Disclaimer:

No, I STILL don't own it...

Author's Note:

Well, hello, hello, hello! I'm so happy about how many of you who recognized the little Star Wars bit. For all of you who didn't catch it, when Aeris choked Reno with an invisible that was what Darth Vader did a lot and when she electrocuted him that was Darth Sidious a.k.a. Emperor Palpatine. I hope those two bits didn't make the fic cheesy or anything... Anyhoo, I hope you like this chapter. I'll get the next one up as soon as I can. Later!


The next day when Barret brought Logan home I acted as though everything was right with the world. I knew that if my faced showed the slightest bit of distress that Barret would refuse to leave and end up bleeding each and every piece of information out of me. Things went smoothly and I got Logan settled back in at home.

Reno volunteered to stay with Logan at the house. He wanted to protect Logan just as much as I did and knowing that Reno was taking care of him, I left for work with a little bit of a lighter spirit. Work went as it usually did. Tony only needed minimal help behind the bar so I didn't have to spend all my time standing.

After work, I immediately went home to see how things were going. Reno had put Logan to bed early and after both of us got dressed for bed we sat down on the living room couch and talked.

"So, what are we going to do?" I asked, from my place in his lap.

He bit his bottom lip in thought. "Well, I can look out for Logan when you have to work until all of this blows over. You can't bring him to the day care center or have anyone watch him. From what I heard Aeris can imitate people."

I nodded. "You don't mind, do you?"

He shook his head, causing his fire red hair to sway back and forth. "Of course not. I love the little munchkin about as much as you do."

I smiled and nuzzled my head into his shirt. "I love you, Reno."

"Yeah, I love you too, babe," he said, running his fingers through my hair.

And that's exactly what we did. September, October and November passed by rather quickly, almost as if time had sped up. Reno watched Logan whenever I couldn't and when I was with Logan I never let him out of my sight. Reno spent the night at my house every night only returning to his apartment to get more clothes.

On the third of December, Reno and I were sitting at the dining room table skinning potatoes for dinner that night. I didn't need to go to work so Reno wanted to help me make dinner. I bit my lip as I watched Reno carefully finish skinning a potato. I had been thinking about asking him to move in with me. He practically lived here anyways and he was paying five hundred gil a month for an apartment that he didn't even live in. Reno must have caught the far off look in my eye because he reached across the table and grabbed onto my hand.

"Hey, babe, what's wrong?" He asked, gently massaging the skin on the back of my hand.

I looked up at him like I didn't know what he was talking about before turning my eyes back to the half-skinned potato. "I'm not even sure if I want to ask you anymore."

Reno frowned before getting up and coming around the table to kneel in front of me. "What is it? You can tell me."

I took a deep breath and sighed before looking at him. Better now than never, Lockheart. "Will you move in with me?"

Reno was silent for a while before his thin mouth curled into a wide smile. "I've been waiting for you to ask me that for a while now. What took you so long?"

"Are you serious? You really want to move in with me and Logan?" I asked, almost not believing what he had just.

He nodded. "Of course. I haven't slept at my own apartment now for almost four months. Why pay rent for something you're not going to live in?"

I shrugged. "I don't know."

Later that week, I helped Reno pack up all of the things that he wanted to bring with him. I made room in my closet for all of his clothes and even rearranged my room to incorporate a few of the things he had in his room. Reno went out and bought himself a safe to put his guns and mag rod in so Logan couldn't get a hold of them.

As Christmas got closer, Reno helped me decorate my house, inside and out. He also helped me get Christmas cards out to all of the Avalanche members but not without signing every card and leaving a short message. He even volunteered to do some of Logan's Christmas shopping.

So, while he was shopping for Logan, I was shopping for Reno.

Christmas morning Reno surprised me with a diamond bracelet, diamond earrings and a necklace that had my birthstone, an emerald, on the end of the chain. I was breathless to say the least. I never thought that he would get me such wonderful and beautiful gifts. I thanked him profusely and gave him a kiss before I handed him the three gifts I got him.

I got him a cologne set, a black leather bomber jacket and bullets for his handgun. He had told me a few weeks earlier that he was running out of bullets so I took it upon myself to get him some more.

Logan received many new toys and some new clothes as well. He would be preoccupied for quite a while.

Christmas passed by so fast that before I knew it, it was time for me to return to work. Raoul had given me four days off, including Christmas. I had pushed the thought of Cloud kidnapping Logan out of my mind. It had been over three months and neither Reno or I had seen or heard anything of Cloud. Both of us figured that him and Aeris had just forgotten about the whole thing, we were hoping.

At the end of January, Reno had to go back to Junon for three days to meet with Reeve. So that meant I would be left alone to defend Logan. The day before he left for Junon, Reno reassured me.

"Babe, don't worry about it. Cloud and Aeris have more than likely forgot about the whole thing. I don't think you have to worry about them kidnapping Logan anymore."

I nodded. "But he won't be staying at the day care center until I know it's safe. I'll call Trish later and ask her to baby-sit."

"You do that," he said, leaning down and giving me a long farewell kiss. "I'll be back in a few days. Love ya, babe."

"Love you too." He gave me one more kiss before grabbing his bag and walking out of the house. I sighed and watched him walk toward the harbor from my doorway. A part of me was wishing that I could go with him but I had to work double shifts for the next week and the extra money would really help me out.

Later that evening, I gave Trish a call and asked if she could baby-sit for the next few days. She eagerly accepted and I told her I was working from noon to midnight for the next week. When I offered to pay her double, she immediately declined. "Don't worry about it, Miss Lockheart. I have a job of my own, thirty gil from you is plenty."

"Well, alright. I'll see you tomorrow afternoon then."

"I'll be at your house at eleven thirty," Trish said, before hanging up the phone.

I sighed as I placed the phone back on the dock. Logan was watching a show on TV so I decided to wash the dirty clothes. There wasn't an abundance of them but I figured I might as well get them done before they started to pile up. After the wash was done, I sat down on the floor with my son and watched TV with him until it was time for him to go to bed.

I was getting ready to go to bed myself because tomorrow was the first day I had to work double shifts when my phone rang. I rolled my eyes as I fished it out of my purse, I didn't feel like talking to anyone at the moment. I was tired and I wanted to get a good night's sleep so I could survive a twelve-hour shift.

I answered my phone, not even bothering to check who it was. "Hello?" I said with a little bit of aggravation in my voice.

"Well, hello to you too," said Reno on the other side of the line.

My mood immediately brightened once I heard my boyfriend's voice. "Oh, sorry, Reno, I didn't know it was you. How are you?"

"Eh, I'm okay. Could be better. How about you?"

"I'm fine. I called Trish and she's going to be babysitting for me until you get home."

"Awesome," he said, before pausing for a few seconds. "Well, just wanted to call and see how you were doin' and that I love you."

"I love you too," I said, smiling.

"I better go. I'll see you in a few days, babe."

"Okay, see you."

I ended the call and put my phone on the charger before climbing under the sheets and going to sleep.

The next morning I woke up at ten o'clock when my alarm went off. To my surprise, Logan was already up and lying in front of the TV watching his favorite show. He looked over at me when I walked into the room and got up, waddling over to me. "Morning, Mommy," he said, stopping in front of me and raising his hands into the air so he could be picked up.

"How'd you sleep?" I asked, sitting down on the couch with him in my lap.

"Okay," he said, rubbing one of his eyes.

"Well, today Trish is going to be here with you all day. I won't be back until tonight."

"I miss you," he said, hugging me.

"I'll miss you too, little man," I replied, wrapping my arms around his small body. "Go ahead and watch more TV. I have to start getting ready."

He hopped off of my lap and went back to lie in front of the TV as I walked into my room and got dressed. I had just finished applying my make-up when I heard the doorbell. I immediately frowned. Trish never rings the doorbell….. I shrugged and thought nothing of it as I walked towards the front door.

I opened it and greeted Trish. "Hey, thanks for doing this for me," I said as I stepped aside so she could come in.

"Don't worry about it, Tifa. I love watching Logan."

I frowned again as I walked into my room to get my purse. She never calls me Tifa either. I shrugged once again, thinking that Trish had finally relaxed enough to call me by my first name. I pulled my cell phone off of the charger and placed it in my purse before walking out of my room. When I walked back into the living room I found Trish sitting on the couch while Logan sat on the floor.

She always sits next to Logan when he's watching TV. "Well, I hope you'll be okay until tonight. If you want you can go down to the beach with Logan and let him play for a while. Just make sure you bring sun tan lotion."

She got up from the couch and followed me over to the garage door. "Okay, I might do that. Hope you have a good time at work. Call if you need anything."

I nodded and smiled before getting in my truck and backing out of the garage. I closed the garage door and didn't see Trish smile devilishly while her eyes glowed a bright green.