Chapter 12: A quick bite

A/N: Hi everyone! I'm back with another chapter for you all! It's just a short little chapter but it'll segway us into the next section of the story!

Now that Rufus has caught up with Lana, what is our couple going to do?

I just want to thank you all for the sweet reviews I've been getting. I've seen that this story is getting kudos and favorites lately and it put a big smile on my face. Nice to know you guys like what I've written. Hopefully I'll keep this up as we get further into the story!

Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy 7; I just own my characters.

Enjoy!

/

Lana just stared at Rufus, not really processing why he hurried after her. Was the clothes he loaned her not cleaned properly or something? She didn't know how designer outfits were to be handled. When he didn't say anything for a few seconds, she titled her head.

"Hi?" she said slowly.

Rufus blinked, composing himself.

"Um, hi there. What were…what were you doing here?"

Lana held her notebook up showing the notes she took with Scarlett.

"Just getting a head start for tomorrow and wanted to see what Scarlett had in mind" she said.

"I would ask why are you here but considering this is pretty much your home, it's a no brainer you'd be chilling doing nothing on a weekend"

Rufus gave her a dull look.

"I do actually work" he retorted.

"Really? I would never know with all the times you've bugged me when I was trying to work" Lana said dryly.

Rufus didn't know what to say. He had a feeling whatever he said, Lana would have a witty comeback. She looked off to the side when he didn't say anything for a while. Why was this suddenly so awkward? Having enough of this weird encounter, she gave him a single wave and walked away.

"Well…bye then"

"Wait!"

He gently grabbed her arm. Realizing what he did, he quickly stepped back and cleared his throat.

"Tseng gave me the clothes I loaned you. You could have kept them"

"I seriously doubt your sister would be ok with you giving her outfits away to complete strangers" Lana said flatly.

"She wouldn't mind. She's not that big of a fan of those kind of outfits" Rufus said.

"Then why bother buying them if you don't like them?" Lana pointed out.

"Whatever. Thanks again for loaning me the outfit-even though it was technically your fault since your pet attacked me. Try not to work too hard, ok?"

"I was actually about to take a lunch break. Been at my desk all day and everything" Rufus said.

Lana pulled up her phone and looked at the time.

"It's 10 in the morning" she deadpanned.

"I had to go through a lot of paperwork ok?" Rufus said flatly.

"Since you're here why not join me for an early lunch?"

Lana snorted and stuffed her hands in her pockets.

"I believe I told you I would only have one lunch with you. Since you've already used that lunch date I'm afraid you're out of luck rich boy" she said.

"Technically this isn't an actual lunch since it's still early. This could be a brunch if you think about it" Rufus pointed out.

"Yeah, nice try"

Lana spun on her heel and waved at him again.

"Enjoy your nice date with your paperwork. Meanwhile I'm going to-ah fuck!"

She froze when she saw Vivian making her way towards them. She quickly spun around so her back was facing her and panicked. She forgot that Vivian's dad worked for Shinra. Of course she would be here as well.

"I really mean it this time when I say that I have to go. I can't let Vivian see me" Lana said frantically.

Rufus made a face when he saw Vivian. Well his sour mood came back again.

"Is there a reason why you don't want her to see you? Aside from her being annoying" he asked.

"Yes because if she sees me here, she'll know that I'm working on the banquet. Trust me when I say you do not want to see her throwing a bitch fit" Lana said.

"Why would she throw a fit about you catering-"

A shit eating grin appeared on Rufus's face when he realized what was going on.

"Oh, I see. Your work doesn't know that you're doing this. Going behind their backs, huh?"

"Will you shut up! It's not like I did this on purpose. Jeremy isn't going to believe that when Vivian spins her woeful tale to him" Lana snapped.

"Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to make sure I don't get fired"

She went to run but of course Rufus had to grab her arm.

"If you run that'll catch her attention and she'll see you, you know that right?" he pointed out.

"She's going to see me if you don't let go of me" Lana hissed.

"Seriously. I can't lose my job because of this"

Rufus saw the desperation in her eyes. She wasn't kidding. She was really freaking out over this. He looked to see Vivian getting closer. Without saying a word, he pulled out his phone and typed something in it before putting it back in his jacket.

"3…2…1"

Just then, a van zipped out of nowhere and blocked Vivian's path. The doors opened up where a bunch of infantry men and security poured out and surrounded the blonde with their guns aimed at her.

"Put your hands up!"

"Hostile detained! Check to see if she has any weapons!"

Vivian freaked out and screamed when the guns were aimed at her.

"What the fuck?!"

The guards raised their weapons when she wouldn't cooperate. Lana stared at the scene with huge eyes. Rufus chuckled and ushered her away from the spectacle.

"She'll be a while" he said.

"Now then…"

He gave her a shit eating grin and got close to her face.

"About that early lunch?"

Lana realized that she was once again tricked into going on another date with him. He went out of his way to get rid of Vivian-albeit in an extreme way, so of course she would have to repay him for his kindness. Groaning, she held the bridge of her nose.

"What do you have a taste for?"

/

"So what are the chance of snagging that security footage? I'm curious to see how that fight with Vivian pans out"

"They might be high. Considering I'm also curious to see the outcome"

Lana picked where they were going to eat since Rufus choose last time. Instead of being in a ritzy restaurant with high end dishes, she decided to grab something simple and down to earth like a few wraps from one of the food trucks that were nearby. Since Rufus made her eat something from his world, it was his turn to eat something from hers. She was a little worried and embarrassed that it was something plain but he didn't seem to mind. If anything he really enjoyed his meal.

Whenever mom and dad would have little date nights, they always picked something simple like food trucks or diners. It was a nice way to get away and have a moment to themselves where no one gawked at them. They didn't have to show off at some high end restaurant as the Vice President of the Shinra company. They could enjoy their time together as simply being husband and wife.

"Careful. You're going to get sauce all over your jacket" Lana warned.

Rufus had taken a bite out of his wrap and had sauce dripping out of it. Lana handed him some napkins so he wouldn't make a mess of himself.

"Wouldn't want you to ruin that nice jacket of yours with mustard" she teased.

"If I can get blood out of this, I'm sure I can get condiments out of it too" Rufus said dryly.

"It's kind of alarming how calmy you said that" Lana said.

"But this is you so I guess it's not that alarming"

"Nice of you to notice"

They just enjoyed their lunch with silly banters and making dry remarks to one another. Lana noticed that Rufus seemed a little different than the last time they ate together. At the restaurant it seemed like he was putting on an act because he was eating at a fine establishment where others could judge and look at him. But now, sitting on a park bench, eating simple food from a food truck showed a different side to him. He didn't need to put up an act cause no one was watching him. He could enjoy himself. He was just…Rufus.

Rufus paused from eating when he sensed Lana staring at him.

"Something wrong?"

Lana jumped a little and quickly looked back at her food.

"N-no. I'm just surprised you actually enjoyed this. I was half expecting you to complain about eating commoner food so I was waiting for a remark" she said.

Rufus had a lopsided grin on his face when he saw a faint shade of pink dusting her cheeks.

"To be honest, this is a lot better than what they serve at the lunch hall at work. A multimillion company that supplies mako energy to pretty much everyone and all we get in return is slop"

"Oh so they went to the same culinary school as Vivian then" Lana joked.

"I'm actually surprised she even went to school" Rufus said.

"All of us at work were when we found out too. But she probably had her dad pay off her teachers so she could pass. Seems that's what she always does when she wants something" Lana said.

She had a feeling the reason Vivian was at the Shinra company was so she could complain to her dad about what happened with Scarlett the other day. She probably thought if she went to her dad maybe he would be able to have Scarlett change her mind and let her work on this banquet. Fat chance that was going to happen. If Reeve had a hard time convincing Scarlett to give Lana a chance, there was no way her dad would change the weapon director's mind.

"So if your work isn't supposed to know about you doing this banquet, how are you going to explain why you won't be at the café for a few weeks?" Rufus asked suddenly.

Lana made a face and rolled her eyes.

"I…might have told Jeremy I was using up my vacation days so I can have time to myself after that whole fiasco with Scarlett and Vivian. And since I haven't really taken a vacation off in years I've had them built up. The joys of not having a life outside of work"

"So instead of traveling and doing nothing work related, you're working on your vacation? Sounds just like my dad" Rufus said dryly.

"Hey, I'm getting paid for this and it'll look good on my resume" Lana retorted.

"Do you do anything aside from working?"

"Nope. Don't have the time or luxury for that"

Rufus didn't have anything to say to that. He was one to talk since he was working on a weekend when he could be at home relaxing with Dark Star. He could be relaxing but he would be stuck in that huge house all by himself. Every time he went home, he was greeted to emptiness. He hated working for his father, but he hated going to an empty home at the end of a long day even more.

He jumped a little when Lana suddenly wiped the corner of his mouth.

"Sorry, you had a little sauce on your face and figured you didn't want to go back to work looking like a slob" she said.

If any other person did that to him, he would have snapped at them for getting to close to him. He didn't like his personal space to be bothered or disrupted, which was why he didn't let his past girlfriends get too close to him. But with Lana…it felt different. He wasn't bothered by her presence or that she got close to wipe something off his face. If anything it felt normal. It felt…right.

They just spent the next couple of seconds staring at each other. Neither one really knew what to say at that moment. Then again nothing needed to be said.

The moment was ruined when Rufus's phone went off. Pulling the device from his pocket, he scowled when he saw it was his father calling him.

"Guess my father found out I called the bomb squad earlier. This'll be a fun conversation" he muttered.

Lana panicked.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to get you in trouble over Vivian!"

"I was the one who called security on her so I don't know why you need to apologize" Rufus said.

"I've done worse to piss my father off so this is nothing. I'll just get the whole 'you're ruining my image!' speech from him and it'll go back to normal tomorrow. Don't worry about it"

Lana bit her lip. While Rufus was still an annoying ass, she didn't want him to get chewed out by his dad because of her. He went out of his way to help her when he didn't have to.

"Thank you for that by the way" she said quietly.

"You didn't have to help me get away from Vivian but you still did. I appreciate that"

"I did it for myself as well. If she had seen you, then I wouldn't have been able to bug you every day" Rufus teased.

"You bug me everyday as it is! How would this be any different?" Lana snapped.

"Because you'll be working at my place for the next few weeks. At your place you're always telling me to get lost. But since you're working at my family's company you can't tell me to leave cause technically I'm working there" Rufus said smugly.

Lana's eye twitched. It was annoying when he was right.

"I try to compliment you and be nice but you just have to ruin it by being an ass" she said.

"What can I say? I enjoying seeing your pissed off look" Rufus teased.

"And now you're being a sicko"

They got up from the park bench after they finished their meal.

"Good luck with dealing with your dad. I guess…I'll…see you tomorrow then?" Lana said sheepishly.

"I'll be counting down the hours" Rufus joked.

Lana made a face and shivered a bit.

"Scarlett better pay me extra for dealing with this" she muttered.

They went their separate ways not knowing the crazy rollercoaster of events that would happen for the next few weeks.

/

The next morning

It felt like Rufus didn't really leave the building as he made it to his office the next morning. After finishing that hellish task of completing that paperwork and getting a lecture from his dad about the false alarm 'attack', he was ready for another week of working for his father. At least these next couple of weeks would be entertaining thanks to a certain chef.

When he made it to his office, he was surprised to see Tseng waiting for him there. The head Turk looked very serious as he stared at his boss. While Tseng usual had a straight face and hardly showed any emotion, Rufus could tell something bothered his guard.

"What?"

Tseng tried to think of the right words to say to his boss.

"Were you with Miss. Denbrough at the parks yesterday?" he asked.

Rufus raise an eyebrow. He never told Tseng what he did yesterday with Lana.

"Yes? How did you know that?"

Tseng held up the morning paper and handed it to him.

"This was issued first thing this morning"

Rufus opened up the paper, wondering what had Tseng on edge. When he saw the front page, he found out why.

Rufus Shinra found spotted with mysterious woman in the parks. Could this be his newest girlfriend of the month?

Someone had taken a photo of Lana and himself having lunch at the parks.

"Shit"

/

A/N: Oh shit, looks like our couple has been spotted! What are they going to do about this?

Hope you guys enjoyed this little chapter. Now that Lana is working at Shinra for the next few weeks be ready for crazy shenanigans to ensue.

Please review and tell me what you think!

Take care!