A/N: Here it is! I made it a round 20... well 21 technically I suppose. But yeah, this is the last chapter. I had to shorten it slightly at the end, because once again, I underestimated how long this would be, and I didn't want to split it again. I hope everyone remembers Mariko, the more talkative Shiso from earlier in the story. I don't really have a lot to say about this chapter, except there's quite a bit of speech in it, and for some reason it felt pretty repetative. I think it turned out okay though.

It came to me though, that I never actually told what inspired this story. Well, to anyone who wants to know, here goes: I live in an extremely remote house, on a country lane, and one day when I was in a particually horrible mood, I went for a walk to the nearest village, where my friend lives, about 2 and a half miles away. It took me an hour to walk there, and by the time I got back onto my country road, it was dark. There's a particularly horrible part on my road where there's a steep mud bank and then a load of trees. So you pretty much can't see at all. I kept looking up through the trees and eventually I saw the outline of some big dog or something. I dunno what it was to be honest but I was f*cking scared, and I ran literally a mile, all the way back to my house. It was even worse because there is a black panther loose in my area... I don't know where it came from lol, but I've seen it several times, so I know it's real.

So yeah, there's a little bit of useless information for ya, so without anymore sh*t, here's chapter 20!

Enjoy!

Chapter 20

"Ya sure ya don't wanna get your leg checked out?"

Elena jumped slightly and turned to see Reno standing in the entrance to the Shin-Ra building. The blond had no idea how long she'd been standing outside, but it must have been a while. Reno looked slightly better; he seemed to have cleaned himself properly, but there was an element of exhaustion about his face. His eyes were heavy, but he was smiling, which was always a good sign.

"How did you-" Elena started.

"Maybe I'm just observant…" Reno shrugged his shoulders and grinned.

"Nothing gets past you, does it?" The blond Turk shook her head; Reno always seemed to notice everything.

"Not a lot…" the redhead laughed. "But seriously… you okay?"

"Yeah…" Elena said, slightly breathlessly. It was curious to hear words like that come out of the redhead's mouth. He had been acting extremely strangely since they'd left the Shiso camp, and there seemed to be a distinct lack of communication between the two of them. Elena had things running through her head that she wanted to talk about. Her mind kept drifting back to what had happened once in the Shiso camp, and once at the hotel in Bone Village. She wondered what Reno thought of it, and mainly whether it meant anything. She could remember thinking over and over at the time 'it's just a comfort thing'; something that brought the two of them so close together that Elena didn't need to feel scared any longer.

"Whatcha thinkin' 'bout?" The redhead asked suddenly. Somewhere in the midst of Elena's chain of thought, he had walked over to her and stood behind, looking over her shoulder.

"Nothing much." Elena turned to Reno and smiled. "Are you feeling okay now?"

"Yeah… all right, I guess." Reno looked out into the slums and sighed. "It's good to be home, huh?" he laughed hollowly. Elena looked at him, slightly concerned.

"Yeah… it is." She said unsurely. "Reno-"

"Okay, okay." The redhead interrupted her loudly, with an irritated expression on his face. "'Laney… I wanna talk to you… about the sex."

"Yeah?" Elena flushed slightly at Reno's blatant reference to what had happened. She should have known that he wouldn't be discreet about it.

"Before I say anythin'… I wanna know… did it mean anything to you?" Reno's hard, turquoise gaze was unnerving, and Elena found herself unable to look him in the eye.

"It's funny…" Elena settled on looking back out to the slums. "I was just thinking about that."

"And?" Reno demanded. Elena couldn't help but smile at the fact Reno seemed so bothered about it. Elena stayed silent for a moment and listened to the wind whistling through the dark alleyways.

"It… meant something to me. But I won't be hurt if you say it meant nothing to you." Elena settled on saying. She didn't want to seem desperate, and she had to bear in mind Reno's reputation.

"Hmm?" Reno leaned forwards, as though willing Elena to look him in the eye. Elena flushed in response.

"I just… can't imagine someone like you actually meaning something like that…" Elena laughed nervously at the expression on Reno's face. "You didn't… right?" the blond immediately wished she had kept her mouth shut.

"What's that s'posed to mean; someone like me?" Reno said heatedly, raising an eyebrow.

"Nothing… just things I've heard… around the building, you know." Elena felt her face burning at her complete misapprehension of the redhead.

"Ha…" Reno laughed flatly. "Don't believe everything you hear, especially when you don't hear the whole story."

"You mean-"

"I only ever mess 'round." The redhead explained. Elena was relieved to hear that he sounded a little less angry, but there was still a temperamental quality to his voice that made Elena feel uncomfortable. "I think the term 'womanizer' is used a little loosely around here."

"I didn't mean-" Elena sighed. She had dug herself a hole, and no amount of stuttering and stammering was going to change it from the look of the situation.

"Don't worry about it." Reno laughed again, but this time a little more warmly. "It's not your fault that all the women chase after me…"

Elena laughed and tapped the redhead lightly on the side of the head. She knew that he was obviously still bothered, but she was quite happy to ignore the underlying anger if Reno was trying to cover it up with humor.

"Anyway, why don't you answer your own question?" Elena said eventually. She figured if Reno was allowed to make her feel awkward, she was allowed to do the same.

"What question?" he replied distantly.

"Did it mean anything to you?" Elena cursed herself silently. She was trying to make him feel awkward, but all that was happening is that she could feel her face reddening again. Reno turned and grinned at her.

"Ya think I would've done it twice if it didn't?" he said confidently. "Is this a touchy subject to you?" he put the back of his hand on her burning face. Elena cringed slightly at the coldness of his touch, but savored it all the same. "But yeah… it meant something to me. And if it turned out it didn't, it wouldn't matter. At least ya kept me warm."

Elena smiled and turned back out to the slums again. It seemed things were finally coming together for her, but to be honest, she would be happy as long as she was reassured she would never have to return to the Northern Crater or the Shiso camp again…

"Reno!" Elena shouted loudly. "Where are we going?"

"Out." Reno replied.

"Where?"

"Somewhere." Reno grinned as he jumping into the helicopter, motioning for Elena to do the same. Elena sighed before obliging. There was no compromising with the redhead once he got like that.

The helicopter kicked into action and Reno turned to Elena and grinned. The latter sighed, and deliberately looked away, ignoring him.

"Ooh… silent treatment, eh?" Reno laughed evilly. "Don't worry, we're going someplace nice."

Elena smiled slightly, but still didn't speak. It wasn't just the fact that he wouldn't tell her where they were going; there were a number of reasons. One was the fact that the redhead had dragged her out of work for this, which would probably lead to a lecture from Tseng. Another was that he had tried to convince her previously that it was a mission, even though there had been no mention of it from Tseng.

After about 10 minutes, Elena's anger at the redhead increased tenfold. She had been noting the direction in which they were going, and there was a familiar shudder through the helicopter, caused by static as the Northern Crater came into view.

"Reno-" Elena said angrily.

"Shh." He replied. Elena stopped speaking, in hope that he was going to explain himself, but the explanation never came.

"Why are we here?" Elena demanded. "What if something bad happens? What if-"

"You talk too much." Reno muttered without taking his eyes off his surroundings. "And people moan at me."

"Well answer me then!" The blonde replied almost hysterically. She couldn't keep the desperation out of her voice.

"All right, all right. Nothing bad will happen. I've been messin' 'round in the wiring. The electrical interference insulator was screwed. It'll be fine now."

"Well, that's reassuring." Elena said sarcastically. It was just the thing she needed to send her racing heart almost into overdrive.

The blond calmed slightly as she felt the helicopter descending. Reno had been right in the fact that there had not been much electrical interference, but that didn't stop her steaming mood. The engine whirred into nothing and Reno turned to Elena. The blond did not return his gaze however.

The first thing Elena noticed was that they had not landed anywhere near the same place as they had last time. In fact, the redhead had somehow managed to land right near where the Shiso camp was. Elena recognized it as the place in which Reno had gone missing before, and the Shiso had taken him.

"Why are we here?" Elena asked bluntly. Her anger was clearing having no effect on him, as he seemed completely apathetic towards her emotions.

"You'll see. C'mon." Reno opened the door and jumped to the floor, landing slightly cat-like. Elena did the same and followed him to stand by the front of the helicopter.

"Are we going back to the Shiso camp?" she asked him, trying to keep her temper.

"Yep." The taller Turk said happily. "And it's over there-" he pointed through the trees, which was the complete opposite direction in which Elena had taken that first time. "It's right across the bank."

"I don't much care where it is, Reno. Just tell my why we're here."

"What was that Shiso's name again?" Reno said, seemingly ignoring Elena's question. "The one that spoke most… Marie… Mar-"

"It was Mariko." Elena said quickly. "And answer my question."

"Sight-seeing." Reno replied, and proceeding in making his way up the mud bank towards the Shiso camp. Elena shook her head and followed him; she knew he wasn't going to share his thoughts.

The path up the bank, although short, was extremely steep, and Elena found herself more than once slipping in the mud. She had also felt the tree branches brush past her roughly many times, and was sure she had more than a few scratches on her face. It had only been a few days since Reno had had his stitches in his stomach, and since he hadn't even had them taken out again, Elena wasn't sure how he had been managing so well.

It may have brought back bad memories, but as soon as the two Turks reached the top of the bank and the Shiso camp came into view, it still took Elena's breath away. She had never seen it from such height, and the small huts looked minute from that distance. The crystal white trees towered over the glittering lake, and the whole scene looked undisturbed.

"Ya see… it's pretty nice huh?" Reno said, looking back at Elena. He was smiling slightly, and Elena briefly thought about whether his claim of 'sight-seeing' had any truth in it. "You said it was Mariko, right?"

"Yes." Elena said impatiently. "Are you going to tell me what we're doing here yet?"

"Nope." Reno said happily. "C'mon."

The two Turks made their way down the bank, which was equally steep on that side. The sense of foreboding increased in Elena's stomach with every step they took, and by the time they got to the bottom, she was so nervous she felt slightly light-headed.

"You okay, 'Laney?" Reno asked, looking at her confusedly. "Ya look a bit pale."

"I'm fine." Elena snapped. "Or I would be if you didn't leave me in the dark so much."

Reno didn't reply, but his face adopted an angry expression, similar to that from when Elena had criticized his womanizer reputation a few days earlier. The blond was utterly clueless this time as to what she had done wrong.

"I left you in the dark-" he said. "-because it was a surprise."

"A surprise? You've got a funny idea of a surprise." Elena raised an eyebrow at her companion. At the moment, she was too annoyed to worry about hurting his feelings.

"Are you scared? There's no reason to be scared… what's the worst that could happen?"

"We could be killed!" Elena said exasperatedly. "Or worse-"

"By who?" The older Turk laughed as he stretched his arms out. "They don't have a leg to stand on. They've got nothing left. I know the story-" he put on a high-pitched voice as he carried on. "-'I'll never forgive you if we get caught Reno' blah, blah… don't worry. I know what I'm doing."

He tapped his nose knowingly and carried on walking. Elena shook her head at the fact that he had just had argued with himself, and once again followed in his tracks.

"It's okay for you! You can say that… I don't think you realize how close you were to dying!" Elena called after him, trying to keep up.

"Yeah."

"You practically starved to death!"

"Yeah."

"They cut you so bad you needed stitches!"

"Yeah."

"You're not listening to word I'm saying, are you?" Elena grabbed hold of Reno's arm to stop him.

"Yeah, I am. I'm just not really absorbing the info, ya know?" Reno laughed and pulled free of Elena's grip to carry on walking. "Ya need to learn to trust me-"

The redhead stopped in his tracks and his face paled at the sight in front of him. They had reached the outside of one of the Shiso huts, and a woman was standing outside, with an angry expression on her face.

"Ahh… Mariko?" Reno's stature loosened immediately. The woman instantly smiled.

"Reno?" She said lightly. "You are… back?"

Reno nodded and looked over the woman in front of them. The first thing Elena noticed was the absence of tattoos. Every single one of the black markings that had previously been on all the Shiso's bodies was gone on Mariko. Her hair and eyes were still the same, but her expression was much mellower than it had been before. Elena noticed that she constantly had her hand on her stomach, rubbing it gently.

"Oh…" Reno seemed to have noticed the latter point as well. "So, parenthood?"

"Yes." Mariko suddenly gained a gleeful expression. "We are all very excited for it."

"Awesome…" Reno looked genuinely impressed, but his face dropped as he turned away. "Let's hope she doesn't call over for child support." He muttered. "C'mon."

Elena smiled as Reno led them over to the glimmering lake. The blond had to admit, the thought of the Shiso having Reno's baby irritated her slightly, but the situation could have turned out so much worse.

Reno suddenly stopped walking, and dropped down on the floor between the lake and a bush. Elena did the same, and looked up expectantly at him.

"I thought you might wanna come here and talk a bit more… about ya know." Reno said, scratching the back of his head. Elena smirked; despite his reputation as a womanizer, he certainly was new to this. In a way, it gave her a little more reassurance. Reno wanted to talk about it, which meant he cared… she had to say it, so it was now or never.

"I think…" She began. She realized immediately her voice was too quiet, and too timid, so she cleared her throat and tried again. "I think I love you."

Reno stared at her, clearly shell-shocked. It was easy enough to suspect such a feeling, but Elena guessed him actually hearing it was a different story. Elena felt herself blush again, and turned away.

"Heh..." Reno laughed. "You ain't so bad yourself."

A/N: There you go! That's it. To be honest, I can't actually believe I've finished this, it seems like I've been writing it forever. Thanks so much to everyone who has read and reviewed, you are what keeps the stories alive! Now, I have a favor to ask you all! -grins-

To all of you who have read my other story, 'Lithium', I started a sequel for it a while ago, 'Slither'. It only has two chapters, but I don't have many reviews at all for it. If you read Lithium, could ya please take a look at Slither? I would appreciate it so much, as without reviews, I can't pick up on how to improve my stories. Thanks a lot everyone!