Chapter 56

Elena raised her head when Tseng's hospital bed shifted and she blinked the sleep from her eyes. Silently, he sat up, a hand coming to his head.

"No…" she breathed, reaching out for him. "Lay back down…"

He did so with a groan, his hand going to his abdomen. "Elena…"

"Yes, Sir…?"

"What happened?"

Elena leaned closer to Tseng, her hands smoothing the sheet of the hospital bed over him. "The recruitment centre was under attack when Reno and I returned from Patrol. We tried to help but they overran us… we found you unconscious. Rude and Topher too… the others were dead."

He was silent and Elena touched his arm.

"Who…?"

"We don't know." She replied, "Do you remember? Did you see?"

Tseng groaned and shook his head. "No…" he groaned again and she moved to adjust the pillows for him to give hm better support.

"It's okay." She told him. "Zena has fixed you up and you're going to be just fine. Rude and Topher will be okay as well."

"…what about Reno?" he asked.

"Reno is okay as well." Elena tried not to touch him again, but failed. Her hand ghosted across his shoulder and down his arm.

"…and you?" his voice was tired now and she met his dark eyes in the dim light. "Your forehead…"

"I'm okay." She replied, giving him a smile. "Just a bump."

"Did Zena check?"

"She did." Elena watched him give a barely perceptible nod. This was something she had never been able to figure out. Was he concerned for her because he was concerned for her, or was he just trying to make sure his Turks were in good form? His eyes closed for a moment and she smoothed his sheets again. "You should go back to sleep…" she told him softly. "You need rest."

"Why haven't you gone home, Elena…?" his eyes remained closed as he questioned her.

She watched him, tilting her head. "I… wanted to… wait… to see you wake up." She held her breath. Would he tell her to go home now?

"Thank you." He murmured instead. She watched him settle himself back against the pillows more comfortably. His eyes didn't open again.

After his shower, Reno returned to the living room and turned the television on while he waited for Aura. He had refilled the wine glasses sitting on the table, and he smiled when she approached the couch where he sat. He had put his pants on after his own shower, but remained bare-chested as he lounged comfortably, watching her as she walked into the room and toward him. The thin nightdress she wore now clung to her in all the right places and, had they not just showered, he would have wanted to pull her down onto the floor and fuck her again.

Reno shifted and pulled a cushion into his lap. Sweet Shiva, he still wanted it.

"Back into the wine?" she asked, and he reached forward to lift a glass and hand it to her.

"It's not bad." He told her and she nodded, taking a sip. Reno watched the nightdress pull tight against her stomach as she lifted her arm and he had to stop himself from reaching out to caress her. He needed to behave himself. Especially after earlier.

He had never thought he would act that way with Aura. He wasn't entirely sure what had happened. He hadn't thought clearly since he walked into Rufus Shinra's office. The president had messed with his head, suggesting that he could lose any one of them if he didn't sort out what was going on. He had even suggested that maybe he already had lost Aura, which Reno knew was just a reminder of what the blond man had done to her. It had pissed Reno off, and his head had become unfocused. He knew he hadn't lost her, that he wouldn't. But, he had needed to prove that to himself. There had been so much going on in his brain. He had needed to check with the infirmary, to be sure that the others would be okay. He needed to get back to the recruitment centre and see what clues he could find. He would have to go check out the warehouse they'd traced Caden's people to. And, he'd needed to go and reassure himself that Aura was still his.

He hadn't meant to be rough with her. He had never intended to do that to her. He had never wanted her to be on the receiving end of anything other than careful, gentle, touches. He owed her. "Aur…" he lifted his hand to her elbow. "Sit down here…" he dropped his cushion onto the carpet in front of himself. She eyed it and then looked back at him.

"Why?"

He gave her a charming smirk. "Just do it…"

"Can I keep my wine?" She asked, already turning to sink down on the cushion.

"Of course…" Reno grinned, shifting to the edge of the couch so that he could reach her, sitting between his feet. Carefully, he skimmed his fingers across her shoulders, collecting a wayward lock of hair that cascaded down her neck. He twisted it carefully and pinned it up with the rest of the hair piled atop her head.

"What are you doing?" she asked, and he could hear the amusement in her voice.

"Showing you that I'm sorry…" his hands returned to her shoulders and he gently began to massage her, "I'm sorry for earlier…"

The blissful groan that came from Aura pleased him and he slid his hands across her shoulders and down her arms. She leaned back into him and he smiled, moving his hands across her back and then up her spine. Reno worked his fingers up the back of her neck and into her hair and Aura bent her head forward to give him better access. "Oh, Reno…" he felt her shudder beneath his hands and he smiled again, moving back down and across her shoulders, kneading firmly, pressing his fingers into all the right spots.

"That right?" he asked, knowing full well that it was. She nodded, groaning a little.

"Oh, yeah." She raised a slow hand and took a sip from her glass. "Sweet Shiva…" Reno found a particularly tight spot and focused both hands upon it for a few moments. "Ah-ah…" Reno raised an eyebrow, wondering what other sounds he could get out of her with his hands.

"Is that so?" he asked delicately, working his fingers deeper.

"Oh, fuck yes." She groaned, "That feels so fucking good."

"Yeah it does." He told her, sliding his hands down forward to her collarbones. Aura leaned back into him.

"So good with your fingers…" she murmured and he gave a low chuckle.

"You know it." He slid a hand up her throat, tilting her face back to that he could look at her. Reno then leaned over her to press a kiss to her forehead. "Your skin is ridiculously soft…" he told her, his hands going back to her shoulders as he continued to massage her. She only groaned in response, and he couldn't help sliding his hands over the bare skin of her back. The nightdress she wore had the thinnest straps, which he had already pushed off her shoulders to allow him undisrupted access to her skin, and he enjoyed the feel of that skin against the palms of his hands now. His fingers worked their way down her arms and then across to her lower back and then up.

"Oohhh…"

Reno bit his lip when the sounds Aura began making went straight to his cock. He set about focusing on what he was trying to do. He wanted to make amends for his behaviour earlier, this was about Aura. Silently, he massaged her, seeking out knot after knot and then working them until they vanished. "How does that feel?" he asked softly, after some time.

"Like I could melt into a puddle on the carpet." She said gently, turning her head to look back up at him. Reno slid to the edge of the couch, cupping her cheek with one hand. With the other, he took her wine glass from her hand and set it on the table.

"Bet I can make you melt…" he grinned. Aura raised an eyebrow at him. He wrapped an arm around her waist and lifted her as he slid to his knees onto the floor. Carefully, he lay her back on the carpet with the cushion now beneath her lower back, and her hair splayed out behind her.

"Wha…?"

"It's okay." He murmured, kneeling between her thighs, a hand running soothingly up the outside of her leg to her hip. This time when he hooked a finger through her underwear he pulled them carefully down her legs and then tossed them onto the couch. With another grin, he looked back down at her and spread her legs wide.

"Reno…" she breathed and he smiled at her, bending to press a kiss to the inside of one of her knees.

"I'm gonna make you melt." He watched for the agreement in her eyes before dipping his head again. Slowly, he pressed another kiss to her skin, moving his lips toward her inner thigh.

"Sweet Shiva…" he heard her breathy sigh a moment before he buried his face in her. Aura's hands were instantly in Reno's hair, and he felt her combing her fingers through it. When he began to use his tongue on her, those fingers curled tightly and she arched slightly beneath him. Reno wrapped both arms around her thighs, holding her in place on the cushion as he pushed his tongue deeper and was rewarded by a high-pitched shriek. "AH! Fuck! Reno!" He couldn't help a soft chuckle, caressing her thighs with his hands as he continued to hold her in place, and she continued to pull on his hair, moaning breathlessly.

Reno knew exactly what to do to achieve the desired effect on Aura and, when she suddenly released her hold on his hair, he flicked a glance up at her. She had instead flung both her arms out and, with one hand, had taken hold of one of the table legs, while the other had a tight grip on one of the feet of the couch. Her head was tilted back, arching her back rather significantly, and he could hear her rapid gasping for breath. The steady stream of dirty language, that would have left nobody in doubt that Aura had grown up in the slums of Midgar, suddenly pouring from her lips pleased Reno almost as much as her wanton moaning, and he hummed his approval against her. She twitched in response and he heard the table move a few inches. Knowing that she was very near her limit, Reno redoubled his efforts, tightening his hold on her thighs as she bucked and shook, her screams eventually becoming a wordless cry before she suddenly went limp. He licked her slowly, eyes looking up at her again as she released the table and couch and her hands came to rest beside herself. Releasing his hold on her, Reno instead crawled forward, holding himself over her until he could look down at her face as she lay panting beneath him. "Did you melt?" he asked, his own voice huskier than he'd expected.

"I…" Aura looked up at him, her eyes half closed and a lazy smirk upon her lips, "I… I'll let you know when I stop being able to feel every cell in my body at once…"

"Oh?" he enjoyed the hot flush of pride that flowed through him at those words.

"I probably need to shower again…" she murmured, and Reno smirked, bending to kiss the side of her throat.

"Nah," he breathed, "I cleaned everything up…" he smirked again when he felt her breath halt for a moment.

"Dirty thing…" she replied and he chuckled, carefully licking at her skin.

"Me? Do you remember what was coming out of your mouth not two minutes ago?" Reno felt Aura's hands on his back and he lifted his head to meet her eyes again. "Regaining the use of your limbs, love?"

"Mmm… I can…" her hands moved to tug at the buttons on his pants, but he caught her by the wrist. That wasn't why he'd just done what he had.

"Let's give you time to rest." He said softly. Sliding an arm under her, Reno lifted Aura from the floor and helped her onto the couch again. Then, turning, he pressed her wine glass back into her hand. "You should finish this." He paused when she lifted the glass to her lips and didn't lower it until the glass was empty. Swallowing thickly, Reno watched Aura wipe her mouth with the back of her hand and then lick her lips, her eyes on him. "Sweet Shiva." He muttered, taking the empty glass from her and putting it back on the table. She just grinned at him.