Rufus left the control room shortly. He motioned for her to follow him. Verna quickly ran after him, eager to get away from Heidegger. She already got her shots of him. She just wished she could see his face when he saw them.

"Scarlet's still outside your room," Rufus noted at the sight of the not-so-prudish female.

Verna frowned. This was going to be problematic. All of her things were in her room, including her laptop. Her eyes widened. Her laptop. Scarlet could very well hack into it and read her news articles and then her cover would be blown.

"I can't let her get to my laptop," Verna whispered to Rufus.

Rufus nodded slowly as he approached the room, "Scarlet, step aside."

Scarlet did so begrudgingly, "Why do you need to get into her room?"

"Jane's having an issue with motion sickness. She'll be staying in my room, so I can keep an eye on her," Rufus walked in and grabbed a bag while Verna grabbed the rest. "I'm just getting her things."

"Tch, whatever," Scarlet crossed her arms as she looked out into the hallway. She took a step back and gulped audibly.

Verna looked over to see a man with greasy slicked back hair hunched over. The man pushed his glasses up as he examined everyone in the room. Behind him was a Turk. Verna's seen him before, his name was Rude. The man in the white lab coat, she didn't know.

"Caring for another human being, President? That's highly unlike you," The man remarked in a voice that seemed to claw at chalkboards. "Exactly who is this Jane? Hmm? She surely must be the specimen."

"Hojo," Rufus glared. "I seem to remember you abandoning Shin-Ra. What are you doing here?"

"I was merely on a vacation before Sephiroth killed your father," Hojo placed his hands behind his back. "I'm here to see the crater. I have a hypothesis that I want to see. If it turns out I'm right things will be very interesting."

"And what would that hypothesis be?"

"Oh, nothing that concerns you, for now," Hojo turned to leave. "I don't want to interfere with him, not at all. Besides, it's probably too late for you to stop anything."

He walked away with the Turk close on his tail. It was obvious that no one trusted the man – the scientist. Verna certainly didn't like him – at all. He seemed like he could care less about the lives of others just as long as he could run an experiment.

"Let's go," Rufus walked past Verna and led her to her room. Verna looked back as Scarlet started to follow them.

"I should see if she's alright," She tried to play off.

"Absolutely not," Rufus responded in a harsh tone that was borderline yelling. "If you set foot into my room you will be fired immediately. Do I make myself clear?"

Rufus looked back at the manager. Verna felt her heart leap at the menacing glare. His eyes were extremely cold. She's never once seen this side of him. Yes, it seemed like his temper was starting to go to the extreme on this ship, but he still managed to remain calm. Now…His calmness was evaporating under the hellish flames of his wrath.

Scarlet shrank away as Rufus opened the door to his room. Verna followed hesitantly as he threw the bag down onto the ground. Verna thanked the life stream that there were just clothes in that bag and nothing breakable. She placed down her bags and shut the door before removing her hood.

"Rufus? Are you alright?" She questioned quietly, somewhat afraid of his current mood.

Rufus sat down on the bed and ran both of his hands through his hair. They stopped as he gripped onto his hair tightly – threatening to pull it out. Verna walked over to him and knelt down so she could look up at his face. Her eyes searched for his eyes, but they were shut tightly.

"Hey," Verna spoke softly as she placed her hands on his wrists, "Don't pull your hair out, I rather like your hair. It'd be shame if you were to lose it at such a young age."

Rufus loosened his grip on his hair and slowly lowered his hands to his sides. Verna smiled softly at the president.

"Good," Verna stood up and sat next to him on the bed. "Now what's wrong?"

Rufus sighed before looking at her, "The Black Materia that Sephiroth is after has the possibility to destroy Gaia. Cloud did end up giving it to Sephiroth."

Verna's eyes widened, "When did you figure this out? I thought Cloud and the other had it!"

Rufus ran a hand through his hair again, "Reeve didn't want to tell me about it in front of Elena or you. But now Sephiroth has it and he's heading to the Promised Land. It's an area with a large concentration of energy. It has enough energy to summon Meteor, which would end up destroying everything."

Verna looked at her hands, "So Meteor will most likely be summoned, then?"

Rufus grimaced, "I'd like to think otherwise, but I can't."

Verna nodded slowly, "I see…" She played with her nails as she spoke, "If that happens then I'm glad about what's happen." Rufus looked at her as if she were insane. "Not about Meteor! I'm glad that I kicked Heidegger, hit Palmer with a truck, got caught by you, punched Scarlet, and the fact that I'm here now."

Rufus shook his head a hand covered his mouth to hide a smile. His shoulders shook. Alas, he couldn't hide it anymore. He burst out laughing. It was ridiculous that the girl would be happy here. She was practically a prisoner.

Verna smiled sheepishly at the president. She knew it sounded odd, but it was the truth. She's gotten inside stories of Shin-Ra without the risk of being caught, because well – she was already caught.

Rufus suddenly grabbed Verna by the wrist and pulled her down as he lied down. Verna yelped out of shock as she landed on top of him. She was going to ask what he was doing, but he shushed her. Looking up, Verna noticed that his eyes were closed. A blush crept up onto her face, but she remained where she was and listened to his heart beat rapidly – something that slightly concerned Verna, but she pushed it to the side.

"Rufus?" Verna questioned in a whisper. He replied with a small grunt, "I…" Verna paused. "Never mind…"

Rufus looked down, but Verna kept her eyes shut, "Have you figured out what we were talking about in the car?"

"No," Verna shook her head slowly. "I'm not good with positive emotions. Even if I have an idea I keep my mouth shut, because I might be wrong."

"So you do have an idea?"

"I never said that," Verna pouted lightly.

Rufus chuckled lightly, "List some positive emotions and maybe you'll figure it out."

"Um…Alright," Verna sat up and Rufus sat up with her. "Joy, gratitude, serenity, hope, pride, amusement, interest, inspiration, awe, and..." She stopped her list and closed her mouth.

Blushing, Verna stopped herself from saying "love." She knew that Rufus wouldn't feel that, or anything close to that. No, they didn't know each other long enough for it to be love. The most it would be was a crush, nothing more. Even then, Verna knew that he didn't feel that. No one would feel that towards her. Her first and only boyfriend proved that.

Verna looked up at him shyly to see he was rather close to her. She squeaked quietly. Her heart pounded - something that typically occurred thanks to her anxiety. With this, it was different. It wasn't so negative. No, it was something more positive.

"You missed an emotion," Rufus whispered.

Rufus was leaning into the close the gap. A knock sounded on the door. Verna's eyes were wide and her face was completely flushed at the sound. Rufus moved back quickly. Complete anger filled his entire being, Verna could see that just by the change in body language.

"If it's Scarlet I swear I'm going to kill her," Rufus got up and opened the door. "What!?"

"Uh, hey, sir," It was the red headed Turk, Reno. "I figured you'd want Dark Nation." Reno glanced into the room, "So you still have the girl with you, huh? Hope I wasn't interrupting anythi-!"

Rufus slammed the door in his face once Dark Nation walked in. Verna leapt up and skipped over happily to the black panther before showering it with affections. Verna kissed the top of its head.

"Hi, Dark Nation!" Verna cooed. "I just love you, yes I do!"

"Oh sure, now she says the emotion," Rufus muttered below his breath and ran a hand through his hair. This was going to be more difficult than he expected.

-A/N-

So we had a snow day yesterday and guess what! I had a freaking fever. -_- Which meant I couldn't come to school today, because under school regulations one is not allowed to attend if one has a fever within 24 hours. *sighs* And I missed a math test. Oh well~! I still feel a bit weak and out of it, so I apologize if this chapter is apt for your tastes. ;_;