The party had managed to lose their assailants due to a combination of Elena's (crazy) driving skills and the sharpshooting accuracy of the other Turks (even Reeve who will later admit that he had not held a gun in at least a decade).

"Where are we going now?" Tifa asked, noticing that Elena had been driving across the Midgarian plain almost aimlessly.

The blonde woman frowned and after a quick glance in the rear-view mirror, pulled over to a stop. "Good question," she said thoughtfully, "I suggest that we stay out of Midgar for a while until we can figure out what these guys want from us. Suggestions?"

There was a momentary silence while everyone contemplated their options.

A light-bulb went off in Reno's head as he went through the circumstances of their capture and he announced happily in a sing-song voice (partly because he knew it will annoy Elena), "I think I know where to go."

Like clockwork, Elena shot him her famous death glare, "Spit it out then."

Reno ignored her and smirked flirtatiously at Tifa who looked like she was a hair's breadth away from punching him in the face, "Your friend with the gun-arm... where does he live?"

"What's it to you?" Tifa asked warily.

"Well, while Strife here was busy relaxing in our cell, I was getting the crap beaten out of me," Reno stated matter-of-factly, stopping briefly to shoot Cloud a dirty look, "The guys asked for your friends location. What's that to you now?"

"Corel," Tifa said quickly as she processed the new information from Reno, "He's in Corel".

Elena sighed and moved to put the van into gear. "Corel it is."

"Um, before everyone gets too carried away, could you please get off my lap?"

In his lifetime as a miner, eco-terrorist, (co)-saviour of the world and now, mayor of the destitute town of Corel, Barrett Wallace would like to think that he had seen everything. However, he nearly keeled over in surprise when a couple of his oldest friends stepped out of a bullet-hole ridden van with their oldest enemy.

His first instinct when he saw the dark blue suits was to shoot and annihilate. Then, he remembered that he is now supposedly the respected, civilised mayor of Corel so he suppressed the homicidal urge and decided to greet his friends instead (bone-crushing bear hug for Tifa and a manly handshake for Cloud) while completely ignoring the devils in the blue suits.

Reno didn't know whether or not to be offended when his presence appeared to have gone unnoticed by the one-armed gun man. Based on their history, he'd expected at least some cursing, maybe even a few welcome gun shots but the only acknowledgement he got was an annoyed grunt.

Huh. Progress.

"You've got to be shittin' me!" were the first words of disbelief out of Barrett's mouth after Tifa finished her story.

Reeve decided to capitalise on Tifa's efforts by adding, "And this is why we need a place to lay low so we can conduct our investigation on this matter."

Even though they had technically saved the planet together, Barrett just didn't trust the Turk that had spent better part of a year in a Moogle costume beating up on monsters with a giant megaphone. "Which part of 'you've got to be shittin' me' do you not understand?"

Reno, who appeared to have been napping on the couch during the commotion, lifted a lazy eyelid and said smugly, "You forgot about the part where they were totally coming after you."

"What?!"

"Yeah, and you're welcome. I totally misdirected them."

"Oh?" Barrett's tone was almost grateful.

"Told 'em you caught an STD and kicked it."

It took almost everyone present in the room to restrain Barrett from launching himself at Reno; Cloud suddenly found a scuff on the carpet that was fascinating.

After much negotiation, Barrett finally agreed to let the Turks stay at his Corel house temporarily (Reno was to receive the crappiest bed; the lumpy couch in the basement). No one knows how Tifa did it but Reeve was seriously considering offering her a position in his HR/Marketing department after her conversation with Barrett.

Elena laid her head on the pillow in relief. She was glad for the downtime even if she had to share a room with a member of AVALANCHE.

She must've been asleep for no longer than ten minutes when she felt something flicking her nose. Instinctively, she reached for her gun under the soft pillow, cocked the safety and turned to face her intruder; this familiar action took less than two seconds.

Instead of a stranger, she found herself face-to-face with a familiar shit-eating grin.

Reno moved to push the gun to the side, "Jeez, 'Laney... this is a bit overkill don't you think?"

"Reno..." Elena muttered while pinching the bridge of her nose; she felt the start of a migraine, "What do you want now?"

"You."

It was then Elena realised how close Reno's face was to hers. As Reno leaned forward, she yelped in surprise and in an attempt to roll away from him, fell off the bed in an undignified manner.

"Ow," was the only thing that she said in a crumpled heap on the ground.

"My bad. Sorry," said Reno in a tone that suggested that he was anything but.

After laughing to his heart's content, Reno eventually offered a hand to Elena who was still busy trying to untangle herself from the confines of the sheets.

"Hey Elena," he said nonchalantly as he watch Elena brush the dust bunnies off herself, "How about we go out for dinner tonight at Gold Saucer?"

"Stop kidding around. I am still pissed off at you for that stupid stunt."

"I'm not. You owe me remember?"

Elena finally agreed with a reluctant sigh, "Ugh. Fine. Let's just get it over and done with."

Reno placed a hand over his heart in mock pain, "Get it over and done with? Why, Elena, does my company disgust you so much?"

She chose not to dignify that with an answer.

Even though the date with Reno was a sham, Elena was pleased that she has an excuse to play dress-up (no way is she showing up at the Gold Saucer with a scruffy white-shirt and crumpled dress pants). She spent most of her waking hours in her Turks regulation uniform and when she is off-duty, the last thing she wants to do is to put on her nice red dress, make-up and high heels for a night out.

This was how she finds herself browsing through the dress racks in the only department store in Corel with an unlikely shopping buddy.

"What about this one?" Tifa said, holding out a blue dress that looked like it was twenty years out of fashion if the puffed up sleeves were of any indication

Elena made a face and shook her head.

"This?" This time it was a sequined silver dress with ruffles for a hem and now, Elena was suddenly having serious doubts about Tifa's dress sense.

Tifa mumbled something incoherently under her breath (Elena caught the word "tough customer" and nothing else.

In an attempt to pacify the brunette, Elena reached for the first dress she saw and pulled it out without even looking at it. "I think I am going to try this one on."

Damn, this looks good! Elena thought when she studied her reflection in the changing room.

The dress that she had inadvertently picked turned out to be a black, strapless cocktail dress that was simple but yet seemed to complement her figure in the most flattering way possible.

Her self-study was interrupted by a sharp knock on the door and a familiar voice echoing in the confined space. "Are you done?"

"Yeah, am on my way out now," Elena hollered back. With one last look in the mirror, she opened the door.

The reaction from Tifa was unexpected, albeit welcomed, "Damn! This looks good!"

Elena decided to indulge in the moment and did a small twirl. When Tifa gave her a slight nod of approval, Elena knew that the decision was made.

"One more thing though," said Tifa with a grin after the payment went through, "Shoes!"

Reno was on a lucky streak at the chocobo races. He had arrived a few hours earlier at the tracks to try his hand at earning more gil for his impending dinner with Elena. He was hoping to make enough gil to take her to the fanciest restaurant in Gold Saucer, 'Zen' (the restaurant was so fancy that it only has a one syllable name). It seemed to be the most fitting place to have a first date.

He doesn't really understand why he was going the extra distance for the impending date. In fact, he wasn't even sure if Elena considered it a date (the circumstances that made her agree to it was admittedly dubious).

Don't overthink this, his inner mind reminded himand Reno shook his head to clear his thoughts. He was determined to show Elena a good time and it looks like No.7 chocobo was his ticket to do it.

He cheered with the crowd raucously when his chocobo crossed the line and decided that with the winnings that he received, he had enough for dinner and then some.

Checking his watch, he realised that he still had ten minutes to spare and decided to order the most expensive scotch the bar had to offer. He had barely raised his hand when a stunning red-haired woman stepped into his view.

"Hey there. Care to have a drink with me?"

Reno raised an eyebrow lazily and eyed the woman with disinterest. "Not in a mood."

"Not even for a quick drink?"

Another glance at his watch showed that Elena was due to meet him soon. "Fine, one drink and then you get out of my hair."

"We'll see," said the woman cryptically.

Everything went a bit blurry after that.