It was the most awkward breakfast Reno had ever attended. The wait staff could feel the tension and had seated them in the farthest place they could away from the rest of the patrons. The conversation was at best occasional grunts and telling the nervously smiling waitress what they wanted to eat and drink. Waiting for food was unbearable and now that he had his plate, Reno felt oddly put off.

Reno had chosen to sit across from Vincent in the same booth as Cid and had ordered a plain egg white breakfast platter. It was what he would have ordered at any big Shinra breakfast meeting. He would rather have sat at a table with Palmer eating the greasiest things he could imagine than sit where he was now.

Cid cleared his throat after finishing his second cup of tea and looked at the gunman.

"So where are you stayin' these days?"

"I tend to travel. So I rarely can call one place truly home."

"So are you stayin' at Inns or jus' whatever cave you can claim?"

"I bit of both I suppose."

Reno stared at his eggs and inwardly cursed, he had always hated egg whites. They looked so unnatural. Yet it seemed the best choice,

"So. How close are you two to being done with the helicopter?"

"Well, we got the broken bits out yesterday before the power went out and then we got sidetracked by a power line falling and then Reno got electrocuted saving some of the townsfolk that stood around gaping like a bunch of fuckin' fish."

"You were electrocuted?" Vincent asked Reno, forcing the young red-head to look away from his breakfast ponderings.

"Yes. It wasn't too bad though. Luckily Shinra put cure and thunder mako in me."

"It was lucky indeed. I am happy to hear you aren't permanently damaged."

Reno highly doubted that statement and it wasn't just the look of sheer loathing in the man's eyes. It was also the fact that he doubted the man was ever truly happy about anything at all.

"How long do you think the damage will take to repair?" Vincent asked, returning his attention to Cid.

"Eh, depends on how fast we work. It could be anywhere from a week to a month."

"How lucky that you managed to land near Rocket Town. It must have been a great relief knowing that the greatest sky pilot of all time was living within walking distance."

"Yes, I was lucky." Reno didn't like where this conversation was going and he prayed again that Cid would notice the implications and stop the older Turk's insinuation. However, he realized that the man hadn't heard a thing. He was too busy talking to the waitress about the fine quality of tea they had served him. Reno fought off the urge to slap the back of the man's head.

"You seem to be a very lucky man. Have you always been this lucky or is it a recent thing?"

"It's a fairly recent condition. Maybe Tseng was right about wearing a luck plus materia."

"Maybe he was. Was that where you were coming from? Wutai?"

"Yes. I needed to drop Tseng off at his family pagoda."

"And he didn't offer to let you stay? Aren't you his second in command?"

"I am and he did for a few days. But we had agreed that separating the Turks would be the best course of action. It seemed only logical."

"Where were you headed after you dropped Tseng off?"

"Junon."

"Do you have friends in Junon that you were planning on staying with?"

"Yes, but I planned in attempting to find somewhere that would let me stay. Much like the slums of Midgar, Junon tends to turn a blind eye to those that most would consider unfavorable."

"Unfavorable indeed."

Vincent stared at the Turk, his eyes seemingly boring into his soul. Reno was uneasy about it, but it was no different than any other jealous man. It was odd to think of Vincent as simply a normal jealous man.

Cid turned his attention back to the two, "What'd I miss?"

Reno looked down at his untouched eggs and muttered, "Nothing."

"Nothing, indeed." Vincent said, carefully sipping at his water.

Cid eyed them both, but didn't want to cause any strife here in the restaurant. They finished eating and Vincent picked up the tab leading to an equally awkward walk back to the house. Luckily, it wasn't a long walk and Reno chose to disappear immediately into the den to "grab something".

"So where are you headed now?" Cid asked the cloaked gunman.

"Perhaps back towards Midgar, or perhaps towards Wutai. It has been a long while since Yuffie has had the opportunity to amuse herself by torturing me and perhaps she will have news I haven't heard yet."

"Ya know I ya got a phone you could get news sooner. Or people could reach you."

"Maybe I enjoy the solitude. Maybe I enjoy the travel. Or maybe I don't want Yuffie to have easy access to haunt me. I have enough thinks that lurk about to do that."

Cid smiled, "I'm sure if you head to Wutai she will know as soon as you step on the soil."

"Indeed. Maybe I will use that as practice for the both us. My stealth against her observational skills."

Cid smiled and offered the man a hand, "It was good seeing you Vince, but really you didn't need to come. I have the situation handled and we are fine."

Vincent didn't smile and didn't take the offered hand, "I never said you couldn't handle it. I was just making sure you were handling it."

The ex-Turk walked out the door and was gone without another word. Cid sighed and shook his head. 'Over protective as always'.

"He's gone now you can come out of hiding."

Reno sat on the foldout couch and puffed away on a cigarette. He hated that the Inn was no smoking; it would have made the meal less stressful. He heard Cid call out that Vincent was gone and deeply sighed.

He leaned forward to stand and felt cool metal against the skin of his neck.

"If you so much as harm a hair on his head, I will unleash Chaos on you and watch as he tears you to shreds. That man is a good person and doesn't deserve either of us. We each have sins to atone for and dragging him down into the dirt with us is only disrespecting him." Vincent's voice hissed in his ear.

"I don't plan on hurting him. I only came here to fix my chopper."

"Yet now you are both together."

Reno opened his mouth to deny it but the claw got tighter.

"He is my friend. You are a Turk. I know better than most what a Turk is capable of. If you are smart you will leave here as soon as the helicopter is fixed. If you hurt him, it will be the last thing you ever do."

"What? Only you are allowed to do that?"

Vincent made a noise in his throat and the claw got tighter, "You should not speak of what you do not understand."

Reno was about to argue when just as suddenly as the claw was there it was gone again. The red-head pressed his hand to his neck to make sure he had truly left, but all he had found was his own cool flesh and a deep feeling of unease.

~Here is Chapter 20, I hope you all like it! Thank you to those that reviewed; Black-Rogue-Fairy, VioletIsInPain, fetherhd, Namantos, and omgitskirby. I write because you review! Thank you, thank you, thank you! I hope it meets expectations and thank you for reading! ~CR