The Turks Christmas Special : Eight Cards A-Dealing

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Scarlet excused herself after dinner that night -- Reno ate early; always had -- mentioning she had a real date to go on. She made a passing comment about seeing them at the company party in five days, and when the Turk looked disapprovingly at her, she disappeared out into the falling snow. Reno let it slide because that was just the way he did things.

Yuffie was admiring her robe and shuffling a deck of cards. They had found that Black Jack was a game neither one had any distaste toward, and that it often passed the time when she came to visit. "So," said the ninja. "Company party?" That morning had been forgotten, as most things were. As much as they bickered like children, they got along in a way no one had with Reno before. Except maybe for Rude, and he didn't exactly count as a person as far as most were concerned.

"Yeah, whatever," he grumbled. "There's a company party for this shit holiday every year. They always expect me to show. I generally do so, fuck something up, and go home a little bit happier to more alcohol and reruns of classic Winter Day movies. It's a tradeoff, I say," he explained, sinking off of the couch. She was across the table from him, both on his comfortable carpet.

"And you've got me to come back to this year!" she announced loudly, throwing her arms up.

Reno shook his head slowly. "Deal the cards and I'll pretend you didn't just do that, 'kay?"

There was a brief pause, and then she asked, "So when you wanna go out and take me shopping?" She looked over her shoulder, expecting to see a fireplace, but it was just the wall that was home to many ShinRa pictures. Reno's house was the kind that needed a fireplace; emerald green rugs in winter just constituted a fireplace or something.

"Whenever." Reno had found himself in his usual niche; a relaxed state that made him feel like he was in no rush to do things. "Hell, I might just pass you off to Elena and go get sloshed with Rude sometime. She at least enjoys being dragged around to look at swimsuits in the dead of fucking winter."

Yuffie pointed out, as she dealt the cards, "That's because she's usually set up in Costa. And what is she, your babysitter?"

"Does Nanny Elly not have a certain ring to it?" He'd called her that one time and she had looked confused, angered, and stressed all at once. That last one probably had something to do with the fact she had her gun against an old man's forehead and didn't appreciate the fact said man was now laughing at her, but Reno had never been one to pay attention to details. "Or maybe I can dump you at Scarlet's. She's supposed to get you on the weekends, right?"

She made a face at him. "Har dee har."

"Actually, I think Rude mentioned an addition onto his gun he needs to get done in Wutai. And I know how much you love that danger aspect; passing casually right under the radar, shit like that." He checked his cards. Thirteen. "Hit me."

She tossed him a card with the wrist of a born dealer, then laughed nervously. "Probably not a good idea for you to go wandering around Wutai, Turkey."

Seventeen. "I'll stand." He took a drink of the water on the table; it was too damn late to be drinking the hard stuff. "And why don't I want to go wandering around your shit town, may I ask?" He didn't much care either way; Wutai would always be there, Godo or not.

"I. . .uhh. . .kindatoldDadyou'rethefather." She flipped over her cards with a wide grin. "Dealer has twenty."

The Turk prided himself in being able to understand fast-spoken female mutter, especially the ninja's, and his face screwed itself up. He was more than happy to harbor a runaway minor who said she was pregnant and shirked her royal duties. That was no problem as long as he got retribution, which he definitely did, in a few ways. But there was a certain line Reno Drannor did not like to cross, and that was taking responsibility for said minor, especially one this large. "And why the hell did my name pop into this?" He slid his three cards back toward her.

"Oh, come on, Reno," she admonished. "He knows that I hide out here -- who knows why he hasn't come to shoot us both, really -- and I'm sure he's guessed that we've, y'know. . .been together. Your name was the first to co --"

"Isn't there some law against that kind of stuff?" Reno didn't need to be seen as a father, nor one with responsibilities. He was a Turk, dammit. "Statutory rape or something?"

Yuffie actually looked offended. "I've been eighteen for three months, thank you!"

'So I really have been nailing a minor. Perfect.' Reno was really debating whether or not it was too late to start drinking again. He couldn't smoke still, and there was nothing to chew on.

"Like I said," she continued, "your name was the obvious choice. And I was probably focused on coming over, so it was on my mind during the fight. I'm just saying, you can either stay out of Wutai or you can get your head whacked off. I don't suppose that second one's in either of our favors, so. . ."

Reno held up a finger. "There is the fact I'm supposedly the father of the unborn child of Yuffie fuckin' Kisaragi. This legally binds me to you and the child -- which doesn't even exist -- and puts me in an unemployed state once it reaches Reeve. A Turk can't be silent if he's wearing a goddamn baby pager, and even though this is bullshit, he doesn't want any walking on thin ice in his company. There is where the bastard has a point. Lies or not, there's the possibility of a family crisis and he won't hesitate to boot my ass out the door and into the unemployment center. Head coming off eliminates many problems, as far as I can tell."

"I don't think I'm clear enough for you, Reno," she said slowly. "This isn't some. . ." She reconsidered her wording, then threw up her hands. "Look, he'll have you at the hands of a rifle squad at dawn in a heartbeat!"

The redhead's mind did the first smart thing since every action after conversing with a urinal soap, and that was to slow itself down and be logical about this. "Okay," he sighed. "Can we talk about this in the morning? Holy, Scarlet would tire Heideggar out if he went shopping with her." His feet still hurt. "I'll even get up and cook a decent breakfast tomorrow. I just can't process all this shit without alcohol."

She grinned slightly. "Yeah, that'd be better. I'm gettin' tired anyway," she added, stretching and yawning loudly.

Reno had to admit, she looked as good as she always had, which was saying a lot. He wondered where her stance with him was. Friend with benefits? Nah; there was definitely something more between them. It could have probably turned into a relationship, he reasoned, if she weren't so far away and they didn't feel the need to pretend they hated each other. But there was definitely something between them that put them on a level higher than friends with benefits. . .which wasn't to say, in layman's terms, that they weren't.

"Yeah, me, too." The yawn caught on and he stood up. "You keep me from turning into Rude, y'know. I think that guy just didn't have anybody to talk to for too fucking long."

She didn't reply to this. They just found their way, more tired than they had thought, into their spots on his bed. Anyone else would have guessed they'd been together for years, the way they fell into place. Not newlywed-clutchingly close, but close enough to be uncomfortable for people who were just friends. On a one-person mattress, their sleeping positions went as so: Yuffie looking as if she intended to just mind her own business, but with Reno's arm slung over her hip and his chin on her shoulder. She would have to compliment him on his comforter; quite warm, and it matched the carpet.

"Reno?" she asked after a while.

"Mrrgh?" She knew the word 'what?' when it was muttered against her shoulder by now. It was all he ever replied with when he was half-asleep.

She smirked. "I was just wondering. . .you ever had a kid?"

There was a moment of silence. Truthfully, Reno was still out of it and thought he'd answered right away, but he drifted off for just long enough to make it an awkward silence. "Nope," he said after lifting his mouth. "Don't intend to, either. Kids piss me off, and women who have 'em only suck the father's money right out of his fucking pocket. Tseng had a kid once," he yawned. "Said until the day he died that it never bettered him emotionally. Bitch that had it always wanted child support; never met her, myself." He paused. "You?"

The question wasn't totally psychotic. She had the looks to have every man in Wutai wanting to be her child's father. "Nah," she said confidently. "I thought about it once; thought it might get me out of my duties like I'm doing now. Didn't know who to pick as the father, though, and besides, I'm a woman of the wild. Sure as hell aren't any dangerous stroller paths up into Da-Chao, right?"

He was too far gone to be paying any real attention. Instead, he replied, "Y'know. . .yer not too bad, kid. . .yer gonna go places. . ."

Yuffie was silent for a long while, watching the minutes tick by on his digital alarm clock. "Hey, Re?" she asked quietly. For the first time in maybe three years, her voice was as old as she was. But he didn't say anything. He was already asleep. Her fingers found their way into his hand and both hands found their way to her stomach.

She would tell him tomorrow; hell, she would have to. Sooner or later, Godo would start wondering where his daughter had gone, and why. Reno certainly hadn't figured out he was the one being bullshitted yet. There had been no fight; no saying she was pregnant and running out in a fury. No, she'd just packed her bags one night, kissed her sleeping father goodbye, and left for Midgar with a story all thought up. A lie, a fight, the usual after-effects, winding up with her in Reno's house looking for safety.

She sighed and closed her eyes, willing herself to sleep to the rhythm of his breath.

Tomorrow.

She would tell him tomorrow.

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Author's Note: Oooh. Something serious just happened.