Ok folks, sorry this took so long to post, but I've been hella sick the last few days. Nasty stomach bug. Blech. Anywho, this is longer than most chapters, and it goes a little into what Reno's childhood was like, and it also involves peanutbutter! Love that stuff...

I don't own FF VII or any of her characters. I just use them. I earn no money from this, which is sad, but hey, we can't always get paid for what we do.

Yuffie and Renji came back in, with a thankfully empty container, and said their good-byes. Reno nodded and left it at that. They were half way back to their house when the rain started. It was pouring down in buckets, and colder than usual. Reno picked his son up and ran for it, following closely behind Yuffie as she navigated the streets. Fast as they ran, all of them were shivering when they got to the house. Yuffie's hand were shaking from the cold so much she could barely open the door for them.

Renji was immediately changed into dry clothes, and was sipping at a cup with steam rising from it, which turned out to be holding hot chocolate. Reno frowned at it, then turned to Yuffie, who was going to make tea for the both of them.

"Hey, why does Renji get hot chocolate and I don't?"

"Because you're not three?"

"What does age have anything to do with it? I seem to remember you having a fascination with the stuff."

"I used to, now I can't drink it. I had it one morning, because I was craving it while still pregnant, and had a bout of horrible morning sickness, so you can guess what happened." She shook her head, rummaging in a cabinet for something. "Never been able to stomach the stuff since. Same thing happened to tuna salad with pickles in it."

"For breakfast?"

"You crave some weird stuff when carrying a baby."

"Like what?"

"Like, ice cream with cheese sauce. Godo nearly got sick watching me eat chili with gummie bears in it." Reno shuddered, making retching noises.

"I'd have thrown up regardless. Although, I feel bad you had to be sick all by yourself."

"That's funny, coming from you. You throw up whenever you hear or see anyone else doing it."

"Yeah, well, at least we'd go through it together." Yuffie smiled at him, shaking her head, and deposited a cup in front of him. An investigative sniff revealed hot chocolate. Reno got up and planted a kiss on her before drinking it. His eyes opened wide afterward. "You put peanutbutter in it! You remembered!"

"Of course. Renji likes it that way sometimes, but not as much as you do."

"You like hot chocolate with peanutbutter in it too, Renji?" Renji nodded, gulping down his beverage. "You are the coolest kid ever." The boy giggled, then blinked sleepily. "Tired?"

"No." This was punctuated by a yawn that threatened to break Renji's jaw. "I'm not sleepy..."

"Really? I know I am. All that running around wore me out." Renji smiled, laying his head on the table.

"Come on, Renji, nap time for you." Yuffie swept her son up on her arms and carried him away. Renji was complaining about not being sleepy at all while his eyes refused to stay open. Reno walked out of the kitchen, still with his cup of peanutbutter hot chocolate, and sat down on the couch. He seemed to sink into it, which is what a couch was supposed to do, in his opinion. It was temping to go outside and smoke, but he really did not feel like watching the rain and being in the cold wind. He swirled his cup, noticing that the peanutbutter was beginning to become sludge at the bottom of the cup. Reno drained it in one gulp, and sat the cup down on a nearby table.

"What a day..."

"Yep." Reno started slightly at Yuffie, then proceeded to lay down on the couch. Yuffie joined him without invitation. A pillow was rearranged as a headrest before they settled. It was something they had always done, even before they were officially a couple. Somehow they would always end up on a couch, with Reno spooning her. "Remember when Tifa and Cloud broke your door down to 'save me' from your clutches?" He chuckled in her ear and nodded. It was a day similar to this one in Midgar, with rain pouring down and no end in sight. They had been caught outside in it, walking back from a bakery with a bag full of pastries. Reno's apartment was closer than her inn or the Seventh Heaven, so they went there.

Yuffie had been soaked to the bone, shivering in his doorway. Reno loaned her the use of a shirt while her clothes dried. It was vastly oversized on her small frame, making her look more adorable than before. He had collapsed on the couch while she changed, putting on dry clothes of his own beforehand. Yuffie had poked him in the side until he made room for her as well. Even with Reno's body warmth, she still shivered, so he grabbed a blanket from the top of the couch to cover her with. Yuffie had sighed contentedly then, and relaxed. They had both fallen asleep after that.

Until Cloud and Tifa decided to break his door in half and rudely wake them up. Reno had pulled his gun out on instinct, training it on whoever was breaking in. He rolled his eyes and laid his head back down when he saw a familiar spikey headed blond and a woman with overly large breasts glaring at him.

"You scared the shit out of me, Cloud."

"I'll do more than scare you. What are you doing alone with her?"

"Sleeping. What the hell else did it look like we were doing?"

"Yuffie, let's go."

"No. I was having a great dream about moogles and sunflowers before you broke Reno's door."

"What? You...wanted to be here?"

"Well, DUH! Why else would I be here? He was nice enough to let me use his clothes drier so that I wouldn't walk around all soggy. He even got me a blanket." Both Tifa and Cloud shared a look, then turned confused eyes on him.

"Why are you being nice, Reno?" Tifa asked.

"Cause she was cold, and she's my friend?" She looked even more confused after that. "You really think I'm going to have sex with an underage girl? That's fucked up."

"Yuffie, get your things and let's go."

"No. Fix his door." Cloud looked like he was going to argue, but Yuffie cut him off. "Don't make me bring up a certain incident in Wall Market, Cloud." He had paled at that comment, then glared at Tifa when she giggled behind her hand. "Now fix the door. It's the least you could do for ruining my happy dream."

"What about the fact that he broke my door, Yuffie? I think he should replace it for that too."

"Yeah, well, it was a really good dream." Cloud and Tifa had just stood there and stared at them as they bickered.

"That was pretty funny. I'm surprised they didn't try and castrate me or something for daring to go out with you."

"Actually, Vincent was the one who wanted to do that. I stole his headband thingy until he promised not to hurt you. I'm glad you were brave enough to face them all down, though."

"I'm a grown up. I can deal with a bunch of over-protective friends. You're worth facing them for. But hey, what did they say when you told them about Renji?"

"Well, they kinda started to go on a 'Kill da Reno' spree, and it was tempting to let them. I wouldn't let them, though. Told them they would no longer be Aunt Tifa and various Uncles if they did that." Reno winced, knowing full well that he deserved to be beatings they would have doled out.

"I really, really wish I could have been there for you. But I don't think I'd have done a great job as a dad. I mean, I wasn't willing to give up drinking for more than a day, or to not go and almost die on the job. That's a pretty shitty way to be a dad."

"I know, which is part of the reason I didn't keep calling you. You wouldn't have changed then. I'm glad you came now though."

"Yeah. Me too." They were silent for a while, listening to the rain. Reno was almost asleep when Yuffie spoke again.

"Reno, what was your childhood like?" He frowned and felt his body tense as memories flooded his mind. Yuffie felt it and turned around to look at him. "What's wrong?"

"Why do you want to know that?"

"You never told me before. Always evaded the subject."

"For a good reason, Yuffie. It's not a happy thing to think about."

"Please?" He closed his eyes, his mind unwillingly bringing up visions of the past that he would rather forget. He could never resist Yuffie, no matter what the request was. He had gone to the store for 'feminine supplies' for her once, and that was something he swore he would never do.

"I was born in a little house in Kalm. My dad, well, he died when I was small. Wasn't the nicest of guys. He hit me and beat my mom a lot. One time, after he left her bleeding on the floor, she killed him. Beat him with one of the hammers he used to work with. We left after that. She just scooped me up and a few belongings and ran for Midgar. We got a ride there, but only after she fucked the driver and his partner." Yuffie's eyes widened in shock. He had told her it was not a happy thing to think about. "That was the way it was. There weren't any jobs in the slums for a talentless woman with a kid in tow. So she became a whore. She hated it, always crying after coming home. Then, when I was around six I guess, she started acting strange. She didn't bring home money anymore. One of the John's got her hooked on a drug. She paid him with sex for hits. Started bringing John's home instead of out in the street or an inn. I hid in a closet the first few times, then I just didn't come home anymore. I took my stuff and a few blankets and hid in the giant cat slide at night. Nothing bad ever happened at the playground, and no one could fit inside the cat but me. I even found the broken piece that I put back to keep my hideout private. I went home a few times, to see her. She was either high or sick from withdrawal. I don't think she even remembered she had a son."

That was the part that hurt him most. She had been a kind, loving mother before then. She had always made sure he had enough to eat, letting herself go hungry in the process. She saved him from beatings and ridicule, held him after nightmares and dried his tears. For her to forget he existed was a blow he almost did not recover from.

"Last time I went back, I found her laying outside the door. A John had beat her to death. Just left her there in the street for the rats to nibble on. After that, I was on my own. Sure, I went to school, but other than that I had nothing and nowhere to go. I got in a group of kids like me, and we had our own gang. We stole what we needed, but we always shared it. Once I was big enough to fight, I got good at it, making sure that the littlest ones got a share of everything. Sure, the others could gang up on me for making them share, but after me taking down three of the bastards they let me be."

"After that, I went into the Turks. They laughed, but I made it. I was more ruthless than anyone else in my class, more so than most of the Turks themselves. I was bitter and angry and damn well determined to make it. I wanted out of the slums. I got out, but, I'd kind of turned into a monster."

"You're no monster, Reno. I wouldn't love a monster." Reno smiled then, stroking her hair gently.

"Not now. But I was. Didn't give a shit who got hurt or died cause of me. Rude was the one who stopped that. Sure, I'm still ruthless in a fight, but I don't just blindly kill or hurt people because I'm angry. Or spend my nights drunk off my ass. He just, hit me one day, and said I was a Turk, not a slum boy anymore. And that's it. Anything else you want to know?"

"Reno...I...you didn't have to say anything. I'm sorry I brought it up." Yuffie wrapped her arms around his neck and held him tightly. He kissed her hair, letting the scent of her take over his senses. That usually led both of them to the bedroom, but right now he just wanted to forget the past and concentrate on the present.

"It's alright. I did warn you though, didn't I?" She nodded, wriggling closer to him. "That's why I came here. I mean, I wanted to see you, but when I found out about Renji...there's no way I was going to let him go through anything like that. You wouldn't let it happen, I know, but..."

"Why did you call me, by the way?"

"I'm not sure. I was kicking myself, looking at that picture Reeve took of us in my office, and I wanted to talk to you, hear your voice. Do you know how many times I tried to call, but couldn't?"

"I have no idea, but I bet it was a lot."

"Yeah. I got a question. Why didn't you let Renji jump off the swing today?"

"I don't want him to get hurt."

"I hate to tell you this, but he'll get hurt no matter what, and he'll try and do it when you aren't looking. That's what I did when I was little. I bet he runs off at every opportunity, too."

"He does. It's a constant battle to keep him near me. He always gets into mischief on his own. I want to keep him safe and happy as long as possible."

"He's a kid, Yuffie. He's going to do that anyway. Boys like to get dirty and dig for worms and shit like that."

"Damn it, Reno, he's all I have! He's my life. I can't just let him get hurt!"

"I didn't say you have to. Just let him be a kid. That includes jumping off swings and getting dirty and leaving hand prints on the refrigerator."

"He runs and plays, all the time."

"But he doesn't ever get dirty, does he?" Yuffie remained silent. "I'm not saying that I know more than you about being a parent, but, he acts like a little adult most of the time. I know he's smart, but damn, Yuffie, he should run around and shout and climb trees and shit like that. Not be a mild mannered mini-adult." Yuffie sniffed, and he jumped at the sound. "What? What's wrong? I wasn't being mean, don't cry. I'm sorry."

"No, you're right." She paused to sniff and wipe her eyes. "But what else can I do? You can't talk to him like he's a regular three year old. You can't just say, 'here, go be a kid' and have him do it. He'll think about it and ask you what that means. Maybe you can get him to just play."

"Maybe. I didn't mean to upset you. Seriously."

"Turn around's fair play. We're even."

"Nope. Not by a long shot. You still have to yell at me, remember?" Yuffie laughed weakly and looked up at him. "That's better."

"What would I do without you, Reno?"

"Do you really want me to answer that?"

"No. But you can answer something else for me."

"Shoot."

"What're you going to do now? You're a Turk. You live and work in Midgar."

"I have no idea. Haven't really thought about it, yet. I can't spend all my time in Wutai with you guys. Not and stay employed. I'm not cut out for anything else, really. I'll talk with Rufus about it."

And that's the end. Of this chapter. Next one is fun. I like it lots and lots. Review, please, if you read this.

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