Elena waited for Reno and Rude to return to the Turk floor of the building, her feet sloshing through the disturbingly wet carpet as she paced impatiently. She couldn't understand why Tseng had asked her to assign the fighting duo a mission instead of doing it himself, but she was determined to do what she was told as perfectly as possible. Her crush on Tseng probably fueled her determination, but she wasn't going to admit that to anyone. She knew that that was what made her want to succeed, but to everyone else she tried to act like she was simply promotion obsessed. Not that she wasn't promotion obsessed, but that was not what drove her to succeed.
The paperwork in her hand was perfectly executed, every i dotted and every t crossed. The only thing that was missing was a signature from a member of the board that would put it into effect. Had Tseng been there it would have been his job to sign it, but since he was awol today Elena would have to find someone else to sign it. She didn't like most of the board members, they were all obsessed with money and would kiss Rufus' ass happily in order to get it. She wanted someone on the board who treated Rufus the way Tseng treated Rufus, and there was only one person who acted even remotely like Tseng and he would most likely be tinkering in his office on some new cat-themed robot.
Elena checked her watch, knowing that Reno wouldn't be back to take responsibility for his horrible destruction of the bathroom until he was sure that he had a good enough alibi to protect himself. It wasn't like the company didn't have cameras on every floor or that the company wouldn't know exactly when Reno had left the bathroom or how soon afterwards water had started to gush out of it, but Reno wasn't exactly known for being the most intelligent person in the Turks. Elena had time to get an official signature from Reeve to complete her mission from Tseng and send Reno and Rude away for a week or longer. Elena would enjoy the silence once they were gone; there had been so much tension between the two lately that it had started to affect her very negatively.
Elena sloshed through the carpet to the stairs, heading towards Reeve's office with a single minded determination that would keep her from wondering what in the name of the gods was on her shoes. It was just like Reno to bust the plumbing in the bathroom so that no one else could use it. Since the men's bathroom had sprung a leak the water pressure in the women's bathroom was nearly non-existent and the toilets wouldn't flush, which had caused quite a deal of nasal-trauma after lunch; especially since the cafeteria had been serving beef and bean burritos, which were more bean than beef. Elena had made the smart decision to skip lunch in favor of paperwork. It made her stomach upset with her, but at least she didn't have to go to the bathroom while everyone else was having explosive bean issues.
Elena rapped her knuckles against Reeve's office door loudly, trying to get his attention. She wasn't so rude as to open the door without permission, but she did wish Reeve would answer it; she had been knocking for almost twenty minutes and there hadn't been so much as a robotic peep from inside.
Elena frowned and turned, ready to give up and see if she could find someone else to do the signing, when Reeve finally made an appearance. He had been out to lunch and when he left there had been a sign on his door, but it must have fallen off. Reeve could actually see the index card peeking out from under his door where a passing person must have kicked it, but the blonde standing in front of his door didn't seem to have noticed the tiny slip of paper. She had turned her knuckles red with the force she had been using to knock on his door. He smiled at her, knowing she was cross with him from the angry scowl that wrinkled her honey-brown eyes into slits. "Hello, Elena. How can I help you?"
Elena frowned, holding the papers tightly in her hand. "I need a signature and you need to post when you're going to be back to your office!"
Reeve bent down and picked the index card off the floor, flashing it to her briefly before tucking it into his pocket. "I left a note. It just fell off. What do you need signed? Shouldn't Tseng be the one you're asking? Or are you trying to circumnavigate your hard-headed boss by going through me for approval?"
Elena smiled, bristling softly at the idea that she would do anything without Tseng's approval. "Actually he's not here today and he asked me to do this for him while he's out."
Reeve nodded and opened his office door, holding it open for her to invite her in. "Of course, I should have known better than to think you'd do anything without his approval."
Elena walked in, bristling again at the idea that she had to have Tseng's approval for everything she did. She had thought she showed more independence than that. "I can do things without Tseng telling me to, thank you very much!"
"I didn't say you couldn't." Reeve raised an eyebrow and took his seat, waiting for her to hand over the papers he had to sign.
"You insinuated it. It was an inferred insult, but that doesn't make it any less an insult." Elena stood across from Reeve and handed him the paperwork.
Reeve took the papers and started to peruse them leisurely, smirking softly as he found buttons in Elena's personality to press. "Maybe you shouldn't look so hard for insults, Elena. Maybe I was praising your loyalty to your superior, not insulting your dependence on the approval of others."
Elena frowned, "Stop that!"
"Stop what?" Reeve hummed and looked through the papers, noting the perfect rhetoric that was used.
Elena folded her arms over her chest and turned away from Reeve, wondering how she had considered him to be like Tseng at all. Tseng was never immature, and Reeve often was. It was why Reeve built odd cat-bots with strange mannerisms and stranger accents. Elena could see various cat-bot parts lying around Reeve's otherwise tidy office and frowned, wondering where the working one was. "Where's your cat-bot?"
"Cait Sith? He's off somewhere I suppose…" Reeve looked up, watching Elena look his office over critically.
"You don't know where it is? Don't you have a controller for him or something?" Elena raised an eyebrow at Reeve, noting that he had stopped reading. Maybe he had found a flaw in her paperwork?
"Of course I don't. Cait Sith runs on my excess brain power." Reeve closed his eyes and searched for the presence in the back of his mind that was Cait Sith, wondering where his excess brain power had taken the bot this time.
"I didn't know that." Elena tapped the top of the papers gently, trying to subtly remind Reeve what she was here for. Not that she didn't like conversation, but she did have a deadline to meet. Tseng had specified that he wanted Reno and Rude sent out that night and no later.
Reeve opened his eyes and gently pushed Elena's impatient finger away from the paperwork. "Relax, Elena. I'll sign it once I'm done reading it. I don't sign anything I haven't read and don't fully understand. It's foolish."
Elena sighed and sat, "So this is going to take a while, isn't it?"
"It might. It's best if you make yourself comfortable. I'm not the world's fastest reader and this mission assignment doesn't make much sense to me. Why do Reno and Rude need to be sent on a stakeout mission to Modeoheim for a week? Don't we have less valuable Turk operatives we can send to sit on their asses for a week?" Reeve thumbed through the papers, looking at Elena directly. He had already finished reading the assignment, he just wanted to draw out the conversation he was having with Elena. It wasn't often that anyone came to him for approval on anything outside his department and he was confused why she had picked him over the other board members, most of whom would have signed her papers without so much as a glance at them.
"I don't know why Tseng chose them; it might be because they're pissing everyone off lately." Elena propped her head up on her hand, watching Reeve watch her.
"How are they upsetting everyone?" Reeve straightened the papers out meticulously, letting his compulsive desire to straighten and tidy take over his confusion on what he should be doing with his hands.
"They keep fighting and it's driving us all crazy." Elena watched Reeve's hands, smiling softly as she recognized the obsessive way he straightened the papers. She did that herself; it was a habit that was hard to break.
"Any idea why they are fighting?" Reeve frowned softly, not liking the way the papers refused to align themselves according to his liking.
Elena shrugged; her slim shoulders raising enough to touch her neatly parted yellow hair before she dropped them back into place. "No, they just keep fighting. It's not even a verbal or physical fight, it's like it's a battle of wills. I'm pretty sure Reno will crack first; Rude is far too stubborn to give up on whatever they're arguing about."
Reeve chuckled softly, "Rude is the only one who laughs at my jokes during board meetings. I like him."
Elena blinked, since when did Reeve make jokes? "You joke, Reeve?" Reeve was probably the only board member that she would call by his first name. She even called Tseng, sir, most of the time instead of Tseng. It was a sign of respect. Not that she didn't respect Reeve, it was just that she respected him in a different manner than she respected the rest of the board. He seemed more approachable and personable than the others.
"Of course I make jokes. It's just that no one listens when I do. That combined with the fact that only Rude can stay awake during my presentations means that no one gets to experience my sense of humor unless they're talking to Cait Sith. He's a lot better with social skills than I am." Reeve straightened out his pencils.
"Maybe you should give Cait Sith a different part of your brain to work with? Then you can make better jokes." Elena smiled and held her chin.
"Well, in lieu of giving up control over my brain, how about we discuss this mission more?" Reeve smiled amiably, folding his hands in front of him in an attempt to control his obsessive desire to have everything on his desk ruler straight.
Elena nodded softly, "Okay. What else do you need to know?"
"Why Modeoheim?" Reeve thumbed through the mission report. "I don't see any reason here for them to be here except that they need to wait on a package for the company. It doesn't make much sense."
Elena shrugged again, "I'm not sure why Modeoheim is the chosen spot. Maybe it's more convenient for the courier?"
Reeve chuckled and shook his head. "If you had ever been to Modeoheim you would know that it's not convenient for anyone."
Elena laughed, "Whatever you say, Reeve."
Reeve smiled and signed the mission report, handing it back to Elena. "I say if Tseng wants them to freeze their asses off for a week then that is what will happen."
Elena took the file and stood, smiling happily. "Thanks, Reeve. Oh, stay away from the Turk floor for awhile. Reno broke the bathroom and its burrito day."
"Thanks for the update. If you need to you can hide up here until the smell dissipates." Reeve smiled and stood, opening the door for Elena as she turned to leave.
"I'll keep that in mind, Reeve. Thank you." Elena smiled and left Reeve's office, returning to the Turk floor with her nostrils tightly closed. She hoped someone had started hanging air-fresheners like she had asked, otherwise it would smell atrocious down there.
Author's Note: This little side story to the actual story was in the way of the rest of the story and wouldn't let me write more to it until I let Laney and Reeve have some talky time. It's probably because I had a nice dreamt he other night where Elena and Reeve were all lovey dovey happy. Note, the Reevena pairing may become more common in my stories because of that dream.