Chapter 53: Fall To Pieces

I looked away

Then I look back at you

You tried to say

Things that you can't undo

If I had my way

I'd never get over you

Today's the day

I pray we make it through

Make through the fall

Make it through it all

And I don't want to fall to pieces

I just want to sit and stare at you

I don't want to talk about it

And I don't want a conversation

I just want to cry in front of you

I don't want to talk about it

'Cause I'm in love with you

Fall to Pieces – Avril Lavigne

They gathered around the computer screen.

"You see this dot here?" Reeve pointed, "Well that's the bag. It stopped there. It's an abandoned government building. Plenty of computer access and I checked the files. It's been using power for the past six weeks."

"OK, so we know where Palmer is, but we don't know how to stop him." Aeris pointed out. Reeve grinned.

"That's what you think. You know how my dad works at the stadium?"

"Yeah."

"He's head of security. So naturally he'll be working in very close proximity with the police. And I just happen to have the e-mail address of the chief of police."

"But we can't call or email him. I mean, look what happened the last time we tricked Palmer. He gets mightily pissed off and stabs someone for talking to me." Aeris pointed out.

Reeve scratched the back of his head.

"Yeah, well, I haven't quite worked out all of the kinks yet." Yuffie looked up at them from where she was tending to James.

"Guys, we should get him into a bed or something. He looks like he's gonna pass out any second."

Barret and Reeve jumped up to talk him upstairs. Aeris sank into a chair and Tifa passed her a coffee.

"Don't worry. It'll be fine." She said, comfortingly. Aeris laughed mirthlessly.

"When Cloud is here, James is in a hospital and Palmer is locked up in jail, then I'll believe that everything is going to be fine."

"Aeris, it wasn't your fault about James." Vincent told her. She buried her face in her hands, feeling inexplicably tired. Tifa hugged her suddenly.

"You've done everything you can, Aeris. You've given him the money. You helped get word to Marlene. You can't do anything more now. We just have to wait."

So they did wait. For several hours. Aeris paced the room, wincing as her weak leg twinged in pain. Reeve tapped away at the computer. Yuffie was upstairs with James for most of the time. Tifa was making coffee while Barret prepared food.

Eventually Yuffie came downstairs.

"The bleedings stopped. So the knife probably didn't hit any organs or anything. He's getting some sleep now."

"Thanks Yuffie." Aeris said. Yuffie seized a cup of coffee.

"No problem. We should probably keep an eye on him though. Shifts or something."

"I'll go up for an hour and then someone else can take a turn." Reeve replied, getting to his feet. He went upstairs and Yuffie sat down with Vincent.

"Any news?"

"Nothing." He replied. Aeris stopped in her pacing and peered out of the café window. As before, there was nothing out of the ordinary. She sank into a chair and ran a hand through her hair. Then she bent down and rubbed her sore leg.

"Does it hurt?" Tifa asked.

"A little."

"Do you want a painkiller?"

"I've got some." She went to her purse and took out two pills. She swallowed them with water and then sat with Yuffie and Vincent. Yuffie smiled at her friend.

"C'mon Aeris. Quit moping."

"I'm not moping."

"You so are."

Aeris gave her a look but couldn't help smiling slightly. Vincent put an arm around her and she leant against him, closing her eyes.

"Did you get any sleep last night?" He asked.

"A bit. Not much."

"Sleep now." She was already dozing.

After a couple of hours, Aeris took her turn watching James. He was still sleeping so she sat by the window, looking out at the empty street. Occasionally someone walked down the street but no one suspicious.

She heard James stirring and looked over. He looked at her blearily.

"Aeris?"

"Yes."

"Am I…?"

"You're going to be alright. Yuffie doesn't think that the knife hit any vital parts." He closed his eyes and then opened them again.

"Can I have a drink?" She poured him some water and he lifted his head to drink it. He looked at her.

"Are you going to tell me what's going on?"

So she did. He stared at her and then gave a weak smile.

"Do you ever have a normal day?" She couldn't help laughing weakly at that. She rubbed her head.

"It would be nice, for once. But James, can you do me a favour?"

"What is it?"

"Next time I'm on the phone to a psycho and I tell you to piss off, will you please just piss off?"

"I promise." He said, raising his hand solemnly. Aeris got to her feet.

"I'll get Yuffie. Your bandages need changing."

"OK. Aeris?" she turned at the door. He looked nervous.

"I… I never meant to hurt you. You do know that don't you?"

"Not the time, James. Let's just not talk about it." She replied, before leaving.

It reached 6:30. 24 hours since they had put their plan into action. A plan which didn't seem to have done any good.

"I can't believe for one moment that Marlene hasn't done something about it." Tifa insisted. Barret agreed with her.

Aeris was sat by the window, looking out at the street. Vincent sat with her, hand holding hers. She smiled across at him.

"How are you feeling?"

"Not fantastic." He admitted.

"I've been thinking…" She said, looking out of the window. He smiled.

"About what?"

"This summer. Apart from the premiere at the end of August, we've got eight weeks to spend however we want. And I've been thinking about how I'd like to spend it." She looked at him and then back out of the window.

"I'd like to go to the cottage. Our cottage. I don't know what we'd do there. But I want to be there. With you. I want to just forget about everything that has happened this year. I want to leave behind all of my childish fears and enjoy the summer."

"Then that's what we'll do. We'll go to the cottage." Vincent replied. Aeris squeezed his hand.

"I would just fall to pieces if you weren't here." Vincent smiled.

"That can be my job from now on. Glue man."

Aeris smiled and then sat up sharply.

"There's someone coming."

They all looked out of the window. A man dressed in non-descript clothing approached the door and tapped on it. Barret pointed to the closed sign. The man looked around and then held up a badge.

"He's a police officer."

"We can't let him in!" Aeris cried. Barret hesitated but the officer nodded to him and mouthed It's OK.

Barret unlocked the door and the officer slipped inside.

"I'm Officer Winston. Which one of you is Barret Wallace?"

"That'd be me. What's going on?"

"We've been tracking a man called Palmer. You know the name?"

"Definitely sounds familiar." Tifa said dryly. Winston looked around at them all.

"You're the people who sent the email to Marlene Wallace?"

"That's us. Did you catch Palmer?"

"Not yet."

Aeris groaned.

"Oh my god, don't you understand? Palmer is watching us! If he knows you're here…"

"He doesn't know. The power to Palmer's building has been cut. Mostly thanks to whoever planted that tracking bug."

"That was Reeve." Yuffie said. Winston nodded.

"Luckily Reeve set the transmitter of that bug to a frequency that the station often uses." He laughed, "We couldn't figure out why half of the instruments were showing up a signal that didn't belong to us!"

"So… I don't understand. You know where Palmer is but you haven't arrested him?" Aeris asked. Winston nodded.

"The email said there's a hostage. Cloud Strife?"

"Is he safe?"

"As far as we can tell. He was ten minutes ago anyway. As far as Palmer's concerned his generator has gone down briefly. When it goes back up in fifteen minutes, he'll carry on and release Mr Strife. Then we're going to go in and get him."

"But doesn't he have someone watching us?"

"We have already discovered the individual and disarmed him." Winston said, sounding very official.

"You're very efficient." Barret said.

Winston looked at his watch.

"OK, here's the plan. You stay here until Palmer calls you to confirm that he has released Mr Strife. Once we've gotten Mr Strife to safety and we've taken Palmer into police custody we will call you to confirm that it is safe to leave. I've got to leave now, but we'll be in contact. After this over we'll need to interview each of you."

"Fine. We'll wait here for confirmation." Barret said. Winston nodded to them all and slipped out of the café.

They all looked at each other.

"That means… it's almost over." Yuffie said quietly. No one spoke for a moment and then Barret said.

"Almost. We're all counting on this plan of theirs working."

"I knew Marlene would come through." Tifa said, smiling slightly. Aeris sank into her seat, her chest constricted.

"I can't believe it…"

"I know. Just a little longer." Vincent said, taking her hand in his. Aeris pressed her face against his, tears of relief sliding down her face.

(A/N: I'm not going to start apologising for the lateness of this chapter because I'll be here all day! Lol, I do have excuses though. The first being the fact that our computer was sent away for a virus scan and cleaning. Then when we got it back I had coursework to do for three classes, and I only take four so that was a lot of work! So that's why this chapter is late. Not to mention a severe lack of inspiration. But the person you have to thank for getting me back on track is Masterwolf! He really got me going again. thank you! Next chapter shouldn't be too long because I've got a weeks holiday now. Woohoo!)