As Tifa was enjoying a quick early lunch at home by herself while the kids were at school, the peace and quiet just what she needed to fortify herself for the crazy lunch rush about to take place at her bar downstairs. With Thanksgiving only three weeks away, she had a marked increase in customers, either those who were always lonelier during the holiday season and wanting to drown their sorrows, or those who just wanted a 'medicinal' break from all the preparations for the holidays. She was just about to open her door and head back downstairs when someone knocked. Thinking it was one of her barmaids, she opened the door to a young woman, but it wasn't a barmaid.

"Are you…Tifa Lockhart?" the bored young woman asked, turning the bouquet of flowers around to read the name of the card.

"Yes." Tifa replied.

"These are for you. Have a good day." she handed Tifa the flowers and left.

"Who would send me flowers?" Tifa mused as she hurried back to the living room to grab a vase to put them in. "They're beautiful!" Walking into the kitchen to put some water in the vase, she read the card.

Hey, no hard feelings about last night.
You wanna cook me dinner? I'll be seeing you.
Reno

"What?!" Tifa was in disbelief and she almost dropped the flower-filled vase, not entirely by accident. He was the one who tried to barge in last night just to proposition her, and he's acting like she's the one with the problem, and she needs to slave in the kitchen for him. Jerk! "But at least the flowers are beautiful." she admitted, tossing the card in the trash.

"Man, is it a relief to have you back." Rude said as they entered Tifa's bar after work.

"Back?" Reno asked.

"Getting over whatever was bothering you about Tifa." Rude explained.

"Oh. Yeah." he replied. "Let's sit at the bar tonight." Reno headed up to it, Rude shrugging and joining him.

"What are you doing here?" Tifa asked, frowning when she saw him.

"Ordering two beers, that's what." Reno said a bit indifferently, before he remembered he was supposed to be getting her to want to jump into bed with him. "Please."

"What did you do?" Rude asked him unwillingly after Tifa almost rudely served them two beers before focusing on other customers.

"What do you mean?" Reno casually sipped his beer while watching her work.

"I know how women react to your shenanigans, that's what. And you said please. That only means one thing…you fucked up." Rude pointed out.

"Hey, I'm a Turk after all. Even if I fuck up, I still come out on top, right?" Reno smugly retorted.

"Uh-oh." Reno dropped his coat hanger and crowbar onto the ground as the two policemen approached him. "Um, officer…I can explain…the window was…er…already broken and I was just checking to make sure it was okay?"

"Hands up where we can see him!" one of them ordered him.

"Please don't call my parents." he pleaded as he got searched before being put in the back of the patrol car.

"Son, you're 18. Parents aren't going to help you now." the other one said after checking the ID in his wallet.

While sitting in the bare room at the precinct, Reno couldn't help but think that car theft wasn't as easy as it sounded. He just wanted to get himself a reputation, and this was a non-violent way to do it. He wasn't a very good fighter, but he was really good at running away.

"You're lucky, my man." the older of the cops who arrested him said as he reentered the room. "The owner of that car doesn't want to press charges, if you'll just talk to him."

"Okay?" Reno felt nervous, this sounded to good to be true as a professionally-dressed man entered and sat down across the table from him before gesturing for the cop to leave, who reluctantly did.

"You're either really gutsy or really stupid to try and steal my car." were the man's first words to Reno. "What's your name?"

"What's yours?" Reno fired back, even though he felt more nervous than ever. The man was supremely confident in himself, and something about him also suggested he was a fighter.

The man smiled at his impudence. "Fair enough. You may call me Veld. I'm here to offer you a deal, Mr…"

"Reno." he replied cautiously. "What's the deal?"

"You've already got a new name picked out, that helps. Your background suggests you're far from stupid, even though your thievery skills beg to differ. So we'll offer you training to better yourself in exchange for an employment contract and a new identity." Veld explained.

"You're…offering me a job?" Reno asked in disbelief.

"And training. Plus a new identity. But I must warn you, the employment contract is unbreakable." Veld cautioned him.

"Why would you do that for me?" Reno wanted to know.

"I'm not doing it for you. The organization I represent needs qualified individuals, and we have unusual recruiting methods. More I will not say unless you agree to our terms." Veld said.

Reno was worried about the undertone to some of Veld's statements, but the rest of it sounded like adventure he had been looking for. "I'll do it!"

Reno frowned as one of the barmaids served him his beer. He had been coming to the bar every day for a week and Tifa mostly just seemed to ignore him when he tried to talk to her. Maybe he should send her another gift…but what? Jewelry probably wouldn't work, she didn't seem to be interested in it, and he already tried flowers. Perfume wouldn't work either, some of that stuff was so strong it would ruin the flavor of any alcohol she was serving. That left…um…think, dammit! Reno mentally cursed at himself.

"Get the door, would you please, Denzel?" Tifa asked. "I'm almost done with dinner.

"Sure thing. " he said and closed his textbook, glad for an excuse to get away from homework. "Oh, wow! Marlene! Tifa! Come look!"

Wondering if Cloud had dropped in for a surprise visit just to say Hi, she hurriedly turned the stove off and rushed to the door, stopping when she saw Reno in the doorway and a little puppy running around excitedly in circles around the kids who were kneeling to play with him, and he was trying to lick their faces.

"I thought you guys might like a pet." Reno told her, wondering why she didn't seem that thrilled. Chicks loved puppies, didn't they?

"We…can't accept this." Tifa said firmly. She didn't know what Reno was up to, but she was sure she wanted no part of it.

"Oh, come on!" "Can't we keep him, please?" the children pleaded with her.

"I can't take him back." Reno explained. "I…uh…found him abandoned or something."

Tifa's eyes narrowed and she started to feel herself getting angry until the little puppy got too excited and ran over to Reno, lifting up his leg to relieve himself on the most familiar person there. "Good boy!" Tifa couldn't help laughing as Reno barely contained himself from starting to swear up a storm. "You can go clean yourself downstairs in the men's bathroom at the bar. We're just about to have dinner. And maybe the puppy can stay the weekend." she promised the kids as she heard Reno pound angrily down the stairs.

"This is Ellie, the hottest dam…oh, hello Reno. I haven't heard from you in ages. How have you been?" she inquired.

"I, uh…need your help." Reno forced the words out as he put his leg up on the sink to rinse himself off. Damned mutt…he spent 400 gil on that thing to impress Tifa, and this was the thanks he got?!

"I'm listening." Ellie said, and listen she did as Reno gave a short summary of his difficulties. "Where does she work?"

"At a bar called 7th Heaven. She owns it." he replied.

"Ooooh, a self-made woman. Nice. Tell you what, I'll go there tomorrow and check her out. I need to see her for myself to help you better. I'll call you afterwards. Bye." Ellie hung up the phone and smiled smugly just as Reno had. "They always come back to me for help in the end." She got up from her chair and went to finish making her dinner, curious about what kind of woman could make dear little Reno so frustrated. Could it be time for him to settle down already? Ellie chuckled to herself…after their initial meeting, they had kept in touch over the years, and Reno seemed to be in a perpetual state of sowing his wild oats, but she knew it wouldn't last forever. One day he'd meet his match in a woman, and Ellie was hoping this Tifa would be it. Marriage wasn't as dulling as the poor boy thought it had to be. Her own Steven, bless his soul, they had a marriage that was just as exciting towards the end as it was at the beginning. Ellie chuckled again at the fond memories.