Tengoko: Sorry for the long wait. Work has been...well...working me hard. In fact, I have to go back in about four hours, so...yeah. Well, this chapter was difficult to write anyway. Don't worry, nothing tragic...yet ;). It was just, different for me, something I'd never really attempted before. So, more than ever, reviews would be greatly appreciated. As it is, I really do get motivated when I read your reviews. It's feedback from my readers that reminds me why I want to be a writer. Anyway, thanks, and enjoy.

Disclaimer: Mine, mine, all mine. MWUHAHAHA! No...not really, I lied.
Rated M for language and romance

Chapter 5: Dispute

It was as if the room had detonated. As soon as the door closed, Tifa whirled around to face Wesley, who had sat himself on the couch and buried his face in his hands. Trying his best to ignore his mothers loud blasts, he began concentrating hard on his shoes. His mother's yelling was all too common to him. She did it often, reprimanding him always for doing something against the status quo.

"What did you think you were doing?" she demanded. "Answer me, Wes!" She stood in front of him with her hands on her hips, her brow furrowed, and her lips fixed. "Don't you dare ignore me young man, I will smack that self-righteous smirk off of your face so fast…"

"I wasn't thinking, mother," he snapped. "Is that what you want to hear? That I was absolutely and in all other ways idiotic enough to go combing the ruins with my little sister?"

"Wes, you should have known better than that!" she screamed. "What if she had been lost or seriously hurt? What if somebody kidnapped her or if she had been killed? What then, Wes? All these bullshit excuses wouldn't cut it then, would they?"

"But, she wasn't hurt, or lost, or kidnapped, and unless my eyes are lying to me, I'm quite sure she's not dead either, so you are dramatizing the entire situation. Why not just let bygones be bygones? I learnt my lesson- I swear."

"I'm not stupid, Wesley!" Tifa yelled. "I know how manipulative you think you can be. So, what were you doing there anyway, huh? You should have been at school? Do you often go there when we think you are somebody else?"

He didn't answer, but he looked up at his father who had just sat down on the armchair across the room. Tifa followed his gaze and stared crossly at her husband before turning back on Wesley. "I can't even begin to describe the amount of trouble you are in!"

"Why don't you give it a try so I can clear my calendar?" he asked scathingly.

"Wesley Cid Storm!" After that, she could not find any words. She sputtered a bit before settling her eyes on her husband, hoping that he would assist her. Yet, all he did was sit in the chair and rub his temple with one hand. "Reno!"

"Wes, you must promise your mother and I that you won't go back there again," Reno said calmly.

"You can't be serious," Tifa griped, dropping her hands to her side. "Your son just skipped school to go off to a hazardous place to do disreputable things, and what's more, he took his sister with him! And that's all you're going to do about it? Make him promise not to do it again?"

"Mother, has anybody ever told you how utterly neurotic you are?"

"Well, Wes, that tends to happen when you have a son you don't trust and a husband who cares more about work than family."

"Tifa," Reno said ominously. "You know that's not true, so stop it."

"No dad. Mom has to condemn you for this. I mean, heaven forbid she actually acknowledge that she is a bad mother and a bad wife."

Tifa turned around and raised her hand to slap him. She caught herself before any harm could be done and then turned away from him, refusing to look at him or her husband for that matter. "Get out of my sight, Wesley."

"Wes," Reno said. "Go upstairs."

Wesley didn't have to be told twice. Standing up, he nodded to his father and glared at his mother before heading for the stairway. As soon as they heard his bedroom door close, Reno stood up and stared furiously at Tifa.

"Why does everything have to come back to me?" he asked. "You weren't like this when we first were married."

"Things change when you have children, Reno," she snarled.

"I know that, Tifa. I've had them too, in case you forgot. They're our children. Ours. Not just yours."

"Then act like it," she said through clenched teeth. "Don't you think I want to be like you? I want to be the good guy who they go to when there is a problem. I want to be the fun parent, Re, but I can't be. I can't be because you can't be the bad guy every now and then. No, that's my designated role. So don't get mad at me when I start acting like a bitch, because if I don't, Wes will walk all over me like he walks all over everybody else."

"Well, damn it, Tifa. If I start acting like the bad guy, then we'll drive our children to lunacy."

"Yeah, that would be ghastly considering what our son's turning into now."

"And what is he turning into?" Reno demanded, raising his voice for the first time. "I don't think that there is anything wrong with the boy. So, he's adventurous? What teenager isn't? I was no different, and I'm quite sure that Cid and Vincent were much the same way. Hell, Cid still does things like that. So, what's wrong with our son giving into his inquisitiveness every once in a while?"

"Because he knows what he is doing is wrong, Reno. He knows it, but he does it anyway. That's what's so wrong with it. Our boy is becoming a delinquent."

"Oh yes, a future Turk in the making," Reno said in a derisive tone. "Whatever will we do with him?"

Tifa's eyes narrowed harshly and watered over with tears of wrath. "I can't believe you are taking this so flippantly," she said, her voice shaking. "He could have ruined everything for you. If the press gets wind of this, your campaign is over, over before it started." She stepped closer to him and put her hand loosely around his wrist. "But I know you don't care about that. You only care about them, and I am just as relieved as you are that they weren't hurt. But, Re, they could have been, Lena could have been, and honestly…I don't think I could deal with losing either of them. That's why I have to assure myself that he won't do anything like this again."

"Tifa, I can't…"

"Can't what?" she urged, her voice getting softer by the second.

"I can't get after them. Don't ask me to explain it, I couldn't even if I tried. But I can't bring myself to raise my voice to them. Believe me, I'm just as angry as you are, but I just…"

"I understand," she said with a note of finality. "I know all about that, Re."

"…how?" he asked, taking a distrustful carriage. Suddenly his eyebrows contracted and his eyes became sharp, too sharp for Tifa to look into them. She knew his temperament had just been breached and she was about to get the brunt of it. "Rude told you, didn't he? Damn it! Tifa, that's none of your business! I'll kill him for that!"

"Re, you're my husband. Perhaps you are forgetting what that means."

"Then tell me!" he shouted, his anger greater than she would have cared. "Tell me how to be the perfect husband, Tifa, because…as we all know…you are the perfect wife." There was no mistaking his meaning.

Tifa released his hand and stepped back, tears finally spilling over, face red as she held back her sobs. Her chest heaved at the endeavor and she had no choice but to rip her eyes away from Reno to contain the impulse to give into the pain he had just cause. "It means, dear husband, that we don't keep secrets from each other."

"Oh, bullshit, Tifa. Don't imagine that you tell me everything."

"I do!" she insisted. "You know everything about me, Reno. Everything! I wished I could say the same where you are concerned."

"There are certain things about my past that I don't care for you to know. Is that so difficult to accept?"

"It is when you consider that it's still bothering you today. I mean, you can't even scold your son because of what your father did to you. But, Reno, you aren't your father, and you will never be your father."

"Shut up! You don't know what you are talking about, and you'll never understand."

"I would if you would just talk to me," she appealed, stepping closer again.

"No!" he hollered, pushing her away. "This is the one thing you don't push me on, Tifa. I'm warning you now."

Tifa closed her eyes and nodded in acknowledgment of her capitulation. She wiped the tears from her face and sniffled a bit before going to the door and grabbing her coat and purse from the coat rack.

"Where are you going?" he inquired unconcernedly.

"I'm going for a drive," she said, pulling her keys out of her purse. "I can't stay here right now. I've got to clear my head." She slid into her coat before going on. "Tell Yuffie that I'm sorry about all this, and tell Vincent that I'll see him later."

Reno's expression changed in an instant. Tifa recognized the remorse on his face but chose to ignore it. "Don't leave, Tifa."

"Make sure that Lena has something to eat. After that, set her down for her nap. Do whatever you want with Wesley. Evidently, I don't know what's best for him, so I'll leave it up to you."

"Tifa," he pleaded, making his way towards her and standing in front of the door. "I…you shouldn't drive when you are angry."

"I'm not angry," she said, grabbing the doorknob and then looking up at him.

"Don't do this, baby," he begged, taking her hand in his. "Yuffie and Vincent came all this way to see you."

Tifa shook her head. "You don't get it do you?" Her eyes searched him for understanding. She found none. "Reno, let me leave."

Reno stepped aside and watched her open the door and a vanish behind it. It closed rather softly, meaning she was being truthful; she was no longer angry. But that made him feel worse. That meant she was hurt and it was his fault. He heard the car start and through the window he saw it drive off slowly.

Reno sighed profoundly before crossing back to the armchair. "What am I going to do?" he mused. Everything was falling apart. It wasn't supposed to be this way. When they married, life was seamless, and it was supposed to remain that way. He hadn't expected it to get so tricky. If he didn't do something, he was going to lose her, and being conscious of this, Reno began to panic inwardly. Sure, she drove him crazy in every way achievable, but he couldn't live without Tifa. He had to fix it. He just had to.