Disclaimer: I do not own FF7

"Hey," the doctor said as she pulled the glass away from the shinobi, "know your limit," she finished with a laugh.

Yuffie grinned at her friend as she pulled away from the margarita in defeat.

"Sorry," she replied, "Your not the first one to notice my love for drinks."

The two laughed as they continued to talk and laugh in the bar. It was a nice escape for the both of them with all that was going on. They had been away from Midgar for about two weeks now and the whole investigation about Chekhov's murderer was still in progress. However they tried not to focus on it, even if it was hard to do.

"So have you talked to Reeve?" Yuffie asked as the bartender placed a glass of soda in front of her.

"No," MeiLin said sadly with a sigh. "Everything has been so crazy I haven't had a chance to talk to him in a few days."

The ninja smiled, "Don't worry he's not going anywhere."

MeiLin nodded, "yeah I know it's just....I miss him," she explained as her voice lowered.

Yuffie's smile faded as she looked at her friend. She hated to see her like this. She knew exactly how she was feeling. There wasn't a day that had went by where she didn't think about Cloud. Every night when she was in bed she would always glance to the other side expecting to see the blonde fast asleep. Or waiting for him to enter her room like he had done many times before when he was in Wutai, simply just to get her to watch a movie on TV with him. She sighed as she looked at the table, she knew it had too have been ten times worse for MeiLin. Yeah sure everyone knew there was something there between them even if they didn't. But right at the moment when something sparked she had to leave.

"Mei you shouldn't be here, you should just go back to Midgar," Yuffie explained as she met her friend's eyes. "I mean I'm fine, I have Gigio and the others, it'll be just like old times for me."

The doctor's eyes widened, "Yuffie are you kidding?" She asked, "No way. I may whine about not being able to see Reeve but I'm not going to just abandon my friend," she replied with a smile as she took a sip of her drink.

Yuffie smiled, "Thanks."

"Yuffie?" A voice said.

MeiLin raised an eyebrow as she looked past Yuffie to see who it was.

The shinobi turned her head around to look behind her as her breath caught in her throat.

"It is you," the man said as he slowly walked up to the girl.

Yuffie remained silent as she stared at the crimson haired man.

"I can't believe....It's been a while," he continued.

The ninja's heart began to beat fast as she turned back around in her seat and took a long chug of soda.

"Um," MeiLin said feeling slightly uncomfortable at this moment.

"Oh," the man said as he had fully approached the table extending his hand to the doctor, "I'm Reno."

"MeiLin," the doctor said with a nervous smile still unsure as to why Yuffie wasn't acknowledging him fully.

The ninja slammed the empty glass onto the table as she stood up from her seat. "Ready Mei let's go!" She exclaimed as she turned to walk away.

"Wait a second hold on," Reno said as he caught her by the arm.

Yuffie glared at him as her stormy gray eyes flashed with both anger and sadness. "Don't touch me!" She said a little loudly as she pulled her arm back. MeiLin got out of her seat and walked up next to her friend looking back and forth at her and Reno.

"I'm sorry," he replied, "I just want five minutes."

"Let's go," the shinobi tried again as turned and walked out of the bar with MeiLin right on her heels.

"What's going on?" The doctor asked as she tried to keep up with Yuffie's fast pace.

"Nothing, he's nobody important don't worry about it," Yuffie explained as she continued walking quickly.

"Don't worry about it?" MeiLin asked somewhat confused with a slight laugh, "Obviously there is something up or else you wouldn't have-"

"I said it's nothing!" Yuffie yelled cutting off MeiLin as she turned around to face her with unshed tears.

The doctor stepped back a little from her sudden outburst and stared at the girl before her. She caught glimpse of the tears in her friend's eyes as a confused expression crossed over her face. Yuffie quickly turned back around not wanting MeiLin to see, but it was already too late. She continued walking as MeiLin stayed behind watching her walk out of site as she glanced back to the bar wondering what the hell had just happened.

"Boring," the brunette said as she clicked off the TV. She turned and looked out the window. All she could see was a blanket of white and city lights as a cascade of small white snowflakes fell. She sighed as she lay back on the couch. She had been stuck in Midgar all this time because of the weather conditions, and it didn't look like they were going to get any better anytime soon. But she guessed it was okay, she was enjoying the time off from work. However seeing Cloud every day was torture. Ever since that day in the park nothing had been the same. He tried to talk to her about it but she just told him to forget about, it was in the past. Maybe he bought it.... she wasn't sure. She acted like everything was okay, but truth of the matter was things had only gotten worse. Now here she was in his apartment, which would have been a dream come true for her if situations had been different. But that just wasn't the case. She had to listen to him talk to Yuffie on the phone basically every night and that was sickening all by itself. 'Why is my life so difficult?' She thought to herself as she got off the couch and walked to the kitchen. She pulled out two mugs as she began making some coffee. It was nearly six o'clock, which meant her blonde friend would be home soon. There was really nothing she could do during the day with the blizzard and all, so she just waited until the evening for Cloud to get back where she would always have a hot drink ready for him, and shortly after that she would begin dinner. She let out a sigh, no matter what happened between them she always would have that nurturing instinct to care for him. She was sure it was weird but that's how she felt.... after all she would never stop loving him. Her thoughts were interrupted as she heard the front door open and close.

"Welcome Back!" She called from the kitchen. The ex-soldier made his way into the kitchen as he took off his jacket and hung it on the back of a kitchen chair. Tifa looked at him and gave a sweet smile as she laughed a little.

"What?" He asked innocently.

"You have snow all in your hair," she said as she dusted some of the soft flakes out of his hair while the others melted. "I'm making coffee, it's almost ready," she explained.

"Good," the blonde said, "So I can take a quick shower?"

Tifa smiled, "Sure, it's not going anywhere."

Cloud nodded as he exited the kitchen and walked back to his room. Tifa sighed as she looked at the two coffee mugs before her. She walked over to the kitchen table and picked up his jacket that he had hung on the chair while she ran her fingers over the cold wet material and held it tightly before walking down the hallway to place it in the closet. She heard the shower water start just as the phone began to ring.

"Hello?" She asked

"Tifa? Hey it's me MeiLin."

"Oh hi," the brunette replied.

"Hey is Cloud around?" She asked

"Uh yeah but he's in the shower right now," Tifa said.

"Oh okay.... can you just tell him to give me a call back? I need to ask him something"

"Sure. Is it anything I can help you with?"

"Well," the doctor began, "I just needed to ask him if he knew someone named Reno. We had a run in with him not too long ago and Yuffie obviously knows him but she won't tell me."

Tifa's eyes widened. 'He's back in Wutai?' She thought to herself. "Reno?"