Chapter 5: Trying to have a normal life

A/N: I am so, so sorry for the late update! Life was a little hectic cause I moved up in my job and because I was focused on some of my other stories not to mention I had a huge writer's block on this story. But I was able to figure out how I wanted to progress, so here we are!

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

Enjoy!

/

"Lana, one of our guests wanted to talk to you" a waitress said sheepishly.

Lana chopped the fish she was working on with more force than she intended to. The poor head flew into the air and landed into Vivian's stew that she left unattended.

"Mother fucker" she muttered.

Sucking in a deep breath, she composed herself and stomped over to the doors and made her way to the table where her guest was.

Reaching the table, she gave Rufus a bored expression.

"You do know there are other places to eat in Midgar besides here, right?"

Rufus chuckled as he pushed his coffee away.

"It gets boring going to places that wait on you hand and foot the moment you step inside. And I know you would miss me if I didn't come to visit" he teased.

Lana scoffed in disgust.

"I knew I should have spit in your food" she muttered.

She had thought she wouldn't have to see the Vice-President again after she 'accepted' his check. She thought she would finally be left alone and continue living her life as a slum rat.

Alas, life was a bitch. After her little stunt, Rufus showed up at the café almost every day to harass her. From requesting over the top orders to asking to see her, he did everything in his power to piss her off.

And of course, he would bribe her with a check which she would immediately destroy.

"So, what did you need that you had to steal what little free time I barely have?" Lana asked.

"I simply wanted to thank you for the meal you prepared" Rufus said.

"You ordered coffee, jackass. I didn't even make that" Lana snapped.

Rufus just smirked.

"What can I say? Seeing you made it taste better"

"Please don't make me throw up on you. We just got the carpets cleaned"

Rufus chuckled and pulled a check out of his jacket

"Here's my thanks for a wonderful meal"

Lana's eye twitched when she saw the offensive piece of paper. If seeing him every day wasn't bad enough, the pompous ass had to throw in a check as well. And every time he tried to give it to her, she would destroy it in his face.

"I thought you would be out of checkbooks by now"

Rufus shrugged as he held the check up to her.

"I'm rich, I can do this all day. Now are you going to accept my gift, or do I have to tell your boss you're being rude to me?"

Swearing under her breath, she snatched the check and stormed back into the kitchen. She was about to rip the cursed piece of paper when she thought of a better idea. Grabbing a small torch, she went over to the serving window that looked out to the main floor. Staring Rufus in the eye, she set the check on fire and let it go up in flames while flipping him off.

Rufus laughed. He shouldn't have enjoyed this, but he couldn't get enough of pissing Lana off.

Most guys would be put off when a woman wasn't impressed with their gifts. Dad on the other hand enjoyed it. He enjoyed making mom embarrassed with his over-the-top gifts and spoiling her when she didn't want it. He enjoyed all of it because he knew that he didn't have to buy mom's love. The only thing she wanted from him was him being himself.

/

After a long shift, it was finally time for Lana to head home. Tomorrow was going to be her day off and she couldn't wait for it. She could relax in her apartment and work on some new recipes. And the best part was that she didn't have to go top side, so she didn't have to deal with Rufus. It was at this moment that she thought it was a good thing she lived in the Slums cause there was no way that rich boy would go down there.

Vivian shoved past her when she left the building.

"Out of my way, rat" she spat.

She gave Lana such a nasty look that some of the other cooks shivered when they saw it. If Lana wasn't on the blonde's hate list before, she sure was now. She was furious when she saw that Rufus kept coming to the café to see Lana. She had tried to get the man's attention and even made him one of her signature dishes. But when he asked to talk to the chief who made it, he pretty much humiliated her by saying he fed his hound higher quality food than what he just ate. He then ordered Jeremy to make sure she never made his food again. Instead, he wanted that slum rat's cooking. Just what was so special about her?! She didn't come from a privileged family! She didn't go to the best cooking schools! She didn't look beautiful, so why was Rufus drawn to her?!

Either way, she was not going to stand seeing this piece of garbage get the attention of the man of her dreams. If anyone was future Mrs. Shinra material, it was most certainly her!

Lana shook her head when she saw Vivian storm out. She grew numb to the blonde's insults a long time ago. It seemed another perk of living in the Slums was not having to see Vivian everyday either.

Throwing her messenger bag over her shoulder, she went out the back door and left the café for the evening.

It wasn't too late out so she still had time to catch the last train for the evening. She headed towards the station in the hopes of grabbing a seat before they were all taken. Being on your feet all day put a strain on your body after all.

As she walked, a black car slowly drove next to her. If this had happened to anyone, they would have thought that they were going to be abducted, but since this was Lana, she had a different reaction. Hanging her head in defeat, she looked at the car sourly.

"Come on, I just got off of work" she whined.

The window rolled down to reveal Rude in the driver's seat. Out of all the Turk's that bugged her, Rude was the least annoying. He didn't say much and was respectful to women. But he still worked for Rufus, so he was a pain in her ass.

Lana dug her keys out of her pocket and held them up like a weapon.

"If you hand me a check, I'm going to key your car and scratch 'Rude has a micro-penis' on the hood" she warned.

When Rude didn't hand her anything, she figured he took her threat seriously.

"Listen, I had a really long day at work, and I just want to go home and relax. I'm sure you've had a long day too and this is the last thing you want to do on a Friday evening, so why don't we just pick this up on Monday, ok?"

Rude didn't say anything to that. Lana sighed and pulled something out of her bag.

"I really didn't want to do this, but you leave me with no choice"

Pulling out a plastic container, she showed the Turk what was inside it.

"I've got a caramel apple tart slice" she sang.

"And it's a super big slice with extra caramel and whipped cream on top. If you let me catch my train, this beauty is all yours"

She smirked when she saw Rude's hand twitch on the steering wheel. She learned that the stoic Turk had a huge, sweet tooth and used that to her advantage.

"Come on, you know you want it. Just look at all that caramel spilling on the sides"

She waved the container to entice him. It paid off because Rude stuck his hand out of the window to take the dessert. Lana smirked and handed him the container.

"I knew you would understand"

With his treasured treat in his hand, Rude rolled the window up and took off…probably to go enjoy his tart.

With her pesky shadow gone, Lana hurried to the station before she missed her train.

/

Running errands in the Slums were more interesting than one would think. Each sector tended to have certain things that the other sectors didn't so if you needed something special, your best bet was to venture to the other parts of the city.

Lana's days off usually consisted of being in other sectors more than her own. It was a pain in the butt to travel all over the place but with her line of work, she needed to.

She started her day off going to Sector 6. Normally one would stay far away from the 'entertainment' sector, especially when they were female, but Lana had a reason to go there. And technically she wasn't entering the sector either.

Right outside the entrance of the sector stood a Chocobo stall where one could pay to be transported to different areas of the Slums. It was like a taxi service that used Chocobo's. And the owner of this stall was a man named Chocobo Sam. He was a tough as nails, no nonsense kind of guy. But beneath that rough exterior he was man with a pure heart.

Lana spotted the old man tending to one of his birds and walked up to him.

"Hey, Sam"

The old cowboy looked away from the Chocobo to see Lana approach him.

"Hey there, missy. You had a day off, today?"

"Yep, and since yesterday was payday, I came over to bring you this" Lana said.

She dug into her bag and pulled out an envelope full of money.

Sam and Lana went back a long ways. There was an incident that happened when the woman was young, and Sam did her a huge favor. Since then, she went out of her way to repay him.

Sam sighed and put his hands on his hips.

"I thought I told you to stop paying me back?" he asked.

Lana shrugged and held the envelope out to him.

"You did but that doesn't mean I was going to listen. Besides, we're almost even so why stop now?"

Sam grumbled but accepted the money.

"Sometimes I think you got too good of a head on your shoulders, girl"

"I learned from the best" Lana teased.

Sam chuckled at that.

"So where are you off to today? If you need things from here, I'll let one of my guys get it for you. The Don is out looking for bride candidates today and I don't want him seeing you"

Another thing about Sam was that he worked for a man named Don Corneo. He was like the mob leader of Sector 6. He ran shady businesses that would have gotten anyone arrested. But since he 'donated' to Shinra, the higher powers turned a blind eye on it.

And he was known to have…questionable interests. Every few weeks, he would hold an audition for women who would be his new 'bride'. Once he picked a bride, she was never seen again after that.

Sam sadly had to be one of the people who would find him a girl to be his bride. He didn't enjoy it one bit but since the Don had control of his Chocobo business, he had no choice.

Whenever Lana had to come to the sector to get supplies for work or for her home, he would send one of his guys to grab it for her so she couldn't be seen as a potential bride.

He may have worked for a shady person, but he was still a gentleman.

"I actually don't need anything here today. I was just about to head over to Sector 7 so I can get my knives sharpened for work"

Sam nodded and walked over to the Chocobo he was tending to.

"Just wait a few minutes and I'll give you a ride over there. The short cut got blocked by debris that fell from the upper plate, so you'll have to take the long way"

Well, that was going to be fun to clean up. Hopefully the cleanup team would be able to get the shortcut cleared up soon. The long way tended to be a bit more dangerous because thieves and certain monsters liked to camp out there. It seemed she was going to have to figure out how to get home a different way.

But she would deal with that when it got closer to that time. For now, she was just lucky to get a ride so she could get her errands done faster.

/

"So, Millie was telling me that you might be getting a promotion at work" Sam said.

Lana groaned. Why did her roommate have to blabber off to everyone she knew?

"Not exactly. We're actually supposed to cater to Madam Scarlett's upcoming dinner. Jermey thinks that after this, we'll be a bigger name. I don't know if any of us will be promoted from this or not"

"You should still put yourself out there, Lana" Sam said.

"Sometimes those big wigs like to pick out the best of the best from those groups. If they prefer your meals over the others, they're bound to say something and you'll for sure get promoted"

"If anyone is going to get promoted it's bound to be Vivian because she 'looks the part', or so she says" Lana spat.

"That girl wouldn't know what hard work is if it bit her in the ass" Sam barked.

"The only reason she got where she is today isn't because she's good at her job. She got it doing other things like- "

"Sam!" Lana cried.

The old cowboy cracked a smirk but didn't say anything else.

"Either way, I doubt I would get a promotion from this. There's going to be other chiefs besides me working for this dinner. It's not like I'll stand out from all of them"

"Oh, I'm sure you will, girl. You may not get Scarlett's attention but I'm sure you'll catch someone else's at this dinner. If there's a chance for you to move up in any way, you should take it. Whatever gives you a chance to obtain your dream"

Lana didn't want to get her hopes up. She didn't know what to expect for this dinner, so she didn't want to stay too positive.

When they reached the Sector 7 entrance, Lana hopped off the cart.

"Thanks for the ride, Sam. Stop over next week and I'll make you your favorite meal"

Sam tipped his hat to her.

"You stay out trouble, girlie. I'll see you later"

With that, he rode back to Sector 6. Lana turned around and faced the shopping district of Sector 7. It seemed the further the sectors went the more run down they would become. Usually, the Slums reflected what the Upper Plates were like. Sector 1 was where the rich lived, so the Slums weren't as bad or polluted while Sectors 7 and 8 housed Shinra employees so they were more on the lower-class side. And as such, the Slums had the most debris so pretty much all the buildings were made from scraps.

There was also a rumor that the terrorist group AVALANCE had a base in this sector. Lana didn't like coming to this part of the Slums, but she had to for her job.

She made her way to the weapons shop. Reaching towards the desk, she saw a man who looked like he was always in a bad mood.

"What'll it be?" he barked.

Lana pulled a case from her bag and handed it to the guy.

"I just need these sharpened"

The man opened the case to find a set of Chief knives. These blades were Lana's most prized possessions. She saved every Gil she had to buy them so she could do a better job at cooking. While they weren't the most high-tech brand of knives, they still got the job done.

The owner picked up one of the knives and examined one of the edges.

"I can get them done, but you'll have to come back later to pick them up. Got a few other blades that need to be sharpened" he said.

"That's fine. As long as I have them by Monday" Lana replied.

She left the shop and ventured deeper into the shopping district. She needed to get a few groceries to make dinner for the night.

She was able to grab what she could down here, but she noticed right away that the rest would need to be bought top side. Lana groaned in frustration. She wanted to avoid going top side, but she needed these ingredients to make this dish.

Left with no other choice, she dragged herself to the station. She hated going to the upper plates on the weekend. People were mostly off work so that meant the shopping districts were busy. She didn't want to be judged by rich people while she shopped. They should be happy she was giving them her money.

But when you were a chef, you didn't us subpar ingredients. Getting off the train, she went to the grocery store in Sector 5.

/

Picking up at artichoke, Lana examined it before putting it down and picking up another one. When you work with food everyday you pick up on how certain things are supposed to look and can tell if they're ripe or not.

She could hear a few ladies whisper to each other about her. No doubt they were a couple of rich wives who had nothing better to do than spend their husband's money. She could hear them talking about her appearance. Clearly, she was from the Slums since she wasn't wearing any designer outfits.

'They do realize I make their food when they come to the café and that I can spit in it if I felt like it, right?' she thought.

Nah, no point in wasting spit on them.

Grabbing what she needed, she bought her groceries and hurried out of the store. She hated coming top side. She wasn't ashamed of her background, but she couldn't stand rich people.

She passed a weapons store and stopped when something in the window caught her eye. Turning back, she looked at what was being displayed. Sitting in an ornate wooden box was a set of kitchen knives. They were Mithril based blades- one of the best kind of metals that you can find. They would never dull down, never break from being used and were strong enough to cut through the toughest bone in the body. These were the kind of knives professionals used.

It was one of Lana's dreams to own such a set. If she had a set like this, she wouldn't have to worry about sharpening her blades every few weeks.

But alas, they were ridiculously expensive. She wouldn't be able to pay for these even if she lived forever. She loved the knives, but she wasn't going to go into debt to buy them.

Dad learned very on in their relationship that mom preferred practical gifts over lavish ones. She hated getting anything that she thought was a waste of money. So, while most wives got flowers and jewelry on their anniversary, dad would surprise her with a new set of knives for her collection.

Lana stared at the knife set a little bit longer. Maybe if she did get that promotion at work, she might just be able to buy these-or at least pay it in installments.

"Oh, I see. You accept gifts, not cash"

Lana felt her mood instantly drop when she heard that voice.

"Don't I get a day off from your harassments?"

She sluggishly turned around to find Rufus standing not to far away from her.

It would be hard to believe that this annoying man would one day mean everything to her.

/

A/N: Dang Rufus, you won't even let Lana have a day off?

Sorry if this was a short chapter, but it was mostly setting up for events that are going to happen later on in the story.

Please review and tell me what you think!

Take care!