Tifa Lockheart dragged herself to the door. Her arms and legs were weighing down on her. She was aching all over and was more than eager to have a nice warm bath to unwind herself.

'I wish I could have lime ice cream right now. That would taste so good…'

Her stomach growled in response to her thought. Unfortunately for Tifa, she remembered that she had wolfed down the last of her ice cream two nights ago. She was supposed to stock up, but she totally forgot about it. Tifa sighed as she opened the door that led to her apartment. She switched on the lights as she walked in.

'Maybe I could ask Tristan to get it for me.'

Tifa headed straight for the long couch and flopped herself down. Her arms lay outstretched. She felt like all her energy was drained out of her system. Tifa shifted in her position to get comfortable. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted something. Something on her coffee table, something that wasn't there the last time she saw her coffee table. Her eyes widened to get a better look.

'Is that…'

Tifa pulled herself up and stared at it.

Sitting there on her coffee table, was a small ice cream pint. Lime flavored ice cream to be specific. She pulled herself closer and picked up the small pint, feeling the damp coldness. She gingerly opened the cover and saw the ice cream was still in its perfect shape, unmelted. She wondered how on earth could the ice cream be here and not melt. She ruled out that it was Tristan's doing, knowing that he was with her the whole day at the bar. There was no way or time, he could have sneaked back here and left this here.

She glanced at the coffee table again. There was also a silver spoon and an envelope sitting on it. She picked up both. She stared at the envelope, noting at the absence of a name. She debated if she should open it or not. She looked at the ice cream in her other hand. It looked so inviting and so good. Tifa licked her lips in anticipation. She deftly took a huge scoop of the ice cream and placed it into her mouth. The sudden cold sensation made her body tingle. A huge grin grew on her face.

Tifa opened the envelope carefully and drew out a white notepaper, folded neatly into half. She didn't recognize the writing. Her eyes scanned the short content of the note.

'For you to pig out. See, at least I have the decency to get you something you'd like, not something like a bunch of flowers which I utterly dislike.'

Tifa raised an eyebrow. She had a sneaking suspicion who it was. 'But it can't be him. How could he get into my apartment? And if it was him, he must have left this barely minutes ago, cause the ice cream is still frozen.'

A sudden thought crossed Tifa's mind.

She immediately stood up and swiftly glanced around her.

Nothing.

She cautiously walked to the kitchen. Nothing. She then walked towards her bedroom. She had stopped at Tristan's room to check, but there was nothing there either. Tifa stopped outside her door. She took a deep breath as her fingers reached for the door handle. She quickly flung it open.

Nothing. Or rather, no one.

All she could see was her bed, closet, table… no whatsoever figure, except for her shadow. She looked around. Her gaze fell on what look like a piece of paper on her bed. She walked over and picked it up.

She squinted to read the words in the dark, with only the moon shining its glow through her window.

'I bet you thought I was gonna be here. Well, you're wrong! Too bad Lockheart. You misjudged me.'

She walked out of her room with the note in hand and settled back down onto the couch. Her hands reached out for the ice cream and she placed another spoonful into her mouth. A goofy grin crossed her features and it stayed there for the rest of the night.

……………………………………….

He stared at the dark plush door in front of him. He swallowed hard. 'Just get in there and act normal. Stop being stupid, you moron.'

His throat felt a little dry and scratchy. He wondered what he should say. 'Apologize? No way. Not even over my dead body would I ever apologize to her.'

He shuddered at the thought of himself humbly apologizing to her.

Reno stared at the door again. The door suddenly opened and the familiar whiff of alcohol caught his senses. A group of construction workers made their way out. Reno caught sight of the sable haired girl at the bar. The place looked a little empty, probably because it was near closing. Another couple proceeded to leave.

Reno stepped aside to let them through. He rolled his eyes and finally settled on his decision.

"See you Jack."

A tall man making his way out, smiled and gave a wave before leaving. Tifa waved back. Her wave stopped short when she saw Reno standing by the door.

"Tif, I think we're pretty much done here." Mae said as she trudged towards to the counter.

Tifa nodded, but her gaze was still on Reno. Mae raised an eyebrow. She turned around to see what Tifa staring at. At the sight of Reno, Mae's face broke out into a knowing grin. She looked back at Tifa.

"Hello? Earth to Tifa." She said as she wave her hand in front of Tifa's face.

Tifa broke her gaze and turned to look at Mae. Mae wiggled her eyebrows. Tifa shot her a warning look.

"Go talk to him." Mae said in a low voice.

"Why should I?"

"You know you want to."

Tifa rolled her eyes in response.

"Hey."

Both Tifa and Mae turned around at the sound of his voice. Reno shifted uncomfortably under their gaze.

"You wanna head out?" He asked, not quite looking at Tifa.

Tifa opened her mouth to reply but Mae beat her to it.

"Definitely. She would sure be pleased to."

Mae grabbed Tifa by the arm and proceeded to lead her towards Reno, more like pushing her towards him actually.

"You both go ahead. I'll close up." Mae offered.

Tifa shot her a glare. Mae replied with an innocent smile. She nudged Tifa.

"Cool." Reno said simply, as he turned around and started to walk down the street.

Mae gave Tifa another shove, motioning her to follow. Tifa glared at her one last time before going on her way.

…………………………………………………….

"So…" Tifa began.

"So."

Silence.

Reno shoved his hands in his jeans' pockets. Tifa brushed a stray strand of her hair away from her face. They continued walking, not having a destination in mind. Reno was a few steps ahead of Tifa, but neither one made the effort to either slow down or hurry up to catch up with each other.

"How are you?" Tifa suddenly spoke up.

Reno stopped and looked over his shoulder at her. Tifa shrugged. She silently rebuked herself for asking such a weird, out-of-nowhere question.

"I'm…okay."

Tifa slowly nodded. They continued walking. 'Say something Lockheart.'

"Thanks for the ice cream." She blurted out.

Reno stopped dead in his tracks. He didn't see that coming. Without looking back, he just nodded. Once again, Reno was at loss for a quick come back. He realized that it only happened when he was around her.

"How did you…get in?"

"I'm a Turk." He answered.

Tifa restrained herself from smacking herself in the forehead. She had almost forgotten that as a Turk, he probably acquired all kinds of skills, including picking locks. 'Very stupid Lockheart.'

"How's…the ice cream?" Reno asked in a feeble attempt to kill the awkwardness.

"It's pretty good."

The awkward silence descended over them once again. It was quiet and nothing else but their footsteps were heard in the dead of the night. The moon was hidden from the dark clouds, looking like it was about to rain anytime soon. The air had a misty smell to it as the mild winds blew by.

Reno cursed himself for putting himself in such a situation, wishing he hadn't gone to her bar in the first place.

"Do you still keep in touch with the rest of the Turks?" Tifa asked.

"Yeah. Every now and then we would meet up. What about you? Still close with your bunch of heroic buddies?"

"We meet up too."

"What about that ol' spiky head?"

Reno immediately regretted the words that came out of his mouth. He knew he shouldn't have brought up something like that, especially since the first and only time he did, she had ended up crying. He slowly looked over his shoulder.

Tifa had stopped and was staring blankly at a dark corner, with her arms hugging herself tightly.

"Hey." Reno spoke up loudly, hoping to snap her out of her thoughts.

It did. Tifa immediately looked up at him.

"Will you quit being so hopeless over that asshole?"

Tifa felt her face growing hot at his words. She was embarrassed at her obviously very-transparent feelings.

"Well it would help if you don't bring him up." She shot back in an attempt to hide her embarrassment.

"What? It's my fault now?"

"You shouldn't have said anything about him."

"Well, I'm sorry for having a freedom to say whatever I want when I want." He replied sarcastically.

Tifa narrowed her eyes. Reno smirked and looked away.

Before Tifa could retort, there was a sudden streak of light, followed by the sound of a thunder. Rain started to fall, gently at first. Both of them looked up, at the feel of the cool drops of water on the skin. It gradually poured harder. Tifa closed her eyes as the feel of the refreshing moist on her face, forgetting for a moment there, all her worries and fears. She had always liked the rain.

Reno quickly grabbed her arm, jerking her from her reverie.

"Let's go! Are you planning to get sick?"

He didn't give Tifa a chance to answer as he tugged her to follow him. Tifa obliged and they both ran to find a sheltered place.

"Where are we heading to?" Tifa shouted as the rain drowned her voice.

Another flash of lighting appeared above them, followed by the thunder. Twice.

"Back to the bar!" Reno shouted back.

Both Tifa and Reno had not realized that his hand, the one that was originally clasped around her arm had slipped down, now clutching her hand.

They reached her bar and Reno quickly reached out to open the door. It was locked. Tifa's hands immediately searched through her pockets to find the keys. It was only then did she realize she was not wearing her coat and her keys were in that coat. Reno banged on the door, hoping Mae or whoever was still in. There was no answer.

"Damn it. Do you have the key?"

Tifa looked up at him and quickly shook her head.

"It's in my coat. And my coat's inside." She said as she jabbed her finger towards the door.

Reno groaned. The cold wind blew harder, making the both of them shiver. Tifa quickly hugged herself.

"How can you bloody not have the keys?" Reno exclaimed in frustration.

"I told you. It's in my coat pocket. I didn't grab my coat on the way out. Both keys to my home and the bar are in there. And it's not my fault that we are stuck out here. So quit shouting at me." Tifa replied as she glared at him.

Reno shook his head. His mind worked furiously to figure out what to do.

"Don't you drive or something?"

Reno shook his head again.

"Maybe we could go over to your place." Reno suggested.

Tifa rolled her eyes and pointed up at the sky. Reno shot her a confused look. Just right then, there was another flash of lightning. They both cringed at the loud sound of the thunder.

"We can't leave in this kind of weather." Tifa said.

"So we're fucking stuck." He pointed out.

"Pretty much, yeah."

"Damn it. This is all your fault."

"My fault?" Tifa looked at him with a surprised look. "Excuse me, you were the one who came over and wanted to talk. You were the one who decided to take a stupid walk."

"But I wasn't the one who forgot her keys." Reno shot back.

Tifa glared at him. Reno looked away. She huffed and turned her back on him. She knew it was a childish thing to do, but she couldn't care less. He was always blaming her for things that weren't even her fault.

Reno looked at her out of the corner of his eye. He sighed inwardly as the guilty feeling tugged at his conscience.

"Hey."

Tifa didn't bother to turn around. Reno rolled his eyes at her childishness. He dejectedly sat down at the doorstep and started to brush out the wetness in his hair. Reno was soaked wet with his shirt sticking to his skin, making him feel uncomfortable. Still, he was glad for the small awning above their heads. It didn't do much, but at least it was still able to shelter them from the rain.

'Why did I ever think Reno was capable of being nice?' Tifa fumed. She was annoyed with the way his attitude kept changing. She had thought he was actually a nice person inside, but with that close-to-argument earlier, she had entirely changed her mind about him. The wind blew by again and she self-consciously rubbed her hands against her upper arms, hoping to keep herself warm.

"There's no point standing there. The rain's not going to stop anytime soon." Reno suddenly spoke up.

Tifa stiffened, not willing to turn around. She took another step forward in an attempt to ignore him, and felt the rain drops on her skin as she did so. She was halfway sheltered from the rain as the awning could only reach so far.

"You're gonna catch a cold if you stand there." He said pointedly.

Tifa kept silent. Reno shook his head amusedly at her attitude.

"Look, just sit down okay?" He said again.

Reno stood up and reached for her arm. She felt herself shiver at his touch. Reno said nothing. She turned around to face him. He sat back down at the doorstep and motioned to the place beside him.

Tifa bit her lip and relented. She sat herself down next to him, feeling the slight warmth from being beside him.

After a moment of silence, she dared herself to look at him. Reno had leaned back against the door with his eyes closed. Her eyes traveled across his facial features, noting the soft look on his face when he's asleep. Even with his eyes closed, she could just imagine the depth of his aqua blue eyes, the ones that she got lost into many times. A small smile crossed her lips. 'Hold it. What am I thinking about?' She quickly shook her head to push her thoughts away. 'Must be the coldness that suddenly numbed my brain.'

She sighed and looked away. It looked like it was going to rain throughout the night. Tifa sighed again.

A/N: Yes, I finally updated…and I know I took extra long for this chapter. Sorry bout that. I had this huge pile of assignments and a CV to finish up so I couldn't find the time to re-read and edit this thing before uploading it. If there are any mistakes/ typo/ whatsoever, I'm sorry. Okay, so as usual…big thanks to;

Nando the RPS King, GreenEyedJo, Neko-Yuff16, The Tiramisu of Impending Doom, RebelliousNekoAngel, Katharine the Lolita, Izzia (Thank you so much for your comments, I am flattered and honored), Night Sins, lovextine, Sugihara, WrexSoul, tifaery, Empress-Eerian-Sadow, boameda, AniGirl 7, Dragon Girl323 and of course…Santeira (Thanks for taking your time to read even though you are so busy. I really appreciate it. Hehe). So, thanks everyone and till the next chapter, take care and see ya. (",)