The sky was as gray as slate when Reno exited his flat the next day. He hadn't heard the weather report, he wasn't all that much interested to be truthful, he didn't know if it was going to rain again today, or, considering how cold it was out, snow. His coat was still wet from yesterday. It probably would have been drier if he had bothered to hang it up instead of just dropping it on a chair in a lump but such was life. So he was wearing the same light navy blue jacket he had worn to Rude's last night. It didn't do shit against the cold, and he had to force his body to relax to prevent himself from shivering uncontrollably as he walked down the street, cigarette perched between his lips and his hands shoved in his pockets. He wasn't entirely successful.
He was headed toward Tifa's place, but as he got closer he changed his mind and made his way to the hospital instead. It was already almost one o'clock. He had gotten up around eleven thirty. He wasn't much of a morning person. Well, actually, to him this was the morning. He figured that Tifa was probably already at the hospital by now so it really didn't make sense to go to her place first, especially considering the hospital was closer.
Stopping at a newsstand, he picked up a paper and a pack of cigarettes.
Reaching the hospital he went in and walked up to the isolation ward. He didn't bother to check in at the desk, and no one questioned him. To his surprise, Tifa wasn't there when he reached Karisa's bed.
"Hey kiddo."
Karisa smiled as soon as she saw Reno.
"Hi Unca Reno."
"How you doin'?"
"My head hurts," Karisa sighed, raising her hand to her forehead.
Reno nodded. She looked a little bit under the weather, but not to bad, and she seemed alert. It just seemed hard to believe that she had a deadly disease.
"Where's your Mom?"
"She went away," Karisa replied.
"Went away? She was here earlier?"
"Uh huh," Karisa nodded.
"Well, I'm sure she'll be back in a bit," Reno replied.
Reno looked Karisa over. He had to admit he didn't like the pen they had her in. She was still isolated, of course, and he could only talk to her through the plastic sheeting.
They fell silent. Reno really didn't know what to say. He had expected Tifa to be here, to help hold up the conversation. Standing there he realized he hadn't the slightest idea what to say to a three year old.
With no better ideas, he sat down in a chair besides Karisa's bed and opened up the paper.
"Let's see, what do we have interesting in here?"
He paged through the paper for a bit.
"Hmm, here we go. Don't suppose your mother ever introduced you to the find art of chocobo racing?"
"I like chocobo's," Karisa said agreeably.
"Yeah, and you like them even better when you win lots of gil betting on them," Reno told her.
"Okay, let's see," he said, shuffling the paper in front of him. "Ah, here we are. The lines on today's races."
He looked the page over for a bit, then turned and held the paper up for her to see.
"You see that, right there? Can you tell me what number that is?"
Karisa stared at it for a moment.
"That's an eight," she told him very knowledgeably.
"Are you sure? That looks like a five hundred and ninety three to me."
Karisa gave him a look.
"You're silly," she told him.
"You got that right" he replied. "You're right though, it is an eight. That's pretty smart of you. How'd you get to be so smart?"
Karisa shrugged.
"I don't know."
"You probably got that from your mother," Reno told her. "Anyway, that's the number of the chocobo. And it's name is Rainbow Runner. See, it says it right there. And underneath that, there's a list of the last four races the chocobo has run and how well it's done. You see, right there."
Karisa nodded.
"And these numbers here, they're very important," Reno continued. "This one here, this ninety two, this is the chocobo's speed figure. This is used to determine whether or not the chocobo had a good performance. And next to that, the sixty six, that's it's endurance number. They tell you approximately how well a chocobo can do in a race. Now, the next four numbers tell you how the chocobo did during it's last race, what position it was in and how far behind the leader, or, if it was ahead, how far ahead, and then the last one tells you it's position at the end of the race. The first number is 2 1/2 so that tells us that at the first call, thats a set mark along the track, Rainbow Runner was in second place one half length behind the leader. The second number is 1 1&1/2 so that tells us the chocobo was ahead by a one and a half lengths. Are you following me so far?"
Karisa shook her head.
"The next number is 2 1 and then 4 3&12," Reno continued without missing a beat. "And the last number is 5 4 so we know the chocobo finished in fifth place four lengths behind the leader. You can see that the chocobo started off pretty well, but then fell back toward the end of the race. That's why it's endurance rating is so low. So this chocobo isn't really a good bet. Save your gil and don't bet on that one."
"I don't have any gil," Karisa stated.
"That's okay, I can loan you some," Reno replied. "Now once you've found your chocobo you can place a bet and that's where the fun comes in. You can bet on a chocobo to win, place or show. If you bet for it to win, well, obviously it has to win for you get your gil back. If you bet for it to place it has to come in first or second, and if you bet for it to show it can come in first, second or third and you still win. That sounds pretty good but if you bet for it to show you don't win as much gil as you would if you bet for it to win."
"Now this next part is very important. Are you sure your mother hasn't told you all this already?"
"Nuh uh," Karisa replied.
"Well, I'm really surprised," Reno stated. "How much gil you get depends on the odds. At one to one odds you get back the gil you bet plus you win the same amount. So on a two gil bet, you get your two gil back plus another two gil so you end up with four gil. If the odds are two to one you get your two gil back plus two gil for every gil you bet so you end up with six. If the odds are one hundred to one then you win a whopping one hundred gil for every gil you bet so you'd end up with two hundred and two gil with is a lot of gil, right?"
Karisa nodded.
"Unfortunately, with odds of one hundred to one it ain't likely that chocobo is going to win. But that's not all. There's other ways to bet too. If you bet an Exacta that means you bet which chocobos are going to come in first and second in that exact order. Exacta, exact, get it? If you think two chocobo's are good but you're not sure how they'll end up then you can play a Quinella. That way you win if both chocobo's finish first and second and the order doesn't matter. Then there's the Trifecta. To win a Trifecta you have to pick which chocobo's come in first second and third in the exact order. And a Superfecta is first, second, third and fourth in exact order. Obviously that's pretty hard to do but if you get that right you win lots of gil. Even that's not the hardest bet though. The really tough one is the Pick Six. In that you have to pick the winner of six consecutive races. That's really really hard but if you win you get tons of gil. Billions and billions."
Karisa did not seem all that impressed.
"Okay, maybe not quite that much," Reno admitted. "There are ways to improve your odds though. You can box your bets or pull a Dutch, that's when you bet on more than one chocobo in a race. If you do it properly, you can make gil if either chocobo wins. Okay, you think you have all that?"
Karisa just shook her head.
"Well, that's okay," Reno told her. "It's all kind of hard to take in in the beginning but you'll get the hang of it after a while."
Reno looked up at the clock on the wall. It was almost two in the afternoon.
"Hey," he said. "Are you hungry? I bet they don't feed you anything good here, do they?"
Karisa didn't reply.
"What do you say I do downstairs and bring you up something good like, oh, I don't know, say, a chocolate bar?"
Karisa nodded rapidly.
"I'd like that please," she said.
"All right. I'm gonna go downstairs and get a cup of coffee and I'll bring you up a chocolate bar. I'll be right back. Maybe your Mom will be back by then."
"Okay," Karisa said.
Reno left the room and took the elevator down to the main floor. There was a coffee shop right off the main entrance that he had seen when he had come in earlier. He glanced out the front doors as he entered. It still wasn't raining which he supposed was a good thing, but it didn't exactly look sunny out either.
Once in the coffee shop he went up to the counter and ordered a black coffee. He also picked out a large chocolate bar from an assortment on a stand by the cash register. Beside that there was a pile of small brightly colored stuffed chocobos. He looked at them for a moment, then spontaneously grabbed one of them and added it to his items. What the hell, he thought, the kid didn't have many toys in the bed with her, and he knew she liked stuffed animals. Well, maybe he didn't know that for sure but she was a kid right? Didn't they all?
"I'm so sorry."
Tifa had been reluctant to come here for the simple reason that she knew she would have to talk about Karisa. And she didn't want to talk about her daughter. It was still too soon. She didn't know whether she could, not without falling apart again, and she certainly didn't want to do that here at work. She knew if she came here, they would bring it all back to her.
It was something that had to be done, however. She had had to get her paycheck and let Bernard know what was going on. She couldn't just abandon them. She had called the day before to let them now what had happened, but hadn't gone into any details.
The others had gathered around her when she had entered, as she had expected, but Bernard had come out and shushed them all away, taking her by the hand and leading her into his office in the back. Now they stood together in front of his mahogany desk.
Tifa just sort of shrugged her shoulders, not sure how to reply.
"So is there anything you need?" Bernard went on. "Anything we can do for you? I just can't believe this has happened. She's such a sweet little girl. It's all just so much of a shock."
"I'm going to need some time off," Tifa said. "I'm sorry."
"Well, of course, of course," Bernard replied. "There's no need to apologize. Take as long as you want. We'll get by."
"Thanks," Tifa said. She knew it would be a burden for him to let her have time off. They were shorthanded as it was. "A couple of weeks. I want to spend as much time with Karisa as I can."
She wouldn't need more than that. Karisa wasn't expected to... live longer than that. She felt her throat tightening up and tears forming in her eyes again. She took a deep breath and composed herself.
"You don't have to give an explanation," Bernard said. "I understand. How is she doing?"
"She's fine. Well, not fine of course. She just seems like she's got a cold right now. It's hard to believe..."
Tifa didn't finish.
"What room is she in?"
"She's in the isolation ward," Tifa replied. "Up on the second floor in pediatrics. They've got her in, well, it's like a big crib but it looks more like a cage. There's plastic covering it and I can't... I can't even touch her."
Bernard reached over and patted Tifa on the hand.
"It must be incredibly tough for you," he said. "You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to. Everyone here is devastated, I'll tell you that. It must be terrible. We'll all be coming up to visit her, I'm sure."
Tifa nodded. She didn't feel like talking anymore. It was exactly what she had been afraid of. Talking about Karisa right now just made things worse.
"I guess I better get going," she managed to get out.
"Of course, of course," Bernard replied. "Don't give up hope Tifa. Maybe they'll be able to do something for her. You never know. And make sure you see Delphine before you leave. She has something for you."
"Thanks Bernard. Thanks for everything."
"You don't have to thank me. Good luck to you."
Tifa left Bernard's office, walking back out front. The other girls all came up to her and offered their sympathies as she passed. Delphine was behind the bar cleaning. She walked over to Tifa and hugged her.
"I can't believe it," she said.
Tifa remained silent. She didn't think she could talk right now.
"If you need anything just let me know," Delphine continued. "Here, I have something for you."
She reached under the counter from behind the bar and pulled out a large Manila envelope. She handed it to Tifa.
"It's from all of us."
Tifa took the envelope and opened it up. It was filled with gil.
"I can't take this," she protested.
"Of course you can," Delphine said. "We all know how much hospital expenses can be. Insurance might cover some but it's not going to cover all of it. It isn't all that much but it's from everyone. It was Alicia's idea."
Tifa turned in surprise. The other girls were standing nearby. She looked at Alicia who just sort of gave her a half smile.
"Well, we may not have always seen eye to eye but that doesn't mean that, well, you know," she said hesitantly.
Tifa nodded and smiled at them in all in spite of the fact that she felt like crying.
"Thank you. Thank you all."
She headed toward the door. Before she left Caraca came up to her and gave her a bear hug.
"I hope everything works out for you," he said.
Tifa nodded, then turned and left. She wiped tears from her eyes as she walked down the street. She was happy to get out. They were well meaning of course and she appreciated it, but it was just too depressing with everyone dwelling on what had happened. She had been afraid the whole time she was there that she would break down and start crying. She knew they would understand if she did but she didn't want to nonetheless. She felt much better now that she was alone. Now that she didn't have have everyone around her talking about her daughter.
She went to the bank to cash her check and deposit the gil they had given her, then made her way back to the hospital. Brent had called her last night saying he had gotten a flight and would be back in Junon early this afternoon. She looked at her watch and it was just about two o'clock. She had told him she would meet him at the hospital. She was looking forward to seeing him. She needed someone there, someone she could trust. Reno had been wonderful to her, to tell the truth, but she still had nagging suspicions about him. She couldn't help it. She suspected she always might.
She spotted Brent standing in the lobby when she arrived, wearing a dark blue pin stripped suit and carrying a huge stuffed chocobo.
"Brent!" she called out.
He turned toward her and smiled.
A moment later she found herself running toward him. It wasn't something she had planned. It wasn't something she ordinarily did. It just sort of happened. She supposed it might look silly to other people standing nearby but she didn't care about that, she didn't think about it.
She reached him and threw herself into his arms.
"Oh, I'm so glad you're here," she told him. "I'm so glad you could make it. It's all been so hard, and I've missed you so much."
"Hey, hey, it's okay," he reassured her. "I'm here now. I'm just sorry it took me so long. It was like hell to get a flight. How is she?"
"She's... okay," Tifa replied. "They've got her up in isolation. It's horrible, it's like they've got her penned up in a cage. I know it's necessary but I still... I can't even hold her."
Tifa realized that she had tears running down her cheeks again, but she didn't care this time.
Brent saw that she was crying and squeezed her tighter.
"Other than that she seems in good spirits," Tifa forced herself to continue. "She barely looks sick, just like she has the flu."
"I can't believe this happened," Brent said.
"Neither can I. I've tried to be with her every minute but that's not always possible."
She looked at Brent.
"How long can you stay?"
"I have to go into the office here in Junon for a while tomorrow, but after that I'll be here a few days at least. I do have to go back to Gongaga for a couple of days at the end of the week but after that hopefully I'll be able to come back and stay as long as you need me."
That was good enough for Tifa. Better than she had expected, really.
"She'll be happy to see you."
Brent nodded.
"Shall we go up and see her?
Tifa nodded. She disengaged from his arms and taking his hand, led him over to the elevators.
Reno started to walk out of the coffee shop but then suddenly stopped in his tracks. In the lobby nearby he could see Brent and Tifa standing together. Brent was holding her in his arms and he could see that she was crying.
They hadn't noticed him, apparently too wrapped up in each other. They were on the other side of the lobby, near the reception desk.
He stood there like a statue, a wave of emotions washing over him. He didn't stop to analyze them, he wasn't sure what they all meant, but at least one, anger, was very prominent. He'd already kicked this guys ass once and here he was, back again. Didn't he ever learn?
The first impulse Reno had was to go over there and confront them. A few days ago that might have been exactly what he did. The guy obviously hadn't learned his lesson and when that happens, well, you just drill it into them again until they understand. Tifa wouldn't be too happy about it but back then he probably wouldn't have cared what she thought.
He'd have another fight with Brent, he'd kick the guys ass, Tifa would be furious with him and it would turn into a disaster.
He knew that's exactly what would happen. Just a short time ago he still would have done it. He wouldn't have cared.
And as much as he wanted to now, however, he just couldn't.
Tifa had made it clear she didn't want him interfering in her life. He didn't trust Brent at all, there was something about him Reno just didn't like. He really believed that, but he couldn't be sure just how objectively he was looking at this. Maybe the guy wasn't so bad, maybe he was just looking at Brent as a rival that needed to be gotten out of the way.
A rival? A rival for what? For... Tifa's affections?
Rude had asked him if he was making a play for her. He had told him no, that he was just amusing himself. Now, he wasn't so sure if he had told the truth. When he saw Brent he had felt anger yes, but there was more than that there. What else had been there? Was that jealousy he felt?
Jealousy. It was an emotion that was foreign to him. He wasn't the type to get jealous. He'd leave that to others, leave it up to them to be jealous of him.
But how else could he explain this?
He saw Tifa take Brent by the hand and lead him over to the elevators. They didn't look back, didn't see him, and a moment later the elevator opened and they stepped in.
"What is wrong with me?" Reno muttered softly. What was happening to him? He couldn't remember ever feeling like this before. It was totally against his nature. He'd never been attached to anyone in his entire life, had never let a woman get to him, let anyone get to him. So what the hell was going on?
He didn't know. All he knew was that Tifa didn't want him messing with Brent, that it would just stress her out more if he got in between them and he didn't want that to happen. She was going through enough right now, she didn't need him to add to it.
Besides, was Brent really so bad? The guy was vice President in charge of operations of the southwest district for the largest company on the planet. He was doing well, moving up, and making a ton of gil. Reno had to admit Tifa could do a lot worse.
A lot worse, like end up with some washed up drunk who spent his life lost in the past, dreaming of his former glory.
Pretty pathetic, Reno had to admit. Maybe he had been looking at things backwards here. Maybe, between the two of them, Brent wasn't the one who was the loser.
He looked down at the small stuffed chocobo he had in his hand. Brent's had been huge, had been as large as Karisa. The kid would probably love it.
No, it was better if he just got out of the way. He had nothing to offer Tifa. He had nothing to offer anyone.
He turned and, tossing the chocobo into a waste basket, walked out the door. It was cold outside, just the way he liked it.
"Hi baby."
"Hi Mommy, hi Unca Brent."
"Hello Karisa. Look what I've got for you."
Brent held up the stuffed chocobo.
Karisa let out a squeal.
Tifa called the nurse over and the woman opened up the protective plastic and placed the chocobo in with Karisa, who grabbed it and hugged it. Tifa was tempted to grab hold of her daughters hand when the plastic was open, but the nurse wasn't the girl who had let her hold Karisa yesterday, it was someone she had never seen before. She knew she wasn't supposed to do that and she was afraid of what the nurse would say. She knew Karisa had a dangerous disease, she knew her daughter needed to be isolated to protect everyone, but she was starting to find that thin piece of plastic between her and her daughter to be the worst thing about this so far.
"What do you say?" Tifa asked when the nurse retreated.
"Thank you," Karisa said politely, lying back down clutching the chocobo.
"You have to think of a name for it," Brent said.
Karisa seemed to think hard about this for a moment.
"Rainbow," she said finally.
"Rainbow, that's a very nice name," Brent remarked. He looked at the walls and saw that there was indeed a brightly colored rainbow on one.
"Did the walls remind you of that?" he asked.
"Nu uh," Karisa replied. "Unca Reno told me it."
"Uncle Reno?" Tifa said, surprised. She glanced at Brent suddenly for his reaction, but he seemed unphased.
"Yup," Karisa continued. "It was in the paper."
"The paper?" Tifa said, frowning. She paused for a moment, unsure of what to say. She hadn't expected Karisa to bring up the subject of Reno, and now she was worried both about how much Karisa might say and what Brent might think of it.
Before she could think of anything to say, or any way to change the subject, she heard Brent speak up.
"Was Uncle Reno here today?"
"Uh huh," Karisa said, nodding. "He promised me a choc'late."
"Oh did he?" Brent said pleasantly. "When was this?"
Karisa shrugged.
"Before," she replied.
Tifa just stood there. Brent didn't seem angry at all, but she couldn't tell whether he was just waiting for the right moment. She didn't think he'd get into an argument with her in front of Karisa. Still, she had a feeling she'd be hearing more about this before long.
"Well, he'll probably be back soon then," was all Brent said.
The rest of the afternoon Tifa spent with mixed feelings. She was happy Brent was here, happy they were all together, but she couldn't banish from her mind the worry that they'd get into a fight once they had left Karisa's presence, which was just another reason for Tifa to want to stay with her daughter for as long as possible, as if she needed another one. So the first couple of times Brent suggested they leave for a while and get something to eat, she had demurred. Eventually, however, when it became obvious that Brent was getting restless and she thought he might leave without her, which might be a good thing but would probably just make matters worse, she acquiesced to his wishes and they left. Tifa just hoped that Brent would have the decency to wait to until they left the building at least instead of starting an argument right here in the hospital.
He didn't say anything as they made their way downstairs, then out of the hospital. When they reached the street Brent pointed to the left.
"There's a nice restaurant right down the block this way," he said.
Tifa nodded without replying as he led her in that direction. She was waiting on pins and needles for him to say something, anything at all, but he remained silent. Finally she decided she couldn't take it any longer. She didn't want to have to deal with this, not now. She was tired of it, she was tired of Reno interfering and Brent being jealous. She decided she was going to tell him the unvarnished truth and let the chips fall where they may. She hadn't done anything wrong, and if what she told him drove him away then so be it, she had more important things to worry about right now, even though she knew if he did leave her, it would make things ten times worse.
"Reno was at the club the night I found out about Karisa," she admitted. "He came home with me and we took her to the hospital together. He was the one who was with me when I called you. He came home with me again after we left the hospital that night. I just didn't want to be alone. I would have been perfectly happy to have you there but you weren't. I know that's not your fault and I don't blame you for anything. I know you got here as quickly as you could. Anyway, I kind of fell apart. I cried a lot and he reassured me, but nothing more than that happened. I swear to you Brent, it was nothing more than that. I just needed someone right then. It could have been anybody. I just needed a shoulder to cry on and he happened to be there."
Tifa stopped, looking at Brent, waiting for some kind of reaction. Abruptly he halted. She did to and they stood there for a moment looking at one another.
"I don't care," he said finally.
He didn't say anything else. She didn't know exactly what that meant. Did that mean...
"It doesn't matter," he finally continued. "I don't care what your relationship is with this guy, or if you have one at all. Your daughter is sick, and there's no room right now for any petty grievances on my part."
Tifa just stood there looking at him. She could hardly believe what she was hearing. This was the first time Brent had ever said anything like that before.
"You really mean that?" she couldn't help but ask.
"Yes, I really do," he replied. "Karisa is very sick. We have to focus on that right now. Everything else is unimportant."
Tifa felt like a boulder had suddenly been lifted off her shoulders. She had been so worried about what was going to happen, been so sure they were going to have a fight.
"Oh Brent! I'm so glad you feel that way," she said, grabbing him suddenly and pulling him to her. He slipped his arms around her again. "I was so afraid we were going to get into another fight, and I don't know if I could had stood it. I need you Brent. I need you so much."
"It's all right," she heard him say. "It'll be all right. I'll do everything I can. I promise you I'll do whatever it takes to help your daughter. Whatever it takes."
Tifa smiled, though she found she had tears in her eyes yet again. She didn't bother to wipe them away, just stood there feeling Brent's arms around her, and for the first time since this had happened feeling like she wasn't alone.