30 days of Elena

by FloraImortallis

Summary:

This work will be made up of thirty different prompts, some simple, and some more abstract, and is designed purely because I love Elena and the Final Fantasy VII universe, so I thought this would be a perfect way for me to ease myself back into writing regularly.

Tags, Characters, pairings and ratings will all change as I update the fic as I'm not filling out the prompts in order.

Chapter 1: Sibling Rivalry

Elena knew that everyone compared her to her sister. Of course, they did. Emma had graduated top of her class at the Shinra Military School and earned her place in the Turks, plus her new moniker ‘Gun’, while Elena had to study hard and push past her clumsiness, although that was getting easier, she supposed. She did have four Elite Emblems already and was holding down a steady job at the same time as studying, although the job wasn’t exactly glamorous, or particularly exciting, it was at least interesting sometimes, if the Turks showed up, especially when Emma wasn’t with them.

Her feet stuck to the floor as she leaned into the mirror, carefully fixing her hair. That was the first thing she learned about Wall Market, the pigtails that she wore to keep her hair out of her face during training got better tips than pulling it back into a single ponytail. Did she want the attention that the pigtails brought? Not really, she was of the opinion that the bar patrons who thought flirting with a nineteen-year-old to get a free drink were disgusting, but it was nice to be able to get herself the things she wanted, without relying on Shinra for money, which was a fact that she tended to flaunt, whenever she got to see Emma.

Stepping out onto the bar floor, she decided that clearing glasses was the most effective way to get scope on the customers who had come in on her break, looking for any regulars she knew she could get great tips from by watching how much was in the glass and bringing a fresh one before they were done. The floor was strangely empty, she noticed, especially on one side of the room, everyone giving one specific booth a wide berth, which could only mean one thing. There was a strange pep in her step as she delivered the tower of glasses to the bar to be washed, before making a beeline for the booth.

“Rude! Shotgun!” She cheered as she walked over to the table, excited to brag to them about how well she had done in her marksmanship test that day, sure they wouldn’t have had a chance to hear her score. She stopped short as she got close enough to the table to see who else was sitting with them. “Emma… you’re back.”

The silence around the table was deafening momentarily before Reno leaned over Rude to ruffle the top of her hair.
“Heard you got the top score in your exam today kiddo.” The young Turk grinned at her as he spoke. “Didn’t know you were a better shot than Gun over here.” He elbowed Emma and flicked his bright red ponytail over his shoulder.
“I’m not Emma.” She grumbled and mentally noted what everyone was drinking.
“Chin up kid. The top score is the best. Literally!”
“Doesn’t matter. I’m switching to martial arts. I’ll get you all another drink. I guess it's going on the Shinra tab?”
Verdot nodded at her from his seat at the back of the booth, and Elena turned on her heel, marching back to the bar to pour everyone’s drinks, carefully setting them on the biggest tray she had.

“Why were you disappointed to see Gun?” Verdot’s voice caused her to look up as she carefully measured the spirits for Reno’s favourite cocktail.
“Because I knew someone would mention that she got a higher score than me.” She answered and pushed the cocktail shaker together with a little too much force.
“Your score was high enough for you to join us.”
“I already told Dad. I won’t join until she’s gone. I can’t keep being Emma’s shadow.”
“Elena, we don’t-”
“Yes. You do. Everything I do Emma has already done better. I want to be a Turk because I can. Not because of Emma and Dad.” Elena knocked the cocktail shaker against the bar a few times to separate the two halves and carefully strained Reno’s drink into the glass. “Do you need anything else?”
“No. That’s all the drinks. Unless you’ll join us?”
“You already missed my break, and I don’t want to hear about perfect Emma and her perfect mission. I bet Dad’s already been up to the Turks floor to see his favourite child.”
Verdot stayed silent as he took the tray of drinks away, knowing that he was never going to win if he continued the conversation. Sometimes you just couldn’t win against Elena.

Elena couldn’t help it. Sometimes her frustrations just slipped out. And she was frustrated. It was supposed to be the day she finally achieved something noticeable, and it was immediately overshadowed by Emma having finished her mission. It was cool, what Emma did, going out and infiltrating Avalanche so that Shinra had a better idea of their next move, but she’d never admit that out loud. Especially not when Emma was right there. Elena sighed, and tightened her pigtails, smoothing out the hair that Reno had roughed up. She was going to get back to work, and then she was going to train even harder. The best Turk of her age. That is what she had decided to be, and she knew how. Pairing her already extensive knowledge of firearms with her new focus on martial arts… and explosives, she considered, overhearing Reno telling an animated story involving a grenade. That would be all she needed to be better than her sister in her own head.

She knew she could do it. She just wanted everyone else to see her as Elena, rather than seeing her as Emma's little sister who wanted to join the Turks. She was good enough. All she needed to do was act on her plan.

"I'm going to be the greatest Turk there ever was." She promised herself, pouring a beer for a patron standing at the bar.

Chapter 2: All I ever wanted

Elena straightened out her tie carefully. It was her first day on the job, and she had to look the part, even if Reno was trying to convince her to shed her tie and go for a much more relaxed look. 

“You’ll look good, yo!” He said cheerfully, nudging her in the ribs as the lifts descended to the Department of Administrative Research, more commonly known as the Turks floor.

“Leave it will you, Reno?” She rolled her eyes at him, knowing that it was going to take all of five minutes working together for her to get bored of his cavalier attitude.

“What’s the matter, Laney? Scared the big boss isn’t gonna want you around because your ties not knotted right?”

“I’m sure the president has bigger worries than how my tie is knotted.” Elena rolled her eyes again, and she could have sworn she caught Reno smirking at her. “Aren’t you supposed to be on leave?”

“Gotta show my replacement around, haven’t I? What, don’t like your personal tour guide?”

“I’m sure Tseng told me Rude would bring me down to collect my keycard.” Her hand dipped into her pocket before Reno had a chance to stop her, and her shiny new PHS was already loading the message from Tseng with the date and time that he wanted her in his office. “I knew it!”

Reno’s hand flew over her mouth as she cheered. “Keep your voice down, kid.”

“He doesn’t know you’re here, does he? How’d you get Rude to switch?”

“That’s for me to know and you… not to know.” Reno shrugged, and the sight of it irritated her to no end.

“Come on, tell me. Or I’ll tell Tseng you’re in the building.”

“Not before I’m gone you wont. His office is at the end of the hall. Good luck, Rookie.” Reno either knew exactly when the lift doors opened, or he had incredible luck, the ding signalling that they had arrived to the correct floor having sounded right as he stopped talking.

 

Elena stepped out of the lift and looked around the room carefully. She could tell which desk was Reno’s, the messy surface reflected his workstyle perfectly, and Rude’s was the one with half a cup of stone-cold black coffee set neatly next to the keyboard. Tseng’s office was right ahead of her, so she adjusted her tie again and walked over to the door. Three clear knocks sounded, and she paused. Time seemed to slow as she waited for Tseng to call her in, and she found herself thinking of the times when the three people she would be working closest with would sit in the bar and regale her with, often embellished if Reno was the one to tell the tale, stories of the missions they went on.

“Come in, Elena.” Tseng’s smooth voice summoned her back to the moment, and she pushed the door open.

“Good morning, Sir.” She said cordially and took one of the seats opposite his desk.

The beginning of the meeting was what she had expected, they went over the rules, made sure her contract had been signed properly, and Tseng gave her her keycard for the lift, with access to even the President’s office.

Elena listened to everything carefully, surprised that a rookie would be given a key that could unlock every door in the building, even in the case of an emergency lockdown.

 

Another knock sounded at the door, and Tseng called for the person to enter. Elena turned over her shoulder to look at the door and watched as Rude walked in, calm as ever, sunglasses covering his eyes even in the darkened room.

“Good, you’re here. I’m sending you both on a mission.” Tseng gestured for Rude to sit down in the other seat. “The president wants some notable figures tracked. We’ve pinpointed their location to the Mythril Mines.”

“A mission? Already?” Elena looked at Tseng, having expected a day at least to get to know Shinra’s inner workings.

“You’re a Turk now, Elena. It’s time to prove yourself in the field.”

“Yes, Sir.” Elena nodded at Tseng and leaned forward in her seat. She listened carefully to every instruction and nodded occasionally. 

 

Tseng finished the briefing and waved the duo off, his focus immediately turned to the paperwork sat in front of him on the desk. Elena stood and followed Rude out of the room, but was stopped at the door by Tseng.

“Elena. Rude is point on this mission. Listen to him. Don’t go off trying to prove yourself. We know what you’re capable of, or we wouldn’t have asked you here.”

Elena nodded at Tseng. “Yes, Sir.” She said and followed Rude back to the lift. She stood beside the stoic man as the doors closed

 

“Are you ready?” Rude looked at her as he adjusted his sunglasses.

“Ready.” Elena nodded back and adjusted her tie again.

“It’s nice to have you on the team, Rookie.” Rude barely smiled as he spoke, but Elena knew he meant what he had said.

“This is all I ever wanted. I won’t mess up.” Elena stood tall and finished adjusting her uniform. She bounced on her toes as she waited for the lift to reach the roof, where a helicopter waited for them. “It’s time to prove that I’m better than Emma.”

“You know, Rookie, none of us are comparing you to your sister. This is your time to shine.”

Elena chuckled and looked at the stoic man. “Thanks, Rude. I appreciate it.”

 

She meant what she said. She was going to try and stop comparing herself to Emma as much as she had through their whole childhood, especially now that her sister had been declared missing. Their relationship had always focused on Elena’s jealousy, but she had decided at that moment that she had focused on the wrong thing. She waited for the lift doors to open on the roof and vowed to do her very best as a Turk.

Chapter 3: Insomnia

Elena wanders around the beach, trying to wear herself out enough to fall asleep. They were supposed to be on a mission, but there was a whole lot of waiting around. She kept telling Reno and Rude that she was fine, but she was getting antsy. She just wanted to find the target they were looking for and get out of there. Insomnia was a curse that Elena had set on herself. Her sleep schedule was all messed up with her countless nights of training and trying too hard to prove that she was better than her sister. Even now that she was a full Turk, she struggled to get past her childish competition, still comparing herself to Emma.

At least the beach was pretty. She looks at the flora and fauna that she doesn’t often see in Midgar, with everything made of glass and steel. Elena reminisced on her job back in Wall Market for a moment. At least there they occasionally had fresh flowers, bought from a girl in Sector 5, although that had only started just before she had been called in to be a Turk after Reno’s mandatory injury leave.

The sea laps at her toes as she sits down, taking off her shoes carefully. Whose idea it was to put the only female Turk in heels she didn’t know, but they were so well made she honestly forgot occasionally until she took them off and Reno teased her about her height at any moment. She was even shorter than the President with no shoes, and he made sure she knew it.

The stars were shining, and she looked at them carefully, trying to remember the constellations that she had taught herself a long time ago. You couldn’t see the stars very well from Midgar, but they were clear tonight. She sighs, and leans back on her elbows, not minding the fact that she was getting sandy. She flopped backwards, her hair blending into the sand behind her and reached up to the stars, pretending that she could touch them, just like she had done when she had been small, up on the roof of her parent’s house.

 

“Can’t sleep, kid?” Rude speaks up, sitting down beside her.

“Nah. I get like this. Was thinking of taking a run, that usually helps.” Elena looks up at him, pushing herself up from the sand. “What’re you doing up?”

“Keeping an eye on you.”

“You don’t need to watch me. I’m okay.” Elena smiles at him. “You know, this is the most I’ve heard you talk. You’ve surprised me.”

“I can talk. Reno just usually talks for the both of us.”

“That’s true. He doesn’t really shut up.”

Rude chuckles lightly. “You don’t really like him all that much, do you?”

“I liked him before we worked together. Back when you guys would come to the bar. It feels like a lifetime ago, but its only been a few months really.”

“We’ll go again when everything calms down, and you can have a drink rather than serving us.”

“Sounds fun. Although Reno already threatened to get me ‘absolutely hammered’ when we go out for drinks. Apparently, it’s some kind of initiation.”

“He’s bullshitting you, kid. Reno’s not the kind to get anyone but himself drunk.”

Elena nods at him as he talks, stifling a yawn, three days of very little sleep catching up to her. “G’night Rude. Thanks for sitting with me.” She says, pushing herself to her feet.

 

Walking back into the hotel is easy, everyone else is asleep so she isn’t worried about being seen strolling back to her room with her heels in her hands. What she wanted now was a nice warm shower to relax to her muscles and to crawl into the frankly terrible bed. The hotel was clearly on the cheaper side, and she grumbles about the president being able to afford better rooms as she waits for the water to warm. The shower is bliss, although her racing thoughts are quick to return as she attempts to settle in. A rising sun greets her as she finally falls asleep again, continuing the cycle of working on very little sleep.

Chapter 4: Drunken Confession

“Reno I don’t think this is a good idea…” Elena looked at the shots that Reno set down in front of her, she was already tipsy, and she had to stumble her way back home. It was easy for him, he lived right near the bar they frequented, but she was staying somewhere a little further away.

“Come on, Laney. You said you wanted to have fun.” Reno pushed one of the shots towards her. “You’ve been miserable all week. We’ve finally got a chance to let loose and you’re backing out?”

It was true. She had sought him out and invited him out to the bar. Her disdain for his work ethic was pushed aside. He knew the slums, so he knew the best place to get drunk, for cheap. She didn’t want to think about work anymore. Or about her colleagues or her boss. Especially her boss.

“Drink up, Rookie.” He nudged the glass towards her again, and she eyed it up, considering it.

“You’re not gonna let me get shitfaced are you?”

“When have I ever steered you wrong?”

“I don’t trust your work ethic, but, we’re friends right?”

“‘Course Rookie. Did you wanna talk before you get smashed?”

Elena looked at him and grabbed the shot he had been nudging towards her, knocking it back. And then the next, and the next, until eight glasses sat on the table between them.

“I’ll take that as a no then.” He said and moved the empty glasses aside. “What is going on with you Laney?”

 

Elena could feel the buzz closing in more. This is what she had wanted, complete freedom from the thoughts racing through her mind.

“Come dance Reno!” Elena cheered at him, another drink in hand. Reno wondered where she kept getting them from. It felt like he had told her no more eighteen times, and yet every time he stopped looking at her for two seconds she seemed to have another.

“We’re not dancing Laney. Finish your drink and I’ll take you home.”

“No way! I’m having a great time! This guy keeps buying me drinks” She gestured to the other side of the bar, where a random civilian sat, and watched her every move.

“Laney, he’s probably just trying to get you drunk enough to spill Shinra's secrets, you’re still in your uniform.”

“Ohhhhh… We should go to Wall Market! And invite Rude!” Elena leaned on Reno’s shoulder, and set her empty glass down.

“Okay, we’ll go to Wall Market.” Reno agreed and came up with a plan carefully. He’d get Rude to join them, and then they could both get Tseng to swing by when he was finished helping the President. Elena would listen to him.

 

The walk to Wall Market was only short, or it would have been if Elena wasn’t drunk enough to stumble over her own feet every three steps. Reno pulled them into the Honeybee Inn, where a table was always free for the Turks. 

“Sit down, Laney. You can have a glass of water until Rude gets here.”

“Rude’s coming?” Elena grinned at Reno, all but falling into the booth. She leaned on him as he sat down beside her.

“Renoo… Thanks.”

“For what, Laney?” Reno looked at her, confused.

“For spending time with me. I know I’m annoying.”

“You’re not annoying Laney. Not now you’ve stopped all that stupid comparing yourself to Emma stuff you had going on.”

Elena nodded and pretended that she had listened to what he said. “Hey look! Rude’s here!”

Rude slid into the seat opposite Elena and Reno, and frowned when he saw Elena nursing a glass of water, leant against Reno as if he was the only thing keeping her upright.

“Tseng’s just finished with Rufus. He’ll be here soon.”

“You called the boss? Traitor!” Elena elbowed Reno in the ribs and immediately went back to leaning on him.

“Uh-huh. You weren’t going to listen to me or Rude.”

Elena hadn’t heard a word he said, half asleep on his shoulder.

 

By the time Tseng had arrived at the bar, Elena was dead asleep on Reno’s shoulder, she snored gently, and he shook his head.

“Can you carry her Reno? We’ll go to my apartment.”

Reno nodded at Tseng and scooped her up into his arms, her head rested on his shoulder. “Lead the way boss-man.”

 

They arrived at Tseng’s apartment, and he gestured for Reno to put her on his bed. “Thank you, you two. I’ll see you in the morning.”

“You got it. Night boss!” Reno and Rude left the two alone, the door closed softly behind them as they stepped out.

Tseng stood beside Elena and watched her for a second before he turned, going to fill a glass of water from the kitchen sink and grabbed a pack of painkillers. He set both of them on the nightstand beside her head before he shook her awake.

“Huh? Where am I?” Elena mumbled and looked up at him blearily.

“My apartment. Take off your blazer and have a drink.” 

“Yes, sir.” Elena nodded, pulled off her blazer and dumped it on the floor. She picked up the glass of water and drank it all in one go. It clunked as she set it back down on the nightstand. “I love you.”

“I’ll refill your water. Get some sleep, Elena.”

Elena nodded, and laid back down, asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow. Tseng looked at her for a moment as he set the new glass of water beside her, and picked her blazer up from the floor, hanging it over the back of the door. He shook his head as he picked up his laptop from the desk and stepped out of the room. He pulled the blanket that she had bought him as a Secret Santa gift off of the back of the couch and went to place it over her before he sat down to work, an ear turned to the door of the bedroom.

 

Elena was so embarrassed. She couldn’t believe that she had woken up in Tseng’s bed, and she had told him that she loved him. That was exactly what she had been trying to avoid by going out drinking with Reno. She sat up and looked at the nightstand. Painkillers sat there, and they looked so inviting. She took two from the pack and chased them with the glass of water that sat there before she dragged herself out of the bed, she folded the blanket and set it down, pulled on her blazer, and slipped out of the bedroom.

“Good morning, Elena.” Tseng’s voice stopped her in her tracks and she felt her cheeks flushed bright red.

“Good morning, Sir.” She said and stepped into the living room.

“Do you need a lift to work?”

“I would appreciate it.” 

Elena was oddly silent on the ride to work. She barely said a word to Tseng, and sped off to get herself a coffee from the canteen as soon as they stepped in the doors, and avoided him for the rest of the day, her cheeks burning red every time she saw him.

Chapter 5: Don't Push Your Luck

“Elena, don’t push your luck.” Was something that Elena could probably mimic in Tseng’s exasperated tone perfectly, having heard him say it before she left for every mission. She was sure that he had never paired her with Reno because he feared what the two of them would do, with Reno’s recklessness and Elena’s habit of doing anything she was goaded into. She was easy to convince to do things, you only had to dig at her own feelings of worthlessness and she’d do just about anything to prove otherwise.

“Elena is a good Turk, she just hasn’t finished growing up yet. Her older sister was a Turk so she’s constantly trying to prove herself.” That is how Tseng had explained her first disastrous, in her opinion, mission to Rufus, while they sat in his office. He had had Rude check up on the young Turk, and he had just recently left her in the nicest bar in Upper Junon, where anyone who tried to speak to her would be told “Leave me alone, I’m busy being sad.” before she ignored them completely. Tseng knew she felt bad about messing up, and he wasn’t going to hold it against her, in fact, he already had her next mission planned.

 

Elena wasn’t sure if she was lucky or if she was just incredibly good at her job. But, she was sure that eventually she would find out, especially if she kept going the way she was going. Being a Turk was great fun, but Reno’s ‘any landing you can walk away from’ mentality was starting to rub off on her, and she was getting more reckless, which was the worst thing that the redhead could have taught the Rookie. Tseng had scolded her for hours after she had jumped out of a falling helicopter onto a moving vehicle, even though she had given the Avalanche crew a fright. She remembered the landing fondly, it was perfectly timed and executed, even from midair. Elena would have been fine if that idiotic Tifa girl hadn’t deliberately hit that rock to try and flick her off of the bonnet of their vehicle. Did she even have a licence? 

 

Elena had tried to convince Tseng that she had learned her lesson from the disapproving look Rude had given her as he used his cure materia to heal the cuts and grazes on her hands and knees, but he was still determined to make sure she knew exactly how disappointed in her he was. He made it worse by making sure to drag the president into the conversation, although Elena was pretty sure that Rufus didn’t care what the Turks got up to as long as the job got done. She was like that though. Always throwing herself into danger to try and prove that she was a good Turk. She has sworn that she wasn’t comparing herself to Emma anymore, but Tseng always noticed when she was, and it usually resulted in something very stupid, and a lot of explaining to Rufus. 

The next time Tseng ripped into her was after the fiasco at the Temple of the Ancients after they had gotten back. He was confined to his chair, the president by his side, and yet still somehow found a way to make sure she knew that she had seriously ruined his plan by being too cocky and wanting to get into a fight with Hojo’s lab rat, the assassin child from Wutai, and Aerith. She had thought that showing them that ‘The Promised Land’ belonged to Shinra was the best way to get that irritating group to back off for once. Still, they had needed her to trigger something for them, and Tseng had had to miss it because he was injured from their fight and then caught off guard by Sephiroth. 

“You’re pushing your luck.” Was something Reno said to her often, Reno of all people. Elena couldn’t believe it. He was the most reckless person she knew. But she needed to do one more thing that would be pushing her luck. Midgar had fallen, and her boss was gone. No one else seemed to be concerned that Tseng had just disappeared off the face of the planet, only to have been reported killed in action two days ago, and she was going to find out what information she could from the Avalanche scum.

 

Elena knew she had been made. Cloud had suspiciously stopped discussing anything to do with Shinra, in fact, none of the Avalanche crew had even mentioned Aerith, and Elena could have sworn that they were all closer than just forgetting someone once they had died. It was because of her, she surmised. They had worked out that she was spying on them.

She made her way back to Shinra, needing to do some maintenance on her gun anyway. The custom pink model had jammed a few times, and she didn’t want to get caught in a situation where she actually needed it and it got stuck, again. She strolled back into the building and cursed Cloud’s name, and then Sephiroth’s and then the Meteor, just for the sake of it. She hadn’t been expecting to see her boss standing right there as if nothing had happened.

“Tseng!” Elena bounced on her toes as she ran up to him, throwing her arms around him and squeezing tight.

“Look, Elena, we’re all happy to see the chief but-” Reno barely got a chance to speak before Elena cut him off, her mood much improved.

“But what? I know you want to hug him too.” She teased him, and Reno smiled, happy to finally see the rookie in a better mood.

“I think I’ll pass,” Reno said, chuckling as he watched Tseng finally manage to extricate himself from Elena’s tight embrace.

Tseng nodded at his three operatives, the last three people he knew he could trust to help him and help Shinra resolutely. “Let’s get to work.” He said, putting his complete faith in his team once again.

Chapter 6: Stargazing

The stars were Elena’s favourite thing. When she was getting a little bored of sitting around Healen Lodge waiting for the scientists to find some sort of cure for Geostigma. There wasn’t really much work for the Turks to do while they waited, occasionally they would go on guard shifts, and Elena had at least gone into the new city ‘Edge’ recently and used persuasive techniques, also known as beating some idiot who had decided to steal some of the cure that they were working on within an inch of his life. Turks were supposed to be cold, unfeeling soldiers, but she had understood his reason for stealing once she saw the kid curled up in the other room, suffering from the same thing as their boss.

Geostigma wasn’t pretty. It was painful and, in her opinion, looked kind of gross, but she worked as hard as she could, doing whatever odd job that Tseng needed her to if it meant that there was a chance that it could lead to an improvement in the boss’s condition. There were no jobs that needed doing for a couple of days, Reno and Rude had gone out searching for something and it was Tseng’s turn to make sure that Rufus was comfortable, at least as comfortable as anyone suffering from the awful sickness could be. Elena was sure that he was in so much more pain than he let the Turks know, and he was just too proud to admit that he was feeling weak. She could understand that though. Not wanting anyone around you to know you were struggling. She was the same when she let her fears of not being as good as her sister, and she chose to bottle it up, which is what she thought Rufus was doing.

 

Elena sat on the grass in the open area that they had recently cleared so that the patients of Healen Lodge had somewhere that they could sit. They had even fashioned benches out of wood and metal scraps that they had collected as they cleared the area of trees and debris, but she forewent those, favouring the soft grass. It was a beautiful night out, and Elena took off her blazer, using it to cushion her head as she looked up at the sky. That was one benefit to the fall of Midgar, she mused, the amount of light pollution had dropped enough that she could look up at the stars as soon as night fell. She had found a book on the stars a few weeks back while on a mission and had brought it back to Healen. She had a fair bit of free time in the evenings and was using it to brush up on her knowledge of the stars.

She wasn’t expecting Rufus to come out and sit on the bench beside where she had laid out. He looked up at the sky, the same as she did, but he seemed much more confused than her happy, peaceful look. Elena sat up quickly and looked at her boss.

“Sir? Is everything okay? I thought it was Tseng’s watch.”

“Why do you enjoy this?” Rufus asked as he studied the sky.

“Stargazing, sir?”

“It’s pointless, isn’t it? The stars aren’t going anywhere.”

“I guess. But think of it this way, sir. Looking at the stars reminds me that even with everything that's going on with this whole Geostigma Crisis, we’re still here, and the planet isn’t too ruined.”

“You look at the stars as a symbol of hope?” 

“Yeah. I guess. Always have since I was a kid. Do you know anything about the stars?”

“I never had time to waste on learning about the stars, Elena.” 

“Forgive me for pointing out the obvious, sir, but you have an abundance of time now. Would you like to learn?”

“Don’t you think that’s a little pointless? They’re just stars, Elena.”

“They’re a distraction, don’t you think, sir?” 

 

Rufus acquiesced with a nod of his head, and Elena jumped up from her spot on the ground, she darted back into Healen, and grabbed her book on the stars. She returned and sat down beside the president, and held the book out to him with a small smile.

“Here, I’ll teach you some now, and you can borrow this. It’s pretty interesting.”

Rufus took the book, and set it beside him, allowing Elena to lean in front of him. She pointed up to the brightest star in the sky. Elena could talk for hours about the stars, and she did, pleasantly surprised at the interest that the president was showing, even if he was pretending that he wasn’t. He asked questions at least, about which stars he could see, and which constellations they made up. He admitted that he liked the idea of there being a dog star, Sirius, as she explained it to him, and Elena could see just a little wistfulness in his eyes. He was connecting Sirius to his dog, and Elena couldn’t help but think that was incredibly sweet.

 

Tseng had stepped out into the clearing to bring Rufus back inside a half hour ago, but he couldn’t help giving the pair some more time. He leant against a tree and watched as their youngest member helped the president forget the pain he was in for a little while, and he had to admit, it was nice to see Rufus enjoying something so simple as stargazing with one of the members of the team he had put so much trust in recently. Tseng let them have a few more minutes and watched as the two blondes pointed out different stars to each other, he saw Elena laugh as Rufus pointed in the completely wrong direction with confidence and smiled to himself as the young Turk moved their boss’s attention to the right place, pointing the correct star out as she shook her head softly, and he could tell she was beaming. Both blondes deserved this moment of peace, he thought.

Chapter 7: Keep it a secret

Elena was sure that whatever this mission Reno had dragged her on wasn’t actually something that Tseng had authorised. It felt like a whole lot of sneaking around somewhere that they usually didn’t have to sneak around. Wall Market was fun, and most of all, it was a place that the Turks were safe to let a little loose in. It was nice, she thought, as Reno led her along the rooftops, to have a place to wind down. That was one nice thing the late president had done, she guessed, although now that she thought about it, she wasn’t sure that it was President Shinra who had gotten Don Corneo and the rest of the big Wall Market influencers under Shinra’s wing, or even if they really were.

They kept climbing over the tops of buildings, and Elena could feel herself getting both tired and irritated by the journey and the lack of information that Reno had given her, and every time she asked he’d just call her that stupid nickname and tell her to keep walking.

‘Laney’, that’s what he had decided to call her. She hated it. It was unoriginal, and she had never understood the point of a nickname that had the same amount of letters as someone’s actual name. But she still answered to it every time, because at least she had a nickname and he wasn’t solely referring to her as ‘Rookie’ anymore.

 

“Okay, just one more building and…. Here.” Reno climbed over a final wall and up a fire escape, leading her into a clearly abandoned building, kitted out with a bed made from a pile of blankets and bare walls.

“Are you going to murder me, Reno?”

“Relax, Laney. If I was going to murder you, I would have done it before you had a chance to get good at your job. Then, when Tseng inevitably asked me what had happened to you, I could have called it an on-field accident, and he would have believed me.”

“You really have that all thought out.” Elena paused and looked around. “So why are we here?”

“I want you to meet someone. Sit down. She should be back soon.” He pointed to a rickety table and gestured for her to sit and wait.

 

Elena hadn’t expected the ‘she’ Reno wanted her to meet to be a skinny little girl. She must have been no older than eleven and was living all on her own in the barely standing building. She also hadn’t expected a little girl to be packing heat, and her own weapon had been drawn before Reno had time to stop her, her pink sparkly gun levelled opposite a… The kid’s gin was Shinra-issued.

“Easy Laney, she won't shoot,” Reno said as he pushed himself away from the wall he had been leaning on. He walked over to the girl, ruffled her hair and grinned. “Hey tiger, what ya got today?”

The girl lowered her gun after Elena did. It was clear she was hesitant, but it was also clear that she trusted Reno, for some reason. She threw her bag on the table and shrugged at the two Turks.

“Not much today, who’s this?”

“Elena. She’s one of the guys I work with.” Reno answered before Elena got a chance to speak and rummaged through the bag, pulling out orbs of materia and inspecting them. “This is pretty good, kid. You eaten recently?”

The girl shook her head no at Reno, and Elena frowned, she couldn’t imagine going without a meal.

“I’ll pay double. Make sure you get some food. Ya hear me?”

“I hear you.” The girl nods again and hands Reno the bag of materia, which he swapped for a drawstring pouch that clinked like it was full of Gil.

“I’ll be back next week. Behave. Come on, Laney.” Reno had already climbed most of the way out of the hole in the wall before Elena had worked out what she had just witnessed and put herself together enough to follow him.

 

They climbed back the way they had come in silence, Elena was shocked by the way that child was living, and even more shocked that Reno of all people was the one who was close to someone so small and fragile.

She wasn’t sheltered, Elena knew what the slums were like, she had worked in them for a while and wasn’t new to the horrors, but it still shocked her that children were the most affected by the distinct divide between the Upper Plate and the Slums. As they walked Reno started to explain to her how he knew the little girl, and why he made sure that she always had enough money to get food, and usually he made sure to give her enough extra to make sure any friends that she had living in the slums could also eat.

He led her to a rooftop, and sat on the edge, taking a deep breath before he started to explain why he had such an investment in the kids of the slums. Elena found herself stunned speechless as he told her about his past and how he grew up, and couldn’t help comparing it to her almost heavenly upbringing in comparison. If she thought about it, all the problems that she had as a child were superficial, and usually made by herself.

 

“Elena. Tseng thinks I gather all this materia on my own. And it has to stay that way. If he knew that I was taking a cut of my pay to make sure the slum kids are okay-”

“I get it Reno. No attachments. I’ll keep it a secret, okay?” Elena nudged him with her elbow. “You know Reno, the more I learn about you, the more I think that you’re a pretty great person.”

“Alright, Laney. Don’t get sappy. I’ll push you off this roof.” Elena laughed, glad their relationship was improving.

Chapter 8: Fake Marriage

Elena couldn’t believe she was wearing a wedding dress. She wasn’t entirely sure why they had to hold an actual wedding, but the president had demanded it, saying that it was the only way the mission was going to be a success.

The dress was gorgeous, at least, and she had to assume that Tseng’s suit was going to be just as high quality. She stared at herself in the mirror and sighed. 

“I can’t do this.”

“Sure you can, Laney. C’mon, the boss is waiting,” Reno took her arm, leading her out of the room.

Elena was anxious. Is this how real brides felt on their wedding days, she wondered, looking at the crowd of executives and guests at the top of the Aisle. Rufus and Tseng stood at the end, waiting for her. She couldn’t believe the amount of effort that had been put into this fake wedding. The ceremony was a complete blur, Rufus officiated, and she was sure that he was smirking the whole time. The only real things to come from the whole charade were the rings that they both were wearing, some sort of Shinra heirloom that they’d return at the end of the mission. Elena felt her heart stop as Tseng kissed her at the close of the ceremony, and the following journey to Costa Del Sol was a blur, she didn’t even have time to change out of the dress before they were both in the helicopter.

 

Costa Del Sol was beautiful, and the hotel they were staying in was gorgeous. Rufus had clearly pulled out all the stops to sell the lie because the bed they were going to be sharing was covered in rose petals, and there was a bottle of champagne in an ice bucket next to the loveseat.

“Get changed and we’ll get started, our targets are known to frequent the casino.” Tseng dug an outfit out of the suitcase they had been provided for her and set it on the bed before he found himself a change of clothes. “I’m going to shower quickly.”

“Could you unbutton me before you go? It took Reno 15 minutes to get me into this dress.”

Tseng nodded and silently worked on unbuttoning the buttons on the back of the dress, his touch feather-light and respectful. As soon as he was done he disappeared into the bathroom and Elena could hear the water running.

 

Tseng slipped his hand into Elena’s as they walked through the casino, and she had to take several deep breaths to stop herself from blushing too much. He leaned down to whisper into her ear, and she shivered as he spoke.

“Our target is over there. He’s upper management. Let’s go say hi.”

Elena nodded and followed him as he led her towards the target. They took a seat at the poker table next to the manager, and Elena recognised him immediately. Reeve had brought him to their attention, sure that he was giving away company secrets, and it was up to them to confirm that hunch.

“Ah! Tseng, I hear congratulations are in order.”

“Thank you.” Tseng nodded and wrapped an arm around Elena’s shoulders, pulling her against him as he swapped some cash for some poker chips.

“I’m going to get some drinks, darling.” Elena slipped free of Tseng’s grip. She would use this chance to quickly scout the area and get any extra intel that would help them to complete their mission. She returned a little while later, a glass of whiskey in one hand and a cocktail in the other. A quick kiss pressed to his cheek as she passed him his drink was cover enough to pass on the information that she had found out before she settled against his side to watch him play a perfect game of poker.

 

Elena had grown used to Tseng’s steady presence around her at all times, and the way that he was always quietly attentive to her needs. They certainly sold the act of being a couple well, all the staff and guests they met believing them with ease.

The mission went on for three weeks and they built a strong case against him, first gaining his friendship, and then making him spill his secrets. It was a little strange, having to be so affectionate with Tseng, and it certainly wasn’t helping to calm her crush on him. They had spent so many nights together sleeping all tangled together to not risk there being any chance of their cover being blown if housekeeping came into the room while they were asleep to deliver their breakfast. 

The final nail in the coffin for their target came in the form of a rather genius play from Tseng. They invited the manager and his girlfriend up to their room for drinks and low-stakes cards, it was easy to get him drunk when he wasn’t concerned about losing money, and he told them everything with very little prompting.

The return to Shinra was bittersweet, it was nice to return to the normalcy of the tower and the unorganised chaos of Turk missions, but at the same time, Elena was sad to have such a good thing end so abruptly. The moment they stepped off of the helicopter on the roof of Shinra Tower Tseng was back in business mode. They debriefed with Rufus and returned the rings to him before they dived straight back into work. They both had paperwork to fill out and submit. Tseng headed straight to his office without so much as a goodbye, and Elena took her time to go back to work, stopping first to fix herself a nice sweet coffee. She had barely settled at her desk before Reno was pestering her. He sat on her desk, deliberately leaning in front of her computer screen so that she couldn’t focus on her work instead of him, and teased her relentlessly until she was bright red and caved, telling him everything that had happened in Costa Del Sol.

Chapter 9: Game Night

Elena made sure that the wine was cooling in the fridge. The white that was, the red was carefully placed along her counter with a few different spirits. The mixers were all in the fridge, alongside the meats and cheeses, and the apartment smelled delicious, freshly baked brownies sitting on a cooling rack. She snuck a slice of the brownies, a taste test, just to confirm the highest quality food was being served, especially considering that she had somehow managed to convince Rufus to join them all for game night. Perhaps he was a little more open to spending time with them because they all knew how it felt to be alone on the holidays. Elena had even managed to carefully orchestrate a Secret Santa gift exchange for them all.

Everyone was supposed to be bringing something to eat with them so that they had plenty of food to go around, and Elena always hosted. Game night had become something of a tradition. Once every other month Tseng made sure that they all had a night where no one was allowed to contact them except for the president, and they all played board games around her kitchen table.

 

There was a knock on the door, and she made her way over to open it, a little flower in her hair, and chocolate batter on her cheek. She pulled it open, only expecting Tseng, he was always twenty minutes early and determined to help her set up, and was surprised to see Rufus standing with him, with his dog obediently at his heel. She had assumed, for some reason that he would have come on his own, and much later.

“Bossman, Mister President. Come in.” Elena stepped to the side as she opened the door for them both. “Make yourself at home, I’m just going to jump in the shower.” This was how it always worked, she showered quickly while Tseng finished setting up, choosing a game and putting some music on her old record player. What she hadn’t expected was to see them both at her stove and Rufus baking. “Hey boss, I already made brownies. You don’t gotta bake today.”

“Nonsense, Elena. It is my role to bring dessert. I simply didn’t get time to bake before I picked the President up. I hope you don’t mind me using your ingredients.”

“Nah. It’s fine. What are you making?” 

“I’m teaching the President how to make cheesecake. It should just have enough time to set if the game goes on for as long as usual.”

Elena laughed and poured three glasses of red wine as she watched them. 

 

Reno and Rude eventually arrived, an hour late as usual, and games night got underway. The more they drank, the closer Tseng and Rufus got, which was amusing to watch, even she could admit, despite her own feelings. They sat down to play a game that Tseng favoured, and he often turned up with a newly designed board. Elena thought she must have had thirty different designs stacked on the shelf. Today's board was a funny decision and new, she didn’t recall seeing it on the shelf. Shinra themed, naturally.

The game was relatively easy to play as they drank, and only ever really halted as Reno and Rude got into arguments about who was winning. Rufus was a surprise underdog. He had soaked up the game pretty fast after Tseng had explained the rules to him, and was currently winning. Reno was about to start another argument, but Elena stopped him in his tracks.

“Okay. Why don’t we pause here and do our gift exchange before Reno loses his marbles.” She said and attempted to hold back a laugh as she grabbed her gift. “I had you, boss man.” Elena held out the neatly wrapped gift to Tseng and watched as he opened it carefully, looking at the book he had mentioned in passing that he was searching for.

She watched everyone exchange their gifts, and stood up, “Mister President, I got Dark something too.” Elena got up and grabbed something from the cupboard, handing him a package of dog treats from the top brand. “I didn’t think it was fair to leave her out of the festivities.”

“Thank you, Elena. I assure you, we both appreciate it. And thank you for letting me bring her to your home.”

“It’s no problem. She’s welcome here anytime.” Elena looked over at the guard hound, who had been lying on a blanket that she had set down in the corner of the room when Rufus asked if he could bring her along.

 

Games night was a huge success, and Elena cleaned up their glasses from the table, taking them into the kitchen, pleasantly surprised that Rufus came in to help her clean up while everyone else chatted. He rolled up his sleeves and ran the tap, washing up all of the dishes and glassware that they had used.

“Thanks for the help.” She said, looking over at him, grabbing a teatowel to dry.

“It’s about time I started doing what everyone else does. I’m a guest here, it’s the least I can do to wash up.”

“I don’t mind, really. I’m just glad you came.”

“Thank you for inviting me, Elena. You four are the people I trust most in this world. It was nice to have a moment to just cut loose and have some fun.”

“You’re welcome, Sir. And, just so you know. You’re invited to every game night.”

Rufus smiled at her, a genuine smile, not the half smirk he usually gave, and finished washing up. “I’ll keep that in mind, but I’m a busy man.”

“Well, even busy men need a break sometimes.”

“I’ll keep that in mind. Goodnight, Elena.”

“Goodnight, Sir, and happy holidays.”

Elena waved everyone off as they all left her apartment and settled onto her couch to watch some trashy TV before turning in for the night. She had work in the morning, after all.

Chapter 10: Injured

“Watch out!” Elena shouted as she dived forward, tackling Director Tuesti to the ground, Rude taking Professor Hojo. The explosion was high above them, but still, the debris that rained down was big enough to cause significant damage if it hit any of them. Elena wasn’t exactly very tall, but she knew enough to protect the Director. She looked around and ushered him up to his feet. “Over there, run!” Elena pointed to Rude and Reno, who had already gotten Professor Hojo to his feet, and looked like they had found a safe place to secure themselves from any potential harm.

The pair followed Rude, Reno and Professor Hojo towards a place where they could shelter until the debris settled, but they weren’t moving fast enough, Elena looked up and panicked as she saw a huge piece of Debris headed right for Director Tuesti. Elena found herself diving again before she had even really thought of every outcome, and sent the Director tumbling to safety at her own expense.

Elena had thought that being crushed would have been more painful, but the pain was only dull, what was more concerning to her was the fact that she couldn’t really breathe, and the fact that she was pretty sure a piece of metal was going straight through her leg, effectively pinning her to the ground.

Elena waited for what felt like ever for Reno and Rude to finally come and work on getting her freed. After a few minutes of careful manoeuvring, and a field medicine kit to patch up the hole in her leg, Rude hauled Elena to her feet, and dragged her into a waiting Shinra helicopter.

Reno tried to talk to her the whole time while they walked with her, they were half-dragging her along, and he was worried that she had gone into shock, which wouldn’t be great, they didn’t have much in the way of medical equiptment packed in the helicopter, just some basic first aid supplies, this was supposed to a simple escort mission, until everything had litterally come crashing down around them in pieces.

 

The helicopter was quiet, the atmosphere tense. Nobody wanted to speak. No one wanted to upset the delicate silence that had settled around them. Elena was hurt, but she was still alive at least. The mission, on the other hand, was unsalvageable. Rufus was going to be pissed at all of them. It wasn’t even her fault, but he’d probably still end up punishing her somehow. Probably docked pay, but maybe her punishment would be giving Dark a bath. She hoped he would be in a good enough mood to take pity on her. She had saved one of the directors. Truthfully, that would probably end up working against her. 

Elena rested her head back against the helicopter’s wall, although her eyes stayed trained on the other passengers. Her whole body ached, but that is what being hit by falling debris would do. She let out a wry chuckle, and couldn’t stop herself as she dissolved into a fit of laughter. Oh gods, she thought as she laughed, she was really loosing it.

Everyone else in the back of the helicopter watched her as she almost doubled over with laughter, bloodied and bruised.

“You good there, Laney?” Reno leaned around to look at her, letting Rude control the helicopter on his own.

Tseng pushed her to sit upright, and she could see a flash of concern in his eyes. “You need to sit still, we don’t know what injuries you have and no one wants Professor Hojo to examine you. You’re an asset I don’t want to lose just yet.”

“You care about me.” Elena looked at Tseng, and he could tell just how badly she was hurt. She was just too proud to admit it.

“If you could just let me-” Professor Hojo started speaking, but Tseng cut him off swiftly.

“It is your fault that Elena is in this state. I would refrain from getting any more involved.”

Elena wasn’t sure why Tseng blamed Hojo. If anything, Elena would have blamed Reeve, he was the one she had pushed aside to rescue, but Tseng always had a reason for things, and Elena had learned a while ago that it was often best not to ask questions. If Tseng wanted you to know the reason behind something, he would tell you.

 

Elena couldn't remember how she had gotten from the helicopter into the tower, but she did remember that she had complained about going to the medbay, and that she had argued even further when she had been told that she would have to stay put for a week, minimum. They couldn’t trust a Turk to not go out and work when they were supposed to be recovering. Rufus had at least been to visit her, in a surprisingly good mood, and had told her that she wouldn’t be punished. Apparently she had said her thoughts on that out loud, and Tseng had told him, he was at least amused by her creativity. It had been nice to see the President in her hospital room. Elena had always thought that Rufus would view the Turks as disposable, but the two blondes actually got on rather well, and he appreciated that she was as loyal as anything, but would give him the same attitude as anyone else.

She was going stir crazy by the third day of bed rest, she wanted to be out and working. Reno and Rude had both been in to visit her, but they had gone off on another mission with Tseng. She was shocked when a short knock on her door was followed by the appearance of Director Tuesti. He sat with her for a few hours, Elena had come to the assumption that he felt a little guilty that she had gotten injured protecting him, but at least he answered every question she asked him about his role as Director of Urban Planning, and she could say that she was actually interested in what he had told her.

Chapter 11: Mirror

The mirror in Elena’s room was covered over with an old bedsheet. The sheet would never go on her bed again anyway, stained with Reno’s blood from one of the many times he had knocked on her door, barely standing on his own two feet. Covering the mirror was a fairly new thing that she had started doing, and she wasn’t exactly sure why it had even started. Turks weren’t supposed to have feelings, but she was feeling something, although she wasn’t exactly sure what. Perhaps it was guilt or regret. Elena stood in front of the covered mirror and considered pulling the sheet down for a long time before she backed away from it and sat on the edge of her bed. She buried her head in her hands, and attempted to sort through her own thoughts, was it her feelings that were stopping her from pulling down the sheet or was it something else, she wondered. Elena couldn’t tell what was going on. She had been so sure of herself for so long, and now she doubted everything.

 

Elena had still been mulling things over when a knock on her door sounded. She hopped up from the bed and answered it, pulling it open just enough to peer out. When she saw it was Reno she pulled it open properly and let him in. He settled himself on her couch effortlessly, and she chuckled to herself as she realised that he likely spent more time on Rude’s couch and hers than he spent at his own place.

“Something funny there, Rookie?” Reno looked over his shoulder at her as she laughed.

“Just wondering, did you lose your key again or something? You’ve been spending a lot of time here, and Rude says you’re spending just as much time at his as you have here.”

“No!” He protested, although he shook his head as she sat beside him. “Smartass. Yes. I lost my key again, and Tseng’s gonna kill me if he has to change my lock again.”

“I’m sure he’ll get someone in to do it actually.” Elena teased him.

“Like I said, smartass, still, he’s gonna be irritated that he’s gotta do it again.”

“Yeah well maybe now you’ll take a hint and leave a key here or with Rude next time.”

“Whatever. Can I use your shower?”

Elena sighed and rolled her eyes at him. “Fine. Don’t use up my shampoo. It’s expensive.”

“You got it, Laney.” Reno bounced off into her bathroom and she heard the shower start.

 

“Hey, Laney, can you come in here?” Reno’s voice called out from the bathroom and startled her out of her deep thoughts. She peeled herself up from the couch and made her way into the bathroom attached to the bedroom. She pushed the door open without hesitation, they had worked together for long enough that they were both comfortable around each other in various states of undress, and she trusted Reno enough to know that he wouldn’t have called her in unless he was at least partially dressed.

“What’s up?” She asked him as she stepped fully into the bathroom.

“Can you explain this?” She followed his arm as he gestured, looking at the mirror leaning against the wall, she had somehow managed to prise the sheet of reflective material from the bathroom wall above the sink in one piece but had taken half of the paint with it.

“Not really.”

Reno rolled his eyes at her. “You don’t get to avoid this one, Laney. I could have looked past the bedroom mirror, but this one too? Come on.” He grabbed her wrist and dragged her into the bedroom. She was pushed to sit on the edge of the bed, and Reno stood in front of her, between the bed and the mirror. He reached behind himself and pulled at the bedsheet, he smiled as the mirror was revealed and sat beside Elena.

 

“Look in the mirror, Laney.” He said and nudged her ribs gently. “Tell me what you see.”

“I see you, looking like a drowned rat.”

“Harsh, but fair. Now look at yourself. How do you look?”

Elena looked at herself in the mirror. She looked the same as always. Comfy clothes, the same simple makeup that she always wore, the asymmetrical haircut that she had given herself when she joined the Turks that was similar to Emma’s, but different enough that they were still their own people. “Normal, I guess.”

“Exactly. You look normal. I don’t know what’s going on in there,” Reno tapped her a few times on the forehead to drive his point home, “But I can guess. This job is incredibly difficult. It wears you down and makes you feel like an impostor in your skin. We do so many different dark tasks at the President’s whims, and we are expected to do it all without having any emotions, thoughts or questions. You’ve been pressuring yourself lately, to be a ‘perfect’ Turk, but there’s no such thing as a perfect Turk. You are a Turk, and I know for a fact the President would be pissed if you let yourself get into your own head. He thinks you're good at your job, and is pleased that you’ve kept your smart-ass attitude even with him.”

“You really think that?” Elena turned to look at him, disbelief clearly written on her face.

“Don’t need to think, Laney. I heard the Prez and Bossman on the phone the other day. I know that’s what he thinks about you.”

“You were eavesdropping on Tseng?”

“It’s an unfortunate habit I have,” Reno grinned at her, “Now. How ‘bout a deal? I tell Tseng I lost my key again if you tell him you need maintenance to come and put that mirror in your bathroom back up.”

“Alright. Deal.” Elena nodded at him, and they both knew they’d keep their word.

Chapter 12: In vain

Elena had known from the beginning that the mission wasn’t going to work. It could have been perfect a few weeks prior before she had had a run-in with Cloud and his group of idiots, or Avalanche, as they called themselves. But now they knew who she was. They had even beaten her in the Mythril Mines, her first big loss as a Turk. She was still embarrassed about that one, weeks later, even after both Tseng and Rude had tried to convince her that she had actually done really well against them to have survived mostly unscathed.

President Shinra had approved the mission anyway and said that he was sure that the Turks could figure out a way to make the mission successful, that was their job after all.

Tseng had sent her out with nothing more than a cover story. Her devastating failure of a first mission had led her to go on the run. They couldn’t say she had been fired, everyone knew the rumors that Turks couldn’t leave the company, they knew too much, which was true, but there at least were rumours that would help her, about Turks who had just disappeared, and even Sinra was looking for them.

 

She felt out of her depths, and sat at a bar, wallowing in pity that wasn’t even real. The scene was deliberately familiar to how Cloud, Aerith and Tifa had found her sitting at a bar in Upper Junon when she had actually thought that she was likely to have lost her job for her disappointing performance. She could hear them all as they walked into the bar. She had done her due diligence, studying the file of all the information they had on the main Avalanche members, and of course, they knew plenty about the Ancient.

“Look, Cloud.” A soft voice reached her ears, and she stayed slumped in her seat, listening in. “It’s that new Turk.”

“She looks sad, sadder than Junon.” A softer voice, Aerith then, so the other woman must have been Tifa.

“I didn’t think the Turks were supposed to be out here. I heard they were all holed up in Junon, licking their wounds since we beat their asses.” Barret’s voice echo through the room and Elena could hear the animation in his body as he spoke.

The group got closer as they spoke, and Elena pretended to jump as a soft hand landed on her shoulder. She was supposed to be convincing them that she was out of it, although a voice ran through her head, repeatedly telling her that she was going to blow this mission, that it would all be in vain, they were too smart to be tricked so easily.

“Come with us, Elena,” Aerith spoke to her softly, although the rest of the group looked about ready to murder her.

 

Elena followed them back to their hotel, pleasantly surprised by the room they were leading her into. It hadn’t even been three seconds since the door shut before Cloud had his frankly too-large sword pointed directly at her throat.

“Cloud!” Aerith and Tifa both attempted to stop him, while Barret, to his merit, pulled her aside, although her freedom was short-lived. 

He pushed her onto a bed and pointed his gun arm at her. “Talk Turk.”

“I’m not a Turk anymore.”

“Bullshit.” Barret shook his gun at her.

“I’m not! I left after you guys beat us in the mines.”

“No one leaves the Turks. Everyone knows that.” Tifa spoke up and Elena turned to look at her.

“You can if you just go AWOL.”

Everyone in the group turned to look at Cloud, and he nodded as if to confirm what she had said.

“So, why’d you leave?” Tifa questioned her.

“I was embarrassed. Plus, Reno’s back from his R&R now so I knew they wouldn’t really notice if I disappeared. I was just the Rookie, easy to lose, even easier to replace.”

“But you know where Shinra is heading.” 

“About as much as you. I know they’re headed off the continent, headed to Wutai, escorting the President.” Elena fed them the false information easily. She knew what would happen if she failed this mission. The President would have her stationed in the desert to teach her a lesson.

“Bullshit.” It was Cloud who spoke this time. “You’re just trying to get information from us.”

“We know the President isn't going to go to Wutai. He told us his plans.” Aerith leant forward as she spoke, and Elena frowned. Shit. This really wasn’t going to plan.

“He also said he’d keep out of his way if we kept out of his,” Tifa spoke up.

“So crawl back to your master, with your tail between your legs, and tell him you failed.” Barret gestured to the door. Elena scrambled to her feet and fled.

 

Her return to Shinra was awful, just as she had expected. The fact that she had been found out within a day was embarrassing, and she had been right to assume that the President was pissed that the mission had failed. He had assigned her to the desert just as she had assumed he would, although she was at least on standby, allowed to be put onto a mission as soon as one was available. Tseng was nice enough to take pity on her. They had both tried to convince the President that the mission wasn’t going to work. He teamed her up with Rude, placing her on the escort mission. She hated spending time with Director Palmer just as much as she hated being in the same room as Professor Hojo, so Tseng deemed having to escort him to the Gold Saucer and make sure everything went smoothly to be a suitable enough punishment. A short message on her PHS was enough to let her know that the ‘bossman’ as Reno called Tseng had been able to talk the President down and she wouldn’t be stationed in the desert at all.

Chapter 13: What If I Lied

Elena couldn’t believe that her own stupidity had gotten them into this situation. Why would she ever think that lying to Tseng was a good idea? Oh gods, she still had to work with him and she was so embarrassed that she didn’t even want to look at him. They had spent so long together, being tortured by the Remnants of Sephiroth, and they had both bared their souls to each other, well Elena had bared her soul to him, he was the same closed-off person as always, but they had relied on each other to keep themselves sane. It had been a few weeks since the end of the Geostigma Crisis, and Tseng and Rufus were pretty exclusive, as were Rude and Reno. It left Elena constantly third-wheeling her friends and meant that she was starting to overthink everything. She had to tell him the truth right? Or was she doing the right thing by letting him believe that she was over him? Should she tell him that she lied, or would that ruin the happiness that she truly believed he had earned?

 

“So, Laney. You never told any of us anything that you and Tseng talked about while you were gone.”

“It’s not important, that’s why,” Elena said defensively.

“Sure it's not. But you see I think it is. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be keeping it such a secret.” Reno leaned his elbows on the table, looking at her curiously.

The bar they were in was nice, waiting for Rude to join them. Elena had bought them both a drink and stared at her wine. She swirled it around her glass as if it could stop Reno’s curiosity, an unstoppable force, as Elena had learned over the time she had known him. They both got distracted and watched as someone tried to cause trouble for the young bartender, and without even talking they both stood up and moved themselves to sit at the bar. By now everyone in town knew who Rufus’s most loyal men were, and everyone knew to stay far away from them, even if they didn’t quite work the same way they did when they were Shinra’s Turks. Now they were Rufus’s Turks.

The bartender flashed them a grateful smile, and the two got back to their conversation. “I’m only keeping it a secret because you don’t need to know.”

“You told him about your feelings.” Reno grinned at her.

Elena dropped her head onto the bartop. “I told him about my feelings.” She admitted.

Reno patted her head, and Elena looked up right as the young bartender topped up her drink. She dug into her pocket for some Gil, but the bartender waved her off. “It’s on the house, Miss.”

“Thanks.” Elena smiled and took a sip of the drink. She punched Reno in the arm just to get rid of his smirk.

“Ow! So how’d he take it.” 

“About as well as you’d expect. He was at least polite as he shut me down though. Was all ‘I truly appreciate that you looked up to me so much that those feelings developed’ and ‘I hope we can still work together professionally, I would hate to lose such an admirable colleague.’ I couldn’t believe I said it. Just slipped out really, I was a little delirious.”

“Ouch.” Reno patted her head. “At least he didn’t threaten to shoot you.”

“Thanks, Reno, but if you want to make me feel better at least say something reasonable. You’re the only person he’s ever threatened to shoot outside of work.”

It was Reno’s turn to punch her on the arm, a little more vicious than she had been when she hit him. “Smart ass.”

“I tried to backtrack, y’know. Told him a few days later that I was completely over those feelings. I blamed it on being young and immature. He seemed to believe me. Hasn’t said anything to me and he's pretty cosy with the big boss now.”

“Good cover, I’m assuming it was a lie.”

“What if it was? What if I lied? It’s not hurting anyone. I’m not going to try and get in the way with him and Rufus ever. It’s just a stupid crush.”

“You’re chewing yourself up about this aren’t you?”

“Yup. I’m pretty sure he’s figured out somethings up, I haven’t spoken to him since we saved Rufus when he jumped off that roof.”

“Damn Laney. It doesn’t matter anyway. Just be normal around him. A little white lie never hurt anyone.”

Elena nodded. Reno was right of course. Why did it matter? The situation was resolved when the bosses kissed for the first time. Elena’s feelings weren’t more important than the feelings they shared with each other. “When’d you get so smart?”

“You can blame Rude for that.”

 

The two friends continued to drink, Rude eventually joining them, the pair kissing sweetly before the war over who had to pay for what round of drinks started, not helped by the bartender constantly giving them all free drinks. Elena found a weight lifted off of her shoulders as she spent some much-needed time with her friends after everything. She realised that she was probably just overthinking everything because she hadn’t had a chance to decompress. Reno and Rude made sure to keep her mind off of Tseng for the night, Rude telling her the story of how Reno had run directly into a door as Cloud had slammed it into his face. All three of them had dissolved into laughter at the story. Everything they had done since the fall of Midgar had been so strange, but at least things had started to calm down, and they all managed to find more time to just go out and have fun as they had that night. They resolved to make sure to spend at least one night a week together having some fun, and even invite Rufus and Tseng on occasion.

Chapter 14: Mistaken Identity

“Turk! Hey Turk! Get back here!” The voices chased Elena as she ran down the alley she was in. She had just finished a shift at the bar and had started her usual walk to the home she had in the upper plate with her family. The route was simple, and usually free of trouble, through the back alleys of Wall Market and up to the train station to catch the train back to the Upper Plate. The trains ran every hour this early in the morning, but she usually managed to time it just right, catching the 1 am train up to the upper plate, home and in bed by 1:30, and up again for her training at the academy at 9:30.

“I said get back here Turk!” The man chasing her shouted again, his companions close on his heels, she could hear them. Four assailants. She kept her speed up as she ran, and dodged and weaved through the twists and turns of Wall Market’s backstreets. She looked around, the buildings unfamiliar. Lost. She had gotten lost in her panic.

 

Elena only paused for a few seconds to look around, but it was enough time for a hand to have shot out and grabbed her wrist. Her head cleared at the touch and her years of training kicked in. Step one, assess. Don’t do anything stupid.

Her heel dug into the ground and she whipped around, her eyes immediately flicked over each one of the group of four. One gun, two knives. The gun wasn’t her main concern, they were too close to actually shoot without risking anyone else. Knives were different, they were more dangerous but still manageable. The fourth guy was worrying her. He didn't look like he was carrying a physical weapon, which meant he could be using materia. She’d have to keep an eye on him.

“I think you have the wrong person,” Elena said calmly, hoping to de-escalate the situation, although if her hunch was correct, they were looking for Emma, and her voice wasn’t going to help her case.

“Oh, I don’t think we do Turk. You see, your buddy hurt one of ours, so we hurt you, capiche?” The man holding her wrist pulled her arm sharply in an attempt to pull her off balance. Elena countered, she was smaller and lighter, but he had thrown his balance off when he tried to pull her, and she managed to catch him off guard and knock the knife out of his hand with her other arm.

 

The ensuing fight was long and draining. Elena was highly trained, but the four men had the advantage of being bigger, burlier and older than her, and by the looks of them all, they had been fighting for a long time. She lost track of the gun in the fray but had at least managed to disarm the two knife wielders, landing more blows than she was taking. She dodged and weaved, her size was the advantage at that point, one man down, the second fell to a knee to the groin. The gun wielder had fled during the fray, which left her in a standoff with the unarmed man. The air changed, feeling staticky, and Elena froze for a second. Lightning Materia. She had been right. She sped off, an attempt to put enough distance to disrupt his aim, but she was too close. The pain was excruciating for a moment, before the ground rushed up to meet her and the world went dark.

 

Elena picked her head up, reeling from the literal shock, confused by an odd slapping sound, no, punches. She attempted to sit up, but her whole body ached, so she lay back down on the cool cobblestones, eyes barely opened. The world was fuzzy, and she was so tired. Lightning materia was nothing to scoff at normally, but that shock had felt high level. She rested her forehead on one of her arms, missing the sound of the fighting as it stopped.

“Sit up, slowly.” The familiar black suit of a Turk came into focus as Elena followed the command. She let the Turk help her and finally looked to see who it was.

“Vincent.” Elena blinked a few times, her head still spinning.

“I already called your sister, she’ll meet us at Shinra. Get up. Slowly.” Vincent’s smooth voice was commanding as always, with as few words spoken as possible. He helped her walk to the train station in silence and sat beside her on the train. Elena wasn’t used to being observed so fully. Vincent barely spoke, but she knew he was making sure she was okay, in his own way.

 

Shinra was quiet at such an early hour, the infirmary running on a skeleton crew. The cure materia had taken the edge off, and she sipped on a potion that had been provided to her. Emma burst through the door and looked at Vincent first, then at her sister. She watched Elena as she sipped on the potion.

“What happened, Elena?” Emma looked at her sister and stepped closer. She sat herself at the end of the bed Elena was sitting on, and looked at Vincent as he spoke.

“Avalanche. The rest of the cell we took out a few weeks back.”

“They thought I was you,” Elena said as she looked at her sister. “I was doing just fine until that bastard used Thundara on me.”

“Language, Elena. I’m glad you’re okay though. Thundara is quite the hit. I’ll let Verdot know people have targeted you instead of me and get you signed off for a day from the Academy. You rest. I’m sure Dad’ll want to come to see you, and Verdot probably. Half the Turks really. Everyone loves you.”

“I’m not a baby anymore, Emma. I’m allowed to swear.”

“Sure. Wanna tell Dad that?”

Elena stopped arguing instantly and went back to sipping on her potion. It was going to be a long day in the infirmary if everyone wanted to come and see her.

Chapter 15: Locked in

“Open. Open open open. Come On!” Elena pulled on nothing, digging her fingers into any seam on the wall that she could dig her nails into. She tugged relentlessly, with whatever strength she had left. Tseng watched her, leaning against the wall, with no energy left to do anything more than blink slowly. He forced himself to keep his eyes open. He had to have faith in his team. Reno and Rude would come and find them, and Rufus would rip into them both for getting caught. Especially considering they were currently being tortured by the Remnants of Sephiroth. God this was embarrassing.

“Elena. Sit down.” Tseng watched her as she scrambled to find them an exit, they had been at this for days, and they were no closer to figuring anything out.

“I can’t just sit here and let them torture us. I’m going crazy!”

“Have patience, Elena. In this situation, we have to just wait for our team. Reno and Rude will figure out how to reach us.”

“Reno can’t do anything seriously.” Elena huffed and sat down next to him.

“Reno is the Vice Director for a reason. The two of you may see your jobs as something that isn’t too serious, but he knows when to buckle down and actually put his mind to it.”

“Hey! I don’t think this is something to scoff at. I worked hard to be a Turk. I always wanted your approval.”

“You don’t need my approval to be a good Turk. You’re good at what you do, Elena. You just have to stop comparing yourself to others.”

“I’m working on it.”

 

The next few days were much of the same. Tseng would get taken to be ‘talked to’, and then it would be her turn, sometimes she would go first, and occasionally they would be tortured together. Elena wasn’t exactly sure what the Remnants were asking of them, her brain was so fuzzy, but she assumed it was something about the fact that they had been trying to recover Jenova.  Elena sat, waiting for Tseng to be returned, and wondered what her life would have been like if she wasn’t a Turk, or if Emma hadn’t been a Turk, or even if her father hadn’t been an instructor at the academy.

Elena’s whole life had had something to do with Shinra, she realised, much as many of the people she surrounded herself with had. She wondered what it would be like to make friends outside of the company now that it was destroyed, or if she would even bother. She had her group of Turks, and the boss, who she considered friends. Especially her and Rufus. She hadn’t expected to get on with the other blonde as much as she did, but she truly enjoyed some of their moments.

Tseng stumbled into the room, and the door slammed behind him as usual. Elena had yet to figure out how that door opened, it just seemed to blend so seamlessly with the wall. She could never find a seam on the wall when she attempted to get them out, and it also seemed to open in a different place every time, but that could just have been her. She was sure she had at least a minor concussion.

They sat together on the floor. The conversation had run out at least two days ago, or so she thought. It was hard to keep track of time in the room with no windows, and Tseng, whom Elena had never known to optionally touch anyone, had taken to leaning against her as they both stared listlessly at the grey walls. It had gotten to a point where they had stopped trading off sleep shifts, often just sleeping whenever they could for as long as possible just to pass the time.

The door stopped opening as often, and when it did there was only ever one Remnant, Elena assumed that the other two were often out, probably getting in Reno and Rude’s way while the two tried to get four Turks worth of work done. She wondered if the two had perhaps sidelined looking for them. She would have expected them to, especially after this long. The boss was the top priority, making sure the stubborn man looked after himself and didn’t fall prey to the negative emotions that were rumoured to make Geostigma worse.

 

“Hey, Tseng. Do you think the boys are still coming for us?” Elena spoke up one day, and the two of them slouched against the wall.

“All in good time, Elena.” Tseng’s replies to anything she said had gotten a little philosophical. She couldn’t blame him, they’d both been doing a lot of thinking while they’d been locked in together.

“We’re really locked in here, huh? How do you think the boss is without you to kick him in the ass when he’s being stubborn?”

“I’m sure Reno and Rude have a handle on him. He respects their opinions as he respects mine.”

“I guess. I’ve never seen him take Reno seriously before.”

“He takes all of us seriously. He values our opinions and insights, I can assure you.”

“Yeah, I know that. I miss him. In a way.”

“So do I, Elena, but we’ll see him soon. I assure you.”

Elena nodded at him and relaxed back against the wall. It had felt like so long since they had seen the team, and she had started to lose hope that they ever would again. Tseng’s trust was unwavering, but Elena had started to grow sick of their confines. She longed to be outside, and ro see the team again, perhaps even take a moment to actually spend some more time with Reno. In a way, she missed the redhead the most and had been craving his relentless teasing and stupid nicknames. She longed to hear someone call her Rookie again, or even for him to call her Laney, just for a sense of normalcy.

Chapter 16: Too Tempting to Resist

Summary:

Whooops I have been busy!!! But who is here for the return of our favourite girlfail and the Shinra squad's shenanigans.

Elena couldn’t remember the last time she dressed up for anything. It felt strange to her, to be prepping for a mission but not be in her suit, or have her gun tucked against her back. She carefully strapped a knife to her thigh and adjusted her dress so that the high slit carefully covered the weapon. She leaned down to adjust the silvery strap of her heels and giggled as her dress slipped. She committed that slip up to memory, sure she would be able to use it at some point during the mission. 

The team met up on the Turk’s floor to be briefed, everyone dressed up in their nicest outfits. They were off to work some fancy Shinra ball. The President had informed them that there was going to be a guest there who needed to be gently questioned, which they all knew meant tortured, about the whereabouts of some science thing that had been stolen from Hojo’s lab. Elena had gotten a little lost when the science talk had started.

They were going to work in teams, Elena and Tseng, and then Rude and Reno. The teams were designed to look natural and be able to chat with each other and the other guests as if they were couples, although Elena and Tseng were still navigating their friendship after she had drunkenly told him about her feelings for him.

 

The party had been rather smooth sailing, Elena was almost starting to get bored. Most Shinra parties were like this, Tseng explained to her, an excuse for the rich to compare their wealth, and the high-ranking staff who had been invited trying to get them to buy the Shinra projects they had been working on. At least Elena couldn’t complain about how warm it was in the room. They had taken the entire lobby, with Shinra Security Officers posted at every door and the bottom of the escalators, and she felt for the boys in uniform. Elena pulled Tseng to the side for a moment, spotting people using the stairs as she watched the Security Officer posted there distracted by an argument.

“People have gone upstairs. I’m gonna check on the Lab.” Elena said. She leaned over his shoulder to get her eyes on the people who had slipped through the door.

“Okay. Go. Check in soon Elena, or I’m sending Reno after you.”

“You got it, boss.” She saluted him, a hit of humour in the movement before she darted off.

 

Shinra tower was silent, which was honestly the first time she had seen it as such. She took the elevator up to the last of the general staff floors before she switched to the stairs. She only had to sweep the labs quickly, and then she could get back to the party and focus on watching for the one person the president wanted them to find. The labs were, as she suspected, clear, but her PHS rang out through the silence.

“Hey rookie, get down to the interrogation room. We got our guy.”

Elena hung up the phone on Reno without a word and made her way back into the lift. She swiped her card on the reader and hit the button for the basement floors, tapping the heel of her shoe impatiently as she waited for the lift to arrive at the right floor.

 

“I’m here. I’m here.” She said as she rushed out of the lift, making her way over to the group. “What exactly are we doing here?”

“The president wants us to find out why he stole things from the lab. We’re going to question, and if necessary we can move to persuasive techniques.”

“Would you allow me, boss? I could do with some practice. I’ve not interrogated someone since I joined.”

“Take Reno with you.” 

“Yes Sir.”

 

The interrogation was incredibly difficult, honestly like pulling teeth Elena thought. Between the two of them, they ought to have gotten something out of the guy in the hour that they had been in with him, but he was too busy staring at Elena’s chest and flirting with her to even think about answering their questions on his decision to sneak into the science department. She could feel her control of her temper slipping, and that was a truly rare feat.

“Reno if we don’t finish this soon I’m going to do something I’m going to regret,” Elena warned under her breath, her control on her temper reaching its end, her impulsivity rising to the challenge of keeping herself calm. They had only been working for ten minutes, Reno noted, but he could see why she was already getting frustrated.

“Hey, sweetheart, why don’t you show me a reason to talk? I know you’ve got one.”

Something in Elena snapped and before she knew it her fist was in the man’s face. She recalled not knowing his name and at this point she honestly couldn’t have cared less about him. The interrogation continued in much of the same way, him refusing to answer and her letting out her frustrations in a series of well-planned jabs and punches, her knife joining the fray at some point as well. By the time the pair finished, it was early morning, the sun was up, and Rufus was rather impatient, waiting in his office for them to make their report. 

“What made you decide to switch to aggressive questioning, Elena?” The young president looked at them as they stepped into his office, Elena wiping the blood from her knuckles on her skirt.

“What can I say, boss? It was just too tempting to resist.” Elena grinned at the president as Reno got involved.

“Bastard deserved it too, the things he was saying to our Laney,” Reno said, ruffling her hair, grinning at the president, who only rolled his eyes in return, as soon as Reno looked away.

Chapter 17: Only for Tonight

Elena couldn’t remember exactly what had drawn her up to the 70th floor, but something was calling to her. It was supposed to be her night off, which was rare. The Turks hardly ever got time off under President Shinra, a fact that Tseng was sure to repeat to them any time they were given the luxury, but Rufus quite liked the idea of giving the people with the hardest jobs some time off every now and again, to keep them loyal, of course. Elena mulled over the thought that Rufus quite enjoyed the company of the team when he was in a good enough mood as she waited for the doors of the elevator to slide open. It was easy to be around Rufus and not feel like she had to keep up her shield, almost like he could understand her pain on a level that no one else could, and she hoped that by spending an evening with him alone she could figure out why. I was easy enough to talk to him in public about any random thing, but she had a hunch that getting him to open up would only be something she could do behind closed doors, and it certainly wouldn’t be easy.

 

“I told you not to bother me tonight.” Rufus’s voice rang out through the office, his chair turned to face the window.

“I guess I’ll just take this wine back then. I splashed out for the fancy stuff even though I can’t tell the difference.”

“Elena.” Rufus’s chair turned, and Elena was sure that she could hear a slight hint of relief in his tone. “I suppose you can stay.”

“Thank you.” Elena grinned at him mischievously, setting a bag down on his desk. “Now, this is a tall order, but do you think you could but your rich life aside just for tonight? I bought fancy wine, but cheap snacks. Plus a blanket and skincare. I thought you could use a night of relaxation.”

“We have different definitions of relaxation, but I suppose that I could ‘put it aside’ as you so crassly put it. Only for tonight though.”

“Only for tonight is just fine with me.” Elena nodded, letting a hint of her true smile slip through for a moment.

 

Elena busied herself setting out a blanket on the floor of his office before she gave a treat to Dark Nation and poured them both a glass of wine. She opened up a bag of cheap crisps, holding them in front of him with a grin.

“Just try one! How do you know you don’t like it if you won't try?” 

“Elena they look disgusting.” Rufus turned his nose up, but Elena could see the hint of curiosity in his eyes before he finally caved in and took one from the bag. “I once again see that I am right. How can you eat these things?”

“They’re supposed to be bad. They’re cheap, but wait until we’ve drunk a bit more, then they’ll be the best thing you’ve ever tasted.” Elena giggled. She had drunk a fair bit more than him and was tipsy, but they were both enjoying each other’s company.

“Elena, may I ask you something?” Elena looked at Rufus as he asked, sobering up ever so slightly.

“Sure thing, Sir. What is it?”

“What possessed you to come up here and do this?”

Elena thought for a long time before she spoke, looking at him. 

“You know, I’m not entirely sure… but I just had this feeling that you might like some company tonight. I know Tseng is on duty but he’s not the company’s most sparkling conversationist, and I thought to myself about what I wished I could have done with my sister when I felt lonely. And I came up with this, well not this exactly but close enough, and I thought to myself about what you enjoy. I remembered you mentioning recently about enjoying the calmness of an evening skincare routine, and I know you like this wine, and the cheap snacks were just for fun. I assumed you hadn’t tried them and I was right. So… yeah. That’s my reasoning. Kinda stupid, right?”

“I don’t think it’s stupid.”

“Huh?”

“I appreciate the effort. You’ve put a lot of care into this.”

“Oh, not really. It took me like an hour.”

“Still, you remembered things that I have mentioned offhandedly, and took the initiative to come up here, I’m honoured, Elena.”

Elena couldn’t hide her smile, although it dropped fairly quickly. “I know what it’s like to be lonely, to want to be the perfect person that everyone expects and to not want to burden other people with my feelings and just press on, but no one should have to feel that way in my opinion… I thought you might understand those feelings too because I think that the Turks are the first real family you’ve ever had, just like they’re the first real family that I have ever had.” She picked up a sheet mask, holding it up to him as she changed the subject. “Ever used one of these before?”

“I can’t say I have.”

Elena peeled the packaging away, carefully smoothing the mask against his skin, teaching him how to have it sit correctly on his face. She noted how in all of her time as a Turk she had never seen him sit as still as he was while someone else was touching him, in fact, she wasn’t sure she had ever seen anyone touch him. She couldn’t help but giggle at the image of her boss behind the tiger design, her phone raised to snap a shot of the amusing image.

“Perhaps next time I’ll provide the skincare and snacks, Elena.”

“Next time, Sir?”

“I had assumed that this would become something of a regular occurrence. And drop the Sir. Just Rufus is fine when we’re alone.” 

“Yes, Sir… I mean… Sure, Rufus.” Elena didn’t think she had ever seen him smile as much as he had this evening. It was never full, but she could see it in the corners of his mouth as if he was letting down his walls ever so slightly, just as she had done for him.