cyr wrinkled her forehead.

"Wanted her what?"

"Wanted to go to the dance with her" he stated, his voice drifting off to where ever his head had now wandered. She stared at the sleeping man for a moment, her heart bled for him. She pulled a blanket over him and turned off the light, leaving him to sleep off his intoxicated state. As she led in bed she thought about what he'd just said and smiled to herself.

* EDGE * APPARTMENT BLOCK 12 * 11th FLOOR * RENO'S APPARTMENT *

*14th September 1998* 22:59 *

Rhodes stretched out, she could feel her toes hook over the end of the mattress. A cool hand ran down her back, and back up again, down and up, down and up, stroking her softly. She turned onto her fount, letting her hand fall back onto the plump pillow.

Tseng carried on stroking her but this time along her toned belly. Rhodes looked at him with big eyes biting her lip. His hand found a small scar across her belly; she flinched at the touch, not out of pain but from hidden scars.

Tseng pulled his hand away and moved his muscular body closer to her, wrapping his strong arms around her delicate frame.

"I missed this…" he spoke softly into her hair, placing a gentle kiss on her forehead "… I've always regretted what happened with us"

"Me too… I'm sorry y'kno…" she ran her red nails through his silky black hair "…I miss you too" she laughed a little to herself "You better go, Reno would kill me if he knew"

"I don't care" Tseng smiled and rolled on top of her body, narrowing his eyes to hers "I can take him"

"I doubt that, you can't take me"

"I've already had you" Rhodes twisted her body around, pulling her body round onto Tseng's back so she was straddling his lower back before jumping off onto the cold wooden floor.

Tseng rolled over and watched her pull on a long robe and walking out into the hallway.

"Where you going?" he called after her

"Shower… like I said, Reno's back soon" she yelled from the bathroom, Tseng sighed and moved to the edge of the bed, letting his legs dangle off the side.

Rhodes popped her head around the door frame "You could join me if you wanna", there was a sexy smile across her lips. Tseng smiled back and dived up, nearly falling over, running across the cold hallway covering himself with his hands. She giggled as he ran past her.

She stood in the hallway for a moment and looked at the unmade bed, almost nostalgically. A strong hand gasped her wrist and Tseng pulled her into the bathroom, kicking the door closed.

She paused giving him a cheeky once over with her aqua eyes.

"What?" He asked

"Jump in the shower, Just gonna check with Reno, Make sure he's not back any time soon okay?" she asked. He pulled her close and kissed her tenderly.

"Sounds like a plan"

Rhodes exiting her back room, her robe still held protectively around her body… she walked over to the telephone and dialled the number she'd stored to memory. She payed with the telephone cord until he picked up.

'Reno' his voice rang out down the phone…

* EDGE * SEVENTH HEAVEN *

*14th September 1998* 23:06 *

Reno led back on Tifa's bed, she rang her fingers through his messed up hair while he stroked her exposed body with the back of his hand, feeling how soft her silky smooth skin felt against him.

He moaned and stuck his lip out, not partially looking at Tifa, just staring at the ceiling. She smiled, amused at his pouty expression.

"You're thinking… you're going to have to go soon?!" she half asked, half stated rolling onto of him so that he had no choice but to look at her. Her skin felt hot against his own making it even harder for him to leave.

"Aaa! Why are you doing this to me Miss Lockhart?!" he asked playfully as she lent down placing a lingering kiss on his soft lips.

"Doing what?" she asked coyly, moving her legs so they were straddling his slender hips, he raised an eye brow at her.

"That!" He grabbed her by the hips, rolling her over and pinning her down, pressing his body down on hers before she knew what had happened. She struggled briefly against him but then she was caught in her gaze, he moved his face towards her own letting his lips brush ever so gently against hers before pulling her into a passionate kiss.

Then his phone rang.

He groaned, Tifa just smiled as he rolled over. She moved behind him and as he answered the phone she began to rub her hands up and down the front of his body, causing him to close his eyes and bite his lip out of fear of letting out an exacerbated sigh or moan.

"Reno" he'd answered, the voice on the end of the phone killed the mood, he turned to Tifa and mouthed 'My sister', Tifa quickly backed off rolling over to the colder side of the bed.

"I'm… errr… just doing some work" even Tifa heard the laugh on the other end of the phone, followed by Reno turning bright red.

"Rho! There's a reason I don't tell you things yo!" he could feel his skin burning, there's something about your sister knowing that your in bed with a women that is quiet disturbing and embarrassing.

He looked at Tifa and mouthed an apology "Look, Rho I've gotta go-" he paused obviously being interrupted "-Home tonight?" he looked at Tifa and she just shrugged "No, I think I might crash here" he smiled at Tifa and she couldn't help but grin like a Cheshire cat back. "Okay, Yeah-yeah you too… okay… in a bit yo" with that he hung up the phone. He moved onto his side and looked at the beautiful women in front of him.

"Sorry about that"

"Its fine" she grinned "You two seem very close" she pointed out, realising they never really had talked about 'Rhodes' or any of his background, family before.

"We are, only problem is we both got the same annoying habits that drive each other insane!" He laughed, she just nodded and glanced down at the bed sheets, moving her finger in a figure of eight over the fine cotton material.

"I met her you know" Tifa glanced up at him momentarily before looking back down at the bed sheets. She could see his confused expression out of the corner of her eye. "When you were away, the last time, she stopped by…"

"What?! What do you mean she stopped by?!" she could hear some hurt in Reno's voice, as if they'd both got behind his back and conspired against him.

Tifa sighed "Well, not so much stopped by as… well what happened was…" she sighed again trying to find the right words "…I just picked Marlene up from school, we were nearly home when Marlene was nearly hit by the traffic, Your sister came out of nowhere and threw Marlene out of the path – So I invited her in for a drink"

"You invited my sister in for a drink? Is that why she knows about us?" he asked, wondering how she'd been that intuitive.

"Well its not like I knew she was your sister, its not like you've ever mentioned her before! I didn't know at the time!" Tifa moved away a little, feeling defensive "Look, I never said anything about us to her, we just talked about – about stuff. She did mention you and she recognised me as the 'ex-terrorist', and from the FIRESTORM incident!"

"So you honestly didn't tell her anything about me?"

"No!" she felt hurt that he couldn't just believe her "You never talk about your family, your so close to your sisters – she's such a huge part of your life and you won't share that with me!"

"You don't talk about your family!"

Tifa wrapped the top sheet around her protectively, her eyes wide and unbelieving that he could be so stupid sometimes. "Reno, My family is dead, you know that! My true family now is Marlene, Denzel and I suppose… you" her voice was quiet.

"You don't want me in your family" he stated

"Reno, are we together or not?" she asked, her voice nervous

"Well, yeah, what else would I be doing here yo?"

"Then we should be able to share everything! Even the dark parts of our pasts! You can't ever talk to me about your sister"

"Twin sister"

"Fine, Twin sister"

"I want to share everything with you but, but there are something's I just can't talk about okay?" he was getting angry

"Why can't you talk about them?!" she demanded

"Just leave it!" He moved off the bed pulling on his clothes. Tifa wasn't quiet sure what to do.

"R-Reno, wait…" he grabbed his phone and disappeared straight out of her bedroom window.

* EDGE * APPARTMENT BLOCK 7 * 6th FLOOR * ROSALIND'S APPARTMENT *

*14th September 1998* 22:06 *

Rosalind sighed, rolling over in bed but keeping the phone held against her ear. "…But I wasn't even sure if you were going so I just said yes to him…" she could hear the jealousy in his husky voice.

-"Lindy, I just thought you might have wanted to see if I was going first"-

"Oh yeah, like I was going to do that – we're not exclusive Rafe" Rosalind had been 'seeing' Rafe in the most casual sense of the word for the last few years, there relationship was more just 'good-friends-who-had-sex' considering the amount of time they were apart it was good for both of them, in was comfortable.

-"It could be exclusive"-

Rosalind paused for a moment unsure if he was joking or being serious. She cleared her throat "What?!"

-"All I'm saying is, we talk all the time on the phone, your one of my best friends-"-

"That's right 'f-r-i-e-n-d-s'" she spelt it out for him

-"yeah, we get along great… you gorgeous, I'm-"-

Rosalind rolled her eyes ready for his 'gorgeous' but it didn't come

-"… well your not completely repulsed by me"-

She laughed

-"…and you have to admit, we've got chemistry Lindy"-

"We've got chemistry? You mean fireworks, Gaia stops spinning the who shebang kinda thing?"

-"Well I don't like to blow my own trumpet…" he paused "Think about it, you know"-

She rolled her eyes "Okay, okay… look I need to get some beauty sleep, We can talk tomorrow okay?"

She heard him sigh down the phone –"Sure"-

As she placed the handset down a smile crept across her features. She stood up and walked out into the living room, stopping to kneel down by the sofa where are sleeping sister was led. They'd both been working today, looking after Rufus while the rest of the troops had their whole weekend off (Except Cyr who was training newbies). Elena looked exhausted. They'd been spending more and more time together recently and had formed a real bond. She pulled the blanket up over her and placed a soft kiss on her forehead before turning off the TV and settling down in bed.