A/N: Le Pecore Nere's chapter. I don't know when I'll get around to doing mine though, I have a lot to update at the moment, and a lot of school work

Well, enjoy

Chapter 13

Elena walked home that day, trying to keep her mind off of a certain red-head. (her mind seemed to be wandering to him a lot lately). Instead, she thought about the bills she hadn't paid, the mess she didn't clean, and the dishes she hadn't washed. She sighed and walked faster, yet her mind inevitably wandered back to Reno again. Her mind bringing back the way he's smirk at her with that lazy grin. She thought about how he had to be the laziest person she knew, and she wondered briefly how he managed to keep his job. She couldn't help but smile when she remembered his trip to the hospital.

"C'mon 'Laney just one?" He whined to her again.

"No Reno." She refused his request to get him some junk food.

"Please? I promise I won't ask you for anything else…" He looked at her with a puppy dog expression, and although as best she tried, she couldn't resist it.

"Ok, but I don't want to take the fall for you." He was so much like a kid at times, it annoyed her. The scene from the docks flashed in her eyes, the way Reno had charged forward, unafraid. She wondered why he put up such a façade. She also wondered (for maybe the millionth time) why she did what he asked her too.

"Thanks 'Laney." He said as she left the room to the vending machine.

As the memory fondly re-ran itself through her mind one more time, she realized that she wanted to be able to charge forward like that, unafraid of the circumstances ahead. Her sister would only laugh at her if she told her of such thoughts, because in her words, she was as frightening as a ferocious bunny. She would prove her sister wrong, she would become a full-blooded Turk, and fight her way through anything that stood in her way. She didn't have anything to be afraid of, after all, she had someone like Reno who backed her up, and his unfathomable partner, Rude. She walked now with a renewed confidence, she felt like the world was at her feet.

That was until she got home, and felt dreadfully tired instead of confident.

Elena found herself sitting in Tseng's office. They were waiting for Reno to arrive, and just on cue, he showed up with a cup of coffee in hand.

Tseng cleared his throat as Reno sat down on the chair next to her.

"Yes, now that you've arrived, I've got something important for you to do." Tseng said formally, shuffling his papers.

"Oh yeah?" Reno asked, slouched in the chair.

"Yes, I've got a mission for the both of you." Elena could feel an odd mixture of excitement and fear course through her. Would the new mission be hard? Exciting? Were they going anywhere important? Would she get hurt? Would someone else get hurt? How would things work out?

"The two of you are going to capturing an escaped scientist." Tseng said, and handed the file over to Reno. "All of the information necessary to the mission is in there. You are both expected to depart tomorrow night." He turned and looked at Elena "You'll be needing to pack clothes and other things you might need, last we heard, he was in Bone Village. We fear he has escaped into the Sleeping Forest. It's an easy mission, it could turn bad, but I trust that you'll do your best."

Reno simply glanced at the file then gave it to Elena. She looked down dumbly at the pile of words and pictures in the manila folder. She couldn't quite grasp the point that this was her first mission. It wasn't a practice mission, like the one at Costa Del Sol. This was a real one, they weren't trying to figure out her abilities, they were putting them to the test. She prayed silently to whoever was above, that she wouldn't mess this mission up.

"Elena, I need to have a talk with Reno, alone." Tseng said, knocking out her thoughts.

"Oh, okay." She said, and excused herself. Not knowing what to do with herself, she sat down on the couch in the break room. Her mind wandered away again without her permission.

Elena sat in a room. The whites of the wall made her mind feel like it was spinning. She didn't understand why she had to be here. She had asked her mother why they were here, but her mother only pursed her lips shut and stared blankly ahead. She had asked her sister, who kindly told her to shut up, now wasn't the time for stupid questions. This had hurt, and she wanted to make a retort, but the look on both her mother's and sister's faces told her that right now was indeed not the time for her to be asking questions. The only time she could ever remember her mother being so serious was when Grammy died. She wondered briefly what caused her mother to look so serious again.

A man came out, wearing a white coat that was comically too big for him. If it were any other occasion, she might have laughed. But even if she didn't understand why she was here, she did understand that she had to remain quiet. Her mother stood up and walked toward the man in the white coat. She stood to follow, but her sister pulled her back into her seat. She turned and gave her sister an angry face. Her sister just shook her head. She sat on the uncomfortable chair and concentrated on listening. She didn't hear much, she only caught a few words. Words that sounded like "Cardinal arrest." She didn't know what those words meant, and she thought that they were a funny combination. They weren't funny, as her mother began crying. The man in the oversized coat said a few more indiscernible words, and turned and left through the same doors he came in. She began to worry about her mom, who was crying hysterically. She was certain that her father would walk in the room at any moment and console her. But her father never showed up. In fact, she never saw him again after that. No one would tell her where he was, except that he was "in a better place." She thought that meant that he was Castle Park, where she thought was a better place.

Of course she was older now, and knew that her father had went into cardiac arrest after being mugged in a street corner. She also knew that her father was now in the lifestream, instead of Castle Park. She glanced at the clock and realized it was time to leave. She pushed the thoughts away and left the building, reminding herself to call her mother when she got home.