"Ready to go?"
Tifa smiled wearily and nodded to Caraca. It had been busy as hell and as a result, the night had gone by very quickly. About the only good thing, in fact, of it being so busy was that it made the night pass by so fast, well, that, and the fact it put Bernard in such a good mood. If so, she figured tonight the owner must be absolutely giddy. She had been going nonstop practically since she had gotten here and she was dead tired. As she got her coat and pocketbook, she couldn't help but think about how great it would be to get home and flop into bed.
She followed the others out the door. Bernard locked up and with a wave to the others Tifa started on her way home. With the others heading off in different directions, she soon found herself alone.
The sky was overcast, a thick blanket of clouds above her head, though it was not raining. A good thing, too, considering how cold it was. Freezing rain was the worse kind, and she was in no mood to soldier through that sort of thing right now. Actually, considering how cold it was, it would probably snow, which wouldn't be as bad.
Pulling the collar of her coat tighter about her she continued on, determining not to worry about the weather. Beside the threat of precipitation, the clouds also blocked out any moonlight that might be available. As a result it was not only cold and overcast but darker than usual as well. The streetlights and the few cars that passed by this time of night provided the only illumination but still left pools of darkness yawning all around her.
Ordinarily this would not bother her. She had been walking home late at night for a long time now and was used to doing it. Very rarely had she ever been bothered and she had always been able to handle it. Yet for some reason she felt on edge as she walked tonight. The darkness might have had something to do with it, also the fact that she was so tired. At any rate, for some reason her mind, curse it, kept going back to the night she had gone out with Reno, and the little car chase that had ensued.
She didn't hold any illusion that Psi Co would just forget about what they had done. She could take care of herself but she couldn't fight the largest company in the world all by herself, or even with the help of Reno and Rude. Psi Co had jealously guarded it's little secret all this time, for however long they'd had a cure. Jealously guarded it because they knew if the general public ever found out they had a cure and hadn't told everyone that, well, the public backlash would be severe, to say the least. In fact, it could very well result in the downfall of the company. Thinking about it, that would probably be the best thing for her, to expose what Psi Co had been doing all this time, to make it public. Like she had told Dr. Quigley, Psi Co couldn't shut up everyone. The more people who knew, the safer she and her friends were.
She had thought of this already, to tell the truth. She had thought about going to the papers, try to get the word out. The problem was, she didn't know who she could trust. Sure, she could go to the newspapers, she could take this to the police, but Psi Co had it's fingers in everything. A lot of the newspapers were controlled behind the scenes by them, and almost all the police were in their pocket. If she went to someone who turned out to be a Psi Co flunky, they'd be dead.
No, that was just too risky. Right now their anonymity was the only thing protecting them. As long as Psi Co didn't know who they were, they were safe. Blabbing to the wrong person might do just the opposite of what she was hoping to accomplish, might lead Psi Co right to them.
Not to say, of course, that Psi Co hadn't already found out who they were. Would it be that difficult for them? The Turks had been well known in their time, and she hadn't exactly kept a low profile herself. After the whole saving the Planet thing, she was well known, perhaps even more so than Reno and Rude. If any of the cameras in Psi Co headquarters had gotten a shot of them, she didn't think anyone, much less the most powerful company in the world, would have too much trouble identifying them.
Even without the cameras, someone who had seen them might have recognized them. There were a number of ways Psi Co could have already found out about them, could already know who they were, could already know that she walked home from the Halo & Horns in the middle of the night, a perfect target, might be waiting for her around the next corner, might be out there somewhere, watching and waiting, ready to strike.
She glanced behind her. The streetlights cast pools of light on the sidewalk, but their illumination seemed feeble against the darkness, inadequate. There were shadows everyone, behind the stoops and railings, under the canopy that hung above the delicatessen across the street, between the cars lining the sidewalk, in the recessed doorways and narrow alleys that lit out onto the street all around her. There were shadows everywhere, and each one could hold a potential assassin.
It didn't take her long to realize how foolish she was being. Her pace had increased to match her nervousness, and now she deliberately slowed and forced herself to relax. Working herself up into a frenzy about this wasn't going to help the situation, and she wasn't one to panic, especially over a little bit of darkness. She had walked this route a thousand times. Tonight was no different from any other. She had no reason to believe that Psi Co had any idea who she was, much less had someone stalking her in the dark, and even if they did, if she ran into them she'd just kick the shit out of them, and that would be that.
No, it was stupid to let her mind dwell on things like that, especially since there was nothing she could do about it. She had to get home, right? This was the only way. She didn't have a car. She supposed she could take a taxi, but that would get prohibitively expensive very quickly.
It was better just to think about something else.
She still couldn't believe how busy it had been at work. She wasn't sure if that was the busiest night she had ever had but it had to have been close. The funny thing was it was only Thursday. Their busiest days were always Friday and Saturday. It wasn't like there was anything going in on the city, like a celebration or a holiday or something, something that would bring people into Junon.
She couldn't help but wonder if it had something to do with her, and the marquee in the front of the place.
She was well known, that was true enough. She had been a celebrity for a while. Everyone in AVALANCHE had. They were heros, after all, taking down Shinra, beating Sephiroth and saving the Planet. It had almost made her laugh, sometimes. She certainly didn't feel like a celebrity. Some of the others had, well, basked in it, at least for a bit. Yuffie came immediately to mind. She hadn't made any pretense about how she felt, how she thought it only natural that people should worship her, and the only thing she really seemed to worry about was why they hadn't sooner. Cid, too, was quite pleased with the turn of events. Though much less obvious about it than Yuffie, Tifa could tell he had soaked up the adoration. Barret too. Cloud and Red had taken it in stride. Vincent could have cared less. Reeve had seemed vaguely embarrassed by it all, just as she had. He, she suspected, because he hadn't been directly involved, had only been with them through Cait, and she thought he felt he really hadn't deserved the accolades they had received, as if he hadn't really been part of it, even though she had tried to reassure him that he had, she because, well, she wasn't sure why she had found it so embarrassing. She had never really considered herself to be anyone special, and had always thought they had just done what had to be done because it was what anyone would have done in their position, though she knew that probably wasn't true.
At any rate, the light of celebrity hadn't shone on them for long, at least, not on her and Cloud. When they went back to just being ordinary people, when the reporters realized they were just going to live their lives from here on in and weren't going to make saving the Planet a weekly occurance, they had soon lost interest. Which had been fine with her. As far as she had been concerned, they had never been anything more than a nuisance anyway.
That didn't mean, however, that everyone had forgotten about them. There were still plenty of people around who knew her name and her face. Plenty of people had come into the club and talked to her about the old days, about AVALANCHE.
There hadn't been any mention of AVALANCHE tonight. No, there hadn't been much conversation at all, at least, not the kind that could be repeated in polite conversation. The come ons had been exceptionally heavy tonight. Had been all week, in fact, but tonight in particular. There was no doubt in her mind the marquee out front had a lot to do with that.
She still couldn't believe it. The moment of truth was fast approaching and she didn't feel any better about it than she had when she had first agreed.
She felt a sudden shiver run through her body. She stopped, turning to look around, but saw nothing out of the ordinary, no one else on the street. Was it the cold, or the thought of a stalker, of the contemplation of what she was planning on doing tomorrow night that had brought that on? She wasn't sure.
Maybe it was a combination of all three.
With a silent sigh she continued on her way, determined to get home and get to bed, and not worry about anything else until tomorrow. Whatever was going to happen would happen, and by this time tomorrow night, it would all be over. She could at least be thankful for that.
Funny thing though, she really didn't feel very thankful and she suspected she wouldn't tomorrow night either, nor for a long time after.
There was no sense in dwelling on it. Right now she was just too tired to think straight anyway.
She looked behind her, as she had periodically throughout the trip. It was a habit she had acquired having to walk home all alone late at night. She had done this long enough to know that you had to be aware of your surroundings in situations like this. She had been doing it so long now, in fact, that it was almost second nature to her. She had been trained to fight, but that didn't mean she could just walk around unconcerned. It was always better to avoid a confrontation if possible.
She stopped. A movement had caught her eye, a shifting in the shadows back there as she had turned. She stared, but she saw nothing now. The street was empty behind her, there weren't even any cars going by on the road. Most nights, no matter how late she was out, there was always some traffic at least, even though the road she was on wasn't a main artery. The street seemed desolate and deserted. She could hear the sound of traffic father off, to her left, over toward Fulmont Avenue, but here, there was nothing.
For a few seconds that seemed much longer she remained still, but nothing stirred. Eventually, with a shrug she turned and continued on her way, chiding herself again for being nervous over nothing.
Eventually she reached her own block, and her pace quickened in anticipation of finally getting home and to bed. She reached her door and unlocked it, all thought of stalkers or assassins falling from her mind.
She stepped into her apartment and closed the door behind her. Turning she leaned back against the door for a moment, glad to be home where she could finally relax. The living room was dark, lit only by a faint light from the hallway. There was a night light for Karisa in the bathroom and Tifa knew that was the source. It wasn't surprising that was the only light on. Priscilla would often turn them off if she was tired, and Tifa had come home plenty of times to find the young girl asleep on her couch. Usually she left the television on though. It wasn't on now.
Nor was Priscilla on the couch.
That gave Tifa pause. She wouldn't wander around the place in the dark. Was she in Karisa's room?
"Priscilla?" she spoke.
"She's not here."
Tifa nearly jumped out of her skin at the sound of a male voice. She spun around, her fists coming up out of instinct at the sight of a man sitting at her kitchen table, shrouded in darkness, even though she recognized the voice immediately.
"Oh god Reno, you scared the shit out of me!" she exclaimed. She could feel her heart beating a mile a minute in her chest. "Where's Priscilla?"
Getting over the shock of seeing him there she felt anger begin to replace her surprise. What the hell was he doing here?
"I sent her home," Reno replied.
He hadn't moved, was just sitting there in the dark. She could barely make out his expression but he looked... serious. He wasn't wearing his usual sardonic smile.
Tifa didn't care about that, she just wanted to know what he thought he was doing.
"Sent her home?" she replied sharply. Who the hell did he think he was? She knew he could be a pain in the ass, she knew he was unpredictable, but he'd never done anything like this before. He better have a damn good explanation! "What do you mean, sent her home? What for? What are you doing here? Who said you could do that?"
She had a million questions to throw at him, but she realized she wasn't going to get an answer while she was talking.
Reno, however, didn't seem to be in any great hurry to respond. He just sat there staring at her in a very odd way. There was a glass on the table in front of him. It didn't take any great power of deduction for Tifa to surmise he had raided her liquor cabinet. What was his problem?
Instead of answering Reno stood up, picking up his drink he walked into the living room until he stood in front of her.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" he questioned.
Tifa just stood there, but suddenly she felt something twisting in her stomach. The look on his face, the tone of voice, the question itself, where all somehow very un-Reno like.
She just stood there, having no idea how to reply. Could it be that he...
"I stopped by the Halo & Horns this afternoon," he both interrupted and confirmed her thought.
Again she had no reply. Her stomach had gone beyond twisting and was now churning, in spite of any effort on her part to control it. Okay, he knew. It was out in the open now. She hadn't been sure how he would react if he found out. He didn't look happy about it, that was for sure.
"What the fuck do you think you're doing?" he repeated, his voice stabbing at her.
"I... I..." she stammered. For a moment she suddenly felt like a little kid who had been caught with her hand in the cookie jar. A moment later her own anger started to be felt. She wasn't a little kid anymore. She was an adult who could make her own choices.
"What does it look like I'm doing?" she retorted. "I'm helping you get the gil for your rent."
He just stared at her for a moment with a look of extreme distaste on his face.
"You know, you are so fucking stupid," he snapped.
Tifa's mouth fell open. What the hell was his problem? Here she was trying to help him and he was insulting her?
"Stupid? I'm stupid? Your the one with the problem! You're the one who can't pay his rent. And what have you done about it? Have you even tried to get the money? At least I'm doing something!"
"You call that something?" Reno shot back. "You're going to stand there in front of a bunch of sleezeballs and take off your clothes?"
"Well... what else to you expect me to do?" she snapped back, rage, frustration, and yes, embarrassment and shame all mixed up in her like some kind of lethal stew. What the hell did he expect from her? What was she supposed to do?
"I don't expect you to do anything!" he shouted. "I told you it was none of your business!"
"Keep your voice down!" Tifa hissed. She turned to glance toward the hallway, then back to him.
"Why the hell can't you just keep your damn nose out of my business!" Reno snarled, not seeming to be trying very hard to be quiet about it. "How many times did I tell you that I'd take care of it!"
"And just how do you plan on doing that Reno?" she retorted. "You don't want me to do this, fine! Tell me how you're going to solve it. Let me in on your big secret. Have you done anything at all to try to raise this gil?"
"I'll get it somehow!"
"How?"
"I don't know! Okay? But I'll think of something!"
"Oh gee, well, that makes me feel so much better! You'll think of something? And exactly when is this brainstorm supposed to take place? You don't have much more time you know. This is just so... Reno of you, you know that? You think you can just sit on your ass and everything will magically work out somehow?"
"Why not, it always has!"
"Has it?" she shot back, glaring at him. "Is this how you envisioned your life, Reno? Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but it looks to me like things are pretty bleak for you right now."
"I've been in worse positions," he stated. "Before I joined a gang I was out on the street with nothing. Not a gil in my pocket, but I managed to survive, I managed to pull myself out of it!"
"And how did you do that, Reno? By standing around and waiting for something to happen, by hoping the powers that be would smile upon you, or did you do something to help yourself? You're the one who told me that no one cares, that its up to you to look out for yourself cause you're not going to get a handout from anyone, so what are you waiting for? What are you doing to help yourself now? You got a job lined up?"
"I'm... making some progress," he replied.
"Oh, yeah, that sounds real hopeful," he replied. "Anything definite? Anything that will pay you the money you need by next week?"
He didn't reply.
"I didn't think so," Tifa replied. "Even if you got a job now, you probably wouldn't get a check in time. What about Rude, have you asked him?"
"He doesn't have it," Reno muttered
"Okay, so what then? What's the plan Reno? Do you know someone else you can borrow the gil from?"
"I told you, I'm working on it!"
"You keep saying that but you don't do anything!"
"You don't know shit, okay?"
"So tell me!"
Reno stared at her for a moment, then turned away from her.
"This is none of your freakin' business," he spate.
"I thought you wanted to be friends Reno. That's what you said you wanted, wasn't it? All I'm trying to do is live up to that."
"Not this way," he said.
"Then how? You think I want to do this? I swore a long time ago I would never do something like this. To tell you the truth, I don't even know myself why the hell I'm even bothering, considering the way you treat me."
"Good. So don't do it then."
"I won't if you can come up with a better solution!"
"Anything would be better than that!"
"Would it? If you don't pay the rent you'll be out on the street!"
"So what? It's not like that hasn't happened to me before. It's not the end of the world."
"You're not a teenager anymore Reno. You don't have a gang to fall back on. If you tried to join one now they'd probably laugh in your face. What are you going to do without someplace to stay? It's freezing out."
"There are places," he told her.
"Places? As specific as always I see. Well, I'm not going to let that happen to you. Not if I can help it."
"It's not going to happen," he said. "It's not going to come to that."
"Yeah, you keep telling me that but you don't tell me how?!"
"I'm not going to let you do it."
"You can't stop me!"
"I forbid it!"
Again, Tifa's mouth fell open. If he had deliberately intended to infuriate her he couldn't have done a better job than to tell her that!
"You what?"
"You heard me!"
She just stood there for a moment. She couldn't believe he had the gall to say that to her.
"Why you pompous ass! Who the hell do you think you are? You don't run my life! I'll to whatever the hell I damn well please and if you don't like it then tough shit!"
She turned away. Her face was red, she was so angry now. There wasn't anything he could possibly have said to tick her off more. If he was trying to talk her out of this, that was the wrong way to go about it.
She spun around to face him again.
"You know, its really funny. When we first met. When you first found out I worked at the Halo & Horns, you were practically drooling at the thought of me being a stripper. I'll bet if I had told you I was you'd have been there that night standing right in front just waiting for me to come out onto that stage. So what's your problem with this? What's the big deal Reno? What do you care if I show a little flesh? What business is it of yours anyway? This is just an ego thing, isn't it? Just because we made love once you think I'm suddenly 'yours'?"
Which was, of course, exactly what he thought, though he would never admit that to her.
"Is this how you treat your women, Reno?" she continued. "No wonder you've never had a lasting relationship."
"Look who's talking."
She looked daggers at him.
"No that's not it at all!" he said before she could respond. "You're the one who said you didn't want to do this. Not me!"
"So you don't give a damn whether I do or not? Funny, you could have fooled me from the way you're acting!"
He made no response. Just stood there. Damn. He didn't have a satisfactory answer to that.
"All right, all right! Please don't do it. There, does that make you feel better?"
It didn't.
"You still haven't given me any alternative," she said stubbornly.
"I...' he started, but stopped, knowing full well he had no alternative, that she was absolutely right, about everything. So right he couldn't believe it. Had some of his talents for reading people rubbed off on her? He hadn't thought of her as being this perceptive. Okay, time to think fast.
"I've got a friend who may lend me the money," he said.
That made her pause for a moment.
"May?" she said skeptically.
"Yeah, well, it's not definite yet."
"Well, when will it be?"
"I'm not sure."
"You need the gil next week," she pointed out.
"I know," he replied. "I'll talk to him this weekend."
"No, talk to him now."
"What?"
She walked over and picked up the phone, holding the receiver out for him.
"Now," she said. "Call him."
"It's two o'clock in the morning!"
"Do it!"
Reno stood there for a moment, his mind racing.
"I can't."
"Why not."
"He's out of town right now."
"You're full of shit."
Damn.
"You don't have any idea where you're going to get this money, do you?"
It was phrased as a question, but he knew it wasn't.
"I do know I'm not going to get it from you," he told her.
"Why not?"
"Because I'm not going to let you do that."
"You can't stop me!"
Silence. They just stood there glaring at one another. She didn't want to do it. That was true. And yet, the way he was acting almost made her want to just to spite him.
"Oh yes I can," he broke the silence, finally. He turned away, walking back into the kitchen, picking up his jacket which had been tossed across the back of the chair. He slipped in on with quick jerky motions that made it obvious he was still greatly pissed off.
Which was fine with her. Their conversation hadn't exactly left her in a sunny mood either.
He finished putting on his jacket, the turned and walked past her, toward the front door. He looked at her as be passed but didn't say a word, but she didn't like the grim look on his face.
"How?" she questioned. Was he leaving? Was he just going to walk out with this unresolved? Was he going to hide his head in the sand again?
"By getting the gil myself," he replied curtly.
"How?" she repeated.
"Easy," he replied. "There's plenty of places a guy like me can pick up some gil. There's a convenience store just down the block."
That gave her pause. That was something she hadn't thought of, that he might get the gil in some unsavory way. She wouldn't put it past him. It was an obvious tactic in fact. Foolish of her really, to not consider it. It also seemed like an incredibly stupid thing for him to do. All the more reason he was likely to do it.
Slowly she felt all her anger draining away, replaced by concern. Yeah, Reno was a Turk. He'd done some bad things in his day. He'd been in a gang when he was younger. Maybe robbing a store had been a common thing for him to do once. But, as she had told him before he wasn't in a gang now. Those days were long past him. He didn't operate like that anymore. When he was a Turk, everything had been meticulously planned, every detail considered and covered. She had seen it in their operation against Psi Co. This wasn't like that. To go off half cocked, to do something totally unplanned in the kind of mood he was in now, well, a million things could go wrong.
He had walked away from her, was reaching for the door now.
"Reno, don't."
She thought he might not listen, but he stopped by the door and turned to face her.
"Why the hell not?" he inquired. "I got nothing to lose."
She had thought she had the upper hand here. Obviously he couldn't force her not to do what she had planned. There was nothing he could do to stop her if she was determined to go forward, yet by the same token, she couldn't stop him from his intentions either. It was a stupid thing for him to do. She knew it and she was certain he did to but she was also certain telling him that would do no good at all. She could see by the look on his face she wasn't going to change his mind by telling him it was a bad idea.
"Reno, please."
He looked at her for a moment, but when it became evident she had nothing more to say he opened the door.
"All right!"
He stopped, turning toward her once more.
"All right what?"
She didn't reply at first, just stood there trying to think of some way around the situation, to think of some way to solve this little problem without conceding to his demands. As usual, however, when it came to crunch time, when the gears in her mind needed to be spinning at full speed, they instead seemed to seize up, causing her thinking process to grind to a very messy halt.
"All right," she repeated. All right. All right what? Wasn't that what he had asked?
"All right," she said yet again. What was she, a broken record? "I... I won't do it."
He didn't say anything. His rigid posture did seem to relax just a bit though.
"On one condition," she added.
He closed the door.
"What's that?"
"I won't dance if you promise not to get the money using illegal means," she said.
He seemed to mull this over for a long time. Was he now, thinking of some way to circumvent this proposal, just as she had been before?
"I'll think about it," he said eventually.
"No time for that," she said. "Promise!"
Again a long dragged out silence. Then, finally.
"All right."
This time it was her turn to hesitate. She hadn't been sure how he was going to respond. He was so contrary it always surprised her when he agreed with something she proposed.
"Really?"
"Yes, really. Happy now?"
She wasn't sure. Looking at him, his back rigid, his words clipped, she could tell he was still annoyed. That didn't matter though. What mattered was, could she believe him or not?
"Yes," she said slowly, wearily, and suddenly she realized she was dead tired. She had been exhausted when she left work, couldn't wait to get home just so she could collapse in bed. She glanced over at the VCR and saw it was almost two thirty in the morning. God, Karisa would probably have her up at seven. She needed to get some sleep.
"All right," she said, not realizing how many times she'd said that already in the last few minutes. "I guess... I guess I'll see you, then."
Reno said nothing, just stood there for a minute, then nodded, opened the door, and left. Tifa remained still, taking a moment to get used to the quiet. Finally she stepped forward, locking the door, then turned and walked into the bathroom, opening up the medicine cabinet and extracting two aspirin from the bottle she had there. She poured herself a glass of water and gulped them down, hoping it would ease the dull ache that was now throbbing between her temples. She hadn't had a headache when she had come home but then again, Reno seemed particularly adept at producing them.
She walked into the hallway again, stopping at the door to her daughters room and opening it a crack, peering in to see Karisa sound asleep in her bed. Tifa gave a small sigh of relief at that, thankful their little 'discussion' hadn't woken her. She closed the door and walked into her own bedroom. Not bothering to even turn on the light she peeled off her outer garments, letting them fall on the floor beside her and, pulling the blanket down, collapsed onto the bed. She couldn't believe how tired she was, yet even so, for a long time she lay there staring at the wall in front of her and the little red neon numbers on her clock on the nightstand beside the bed. In spite of how physically tired she was her mind was still going a mile a minute. She just had too much to think about, too much to worry about. A lot had happened and she was still trying to catch up. Reno had finally found out about her intentions. No surprise really. She should have known he'd be down to the Halo & Horns eventually. The truth was out, she didn't have to hide it anymore, at least. She thought she should feel a bit better about that but it wasn't much comfort. Would Reno keep his word? It didn't seem likely. She knew the kind of person he was, she knew he would pretty much say whatever he had to to get what he wanted. He'd lied to her plenty of times before and she should have no illusions that he would break his word now to if it suited him. Knowing Reno the way she did, one would think the question of whether Reno would keep his word would be the biggest question on her mind, and yet, for some reason it wasn't.
No, the biggest question on her mind was, would she keep her own?