Reno wrinkled his nose as he and Rude entered the Turk floor, gagging on the pungent air surrounding them. He looked over at Rude to see if the bald man was having the same trouble breathing that he was, but Rude wasn't looking at him. Rude was gazing ahead at the angry blonde who was sloshing through the carpet towards them. Reno looked ahead at her and cringed as she came towards them, a handkerchief pressed under her nose. Reno slapped on his best smirk and raised an eyebrow at her. "Geez, Laney, don't you know about courtesy flushes?"

Elena frowned at Reno and slapped him with the handkerchief, which she had soaked in scented oils. "You did this you oaf!"

Reno laughed and snatched the handkerchief from her, pressing it under his nose to guard his delicate nostrils from the wretched smell eking out of the bathroom. "Oaf? That's the best insult you can think of?"

Elena snatched her handkerchief back and held it under her nose, unable to take the odor around them. "Shut up, Reno. I'm about to make your life hell."

Reno rolled his eyes and pinched his nose shut. "Yeah, right. You can't do anything to me."

Elena grinned evilly and walked off. "Follow me to Reeve's office and we'll see how little I can do."

Reno turned to head off in the opposite direction, but a strong hand clamping on his shoulder prevented him from doing so. Reno looked up at Rude as the tall man forced him to follow Elena. "What's the big deal, Rude? I don't want to see Reeve he's annoying!"

"You've gotta take responsibility for your actions, Reno. Besides, you've got an alibi. It'll be fine." Rude kept his grip on Reno's shoulder firm, knowing that the wily red-head would slip away if he let go.

Reno sighed and let Rude guide him, dragging his feet. "If it gets me away from this smell I don't care how annoying he is."

"Way to put a positive spin on it, Red." Rude smiled and pushed Reno towards the stairs, enjoying that he had Reno so close to him. Reno may have set ridiculous boundaries about personal space on the way home, but Rude didn't listen to him. He had been to busy reveling in the fact that he did indeed have another chance, he just had to be patient and wait for it.

Reno grumbled and let Rude guide his shuffling feet up the stairs, starting to get uncomfortable with the close proximity he had to Rude now that he was getting less concerned with the smell assaulting his senses. "I thought I said no touching?"

"Screw you I'll touch what I want. I'm a big boy I know what's good for me." Rude chuckled softly, a glimmer of happy mirth hiding behind his sunglasses.

"Well you don't know what's good for me." Reno frowned and jabbed the button for the elevator, listening to Elena's shoes slap the stairs wetly. "Screw stairs, I'm being lazy."

Rude waited for the elevator doors to open, still firmly grasping Reno's shoulder. "How do you know I don't know what's good for you? Maybe I know exactly what you need."

"Don't push it, Rude. We just discussed this. I told you what I want the boundaries to be set at." Reno frowned and let Rude push him into the elevator, jabbing the button for the floor they needed and frowning as the elevator doors slid shut.

Rude sighed and took his glasses off, cleaning them on the hem of his shirt. "I know what the boundaries are."

Reno looked down at his feet, intent on keeping himself from falling under the spell Rude's eyes cast. He had fallen under that spell at the restaurant and he wasn't going to fall under it again. If he did it twice in the same day odds were his boundaries he had so clearly outlined on the car ride home were going to be shattered before the sun went down.

They tromped into Reeve's office single file; Elena had waited at the door for them, having ran up the stairs in order to beat the elevator up, and they all stood in front of Reeve's desk. Reeve looked up, surprise evident on his face. He hadn't expected Elena to take him up on the offer to use his office space quite so quickly. He had thought her more stubborn than that. The fact that she had brought Reno and Rude with her, however, did not leave him pleased or with much elbow room. He had parts for a new Cait Sith in his hands and he would have liked to finish tinkering with them without three people staring at him. "Can I help you?"

Elena smiled and set the file on Reeve's desk. "I just want you to let them know that you authorize what I'm about to do to them."

"Of course I authorize it. I authorized it twenty minutes ago." Reeve raised an eyebrow, trying to piece together a reason for Elena's mischievous grin.

Elena turned to Reno and Rude, hands on her hips. "You two are going on a stakeout mission."

Reno paled; he did not like stakeout missions at all, no matter who he was with. "What? Why?"

"Because we need two Turks to go to Modeoheim for a week and you two got picked." Elena crossed her arms over her chest with a smug grin.

Reno turned a shade whiter, his tattoos shinning out brilliantly against his pallor. "You're sending us to Modeoheim for a whole week? We'll freeze!"

Reeve chuckled and set down his Cait Sith pieces, realizing what Elena was up to. Something must have happened that made them challenge either her authority or her ability, and she was taking credit for the mission assignment so that it would seem like she was punishing them. "You'll have a cabin to yourselves and you are allowed to pack warm clothes. You won't freeze so long as you aren't stupid."

Reno frowned, color rising in his cheeks at the thought of him and Rude in a cabin, alone, for an entire week. "What is the stakeout for?"

Elena smiled impishly. "You'll be waiting on a package."

"We aren't couriers we're Turks!" Reno protested loudly, treating the assignment as if he were being told he was going to be forced into a sex change.

"You'll do as you are assigned." Reeve frowned, not liking that he was being yelled at in his own office. He looked to Rude, who was normally the stoic voice of reason, and found the bald man looking at him with a grin that stretched from ear to ear. "I'm glad to see someone is pleased with the chance to get out of the office for awhile."

Rude quickly cleared the grin off his face as Reno looked at him, knowing that he would be in trouble with the red-head if he saw the shit-eating grin he had on his face. "I'd like the chance to fly again. It's been awhile since we got the bird out of the nest."

Reno brightened at the mention of a helicopter ride, and Elena took her chance to get a word in edgewise. "You two need to go pack now. We expect you at your destination by nightfall."

Reno started to protest, but Reeve cut him off. "You're dismissed. Both of you. The paperwork is done go pack and leave." He looked to Elena and shared a mischievous grin with her, wondering to himself how long Reno and Rude would last before they killed each other.

Rude grabbed Reno's shoulder and tugged him out of the office, trying to keep his mouth set in a straight line. Reno wouldn't like it if he was the only person in the office not wearing a mischievous grin.

Reno packed halfheartedly, conflicted. Part of him wanted to spend a week alone with Rude, but the other part wanted things to stay the way they were. One part spoke to his innermost desires, while the other yelled and raged at his fears. He had no choice but to go with Rude, but he wanted to see Rufus first. He wanted to see if there was a reason he could use to keep Rude from trying to smother him. He needed an excuse, and if Rufus still wanted him, even though he'd be gone for a week and unable to play his sex-toy, then he'd keep Rude from seducing him. If there was a chance he could pretend happiness with anyone else to give Rude a chance to find someone who deserved his attentions.

Author's Note: I know the last chapter disappointed with the lack of Reno/Rude in it, but I hope this one has made up for that lack. Next one shall have some more Reno/Rude in it.