Cid frowned at the meticulous folding job the Turk had done and bitterly cursed at allowing Shera get to him. The folded clothes reminded him of Vincent's late night habits. If the ex-Turk couldn't sleep he would go clean things and doing laundry was his favorite. He loved coming down to large piles of perfectly folded laundry. Now he had just that in front of him, but all it did was make him sad. Apparently, the Turks trained immaculate laundry into their recruits. It almost shocked him that Reno and Vincent could fold as well as they could, what with Vincent's claw and Reno's usual slovenly attitude. He cursed again at Shera causing his mind to wander to Vincent.
He finished dressing and grabbed up the pile of clothes. Carefully, he kicked open the door and carried the load to the stairs.
"Looks like you were busy this mornin'. You did all the laundry that was in the laundry room."
Reno looked up from his seat at the kitchen table, "Yea, I wake up early outta habit. So I figured I'd get some of it done."
"Lemme take this upstairs and we can head out." Cid said as he carried the load up the stairs.
Reno pulled out a cigarette and lit it as he walked to the door. Kneeling he picked up his work boots and began to put them on.
He couldn't hear all of the argument in the laundry room, but he could be fairly sure that the argument involved him. He also could be decently sure that Shera didn't want him here, despite her cheery attitude. He could only wonder how long his fellow pilot's hospitality would last after all of Avalanche warned against him. Cid bounded down the stairs and motioned for Reno to follow him.
"Let's go get yer heap. Mah flatbed's out this way."
The two walked into Cid's overly large garage, which Reno had to admit was more like a hangar. The Tiny Bronco sat looking a bit dusty in one section, tons of small scale models loitered about work stations, a helicopter sat in serious misuse in a corner, and the flatbed truck was parked in front of two large pod bay doors.
"No Highwind?"
"Nah, Reeve asked to borrow it for transporting WRO troops for a bit. He has my crew aboard which is as close to me as he's gunna get. I ain't no damn bus driver."
Reno smiled slightly as he climbed in shotgun next to Cid, "You got all you need for getting Betsy?"
"Yea, I should have enough stuff here to get 'er back to the garage. This things carried the Bronco from time ta time. Besides anything we may break, we can fix once we get 'er here."
The two rode to the chopper with only the static on the radio for company. Cid frowned when after ten minutes of driving they still hadn't reached the chopper.
"You walked all this way in sleet?"
Reno nodded in silence and pointed as "Betsy" came into view. The helicopter was covered in thin sheets of ice. Cid winced, this would be harder than he thought.
"Shit. Hopefully we can get the jacks under the landing gear."
Reno climbed out of the cab of the truck and jogged to Betsy, giving Cid directions for backing up. Cid lowered the flat bed while Reno got the rolling lo-jacks under the landing gear. Cid climbed out of the cab, got the tow cables out, and hooked it to the portable towing arm. He ran the lift while Reno pushed the Chopper from behind. Reno cursed at his inability to listen to Tseng about keeping your work boots as new as possible when he kept sliding on the ice due to his lack of traction. It seemed hopeless at first until Betsy gave a lurch and detached from the icy ground. However, the sudden movement caused Reno to topple forward and fall against the chopper's landing gear. He let out an oath at the pain at the sudden cut on his leg, but after that Betsy eased onto the flatbed with no more issues. They secured her with cables and climbed back into the cab, each soaked to the bone.
Reno looked at his knee where he fell and swore lightly, "Well, shit. I guess I'm down another pair of pants."
Cid looked over at the wound and frowned, "When'd ya do that?"
"When she came free from the ice, eh. I've had worse I guess."
Cid reached into the glove box and handed Reno a rag, "Don't go bleeding in my cab, Turk."
Reno wrapped his knee and the two rode in utter silence back to the house. Luckily, Betsy unloaded faster and easier than she loaded up. Cid sighed, "She needs to defrost before we have any chance of dealing with her."
Reno frowned and leaned against the chopper, " I suppose."
"S'pose we should go get in the shower to get warm and bandage up that leg of yers."
The look on Reno's face made Cid rethink what he had said and stutter away, "Woah-woah.. naahhh... umm..heh. Sorry, I've got two fuckin' showers. One upstairs and the other down. I didn't mean together- I meant that you-"
Reno laughed, "It's all good , yo. I got whatcha meant."
Cid took the moment to make a hasty get away, 'Fucker's prolly thinkin' it was a Freudian slip'. He snarled in his head as he climbed the stairs to his bedroom and shower. He stripped of his soaked clothes and climbed in the shower. He waited to hear the downstairs shower kick on, but he didn't hear anything. 'Fuck's sake he's prolly down there figuring out a way to leave without me needin' to fix his chopper. I need ta learn to fuckin' think bafore I speak.' No matter how long Cid took in the shower, it seemed the hot water did nothing to soothe his mental berating. Nor his thoughts on whether or not it really was a Freudian slip.
~~I hope you all like chapter 5. I said I'd try to get it done this weekend and here you go! I'd like to thank fetherhd and Black-Rogue-Fairy for the wonderful reviews. I love reading what you have to say about my writing so I hope to see more! Thank you for reading, hope you liked it! ~CR