Reno sat back at his desk, at ease for the first time in months. The seller of the detonators had turned out to be a former contractor, put out of work by the defeat of the Deepground forces, and hoping to turn a profit by selling everything from military technology to toner cartridges on the black market. The thought that one of his customers would have done something violent with the combination of a detonator and plastic explosive? It had never entered his mind.

His forward-thinking skills were further demonstrated by the storage of his customer list on the hard drive of his computer, which, once seized by the Turks, was deposited on the desk of one Cloud Strife. And, well, once a subversive, always a subversive. And it never does well to nearly blow up a subversive's boyfriend, even one who might have harbored anti-ShinRa feelings at various points in his life. So after a few moments of elementary hacking, Cloud had the customer list, the Turks had their suspect, and it was happy hour at Seventh Heaven.

"It's a little anti-climactic, yo. I mean, he blew up two buildings. Well, he damaged one and blew the living fuck out of a second. If Cloud hadn't said something and Valentine hadn't been the paranoid bastard that he is, we could have lost hundreds of people. He's just gonna go in minimum security to chill for ten years? That's it?"

"That's it. Case closed. Let it go, Reno." Tseng didn't look any happier, but that was ShinRa for you. Corrupt to the core, and it was a sure fact that the old President's cronies had something to do with it.

But two nights later, the suspect and his supplier both went missing from their holding cells. The security cameras had been mysteriously hacked through a proxy server, the signal routed through another building's wireless carrier so that it could not be traced.

The same night, a fishing boat blew up off the coast of Junon, and Vincent Valentine disappeared from the face of the planet.

Life went on as if nothing had ever happened.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Two months later

Rude once again was roped into playing driver, the familiar role taking him back to a random drive nearly two years before. The memory tugged at him, amusement, nostalgia and regret taking turns in his mind. Reno had told him, scuttlebutt from Cloud who had heard from Barret who learned from Cid, that Vincent was once again quietly working for Reeve in the Kalm office, though there was talk of him relocating to Edge in the near future. But from the man himself, Rude had heard nothing.

He trudged through the muddy street, waiting for Tseng to get out of his meeting with Reeve Tuesti. He didn't have much to do for the rest of the day, either. Tseng just appreciated the company, no matter how quiet, and the security of a driver. But he and Reeve would likely take their own private lunch, and so Rude was rather at loose ends for the day.

The shitty thing about Kalm, aside from the fact that it sometimes lived up to its name a little too well, was that it rained every fall. Early autumn was the "damp" season, and there were three kinds of weather. Light rain, regular rain, and deluge. And it wasn't like there was much to do in Kalm at nine-thirty in the morning. He took shelter under an awning and looked up at the office building across the street

WRO Security and Research Complex.

What the hell. You only live once.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

For a security building it was certainly low key, but then Kalm was a different world from Midgar. The woman at the front desk simply asked if he needed help, and did not demand any official identification or documentation. He shook his head; the directory board was fairly straightforward and there could not have been more than two dozen offices in the complex. And Valentine, after all, was pretty far toward the end of the alphabet.

He didn't trust the creaky elevator and so took the stairs. At the end of the hallway, an open door spilled out a ribbon of buttery light across an old Wutai carpet. Rude stood silently for a few moments, taking in the sight of his friend in wire rimmed reading glasses as he chewed the end of a pen, comparing whatever he saw on his phone screen with his laptop display.

The glasses were kind of hot.

"Very secure building you have here."

The answering smile did things to his stomach, and areas farther south, as Vincent got up from his desk and walked around to embrace him. "Rude! You didn't call to tell me you were coming up. I knew Tseng was, of course, I hoped...that is. Anyway, do you have some time?"

"All day. Just the driver."

"We'll go over to the inn and get something to eat. Is that all right?" Rude nodded, a little tongue tied by the proximity of warm muscle and the smell of shampoo. "Let me get my jacket."

They walked downstairs and Vincent turned to the woman at the desk. "Ida, I'm leaving for a break, it will be a long lunch."

"I should say so, sir, as it is barely after breakfast. Enjoy your lunch, Mister Valentine. Shall I see you tomorrow?"

"Most likely. This is my friend Rude."

"A pleasure, Rude." The woman said it like she actually meant it, her eyes twinkling behind schoolmarm glasses, and shooed them off into the morning rain.

They ran across the street to the Kalm Inn Pub, open even in the morning hour, and ordered a beer with some fresh chips and breakfast sandwiches. Vincent tore into them as though he hadn't eaten in the two months since they had last seen each other. "I guess you are feeling better."

"Mmm hmmm," he garbled around a mouthful of thick sliced bacon. "Much, actually. I'd say, back to normal if I had the first clue what that was. Gods, did you get the bacon or sausage?"

"Sausage." Rude took a bite of his. It was locally ground and deliciously spicy. He took a swig of beer and was glad they were spending the night. Locals had no problem drinking all day. "This is delicious. Excellent idea. I have one small question." He wiped his mouth.

"Hmmm mmm?"

"Where the flying fuck have you been for two months?"

Vincent drank from his own beer and dabbed politely at his lips. "Working."

"Bullshit."

"No, really. I've been here."

"For all two months?"

"I didn't say that." Rude glared. "Look, have I ever volunteered any information that would make you a material witness?"

"All right. Why?"

"Cloud and I were angry." His voice was no more than a whisper. He paid their bill and walked with Rude outside.

Standing under the awning, out of the rain, they were the only two people on the street. Vincent studied a downspout with rapt fascination. "Rufus would have let both of them go; the supplier was connected to his father. Even though they didn't get on well, it was an old connection and one he would have respected. But I remember standing outside that building. And before we could find Reno, Cloud...gods. I haven't seen him like that since before he killed Sephiroth. So he disabled the cameras and we...took care of it. I still have some friends that 'do good work,' as the saying goes. After it was done, in Junon, they gave me a boat lift to the other continent, and I hopped a box car from the coast to Corel. I was with Barret until I was sure no one suspected my involvement. I apologize, but I had to be sure."

"All because Cloud was upset over Reno."

"No." Vincent toed a puddle with his boot, drawing it out in the slate rock of the sidewalk, then criss-crossing the lines he had made. For a time, he seemed unwilling to look up. "No, I would..."

Rude touched his face, running a thumb down his temple and pulling his gaze up, silently questioning.

"I mean. I was worried. About you, I mean."

"I forgot about the phone. At the gym. I'm sorry."

The warm lights of the pub spilled out onto the wet stone, making smudged yellow reflections. They stood, insulated from the storm, alone in a jewel box of time, until a gust of wind reminded them of the outside world and Vincent turned to go.

"Vin?"

"Yes?" He was a little out of breath, as though he had run the whole way back.

"You'll call?"

He nodded. Rude smiled, a full, face splitting grin this time, and Vincent ran back to his office as though a mad guard hound was behind him. That only made Rude laugh harder, not so much at his friend, but at the both of them and how Reno was right; they were a couple of lovesick teenagers. He shook his head, and walked back toward his room, thinking to fit in a nap or something before Tseng and Reeve got the bright idea to double date for supper, or something equally well meaning and disastrous.

He cast one more look up at Vincent's window, and walked away.