Disclaimer: You know the drill, I don't own anything Final Fantasy.

The next morning Tifa awoke to the sound of an electric saw. She rubbed her head.

"What is that terrible noice." She checked her alarm clock, it was about 9am.

Tifa picked up her dressing gown and went to investigate. Reno stepped out of the room he had been given to stay in.

Tifa blushed, he was fully dressed while she was in a bathrobe.

"Going to investigate?" He questioned.

She nodded, "That noice is driving me mad!"

They walked through into the living room, Cid and Barret were standing in the door way that led to the garden.

"Hey Tiff, check out construction Barbie." Cid chuckled.

Reno and Tifa went out into the garden.

"What are you doing Lena?" Reno asked. Elena was chain sawing a piece of wood down.

Her own clothes had been washed so she had changed, she was wearing jeans and had her shirt tied up revealing her waist, she had her finger less gloves on to protect her hands whilst sawing. She had also tied her short hair up, which didn't seem to be doing any good as the front bit was still hanging in front of her face.

Elena stopped sawing and wiped her forehead with her arm.

"Fixing the door of course!" She replied as if it were obvious.

Tifa was touched by this, she didn't think Elena would do it herself.

"I didn't know you were so good at repairs!" She said sounding impressed.

"Well you know, I'm just full of surprises!" Elena said proudly.

"Be careful with that saw, and wear these so you don't get dust in your eyes." Reno advised as he put his sunglasses on her, his hair flopped over his face.

"Thanks Reno, do I look cool?" She asked.

Tifa and Reno nodded in unison. Elena smiled and went back to work.

"Fancy some breakfast?" Tifa asked the men.

"Yes, that sounds £$%%" great Tifa!" Cid said happily.

They went back inside.

Barret came over to talk to Tifa, "Maybe I was too hard on her." he said softly.

Tifa looked out the window, There was something unusual about Elena, she had the ability to win anyone over. "I don't know how she does it." she thought.

"So how about pancakes?" Tifa said as she began to get food out.

Aeris came out of her and Cloud's bedroom.

"Oh goody, did I hear pancakes!!" Aeris announced.

"Yup, you sure did, do you want to help me make them?!" Tifa replied smiling at her friend.

Aeris nodded, Tifa handed her an apron and they began cooking. Aeris was so pleased that Tifa wasn't angry at her anymore, "Just like old times." She thought, "but with a few differences." she added as she noticed Elena now sanding down the door.

Yuffie got up out of bed and dressed, she could smell delicious food. She ran out of her room quickly.

"I wonder if Vincent's up?" She stopped in her tracks and ran backwards down the hall to Vince's room.

She knocked on his door.

"Who is it." He asked.

"Its Yuffie!" She replied.

"I can't come out."

"Why not?" She asked sounding confused.

"Because everyone will laugh."

"Vince, what is going on, tell me now."

Vincent stuck his arm around the door and pulled Yuffie in.

She burst out laughing, "What happened to your hair."

"I don't know, I just woke up and it looked like this." Vincent sighed as he continued trying to brush his hair down, it had gone static and frizzy.

"I'll fix it later, but right now I want breakfast." she promised, she tied his hair back into a tight ponytail so no one would notice his hair disaster.

They joined the others in the living room/ kitchen area.

Yuffie peered out the door the way in the same way the others had done, Elena waved to them. Yuffie waved back.

"I bet her chainsaw could sort out your hair." She whispered to Vincent.

Vincent didn't look impressed, "It's not funny, It must be the moisture in the air."

Yuffie laughed "I would never imagined you fussing over your hair."

Vincent poked her nose.

Aeris delivered the pancakes, she put them on the coffee table in the living room.

She glanced around the room, "Lazy Cloud, he must still be sleeping!" Aeris went off to wake him up.

When she returned, the pancakes had gone, fortunately Tifa bought some more in.

Cloud sleepily sat down and began eating.

Elena came through the house carrying the door, she drilled it in place and tested it.

"Yes, It works!" She shouted happily. "It just needs painting now."

"Take a break for breakfast, and I bet Marlene would like to help you paint." Barret called over to her.

Elena smiled and nodded, she had gained Barret acceptance.

"Umm These are great." she said as she tucked in.

Marlene came into the room, riding on Red XIII's, back.

"Wow, did you do all that?" Marlene asked as jumped of him and sat down with Elena, she had grown very fond of the ex-Turk.

"Yes I did, and you can help me paint it if you want?" Elena answered as she served Marlene some pancakes.

"Really, Cool!!! I love painting." she replied excitedly.

The little girl got up on to the sofa and hugged the blonde.

Tifa and Aeris came to join the rest of the group.

"You did a great job!" Aeris complemented as she ate.

"These pancakes are yummy Aunty Tifa and Flower lady." Marlene announced.

"What do you think Cloud?" Aeris asked.

"ZZzzzzzzzzzZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzz" Cloud replied, he had fallen asleep on the sofa.

"Aeris! you must have worn him out last night." Cid said with a wink.

She blushed. "Oh Cid! Don't be so crude."

After breakfast everyone went to do their own things, except for Cloud who was still sleeping.

"Right! time for 'operation fix Vincent's hair'!" Yuffie said when they were back in his room.

She took out the hair band and began brushing it, she wasn't getting anywhere.

"I'll have to wash it, come on." She pulled him into the bath room quickly so no one would see.

"Heheheheheh, A little of this and a splash of that!" Yuffie commentated as she poured a number of shampoo's and conditioners on his head.

"Yuf, are you sure you know what you're doing?" He asked.

"Of course, you can tell by my hair that I know what I'm doing." Yuffie flicked her hair.

"It does look nice." Vincent replied.

Yuffie smiled and rinsed off his hair.

They ran back into his room.

"Okay, now I'm going to do something drastic, but I assure you It will look good." Yuffie warned.

"What are you going to...." He was interrupted by the sound of hair falling on the floor.

"Arghh, you cut my hair!!" Vince picked up the large chunk of hair.

"Come on, sit down or I'll give you a perm." she joked.

She snipped away at his hair, it was a lot more fun than it should have been.

When she was finished, she turned him round to inspect her work. Yuffie brushed the remaining hair of his shoulder's.

"You look so good, I'm a genius." Yuffie said proudly, Vincent turned to look in the mirror.

The front part of his hair was still quite long and still shaped his face, but it was a lot shorter at the back. It looked similar to the way he had it when he was a Turk.

"Do you really think it looks okay?" He asked.

"Yes, I really like it!" Yuffie said looking up at him.

"Thank you Yuffie." He lifted her up and hugged her.

Yuffie laughed and hugged him back.

Elena and Marlene stood back and looked at their work.

"Are you sure your dad said it was okay to paint it red?" Elena asked.

"Well sorta, But I think it looks great in red."

"Me too." Elena agreed. Marlene giggled.

"What's so funny?"

"You have paint on your cheek." Marlene pointed up at her.

"Oh no really!! But you know, you have paint right here." Elena said as she lent down and smudged paint on her nose.

"Hey." she giggled.

"Lets go get cleaned up." Elena suggested.

Marlene nodded in agreement.

They went into the house and washed the paint off.

Marlene wondered off to find Elmyra.

Elena came into the living room and sat down on the sofa. Cloud had gotten up by now and dressed.

"Thank you for doing that Elena, It was really nice of you." He said.

"No problem." She smiled.

"Cloud ? I hope you don't mind me asking, but, I mean, didn't Aeris.........die?" She said delicately.

"I used a very powerful Materia to bring her back." He replied.

"Oh wow, I never imagined that there would be a Materia like that!" Elena gasped.

Cloud pulled the Materia out of his shirt, he kept it on a necklace as a memory of what he had done.

The shiny Materia reflected in her eyes.

"If you want you can use it to...... well you know." Cloud handed it to her. She stared at it in wonder, Elena snapped back into reality.

"Oh thank you so much, but I couldn't, too much has happened and I've moved on, things would be way too complicated, also I feel that Tseng is happy dead."

Cloud gave her a confused look.

"I know that sounds weird, but that's what I feel." she handed the Materia back to Cloud. "And it would be too hard on his child, it wouldn't understand how his dad came back from dead."

"Yeah, I heard about that." Cloud said thoughtfully.

"I wonder where Reno went?" Elena thought as she glanced around.

Vincent and Yuffie came out of his room.

Cloud and Elena stared at him in amazement.

"You had a hair cut." Cloud stated.

"It looks cool." Elena complemented.

"Yuffie did it." Vincent replied.

"It seems like everyone is revealing their hidden talent's today." Cloud mused.

"Wow, nice hair Vincent. Umm..... Elena there is someone here to see you." Aeris said as she joined them.

Elena was dreading this, she stood up and walked outside.

Taking a few deep breath's, she stepped out into the cool autumn sun.

Rude was standing in front of her.

"I thought I would find you here." He said calmly.

He stood there staring, she had Reno's sunglasses on her head.

Rude stepped forward and took them off her. She snatched them back and put them back on her head. Some where along the line Elena had surpassed Rude's strength and speed. He never noticed how powerful she had become.

"Come back with me, please." He asked.

"I'm sorry, but I can't do that."

"Elena, I've been so worried about you....." He began

"That's exactly it, you don't understand me at all." Elena sighed.

"But I love you." Rude pleaded.

"No you don't, you love the me that you want me to be."

"You're talking crap........" Rude said losing his cool slightly.

"Goodbye." She said as she leant forward and kissed his cheek.

"Don't walk away from me!" Rude shouted.

Elena ignored him, he grabbed hold of her wrist and pulled her back.

"What you and Rufus said about Reno made me feel sick, I can't even look at you. How on earth do you expect me to love you!?" Elena said bitterly.

"But....He's a waste of space now, he's not like he was before." Rude started again.

"Rude, you don't have a clue what your going on about. Reno's going to be okay, If I were you I'd worry about my own life." Elena tried to yank her hand away, he squeezed her arm tightly, causing her to gasp in pain.

"I won't let you go." He said sounding determined.

"I preferred it when you hardly said a word." Elena whimpered, she remembered her conversation she had had with Reno about being strong, Her body tensed and she successfully yanked her arm free.

"What he did was wrong and evil." Rude begged her.

"Wrong and evil are just words, And why do you think you know whats right, you've done bad things as well. Now go back to your dingy little warehouse and leave me alone."

"I'm not leaving without you." Rude didn't seem to be hearing her.

"Yes you are, because I'm not yours to take." with that she walked into the house.

Yuffie had been watching out the window. Rude stood outside for a while and then just turned and walked off, he looked more angry and disappointed than upset.

"He's gone." She announced.

Elena felt so relieved.

Tifa and Reno entered the room, they had been sitting in the garden.

"Rude was just here." Cloud told them.

"I got rid of him." Elena told him, "It was like I thought, he wanted to take me back with him."

"I'm proud of you for standing up to him, I knew you could do it." Reno said as he high fived her.

Elena felt proud of herself now, she couldn't help but show her excitement, she felt she was really free now. Elena jumped up, Reno caught her and held her up by her hips, she put her hands on his shoulders to keep balance.

"Hahahahaha, I told him everything, I feels great to get it off my chest!"

"That's my girl!" Reno said as he put her down and hugged her.

Tifa looked away to stop herself from feeling jealous, she didn't understand how they could have bonded so quickly, her thoughts were interrupted when she noticed Vincent.

"That's a nice look for you." she said to him.

Vincent rubbed the back of his neck and blushed slightly, he wasn't used to all the attention he was receiving.

"We should celebrate!" Yuffie suggested, she hadn't really enjoyed the last party that they had had so she was hoping for a better one to erase the memory.

"Celebrate Vincent's hair?" Aeris asked.

"Yeah and because we have nothing else to do."

"That's a good point." Tifa added.

"Alright, I'm in a partying kind of mood!" Aeris agreed that it was a good idea.

"Could it be like a bonfire party, with fireworks and marshmallows?" Tifa asked.

"That would be appropriate as it is autumn." Vincent added, he wasn't really a party person, but this could be fun.

Tifa wanted to know what Reno thought, he still had his arms around Elena.

"What do you think, feel like partying?" Tifa asked.

"Will there be beer?" he joked.

Tifa laughed, "Of course."

Yuffie was seeing another side to her attacker, he was less with the crazy and more with the fun. She no longer feared him, she hadn't forgiven him and probably never would, but she was pleased to see that her theory was working.

A/N: please review.