Authors note: Right, i think there's gonna be one more chapter after this, then it's finally finished!! I might be worng and my imagination right run off on one agian, but nevermind. This one's a little bit of humour in it, to break up the otherwise quite serious storyline a bit. Enjoy!
Chapter 23 – Back

"What the hell is up with the security here anyway?" Reno said. The next day he felt a lot better, even though it didn't show in his face.

"What do you mean?" Tseng said.

"Well, whenever it's anything involving me, the security is so lax around here. What's up with that?"

"Well, they all probably had help from the same person Claudia did." He said, smiling.

"Zack?"

"Exactly. But how did he get out, I wonder?"

Reno thought about this for a minute, then it clicked.

"That guy, it wasn't Cloud. It was him. Zack." Tseng looked at him, puzzled. "You know, the one you shot. He came in through the air vents.

"Of course."

"…This is all so confusing."

"Well that doesn't take a lot for you Reno." Came a voice from the door. Reno looked up to see Elena standing there, smiling at him.

"Yeah, hi to you too." He said, sarcastically

"How are you feeling then?" she said

"Better thanks."

"Good. So when you coming back to work?"

"Oh please, we all know already that I'm gonna milk this for all it's worth."

Elena laughed, but soon stopped on seeing the look on Tseng's face.


Reno stepped out of the door into the harsh wind and rain. He had been allowed to leave the hospital, on condition that he took it easy for a while. Yeah right, he thought to himself. He was still a good shade or two paler than he had been before the whole situation, but they had said it would take a while for him to look right again. He rubbed his eyes and looked around him. Nothing ever really changed around there. He smiled to himself and made his way back to work, unable o think of anything else to do. Maybe he would be able to catch Elena by surprise…


"So, seriously, when is Reno coming back?" said Rude.

"Not a clue. I really don't think he'll stay in hospital any longer than he has to." Tseng replied absently. As annoying as Reno could be, they all had to admit it was boring without him.

"Well, I'm going to get coffee. Anyone coming?" Elena asked cheerfully

"No thanks." Tseng replied. Rude shook his head.

As Elena walked into the other room, she could have sworn she heard movement behind her, but she ignored it. She thought she heard footsteps, but it turned out to be her own heart beat, which was getting faster as she got more and more nervous.

"Boo." Came a voice from just behind her ear. She screamed and turned around sharply, her reactions causing her to smack the speaker in the face.

"RENO!" she screamed. He burst into fits of laughter despite the dark bruise that was already developing on his the right side of his face.

"What is going on in here?" Tseng said loudly standing at the doorway. He was frowning at Reno, who was clutching his ribs from laughing so much. The amused look on Rude's face, who was standing behind Tseng, only made him laugh harder.

"Reno? Should you be here?" Rude said, carefully keeping the amusement out of his voice.

"I don't know." He said, still laughing. "They let me out."

"Elena, did you hit Reno?" Tseng said eying the bruise on the side of his face.

"Oh my god!" Elena shouted and stormed out of the room.

"Little help, Rude?" Reno said. Rude pulled him to his feet.

"Reno, please don't do that again. The aspirin supply is very low at the moment." Said Tseng, smiling.