A/N: As always, constructive comments and reviews welcome. Also looking for a beta reader if anyone would like to!

"The x-rays are clear, no apparent head or spine injuries, minimal internal damage, but there's heavy bruising of the ribcage and that shoulder socket may need physio as soon as it's healed properly. All in all, you got lucky this time!" The older doctor's eyes glanced over his glasses to meet the Reno's eyes as he propped himself up on his good arm in the hospital bed.

The side room they had been allocated was comfortable enough and tucked away from the chaos of the waiting room. Once word that one of their own was in a side room, the treatment came quickly, Ava's closest friends giving a sigh of relief that it wasn't her in the bed, although she could sense the question on their lips…. "so, who is this guy?"

Dr Harrison switched his gaze to look at Ava, who had remained by the bedside throughout all the tests, seemingly now attached to this guy she'd found in the street.

"I'm not happy with him being discharged without some supervision, but we're wall-to-wall in here." She knew that all too well. There was no room for "accidents" to hang around when there were "emergencies" waiting for pick up. But from what she'd gleaned from conversation with him, she doubted Reno was the type to follow doctor's orders. Or the highway code.

"He can come home with me; I can look after him for a few hours." Her response surprised both herself and the redhead on the bed. The doctor, however, seemed quietly pleased.

"Hey, no worries, I can call up a buddy to come take care of me –"Reno piped up before the doctor whipped back around to look at him.

"Is this 'buddy' medically trained?"

The patient looked up at him, struggling to contain an eye roll "Doc, I'll be fine".

The doctor looked back at Ava and gave her a swift nod, i.e. 'he's going home with you for observation, do not let him go home with his friend for at least a few hours.' Amazing the conversations you can have with just your body language. Ava looked back to the redhead "You can come back with me, I've got brownies in the fridge, you know, to keep your sugar up". His eyes lit up a little with amusement.

"I honestly can get someone to come get me"

"And if you do, Dr Harrison will murder me – will you play ball?"

He chuckled and settled back onto the hospital bed, "Here's me thinkin' you were gonna talk to my boss about unreasonable expectations"

She sent him a mock glare before he raised his palms to surrender.

Ava decided it would be best to get a taxi home, this guy needed to rest up, the last thing he needed was to be walking around with his current list of ailments. This guy also needed a name, speaking of which, "So, I'm Ava, what's your name?". He looked to her from the adjoining seat in the back of the cab, seemed to hesitate slightly and then, "Reno, and thanks for helpin' me out. Didn't really getta chance to say it while everythin' else was goin' on."

"Reno? Never come across that name before. It suits you" she decided, nodding slightly to herself, earning a grin from him.

The taxi pulled up outside her house. Her housemate would have surely been whisked off by his date to some fancifully romantic place, leaving her to await his return to get the juicy gossip.

"Ah! You were almost home before I crashed, yo" She'd hoped he'd wouldn't remember exactly where he'd had his accident in relation to their current position, but to his credit, he was very much aware of the situation. He observed everything, she'd noticed. There was also an unsaid apology in his statement, almost a "sorry I crashed, and you had to help me just before you got home".

"Please don't worry, you needed help more than I needed to get home" she waved him off, opened the door and gestured for him to follow her out before moving to the front window and paying the driver. Reno patted down his jacket to find his wallet before she shoved it back into his hands.

With a jingle of her keys at the bottom of her backpack, she whisked them out and hopped up the steps, 1, 2, 3, before slotting them into the lock and with a gentle hand on his arm, inviting him in. The townhouse she shared with Luke was spacious enough for two of them, stairs to the bedrooms and bathroom greeting you the second you opened the door, living room and dining room to the left and kitchen straight ahead. Reno seemed to be absorbing the atmosphere, the coffee table with yesterday's letters on, a photo frame with Ava beaming up at him, flanked by university friends doing the same, the scent of… Luke didn't clear up his takeaway before he went out. Several spicy dishes in boxes from the Wutai'an place were scattered on the dining table.

Before he commented on anything, he was surprised as she took his hand to lead him up the stairs. Her skin was soft and smooth, much more inviting to hold than his, he thought idly as he followed her until she opened a bedroom door that was undoubtedly hers, he could tell, even though he'd only known her for a short while. Him ending up in a woman's bedroom not having had a drink or having flirted his way in was a new experience. She sat on the edge of the double bed, "Take your shoes off and lie down, you need to rest, did you need water, tea, something to eat?"

He looked up at her face – a nurse in shining armour. She was tired, he realised that early on, but she was beautiful. Not a scrap of makeup on and in her work scrubs, shorter than the average woman by about…. 5 inches, to be polite, but her porcelain skin provided the perfect contrast to dark eyes and brown hair (scrunched up into a bun, but he'd have bet it was long). In his reverie, she'd been peering at him through the longest eyelashes he'd ever seen. He was about to answer when his traitorous stomach grumbled.

"Something to eat then, I've had a stew slow cooking all day, be right back" she smiled before adding "I hope I did turn it on before leaving this morning", leaving him alone in her room. He took a few seconds to take in the evening's events. He'd been in a crash sustaining only superficial injuries – at that thought his ribs tinged painfully – maybe not that superficial – and somehow found his way into a woman's bedroom. He did have a knack for landing on his feet. He grinned to himself, looking around the room, soft colours, soft sheets. She was a sentimentalist for sure, he noted, photos of friends, loved ones… a family dog? Old Christmas and birthday cards in a box underneath one of the nightstands… where he would usually keep his gun. Best not to make comparisons between a nurse and a corporate spy. He nestled back into the pillows. She was right, he did need rest, it wouldn't hurt to crash here for a couple of hours, would it? He'd shed his leathers and his shoes to lie on the bed in his crumpled suit. Eyes closing just a little, he then realised he hadn't told either Rude or Tseng about his predicament. Best to tell Rude first.

"Yo, you'll never guess what happened" he didn't even wait for a 'hello' when his partner picked up. Just a muffled grunt on the other end of the line. Rude wasn't a talker but he was one of the best listeners Reno'd ever met. Which helped, because, when he wasn't injured, Reno never shut up.

"Don't tell him, but messed up the bike pretty bad, yeah, yeah, I know, I'm fine, ended up in a hot nurse's bed, still here in fact" he kept his voice down, but couldn't help grin around the words.

What sounded like mild chastisement came from the other end. "Nah, don't come get me just now yo, I'm gettin' dinner. 5-star service y'know." With that, the bedroom door swung open, Reno pocketed his phone, but it wasn't quite what he was expecting. The guy was about as tall as he was, maybe just over 6 foot, but had much broader shoulders, a classically handsome man. Shit, was this a boyfriend?

"It ain't what it looks like buddy" was the first thing that rolled off his tongue, he didn't fancy a fight in his condition. The other guy just laughed, tray of stew in hand, with water on the side and handed it to Reno.

"And what does it look like, 'buddy'"? came the reply. Reno was trying to gauge this guy's mood. Trying to come up with a comeback he opened his mouth before his companion held up his hands.

"Just the housemate, old school friend, no competition for the 'hot nurse'" he wiggled his eyebrows, tone dripping with humour. So he had been eavesdropping. Reno didn't quite believe him, nestled a bit further into the pillows to sit upright. A guy like him living with a girl like her and nothing going on…?

"I'm Luke, my date bailed on me tonight," he looked up a little bit, "to be honest he did seem a bit flaky on the app, but thought he'd at least turn up" he finished by rolling his eyes. Reno implicitly understood.

"OH! So you two ain't…."

A laugh, "No."

"Oh cool" Reno replied, surprised that he actually felt relieved. He didn't want to delve into why he was feeling relieved considering he'd known this woman all of 2 or 3 hours. He picked up his fork, He'd noticed the absence of anything resembling a boyfriend in the photo frames, none of the writing in the cards seemed to give off a vibe of intimacy. There were guys in there, sure, but the spaces left in between them, even with hands around shoulders, screamed platonic.

After a short awkward silence, Reno just nodded and shovelled the food into his mouth – 'Hey, this stuff was really good.' It was like Luke was reading his mind.

"She's a really good cook, which is where she is now, preparing dessert, apparently someone needs a sugar hit to make sure they 'get well soon'" Luke looked up at Reno again with smile.

Mouth full of food he managed the words "Huh" and "dessert?". If she was offering, he wouldn't turn it down. Luke just laughed, nodded and headed out of the room, leaving the door ajar as he disappeared down the stairs. He could just about hear Luke calling to the kitchen "the patients had his meal delivered!" and a jingly "thank you" in response.

Reno hadn't had a home cooked meal in…. forever? Maybe that wasn't true, but it had been years since he'd eaten without money changing hands unless he'd made it himself – and he was a terrible cook, so that didn't happen often. He couldn't help but think to himself - why was this woman being so nice to him, would she have been nice to him had she known what he does for a living? Reno swallowed a lump that he didn't know was there. Maybe? I mean she looked after people for a living, right? Maybe this kindness was just her way and didn't really mean anything in particular. That didn't sit right with him either. Plenty of nurses had patched him up after missions and they hadn't been as welcoming or as kind. He questioned whether or not it was because he was used to getting patched up in a Shinra infirmary rather than a general hospital. He'd finished his meal before he was done pondering on the question when the woman on his mind came through the door.

"How are you feeling?" her voice was gentle as she perched on the bed, looking towards him, before he could answer she added "Sorry I've been downstairs for a while, I needed to cook up a new batch of brownies, turns out Luke can eat 4 in one sitting". She presented him with a bowl with the sweet treat in, tucked under fast melting ice cream.

He chuckled in response "You didn't need to go through all that effort ya'know"

"It's really no problem. How are your ribs holding up?" he glanced up at her, "Yes, I noticed you nursing them when you first settled on the bed."

"Not the worst they've been" he managed a grin. She hummed in response just as his phone buzzed in his pocket.

"That'll be my partner – work partner, not partner-partner" he hastily clarified. There'd already been light-hearted rumours at work about Reno and Rude just chucking it all in to haul up in Costa de Sol together someday. Reno bet that he'd have Rude climbing up the walls within a week tops. They already tried sharing an apartment when they were both rookies. They remained best friends but living together was a stretch.

Ava was about to excuse herself to let Reno take the phone call when a knock on the door came at the same time. Luke got up to answer it, having nestled himself in the living room. The man at the door was tall, taller than Luke or Reno, his head shaved and donning sunglasses even at - Ava checked her watch - 10 at night.

"Erm… hello?" Ava greeted the man, her head peeking out from the stairs.

He nodded in reply and said very simply "I think you're taking care of my colleague."

"Uh, Reno?" he raised an eyebrow, surprised that she knew his name, "yeah, he's upstairs"

Another nod and he followed her up the stairs to the bedroom where his partner was sitting happily, having just finished his second course.

"Yo, Rude, ya didn't have to ring if you're at the front door" he smiled up at the other man. Rude grunted in reply. If it wasn't so odd, Ava would have laughed. Truly the odd couple, Rude seemed a complete introvert even compared to Reno's subdued personality at the moment. Reno tilted his head towards him, but looked at Ava, "My work-partner and best buddy". The almost brotherly affection was quite sweet. Or it would have been had Rude not been openly glaring at the redhead, no doubt fuming he'd got himself in a crash.

"Sorry, he's probly right to come get me," Reno started to ease himself up from the bed, "Thanks for helpin' me out, appreciate it." He slipped on his shoes and balled up his leathers before walking steadily behind his partner as they descended the stairs. Ava followed them both down towards the front door, where Luke was still loitering, not quite understanding the dynamic between the two impromptu guests in the house.

Rude nodded twice, once to Ava and once to Luke as a short and sweet 'thank you' before making an exit, car keys in hand. Reno, on the other hand, just about got over the threshold of the doorway before turning around, throwing a hand through his hair, "Hey, uh, look, if you're free somet-"

His phone chose that time to ring, looking down at the contact, he just sighed, mouthed a 'sorry' and 'thanks' before picking the phone up and walking towards the car: "Chief" is all that Ava could hear as he walked further away. Luke closed the door gently and then asked the question that had been bugging them both.

"What the hell was that about then?"