A/N: So...hi. Yeah. Long time no write, huh? I'm trying to get back into Operation: Assassination and all the others, but this just hit me. Maybe a practice run for getting back into everything. But, I miss my Turks. This goes with everything dantesdarkqueen and I have tied together. It's basically how Rude and Kandi end up together after Zack and Sephiroth were declared KIA in Nibelhiem.

Disclaimer: I still don't own anything...even after all this time.

She stared blankly at the screen, wondering just exactly what she was supposed to be doing. Well, not as far as her job was concerned. She knew what to do there. She could do that in her sleep; which was probably a good thing considering she was having periods of time where she would simply blank out, not remembering pieces of her day but replaying old memories, painful memories. But all her work would end up finished and her new boss would never have reason to gripe at her.

Kandi took a deep breath, blinking back tears that threatened to spill out the corners of her eyes. What was she supposed to do with her life now? Zack had been gone for nearly five months and she'd only been sober for about one. Reno's boss and partner found them both wasted off their asses and forced them to clean up; forced them to move on from the pain of losing Sephiroth and Zack in Nibelheim. Something inside her refused, held steadfast to the place where she was, fearing that if she moved on, took one step forward to healing, she'd be that much farther away from Zack. Somehow, in her twisted, pain-filled mind, the hurt, the pain was worth it, knowing that right now, she was closer to Zack than she would ever be again.

Because he wasn't coming back. Ever.

Kandi's attention was drawn away from her thoughts when her anti-virus software alerted her to yet another virus on the ShinRa network. This entire system was a fucking joke. She hadn't seen this many virus since Reno picked up that chick at Wall Market. Checking the system configuration, she nearly choked, seeing that the entirety of ShinRa was susceptible to hackers, even the kinds that just accidently snuck in.

"This is ridiculous!" she shrieked, turning her eyes toward her boss. "Barry, what the hell kind of security system you got on this place?"

Barry glanced up at her from his screen. "Basic stuff," he offered half-heartedly with a shrug. "I mean, it's just a bunch of 'puters."

"Dude, this is ShinRa we're talking about," she said, frantically typing away. "You know, I'm surprised you haven't been canned yet. Shit, I'm finding tons of times we've been hacked into here! There are holes all over the place. This is not good."

"What the hell am I supposed to do about it?" he asked. "I mean, as long as Scarlet can play spider solitaire and Palmer's browser doesn't lock up when he's checking the latest at Lard Weekly, no one gives a shit."

"Obviously," she grumbled, hitting the Turks section of the network first and patching everything up there. That would not be good if the Turks were hacked.

While her own anti-virus software was running, she put up an impregnable firewall and started working on the other departments, fixing everything she could as quickly as she could. It...actually felt good, working again, doing something she knew she was good at. It was distracting at least and maybe that was a good thing.

With the one terminal busy exterminating everything in the system, she turned to the other, deciding to find out what her boss was actually up to on his side of the IT room. Accessing the remote assistance feature, she growled with anger, seeing the birth of all the viruses. Barry, the Head of IT, her boss, was accessing illegal porn sites, infecting everything, since he was on the main server.

"Barry!" she shrieked, standing up and slamming her fists on her desk. "What the fuck is wrong with you?"

Barry looked up at her and blinked. "Don't take that tone with me!" he snapped. "This is your first day. I could boot you out faster than I can boot up this computer."

"Don't give me that shit," she hissed, storming over to him. He quickly tried shutting down all of his windows, but it was too late. She'd already seen everything. "You of all people should know how dangerous those sites are to a computer, let alone the main server. Shiva, where the hell did they find you?"

Barry just stared on her as she continued. "Look, I've patched all the viruses, put up a fire wall and installed a anti-virus program I designed that will shut down all emails and websites that contain viruses." He watched as his computer screen flashed and sent him a message that said, "Website has been blocked...naughty boy."

"What? Why'd you do that?" he asked. "How is everyone supposed to get their porn fix?"

"Dude, there are safe porn sites! This'll block the dangerous ones. Gods, you know less than shit about this stuff, don't you? You have no business anywhere near a computer let alone being the head of ShinRa's IT Department."

"I'm still your boss," he sneared.

"Oh, go fuck yourself on a flash drive," she spat as she turned back to her desk.

Barry blinked again. "What's a flash drive?" he asked.

Kandi snapped. With everything she had been through in the last few months, that was the last straw. She was expected to work and take orders from an asshat who didn't even know what a flash drive was? She turned back around and punched him right in the face, knocking him out cold.

"First day at a new job and you punch your boss."

Kandi just shrugged, gesturing toward her work station. "I also fixed all the problems and insured that there wouldn't be any unauthorized access again. I secured your department first, as a matter of fact."

Tseng arched an eyebrow at her, his lips turning up into something resembling a smile. He looked over at the other IT assistant, the one who had called in the Turks after Kandi's violent display.

"Why were my people called in for this woman simply doing her job?" he asked sternly.

The young man paled. "But...s-she attacked Barry," he stammered.

"No I didn't," Kandi said in defense of herself. Tseng looked back at her, waiting. "If I would have attacked him, he would have been in the emergency room. I just punched his lights out, that's all. Besides, he was asking for it. Did you know he's the one who infected the network with all the viruses? Yeah. Downloading porn onto the server. Jack ass."

Tseng shook his head and turned to Rude and Reno. "We're done here," he said. "This was a complete waste of time."

The Turk leader turned and headed out the door, his subordinates in tow. Reno glanced over his shoulder and shot her a wink. Kandi smirked back at him as the three men left. Once out the door, she turned to Pete and glared.

Pete excused himself and didn't report back for the rest of the day, leaving Kandi alone in a room full of computers.

Bliss.

She continued monitoring the network and emailed a few friends she had lost touch with during her four month drunken stupor. When everyone replied back but Akalara, she got concerned and searched the Turk database for any information on her friend. Hey, she said other people couldn't hack into the system. She was the creator; of course she had access!

Akalara Forrest was listed on a leave of absence for an indeterminable amount of time. Kandi sighed and leaned back in her chair. She wasn't here. It didn't even list her location, which really didn't surprise her. Her leave meant that Akalara was coping with the loss of Seph the best way she knew how; and the same way Kandi was forced to cope with the loss of Zack.

Alone.

The next day, she fired Pete. Why? Because she had been given Barry's job as the head of the ShinRa IT Department. Barry was now the head of a new department...the custodial department.

Her first act of business after firing Pete was to install a retinal scanner to the IT room. There was no way in hell she was letting anyone else in there to fuck up that which she had finally fixed. The only person allowed in there was herself since there had only been three members of the IT Department anyway and one had been canned and the other...transferred.

Kandi supposed she would need an assistant at some point, but right now, she was happy working alone. No one to answer to, no one to take orders from. She needed that right now.

Sitting in the cool room, she kicked her feet up on her desk watching and listening to the hum of the computers working perfectly as they were supposed to. Kandi closed her eyes and breathed in, relaxing. She dosed off for a bit, barely drifting in and out of consciousness.

She heard the door behind her open, a low chuckle barely penetrating her hazy mind. "Rough night, huh? Next time, I'll tell Seph I can't keep you out that long. Can't have my secretary sleeping on the job, no can I?"

Kandi's feet hit the floor and her head spun around. Nothing. No one. She was alone in her new office. She wasn't at her old desk outside of Zack's door.

But she could have swore she felt his presence.

Grabbing her handheld, she opened the door and headed down the hall. Time to distract herself and bury herself in work. And she knew Reno's computer would always have a virus or two to destroy.

Securing the door to the IT room and checking the retinal scanner, she made her way up to the Turks floor, careful to avoid going down any familiar hall ways or floors. She waved and smiled to some of the secretaries she had worked with on her way, glad to see people were treating her normally. She didn't know if she could handle someone asking how she was right now.

Stepping onto the elevator, she rode up to floor 69, exiting into the Turk offices. Several of the suits glared at her, wondering what she was doing there. Kandi flashed her ID at a few of them, granting her access to wherever she needed to go. She knew where Reno's office was, having been in it enough times, for business or for pleasure. She snickered, remembering a well-deserved swirly the red-head received in own private bathroom, administered by Zack and Seph-...

Taking another deep breath, she continued on, giving a firm knock to Reno's door.

"Yeah, what?" the red-head growled from behind the door.

She opened it and poked her head inside. "Miss me?" she asked softly.

Reno looked up from his computer, his face instantly breaking into a grin. He leapt from his chair and came around the desk as she came in and closed the door. She was in his arms an instant latter, their arms wrapped firmly around each other. Kandi could feel his pain almost as much as she could feel her own, just from the way he held her. They both realized that right now, out of their group of six friends, they were it.

"Have you heard from Ak?" she asked, pulling away and looking at him. "I know she's on leave, but..."

"How did you know that?" Reno shot back with a grin.

She held up her handheld. "Head of IT now, Re," she said. "I have legal access to everything."

"Ah, gotcha," he answered, leading her to the couch and going to his mini fridge and grabbing a soda for each of them. He tossed her one and sat in the chair diagonal from her. "And no, haven't heard from her. Tseng's got her covered, though. She's fine."

Kandi nodded, opening the soda and taking a sip. "What about Lily?" she asked tentatively. "Have you talked to her yet?"

"Nope," he replied quickly. "And I don't intend to. I caught her fucking Rufus. It's over."

"Re..."

"Don't," he snapped, drinking his own soda.

She swallowed hard and nodded, leaning back and stretching her legs out. "It's really...just us now," she whispered.

"Kandi, how are you-"

"Don't," she returned, glaring at him. "Don't ask how I am or how I'm holding up 'cause it's just barely, okay? Leave it at that."

Reno nodded, tapping his foot on the floor. "So...hey, how's the new gig?" he asked, feigning a grin. "Booted out the boss and took his job, eh? Not bad for your first day."

She smiled a genuine smile. "Not bad for someone who barely has a high school diploma, huh?" she said proudly.

"Not bad at all, Babe," he said, leaning forward and grabbing her foot. "I'm just glad you're still here."

"Yep, me too," she said. "I couldn't leave, though. Yeah, there's a lot of memories here, but...there's a lot of memories here."

Reno nodded in understanding. They sat there, smiling at each other and drinking their non-alcoholic beverages; a companionable silence between them. It was, unfortunately, interrupted by a brisk knock on the door.

Tseng stepped through the door, glancing at the two. "I was told you were in here, Kandi. Good," he said, stepping aside to allow Rude to follow him. Kandi smiled at Reno's partner and gave him a wave. He barely inclined his head in response.

"Sup, Bossman?" Reno asked, holding up his soda. "We're being good, promise. No alcohol...at all. Damn it."

"I should think not," Tseng replied, arching an elegant eyebrow. He turned to the red-streaked female. "How is your new position?"

Kandi blinked. "Good," she answered, setting her soda down on a coaster on Reno's coffee table. "Just me now. I guess I'm going to have to start looking for an assistant or something."

"I would recommend that," the Wutain nodded. "Because if you accept my proposal, your days are about to get a little more demanding."

Kandi arched her own eyebrow at the exotic man. "What proposal?" she asked warily.

"I was very impressed with how you handled the situation yesterday," Tseng said with a small smile. "I want to offer you a position in the Turk Trainee Program. I think with your abilities, you would be an excellent asset to the team."

"No shit, you want her to be a Turk?" Reno asked in excitement. "That'd be so cool! I'd train you up real good, Babe."

"Reno, you are still on probation," Tseng interjected. "You will not be training anyone for a very long time. You are to do your paperwork and nothing else."

Reno glared. "Fuck off, Tseng," he growled, going over and pulling Kandi up, placing an arm around her. "You can't separate us."

"I don't intend to," the Turk leader replied. "But you will not be training her."

"Wait, I haven't even agreed to this yet!" Kandi exclaimed. "I mean, don't I get a damn say in this?"

Tseng glanced at her. "Of course," he said, inclining his head. "What do you decide?"

"When will I train?"

"After your work hours, every day."

"Why me? What do I have to offer?"

"Extensive knowledge of computer systems and from what I can tell, one hell of a right hook."

Kandi blinked. Did Tseng just swear and compliment her in the same sentence?

She grinned. "When do I start?"

Tseng returned the smile. "Tonight, if you wish," he said. He gestured to Rude. "Meet your trainer."

Kandi looked up into the reflective lenses of the big, bald man and grinned at the memory of the first time they met. For old time's sake, she fixed her hair in the reflection of the lenses. "Hey."

Rude's mouth twitched up at the corner's into something resembling a smile. "Hey."

A/N: Thanks for reading. Hope I caught all the typos and my writing hasn't suffered too terribly due to having two kids now. Reviews are loved!