Cloud stood now "I was coming back from the store with some supplies for the girl when I saw the clone," he stated. "The potion will help some, but you still should get him some medical attention. "
"Thank you" was all the redhead could find to say. There was blood all around him, almost TOO much blood, and the hole where the bullet had entered pulsed out blood in time with his heartbeat, not a good thing at all, though the amount of it being spilled had begun to lessen as the potion began to work."Hurts. . ." his eyes began to close
"you are going into shock, Reno, you need to stay awake.
Rude, seeing that Cloud was tending to Reno, scanned the crowd for the silver-haired man. He had a bullet in his sniper rifle with the asshole's name on it. "Where did he go?" he asked.
Cloud shoook his head "He had a bike parked at the city's edge, you'll never catch up to him now."
"Fuck!" Rude swore. He quickly removed the live bullets from his rifle before slinging it over his shoulder. He bent down, picking up Reno and looked at Cloud. "Where's the nearest hospital?" he asked. He wasn't familiar with Edge's layout at all.
Cloud gestured east "It's not the best yet, but it should have supplies tto get him stable enough to get back to Healin"
Rude nodded, moving towards the nearest motor vehicle that wasn't a motorcycle. Didn't people in this damn town believe in real cars?
Reno's eyes had meanwhile slid completely closed, his skin waxy and sweaty, his eyes screwing up at the corners on occasion with each jolt. His whole world, what wasn't fuzzing around the edges, was all-encompassing hurt, shuddering hot and cold with his teeth chattering hard. "R-rude. ..m'scared. .."
Rude didn't say a word, only kicked out the back window of the vehicle, unlocked it, and placed Reno on the back seat. Still not making any noise other than the occassional grunt, he slid into the front seat and started hotwiring the car. Funny how old habits die hard.
Suddenly a little redhaired whirlwind was having to be fought back by the blond warrior. "Uncle Reno! I need to go to him let me go, let me GO!"
"Em, the doctors will take care of him, he'll be allright, I promise."
Rude was focused. Tunnel-vision, if you will. Reno was shot. In the chest. He had to get him to the hospital, damn the consequences and everyone else. When the engine sputtered and finally turned over, he didn't even bother with his seat belt, a very un-Rude-like thing, as he floored it, heading in the direciton Cloud had pointed out.
Reno finally was completely silent, meaning he'd either passed out or was in too much pain to talk anymore. Silent Reno was a scary thing, as he was almost never that quiet, Or that still.
m
He drove past a few hospital signs, indicating that he was going in the right direction. The quiet didn't bother him; the stillness didn't bother him. Mostly because he was so focused on just getting to the hospital.
There were two doctors outside on their breaks when he pulled up to the door, one of them Rude knew, the man having treated both Turks multiple times at one time or another. He immediatly stamped out his cigarette and gasped out a "sweet shiiva" when he peeked into the back seat, the biege material had been dyed crimson in the spot the littler man occupied. He was immediatly calling his co-workers out, one with a gurney.
Rude was numb. He was tired of seeing hospitals, mostly he was tired of seeing Reno in hospitals. It was getting a little... for lack of a better word, irritating. Didn't his partner know how much it hurt to sit next to a hospital bed while Reno fought for his life? Didn't he know how much it bothered him when Reno's reckless behavior didn't work out for the best.
He needed a drink. Bad.
"Wasn't m'fault this time. " He knew it didn't help to say it, even if it was true. ..the bastard had been fast, faster than any could have expected. "Maybe I shoulda worn the skirt, eh? He woulda been less inclined to use me for a shield." Finally he grew silent again. ..face relaxing as darkness claimed him.
Okay, time for that drink. Rude nodded at the doctors and walked out of the hospital without another word. They knew to call him when Reno was out of surgery and woke up. Besides, he needed something to calm him down -- be it a stiff shot or an all out bar brawl.
Cloud stood outside the door. "Come on, Tifa's getting ready to open. .drinks're on the house."
Rude grunted and nodded, following the blonde a few blocks down to the establishment. He sat down, eying the girl once as she set him down a double shot, and took the whole thing at once. As Tifa refilled the glass, he turned to Cloud with a mumbled, "Thanks."
"I know it's not easy. ..he's reckless. ..But this time it really isn't his fault. I've had troublle knocking the guy out the one or two encounters I've had with him. Besides. ..Reno has never failed to bounce back before."
"I don't need to see in the inside of a hospital again for a long time," Rude said, lighting a cigarette. "And I really don't need to see the inside of a morgue."
"You really love him, don't you?" It seemed a question totally out of the blue, as Cloud gestured to the silver claudaggh on Rude's left ring finger that matched the one on his partner's. "I do know how it feels, Tifa here can be a little reckless at times, too."
Rude nodded, taking a long drag from his cigarette. He was still feeling a misplaced anger towards Reno. It wasn't the redhead's fault he got hit by a should have been dead on shot. And it wasn't really Rude's fault either. But try telling him that.
"You need to remember who's really at fault here. ..it's not his fault. ..and it's not yours " Cloud's hand dropped to his shoulder.
Tifa nodded "I know, that's the biggest problem, isn't it, Rude? You feel as if it's your fault because it was your hand that held the rifle. It's not. ..There as no way you could have predicted the clone would use Reno for a shield. If you beat yourself up for it, you won't be fit to help him when he needs it."
Rude just grunted, a sign that while he heard them, he didn't believe them. It wasn't so much that he was beating himself up as much as he wanted to shake Reno until the redhead realized what these hospital stays did to him. He sighed, finishing his second drink and gesturing for Tifa to just hand him over the bottle.
Tifa nodded, doing so. .."He loves you, too, you know. .SOME of his recklessness, you must admit, is him trying to keep YOU safe. You're not reckless by any means but sometimes you forget you're as mortal as the rest of us."
Rude stabbed his cigarette butt out in the ashtray, taking the bottle with a nod before taking a long drink directly from it. Screw the glass. It took too long. "He needs to worry about himself more," he mumbled, loosening his tie a little.
"He does, I agree. .it also wasn't his fault that he's too damn pretty for his own good. .we saw some of Corneo's records when I was at his mansion. ..I know what he did to the people who worked for him."
"You think he's pretty?" Rude asked, He hadn't eaten that morning and the alcohol was starting to kick in.
"He is, if he were my type and not with you I might have set my cap. for him."
"Pretty like a girl, or pretty like a boy?" Rude continued. His speech had a very slight, almost unnoticable slur to it.
"he's what Yuffie would call Bishounen. ..that's wutain for 'beautiful man' "
"I speak Wutain," Rude mumbled, taking another drink before continuing. "And lower Costan... and... and... something else."
Tifa's phone rang at the same time Rude's cell did. ..
"¿Hola¿Quién es éste?" Rude said into the phone, as if he were proving he could speak the language of where he was born.
"He's in his room, and asking for you, Senor."
"Who?" Rude asked, frowning to himself and lighting another cigarette.
"Your husband, sir, he's awake and asking for you."
"Husband?" Rude's brain just wasn't working well at all while swimming in booze. He leaned over the bar, speaking in a loud whisper to Tifa. "Do I have a husband?" It had, after all, been not that long ago since that had occured.
Tifa laughed "Silly, go see your partner. ." Handed him an elixer "Drink, it will help clear your head."
"I'll be there," he said into the phone before closing it. He took the elixer, looking over the bottle for a label. "Where's the proof?"
She gives him a photo taken by Elena at his wedding. "Good enough?"
"No..." Rude said carefully. "The proof. On the bottle. The al-co-hol level." However, he did take a look at the picture anyway. That redhead of his was pretty hot. "Guess this means I can't marry you, huh?" he said to Tifa's chest.
"It's an elixer, Rude, NO proof, it's to get the alcohol out of your brain."
Rude continued to stare at Tifa's chest. "I don't need to get the alcohol out of my brain. I'm perfectly fine as it is." He paused, licking his lips absently. "And so are you." He'd ALWAYS had a thing for Tifa.
"Come on, drink it, if I let you do this you'd regret it when you got sober and Reno would KILL me."
"So, what you're saying," Rude said, opening the elixer and gesturing with it while he spoke. "Is that if I were drunk, like I am now, and not with Reno... you'd fuck me?" He figured he was going to get slapped, but, in his addled brain, he thought it was worth it just to know. Because were he not with Reno, he would most definitely tried to hook up with Tifa Lockheart.
She purred "Probably. .."
Oooh, that purr. It sounded just like Reno's. Or would it be the other way around? He didn't care. He was drunk. Very drunk... and getting kind of horny with the direction the conversation was taking. "What about him?" he asked, gesturing at Cloud with the still full elixer bottle open.
"We're friends. ..he wanted to bone that ancient."
"So did Tseng," Rude said in what was supposed to be a quiet voice, but ended up being rather loud. Good thing they were the only three in the bar at the time.
Tifa laughed while Cloud came up behind him "Bottoms up!" with one swift gesture the bottle was emptied into his mouth. "You'll thank me for it later, trust me."
Rude sputtered a little, choking down the thick liquid. Before the warmth of the elixer spread through him, the warmth of the liquor made him blurt out the truest thing he'd said in a long time. "You're just pissed because I had the balls to hit on her." With that, he climbed over the bar, grabbed Tifa, and bent her backwards in a dramatic, movielike kiss. After a moment, he stood up, straightened himself out as he walked out from behind the bar, and made towards the door, a light spring in his step as the warmth of the elixer flowed through him, beginning to clear his head.
Tifa looked at the door in shock.
"Reno's going to see that lipstick and go ballistic" Cloud said to her. "Glad I'm not going to be there."
Rude had always wanted to do that. However, as the exiler processed the alcohol from his system, he felt less and less good about what he'd done and more and more guilty.
Reno was propped up on three pillows when he arrived, eyes still crinkling a bit at the corners, but the crinkling died back as the meds kicked in. "So, whose lipstick is that on your mouth?" the question was asked in an off-handed enough manner to indicate he was angry but not going to say so.
Rude frowned. Lipstick? Who was wearing lipstick...? Tifa? He didn't think the woman wore it. It looked so natural on her... He quickly rubbed it off onto his hand to look. "Oh," he said, still frowning. He looked back up at Reno. "It's not what you think." Isn't that how all good drunk stories start?
"Yeah, you go out and get loaded an' kiss some girl. ..hey, that's Mocha Passion. ..that's TIFA'S color, I should know, I've seen Cloud wearing the after-marks enough times."
Rude sighed, sitting down in a conveniently placed chair. Okay. So maybe it WAS what Reno thought. What could he say other than, "I was drunk."
You're mine, MINE dammit. ..I haven't touched anyone but you since that incident that will not be brought up. and at least. . . you weren't injured when I did that." He squinted his eyes closed, even through the morphine, IV drip this time because he had been in a LOT of pain, but the dull ache where they'd had to flay him open pretty much to get to the round and repair the damage to heart and lungs it had done remained.
"I'm sorry." What more could he do? He couldn't take it back, and a little voice in the back of his head mentioned that it was nice to finally lock lips with the object of his crushing all that time back.
He turned his head away. ..he nodded biting his lip. and whispered "I forgive you. .but like what happened back then with me. ..it's going to take time to trust you completely again, I'm sure you understand that."
Rude sighed. HE was the trustworthy one, the one that could always be counted on. And all that crashed down just because he got drunk to forget about how much Reno made him mad when he didn't look out for his own wellbeing.
"An' yeah ..I know I do stupid shit sometimes yo. .but I did use my head this time. .I did what I was supposed to and STILL got hurt. It happens that way sometimes. ..you do everything right and the situation STILL gets fubared." He pauses a moment, trying to catch his breath, the way his eyes drifted half-closed told how tired he was.
Rude sighed again. It just seemed that, since hooking up seriously with Reno, he spent more time in the hospital than some doctors who worked there.
"m'tired. ..but I needed ta tell ya. ..I'm sorry, yo. ..sorry this happened. ..hate that silver haired fucker. ..gonna go all limit on him if I ever see him again."
"Sleep well," Rude said, standing and placing a kiss to Reno's forehead. "I'll be right down the hall finding something to eat if you need me."
Reno nodded and began to drift off, whispering "I love you" as he did.
Rude mumbled a response, then left the room. He walked slowly down the hallway towards the little cafeteria, wondering just how he could have screwed up so collossally.
Elena was already sitting there, two trays in front of her. "Here, I got the least disgusting thing they had on the menu. Wanna talk?"
Did he want to talk? "No." He sat down, looking at the plates in front of them. He picked up a fork and poked at one of the items. "What is this supposed to be?"
"Water chestnut, I think. .. you look like your dog just died. .oh, and there's lipstick on your shirt."
"Don't remind me," he said, spearing what was supposed to be a water chestnut and putting it into his mouth. It tasted like... water. Like semi-solidified water.
"Oh.. .he must have seen it. ..is that part of what the problem is, then?"
Rude would not be snarky towards Elena. She didn't do anything wrong. "Yeah." He speared another supposed water chestnut, and that one, somehow, had less taste than the first.
She put an arm over his shoulder. "He got snarky with you, I take it. ..he normally wouldn't, but he's in a pretty good amount of pain at the moment even WITH the drugs they've been pumping into him. I'd hate to see him with none at all."
Rude took a deep breath before spilling. "It was Tifa." Suddenly, he wasn't so hungry anymore.
"Oh. ..THAT explains it then. . .you know at the beginning of your relationship he was terrified you were going to up and leave him for her. ..resign and make a life with her. ..irrational, I know, but he loved you back then, and he does now."
"She never would've given me the time of day then. Now..." He dropped it off, hoping Elena wouldn't make him say it.
"She's giving you cues she might. . .things are changing. .."
"I don't love her... don't think I ever really did love her, like, really love LOVE her... but..." Rude sighed. Dammit. Why was it so hard to explain it?
"She's attractive. ..she makes you feel safe. ..am I close?"
"She's hot. So fucking hot." Rude paused to poke at the other thing Elena had found. "And just so... together, you know?"
Elena nods. "I know Reno drives you to distraction sometimes. . .he is FAR from together..but tell me. ..what is it that attracted you to him in the first place? I bet if you look at it. ..you'll discover if he was as put together as Tifa a lot of the things you found attractive about him wouldn't be there."
Rude frowned like a whining child. "Tifa wouldn't have me spending 70 of my waking day in the hospital waiting for her to recover from a rifle wound I caused."
"Maybe not. ..but it wasn't YOUR fault. ..blaming yourself doesn't help. ..I saw the surveilance tapes, both of you did everything right. ..and if you did something wrong. ." she shows him the tape on the laptop she has with her at all times. ..it is at the spot where Reno tells him to abort. "THAT is the only thing you did wrong, but the injury had already occured by then."
"I had him." Rude's eyes didn't focus on anything as he remembered earlier in the day. "I had him in THE perfect shot. But he moved so fast... and I took the shot... and I didn't even see it hit before I fired again. I wanted to take him out so bad..."
"For good reason. ..both he and the other are dangerous, very much so. ..some of it was anger about the other one trying to rape him the night of the brawl, too, wasn't it?
"No." Denial isn't just a river in Egypt, Rude.
She tips his chin up with a single finger and removes his sunglasses, something very few can get away with, but she needs to make her point. "Look me in the eye and tell me that now."
Rude looked at her nose. "No." It was an old trick he'd learned. Look at someone's nose, and it looked like you were looking them in the eye when you really weren't. Old habits...
"You can't fool me. ..now, look me in the eye, not the bridge of my nose"
Rude took a deep breath, looking her in the eye for real that time. He took another deep breath before mumbling a two syllable word almost completely under his breath. He sure could be stubborn when he wanted to be. Worse than a damn mule.
"Repeat that again, did you just say "I was?"
"No," Rude said, pausing to take another deep breath. "I said 'maybe'."
"I know you too well, Rude. ..you're as protective of him as he is of you. ..you beat the fuck outta that guy at the seventh heaven once for just LOOKING at him."
"He deserved it," Rude muttered, putting his sunglasses back on. He felt naked without them.
"Not to mention the looks you give the girls in the steno pool. . .though you'd never stoop to hitting a girl, unless it's Yuffie."
"She's not a girl. She's a nuisance."
"But it's not your fault, that's all there is to it. It's not his either, except in that you both underestimated the guy's speed, which as big as he is is totally understandable."
"Yes, it is," Rude said, his voice getting a little louder with each part of the sentence. "I shot my fucking partner in the fucking chest, then I went out and got smashed in the middle of the fucking afternoon, then I tried to fucking knock boots with the one chick he's afraid of most. Tell me, how is that NOT my fault?"
"Ok, so you getting drunk is. ..but you shooting Reno wasn't, the bastard pulled him on top of him. as for kissing Tifa. ..well shit happens when you're drunk. ..but he forgave you for it, am I right?"
"You don't understand, Elena," Rude's hands started moving as he spoke. "The one girl who's ass I wanted for as long as I can remember told me she would PROBABLY sleep with me if I weren't with Reno. Do you know what that did to me?" He gestured towards his groin.
"So you got hard. ..but you DIDN'T fuck her. ..you didn't betray him, as badly as you wanted to."
A noise of frustration left Rude's throat. "But I would have," he said, pausing to try and collect his thoughts in hopes of making the girl understand why he was such a miserable husband to Reno. "If she hadn't brought Reno up... if Cloud hadn't dumped that elixer down my throat... I would have. Right on that damn bar. In a heartbeat."
"The mind does funny things when you're drunk. .. and even if you had, he would have forgiven you. ..though guaranteed the timing would have hurt."
"But Elena, you should have seen her," Rude said. After burying his crush for so long, it was amazing how strongly it returned when let loose. "She's got that ass that just... ahhh, in that tight little skirt... and these tits that are just... a man could get lost in those. And the way she leaned over and purred, fucking PURRED in my ear..." He paused, forgetting who he was talking to for a moment. "Don't tell me you wouldn't want to fuck her, too."
"I would if I were a man, yes. ..or if I were gay, which I seem to be the only one who ISN'T gay or bi around here." she chuckles. "I'd fuck your husband if he let me, though" she grinned cheekily.
There was a brief flash in Rude's mind: the image of Tifa and Elena together, and it was hot. It was followed directly by a slightly longer flash of Elena and Reno, and it was also hot. Which was followed directly by an even slightly longer flash of Elena, Tifa and Reno in a pile of naked limbs, and it was very hot. He looked at her, stopping himself from saying 'would you? and can I watch?' Instead, he groaned in frustration and put his forehead down on the table, especially since he had to scoot his chair foreward to hide the bulge forming in his pants. Dammit. Now was NOT the time.
"thinking about a foursome, Big Brother?" Elena laughs.
"No." Here we go again... And Rude was NOT scooting back ANYTIME soon, especially since the image kept playing over and over in his head.
Elena just giggled and got up. ..going to see if Reno was awake yet.
Rude groaned again. Even with Elena walking away -- and he never noticed how nice of an ass the blonde girl had... stop it, Rude -- he couldn't get the images out of his mind. He needed a few minutes alone. With his hand. Somewhere more private than the hospital cafeteria.
Reno when she came to the room would be softly crying in his sleep. ..being in the physical pain he was, his walls were completely down. ..he felt pretty betrayed at the moment.
"Reno? Are you awake?" she asked softly, poking her head around the door.
Okay. Rude needed someplace more private... bathroom? It would have to do. He HAD to get this out of his system. He stood, careful to keep his large hands in front of his groin at all times, trying to hide the bulge there.
Those eyes folded open, dulled by pain and the painkillers, they were also wet.. ."come on in, Laney" he said softly.
"Hey," she said quietly, closing the door behind her. "I would ask how you're feeling, but I think I already know." She smiled slightly.
Bathroom, check. He looked under the stalls, noticing that no one else was in there. Perfect. He went into the stall farthest from the door and closed it.
"Like stomped shit. ..both physically. ..and well, I'm sure you talked to him before you came up here. .."
"Yeah, I did," Elena replied, sitting gently on the side of the bed. "You wanna give me your side?"
Rude grabbed a handful of bath tissue, wadding it up with one hand as he unzipped his pants with the other. When his erection fell from his pants into his waiting hand, he looked at it as if he didn't know what to do next.
"He's mad at himself. ..an' I think a little mad at me, but there's nothin' we coulda done. ..an' then he came in, and I saw the lipstick on his mouth and it was punched in the gut!
"Rude...he.. ." Elena was having a hard time deciding where to start. "Okay, let's try again. Have you ever had a crush on someone who didn't like you back?" she asked.
Lube, that's what was missing. Or a mouth. Reno's mouth. He spit into his hand, then rubbed it over himself. He had to be quick; he didn't want to get caught.
"Yeah, and it'd shock ya as to who."
"Oh?" she asked, the gossip in her perking up. Okay, not so much a gossip as she liked to collect information. She liked to know things. "Who?"
There, that was it. It didn't feel nearly as good as Reno's mouth, but Rude thought it was kinda pleasant as he moved his hand a little faster.
"Tseng." He gulped a bit, almost expecting her to pummel him.
midnight12181: "WHAT?" Okay, a little too loud, Elena.
Rude moved the wadded up bath tissue closer to the head, ready to catch his seed when he released. Soon... soon...
"Yeah, was when I was first recruited...I never told him, though. .."
"Really?" Elena had to rein herself in. "Do you... do you still feel that way?"
Rude grunted, catching his seed in the bath tissue, then dropping it into the commode.
"Nah. .got Rude now and Tseng's got the boss. ..we both moved on."he sighs, looking at the wall. "shit yo. .even if I did I'd never fuck him, too many people would get hurt."
"Okay, bad example," she said. "Anyone else you can think of?"
Rude leaned against the stall wall, gently putting himself back in his pants and taking a few deep breaths. Better, but not perfect.
"Promise you won't tell Rude or Tseng or kill me?"
"Is it me?" she asked, batting her eyes dramatically, then falling into giggles.
"Yuffie. .." he sighs "She has no idea. ..won't tell her, Rude would kill me, an' so would SHE."
Elena froze. A whole 30 seconds passed before she literally fell off the bed in a giggle fit.
"What's so fucking funny?"
Elena climbed back up onto the bed, still breathing heavily. "Yuffie? Of all the people... Yuffie?"
"She n' are a lot alike personality wise, ya know." He winces as a sudden coughing fit stole his breath for a few moments, the gunk in the bottoms of his lungs loosening, beginning to come up.
"Ew," Elena said briefly, reaching over to rub Reno's back in a soothing manner. When the coughing fit stopped, she continued. "Alike? How? I don't see it..."
"Both of us are firey, hot tempered, determined to get what we want at all costs."
She couldn't see it. No matter how hard she tried to picture Reno with Yuffie, she couldn't do it. "Oh," she said. Okay, back to the origial analogy. "Okay, so, let's say you weren't with Rude... would you sleep with her?"
"Only if her father wouldn't murder me."
Elena waved her hand dismissively. "You're not helping." She paused. "Anyway, let's say that if, after forever of liking her, she finally said she might. Are you telling me you wouldn't even think about hitting that?"
"Yeah, I probably would. .but I wouldn't even let it enter my mind when I'm married to someone else.. .I understand the reasoning. ..but the difference in that analogy is I''d be SNGLE."
"Just wait a second, I'm not finished," Elena said, raising her hand to cut Reno off from saying another word. "Now, let's say you were NOT single, SMASHED, and..." she paused, almost unable to get it out, "... Yuffie were to tell you she was ready. Are you saying you wouldn't even think about it for a second?"
"Think about it maybe. ..but do it. ..no."
"For crying out loud, Reno, he just KISSED her," Elena said just a little too loudly. Proving her point, she leaned over and planted one on Reno's lips. After a moment, she pulled away, looking at him almost smugly. "There. Now YOU have lipstick on you. See? No problems."
Rude picked the worst time to chose to be an eavesdropper. Reno? And Elena? He stood outside the closed door and waited.
Reno sputtered and wiped it off "Elena! Fuck, you are going to get me in trouble! Besides, what about Gary? He's 6'6" and 255 pounds, and he'd KILL me! Not to mention what Rude would do to you and I BOTH! and he is the only one I want!"
"Rude. ." it came out whispered. "Is the only one I want."
"I'm proving a point, Reno," Elena said, standing with her hands on her hips. "Besides, I'd be a little more worried about Mr. Sexual Frustration right now, than what you think Gary would do to you."
Rude heard enough and started walking back towards the cafeteria. He left his and Reno's relationship in the most capable hands he knew: Elena's.
Reno winced as the bag with the morphine ran out and the pain hit full force, he bit his lip with a grunt. ..of all the times for the meds to run out. a sheen of sweat gathered on his forehead and he cursed softly. "ow. ..ow fuck. . .ow. . "
"Baby," Elena teased, reaching over to press the nurse's call button by the bed.
Within a minute the nurse appeared with a fresh shot in hand, as if she knew that's what the call was about. Without more than a few pleasant words, she had administered the pain killer, checked Reno's blood pressure and left, leaving the room almost exactly as she entered it.
"Who's the one layin' here with an incision that would accomadate a quadruple bypass, huh?"
"The same guy whose boyfriend -- excuse me -- HUSBAND was getting all hot and bothered thinking about me getting your rocks off," was her response to that.
He lets loose a chuckle now. "I need him, Laney. ..need him like I need air to breathe or food to eat. ..My body'd go on weithout him. ..but what good's body when the heart n' spirit are dead?"
Elena giggled, finishing with, "He loves you, he really does, but you need to stop giving him these minibreakdowns. The Rude we know and love won't survive many more without snapping." She paused, waiting for her words to sink in before continuing. "And he needs you just as much as you need him, even though the bastard won't admit it to anyone, himself included. So what good is he if you're dead?" She paused again, this time smiling almost evilly. "Wanna know a secret? And you can't tell ANYONE... Even the President if he tortures you."
"coursde, Laney. .."
"My darling Big Brother thinks a foursome would be hot." She snickered behind her hand.
He laughed heartily then winced. "ow. .fuck, ow. ..no more laughing."
She giggled again. "I got a better one for you... one that's a little more likely to happen, and just the thing to fix your little 'issues'..." She didn't wait for him to ask her about it before continuing. "He's got this fantasy... Now, don't ask how I know, a girl's gotta have some secrets, but he's got this fantasy... You know the ones where you meet someone you never met before at a club, go to a motel and have wild, passionate sex all night? Yeah. That's one of his favourites."
"Can do that. ..once I'm outta here. ..help me set it up."
"Thought you'd never ask," Elena grinned. She hopped up, brushing herself off and looking towards the door. "So, you want me to bring in your Knight in Kevlar Body Armor?"
"Yeah. .." He looks a little hesitant about the eyes, though, as if he wasn't sure what to expect. "Is he. ..still ready ta tear my head off?"
"He's always more upset with himself than you, but..." she stopped, smiling gently at him. "I have a feeling he's done beating himself up." She suddenly giggled. "Or beating himself off, if my guess is right." She winked before spinning on her heel and leaving the room to get Rude.
Reno sat up , and when Rude came in, he bit a shaking lip. .no he would not cry. "Rude. ..never leave me again. .promise?"
He didn't think he HAD left... Okay, so he'd left in the physical sense, but not exactly the mental or emotional sense. He really hoped Reno was talking about the second one. "I never really did," he said softly, pulling up a chair to sit by the bed.