"…And it was all fine until that woman started having an affair with my husband!"

On the TV, two distinctive looking women simultaneously went for each others throats, trading insults and abuse. In between them sat a man, obviously very pleased with himself, looking on as the pair dissolved into a catfight. The host of the show stood on, powerless to intervene.

"Two Gil whore!"

Linden chuckled as he watched. He had been restricted to the Lounge for a while now, only allowed out on missions when there was non-strenuous job to be done. Frustrated, he had passed the time by watching trashy TV shows and taking the mickey out of anyone unfortunate to cross his path. Since he had hardly left the Turks floor, this list had been considerably narrowed down to two prime targets. Preston had threatened to compound on Linden's injury tally, while Vincent had opted to simply ignore him (although he'd noticed that the leader of the Turks had been acting even weirder than normal the past few days).

Nothing sobered you up like almost getting killed, and he'd spent a couple of days feeling out of sorts. He was feeling much better now that Deacon had been released from hospital, plus his own plaster cast had been taken off.

The two women on TV were being forcibly separated by four burly security men.

"Now ladies… Ladies please…"

"She's nothing but a cheap slut!"

And they were off again.

It was at this point that the main door smashed open, and a infuriated looking Vincent strode in. Linden opened his mouth to enquire how his superior was, but changed his mind. Slamming the door behind him, Vincent stormed across the room and into the practice dojo without a word.

The junior Turk watched his leader intently. Vincent had never been one for displays of emotion (a long standing joke amongst the group revolved around his actually being a prototype from the Robotics Division) so there weren't many things that could get him riled up like that. An affront or injury to a member of the Turks was one, they'd found that out recently, though they hadn't discovered it as intimately as Mr Sullivan had. Seeing as how he personally was still in one piece, Linden was almost certain it wasn't that, so as far as he was concerned it came down to either an exceptionally obnoxious assignment or a woman. And considering that Vincent's last words before departing earlier were "I'm just off to the Science department", you didn't have to be a world class detective to put two and two together. The smart money was on a certain little lady scientist.

Normally the private affairs of other employees were just that – private. But the relationship between the Turks went somewhat beyond the norm. When you worked closely with a small group of people like they did, risking your life almost every time you went outside (and inside as well now he thought about it), you looked out for each other. Hells, the only real time Vincent let down a little of his infamous guard was when the Turks were off duty together. One for all and all for one.

Linden pondered for a moment before easing himself out of his chair and slowly strolling over to the door of the practice room. Vincent was always extremely touchy about personal matters, and there was a 50/50 chance he'd get his head bitten off for even trying, the mood his leader was in right now. Still…

He reached the door, and leaned on the frame, watching. Vincent was inside, pulling off his jacket and tie. A karate gi was heaped on the floor next to him. He noticed Linden arrive and looked up at him, although he didn't stop getting changed.

"Don't even start" he warned the other Turk. "One smart ass comment from you and I'll give you more than a broken arm."

Linden rocked back on his heels. Oooookay. Definitely woman trouble. He opted to remain in the doorway, not overly enthusiastic about getting much closer to his irate superior.

"What happened?" he asked quietly, deciding to take a slightly more subtle approach than he normally would. "What did she do?"

Vincent scowled in response. "What makes you think it's anything to do with Lucrecia?" he muttered darkly. Linden gave a lopsided grin, seeing his deductions hit home.

"You're looking at the man who's seen more women go cuckoo than he's had hot dinners" he reminded his colleague. "I've seen everything. From the kind who throw plates at your wall to those that go for your throat with a knife. In fact I'm probably over-qualified in that department. So I have this sixth sense about these things. Plus you kind of gave it away with the look on your face when you said her name."

Nailed him. Linden waited while Vincent donned the karate outfit and tied a thick black belt round his waist. When he was finished, he paused, and stared straight at the blank wall.

"She knows who I am" he said eventually. "What I am."

"And she didn't before?"

"No."

Linden whistled. That might explain one or two things. Vincent finally turned his head round. "She's just over from Mideel and didn't recognise me, and I never told her outright. Now she's done some detective work and found out that she's been having lunch with one of Shinra's assassins and she's having some kind of panic attack and won't even look at me let alone talk to me and why the hell am I telling you anything about my personal life?" He managed to get all of that out without pausing for breath. Linden was impressed.

"That's gotta be the most I've ever heard you say all at once" he remarked before he could stop himself.

"You're a glutton for punishment. What body parts are non-essential to your job?"

"I work better with everything intact, thanks" retorted the blonde man quickly. "Anyway, you're telling me about this because you're pissed off and I've got way more experience dealing with women than you."

Vincent walked over slowly. "Linden Nelson, you promised me, on pain of pain, that you would not interfere with this." Linden held up his hands in mock surrender.

"Sure, but that doesn't mean I can't offer some friendly advice about it, does it?" Silence. Vincent stalked back over to the centre of the room and assumed the starting position of the opening kata, hoping that physical exertion would help release his anger. "Either forget about her or do your damndest to get her back. I can tell you like her, so why aren't you out there sorting it?"

He didn't get any form of reply this time, and it appeared that the conversation was at an end. Vincent was pointedly ignoring his colleague, instead moving through the motions of the karate kata. Linden pursed his lips and thought for a minute, before leaving the room and heading straight out of the Lounge and into a lift.

oOo

"Excuse me, Dr Crescent?"

Lucrecia turned round, hearing someone calling her name across the HQ reception area. She found herself face to face with a tall man, slightly scruffy in appearance, jogging over to her. His tie was half undone, and his white shirt was creased, but for the second time in one day, there was no mistaking the distinctive blue suit. This man was a Turk.

Unconsciously she backed away towards the exit, holding her files in front of her chest as a barrier. Not that it was much of a deterrent. "Sorry?"

The man smiled disarmingly and her treacherous brain started wondering how many people had died with that smile as the last thing they saw. None of which helped her nervousness in the slightest, and she took a couple more faltering steps backward. However, now the man had found her, he made no other move, instead simply stood there, hands in pockets, relaxed.

For his part, Linden was quite pleased with himself. Upon leaving the Turks Lounge, he'd gone straight up to the Science department and accosted the nearest person in a white coat he came across to ask for Lucrecia's whereabouts. The cornered scientist explained that Dr Crescent had left on an errand into the city only a few minutes ago. Cursing under his breath, he pelted back into the lift, and bolted out into Reception, in the hope that he would catch her before she vanished into the general populace. He was hampered by the fact he'd never actually seen her before, and was relying on Vincent's very ambiguous description. He was beginning to wonder if he was too late, when a woman emerged from a stairwell. She was of medium height, with light brown hair pulled back into a pony tail by a thread of yellow ribbon. A pair of small glasses were perched on her delicate face. Looking at her, Linden had to appreciate Vincent's taste. The Doctor was wearing a skirt, not short enough to be scandalous, but of a length that showed off her legs to perfection. A knitted sweater concealed the rest of her curves, giving vague hints as to what lay beneath. This had to be her.

"You are Dr Lucrecia Crescent, aren't you?" She nodded, mute. "Thought so" he grinned. "The boss said you were pretty, and I've always had an eye for the pretty ones."

His casual manner was doing her nerves no good whatsoever. The boss. That could only be one person, couldn't it? Had Vincent sent one of his henchmen to remonstrate with her for avoiding him? After that scene in the Science Department earlier... She felt all the colour drain from her face.

The man made no threatening moves however. Although he freely admitted the fact that he was a notorious womaniser, Linden also knew how to be smooth with the ladies. Immediately he noticed that the Doctor was on edge and decided to deploy the full force of his charm. "Please, there's something I wanna chat to you about. Would you walk with me a minute?" he said politely, offering her his arm.

Apprehensively, Lucrecia accepted, figuring that if he was out to kill her then he would have done so by now. Anyway, even if she ran the Turks would catch up with her, they always did…

"You know, once you've been a Turk for while, you start to notice things about women."

"You do?" she answered warily. He nodded in response as he escorted her out of the HQ and onto the busy street.

"Sure you do. Like, there's basically two kinds of woman. The first kind find the whole idea of being a Turk a turn on. They like bad boys, the danger, the life. Gold diggers, a lot of them, we got money and they want a share. You get them all the time, throwing themselves at you." He flashed a toothy grin. "Then there's the other kind of girl, the nice ones, the intelligent ones. The ones you can a conversation with. They get scared by the job that you do and they run away." Lucrecia couldn't quite bring herself to meet his eye. Instead she just carried on walking, arm in arm, down the pavement.

"Now me" the man carried on, "me I like the first kind of woman. Easy come, easy go. I'm not bothered about any of this conversation stuff, it's not my thing. But Vincent, now he's different. He likes the second kind of woman." He looked over at her and this time she caught his eye. "He likes you."

A wave of conflicting emotions washed over her. He liked her! A man actually liked her, and a handsome, intelligent man at that. But a Turk… He was a killer, there was no getting around that. She opened her mouth to speak, but he didn't give her the opportunity.

"Now, I'm guessing you didn't know what he did until a few days ago, am I right? You found out he was a Turk and you got scared. Not that I blame you. We've got a terrible reputation, and we deserve it. I'm an asshole, I know that, and I wouldn't blame any woman for getting out while she could. Vincent isn't, he's not a bastard like I am." Linden stopped walking and turned round to face her full on. "I'm gonna ask you a question, and I want an honest answer, OK?"

"OK." Lucrecia bit her lip, wondering where this was leading.

"You liked him, didn't you? Before you knew he was a Turk, I mean."

The young scientist dropped her gaze. Yes, she did like him. The leader of the Turks was a charismatic man in his own way. Quiet, but clever. He'd always been polite, listened to her and took an interest in what she said, something men had never seemed to do before. Past experience had proved that at the mere mention of the word "science", most peoples' eyes glazed over very quickly. She nodded weakly. "Yes, I do. I mean, I did."

"Alright. He hasn't changed since you found out, he's still the same guy. So what's the problem?"

Lucrecia frowned a little – couldn't he see what the problem was? "He's a Turk!" she exclaimed.

"So? He was a Turk when you met him and you liked him well enough then."

The scientist stopped in her tracks, halting her companion. "Did he put you up to this?" she asked, some of her fear having been transformed into mild anger. Irate that he was questioning her judgement like this, and although she wouldn't admit it, did actually have a point. "If he sent you here to try and sweet talk me…"

The scruffy Turk looked decidedly embarrassed. "No, he didn't" Linden said hastily, raising his hands in protest. "In fact, he expressly forbid me from ever interfering in his love life a long time ago." Was it just her imagination or was he shuffling his feet? "If he knew I was doing this now he'd go into conniptions…"

In spite of herself, Lucrecia found a tiny smile worming its way onto her face. This entire situation was so completely ridiculous that some part of her couldn't help but find it amusing.

"In fact it wouldn't surprise me if he grounded me for another week" Linden moped, wandering off into a world of his own. "If I have to spend one more day in there I'll go crazy. Or he could put me on surveillance, I bet that's something his sick mind would find hilarious." He suddenly realised she was staring at him. "Not that he's sick" he clarified hastily, "I just mean he's got this weird sense of humour. I say humour, it's more like… Ah crap."

As she regarded him, Lucrecia noticed that he didn't seem anywhere near as intimidating as he had to begin with. If he hadn't been wearing the suit, she would have thought him to be like any other man she'd met. Resigned, finally she allowed her smile to spread. "You do realise that I have absolutely no idea who you are" she said.

Linden quickly introduced himself. "Linden Nelson, at your service" he replied with a cheeky grin. "Incidentally, are there many women in the Science department as good looking as you?"