Chapter 10: The Morning After
/Mmmm... Wow, that was a nice dream.../ Elena thinks, deep in the fuzzy state that sometimes follows a particularly deep and restful sleep. /Strange pillow. Why's it feel like skin? Odd shape too.../ Her eyes slowly open and she sees a bare arm in front of her face. Her gaze travels up the arm and finds a familiar face, still peacefully asleep. /Guess it wasn't a dream. Good./ she thinks, having been briefly afraid that everything that had happened since waking up on the couch was just a fantasy. Closing her eyes, she lays her head back down on Reno's chest and relaxes, enjoying the simple pleasure of lying enwrapped by his arms. Almost of it's own accord, her right hand begins to slowly and gently trace the various scars on his chest.
Several minutes later she feels his breathing change as he awakens. "Morning, Lena. Sleep well?"
"Yeah, you make a good pillow." she answers, looking up at him and smiling. He chuckles at this comment.
"Wish I'd thought to grab a pillow or move us to the couch or something." he states while extending his arms over his head and stretching before bringing his arms back down to wrap around Elena again. "Sleeping on this table's gotten me all stiff."
"Yeah, you can say that again." she says while looking down and smirking. Her hand now traces the scars on his abdomen, drawing teasingly close without going below his waist.
"Heh, I was talking about my back."
"I know. This's pretty convenient. You always ready to go when you wake up?"
Some time later the two sit up on the conference table and Reno throws his legs over the edge, sending more of the old paperwork fluttering to the floor where it joins the memos and reports that had landed there during the night. He then leans back and stretches again, causing his back to emit a series of loud pops. "So, how'd the rumors hold up?" he casually asks, glancing over his shoulder.
"Fishing for an ego boost?" Elena teases with a playful expression on her face. /Gotta admit, it was the first time in over a year that I didn't have to fake it. No need to tell him though. His ego's big enough already./ "Let's just say I wouldn't've come back for more if you weren't any good. Besides, half the rumors about you contradict the other half."
"Heh, guess you're not the forgiving type, huh?" he jokes as he hops off the table. He then leans to one side, causing his back to pop again.
"Hey, in my experience, if a guy's no good the first time he'll be no good the next time." she explains while enjoying watching Reno work the kinks out of his back. "So why waste time on a second chance when it won't do any good?"
"Pretty harsh." he laughs before bending forward until his chest touches his knees, causing his back to emit a hideous crackling noise.
"Show off." Elena teases from her perch behind him.
"Nah," he jokes while straightening back up, "if I wanted to show off, I'd've stood on the table when I stretched."
The show over, Elena hops off her side of the table and steps on something cold and slimy. "You oughta watch where you throw these." she complains as she leans over to pick up the discarded condom.
"Hey, at least I tie them off."
"Yeah that reminds me, how the hell'd you tie them off one-handed anyway?" she asks while tossing the condom into a trash can.
"What, you weren't paying attention to my patented one-handed quick-change technique?" he teases.
"I would've but your other hand kept distracting me." she jokes.
"All part of the technique." he laughs. He reaches out and retrieves another condom from where it was stuck against the room's electric whiteboard. "Watch and learn." He then demonstrates the technique, putting a second knot in the condom.
Elena surveys the disaster zone the room had been turned into and finds another. "Like this?" she asks, replicating his trick.
"Damn, always impresses me how fast you pick stuff up." he comments. He then casually drops the one he'd been holding.
"Hey shouldn't we clean this up at least a bit?"
"I'll clean it next week."
"This city probably won't exist next week."
"Exactly." he says with a smirk while walking around the table towards her. "We'll be leaving town either tonight or early tomorrow and we'll probably never see this room again. So why waste time cleaning it?"
"Point. We oughta at least pick up our clothes though. You never know, we might get lucky and live long enough to use them again."
"Alright, I'll remember to grab this stuff before we leave. But only because I like the way that dress looks on you."
Elena runs a hand through her sweat-slicked hair. "I'm gonna go grab a quick shower."
"Mind if I join you?" Reno asks with a suggestive grin. She smiles slyly and responds by simply grabbing his ponytail and walking towards the bathroom, pulling him along behind her.
Quite a bit later Elena walks out of the bathroom, toweling her hair dry. "Why haven't you got a hair dryer here? You've got enough hair for one." Reno mumbles something incomprehensible as he walks out the door behind her. "What?"
He removes the toothbrush from his mouth before repeating himself. "I said, towels've always been good enough for me. Besides, if it's that important, why didn't you bring one?"
"I did, but it's up in the Falcon, buried behind a stack of ammo crates."
"Aww, poor Lena can't get to her hair dryer..." he teases.
"You're lucky I can't, or I'd probably be breaking it over your head right now." she retorts.
"But then you'd have it all backwards." he says while giving her a mischievous look.
"You're making less sense than usual, Reno."
"Well, if you're gonna make like a caveman you're supposed to bash me over the head before dragging me off by my hair. Doing it after's just messed up." This comment elicits laughter from Elena.
"Be careful what you ask for. I might just come after you with a blackjack next time I want you."
"Yeah, well..." He's interrupted by the sound of a phone ringing. "This better be important. You see where the phone landed?"
After a brief search, Elena finds the teleconference phone under Reno's boxer shorts, which have the words 'I'm Huge In Wutai' printed on them. After picking it up she presses the connect button. "Hey, who's this?" she asks.
"Elena? Is Reno there?"
"Yeah, I'm here, Reeve. What's so important you had to call this number?" he answers from where he'd been searching the other side of the table.
"Well, for starters you weren't answering your PHS."
"Yeah, I was kinda busy." he says, glancing around the room and wondering where his PHS is.
"Yeah, you musta been busy. It took you long enough to answer the phone."
"We... were in the other room." Elena declares.
"Yep, nothing suspicious going on here." Reno says with a smirk.
"Right." Reeve's skepticism's obvious in his voice. "Anyway, I called to let you know Avalanche's regrouped and is getting ready to head towards Junon. They oughta get there sometime in the late afternoon if they don't hit any delays. Probably a little after four, Junon time."
"So how many showed up?" Elena asks.
"All of them."
"You gotta be shitting me. Seriously?" Reno asks.
"That's right. Looks like you get to use plan C after all."
"Heh, and I almost didn't bother making a plan for if they all showed up. So, there anything else you gotta say, or can me and Lena get back to doing nothing suspicious?"
Reeve laughs. "Alright, I can take a hint. You two have fun with whatever non-suspicious thing you're doing. Talk to you later." The line then goes dead with a click.
"Now, where were we?" Reno wonders.
"I can't believe it's almost over..."
"What?" Turning towards the source of the unexpected comment, he's surprised to see her facing away, head bowed.
"We've less than a day left before we've gotta get back to work, and maybe if we're lucky another two or three days before that damned giant rock kills us. It's... just not fair."
"No, it's not." Reno says softly while walking around the table towards Elena. "It's harsh, but... that's just how life is."
"I know." she agrees, voice thickening. "I don't know how many times I've seen how unfair life is, but it doesn't make it any easier to accept." Reno walks up behind her and folds his arms around her as she's speaking.
/Hold it together, man. You won't do her any good if you start falling apart too./ "You're right, Lena." he says as Elena turns in his arms and buries her face against his shoulder. "It hurts like hell, but there's not much we can do about it. I wish I could tell you everything's gonna be alright, but I won't lie to you. All we can do is get this last job done and hope for the best. Now come on, I know you're stronger than this. I know you've faced death before."
"It's not dying that bothers me. It's thinking of all the things we could do if we only had a little more time. All those opportunities we won't have."
"Hey, there's always the long shot, Holy might work." he says, his voice beginning grow thick with emotion as well.
"You don't believe that."
"I've been wrong before. I didn't believe most of Avalanche would have the guts to show up, but I was wrong on that. Maybe I'll be wrong about Holy too. Besides, if I didn't think there was any chance of it working, would I've bothered using rubbers? But either way, for what little it's worth, I'll stay with you till the end. I know that's not much, but it's all I can do." He sighs, feeling helpless. "I wish... goddamn, I wish I could do more for you..."
"Don't sell yourself short. You're not the only one who appreciates the little comforts, remember?" She lifts her tear-streaked face to look him in the eyes, noting as she does so, the intersections formed by the scars on his cheeks and his tears. "This helps, really. I've just gotta get this outta my system." He nods silently and she lowers her face back to his shoulder. The two stand silently together, holding each other and thinking of all the things they believe they'll never be able to do together, then letting those things go. "That bastard'll pay for stealing our future." Elena declares in an angry voice after having mourned for the future that both Turks desire, yet believe to be unattainable.
"You're damned right he will." Reno agrees in a calmer voice. "We mighta been sentenced to death by that damn rock, but Sephiroth's gonna die first. It might be the last thing we do, but it'll be worth it to spit in his eye and -- up his plan." Both are then silent for a few minutes. "So, feeling any better?"
"Good enough. I've looked at our doom head on. I can deal with it now."
"Glad to hear it. A little catharsis every now 'n then's good for you, keeps you sane. Damned strange doing it sober, though..."
She looks up at him with a small smile. "Sorry I didn't give you enough warning to get trashed before making you cry."
"Heh, it's just as well. If I did, I'd still be drunk off my ass when Avalanche got here. It'd be an interesting briefing, but we probably wouldn't get much done." Elena laughs at the mental image she gets from this. "Now there's something I love to see." he says with a smile while watching her laugh. He then looks at the clock. "So, you want late breakfast or early lunch?"
"I think we oughta get dressed first."
"What, you don't wanna streak?" he teases. "Alright, time to get back in uniform." After a brief kiss, the pair finally release their tight holds on one another and walk back to the bedroom where they retrieve fresh uniforms from their suitcases. After quickly dressing, they return to the main room and begin to retrieve the weapons and other equipment in their clothes from the previous day. Having carried much less, Elena finishes while Reno's barely started picking his gear up. "Hey, mind seeing what Rude's been up to since I haven't tracked down my phone yet?"
"No problem." She then flips open her PHS and selects Rude's name from the speed-dial list.
"Morning, Elena. How'd it go?" he greets her after answering his PHS.
"It went great. So what've you been up to?"
"Not much. After finishing up the Falcon, I basically just relaxed. Worked on some sketches and drank about half a bottle of single-malt Scotch. Nothing exciting. Is it safe to come back downstairs?"
"Yeah, it's safe. Hey, Reeve called. Avalanche's on the way over. He says they oughta get here around four. Guess what else he said?"
"Why? It'd be easier to just tell me." he suggests wryly.
Elena laughs at this suggestion. It had taken her some time to get used to Rude's generally dry sense of humor, but she could now usually tell when he was joking. "Come on, guess."
"Cait got tired of following orders and ran away to join a traveling circus? The little guy can juggle well enough..."
"Heh, no. But he's involved."
"Palmer got his sanity back and came up with a plan to deal with Meteor?"
"He used to be sane?"
"Yeah. Used to be skinny too. He was a general in the Shin-Ra air corps back during the war. Afterwards, he put everything he had into space exploration. Poor guy snapped when the old man pulled the rug out from under his department. The president thought his whole department was a joke, so he went ahead and left Palmer in charge of it."
"Huh, first time I heard that. But that's even farther off than your first guess."
"I give up, go ahead and tell me."
"Already? Alright, everyone from Avalanche's coming."
"Didn't see that coming. I thought at least Godo's kid would back out." he says as he walks into the apartment and pockets his PHS. He pauses a moment in the doorway to survey the mess before bursting out laughing. "I see there's no point in asking if I guessed right about you two wanting privacy." Elena blushes at this remark.
"Hey, what's so funny?" Reno asks, trying hard to look innocent while standing on a chair to retrieve his shirt from the ceiling fan.
"You really need to ask?"
"Heh, you think it's bad now, you shoulda seen it after we woke up. You have breakfast yet?"
"Nope."
"Let's go grab some grub then." That said, he leads his team out of the apartment.
"Let's take my car, it's got plenty of room." Rude states as the three walk towards the elevator.
"Shotgun!" Reno and Elena announce almost simultaneously, causing Rude to laugh.
"Flip a coin for it?" Reno offers.
Authors Note: As always, thanks for betaing, Noroi. Thanks for the kind reviews Yumesuta, Bruna Aquino, Cathy7, RenoOfShinRa, The Tiramisu Of Impending Doom, TheDonutMistress, and icewolf9. You're all great, I really appreciate it. Reno's novelty boxer shorts were inspired by an actual t-shirt I saw once that said 'I'm Huge in Japan'. It's basically the same joke, only less subtle since it's on a pair of boxers. This took a lot longer to write than I expected. Shifting the mood that many times in such a short space and getting it to come out the way I wanted was tough.
Edited again because some site update deleted all the '--' lines I used to use to denote scene changes. So time to slap horizontal rulers into all my fics.