It should be noted that the views and opinions of Reno do not reflect those of the author and her subsidiaries.

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“Aeris? Aeris, are you okay?”

His voice brought her back. Harsh anger lines melted away, her face softening as she smiled, the leftover tears gathering in her eyes taking the time to fall. “Yeah, I think I am.”

He frowned, hesitantly approaching her, hand extended. Reaching out, he tentatively took her hand in his, squeezing it reassuringly. “You sure?” he asked, giving her hand another squeeze. “Cause you’re... you know... with the crying.” He made a funny face, pantomiming tears with his other hand. She nodded, a fresh wave of tears coursing down her face, which didn’t help his distress in the least. “I’m sorry, okay? I’m sorry! Please, no more crying!”

“GOD! You’re so stupid,” she sobbed, smacking his chest when he just stared at her dumbly. “You’re supposed to hug me now.”

“You were yelling at me. Sort of kills the incentive,” he muttered as he gently pulled her into his arms.

“I wouldn’t yell at you if you weren’t such an idiot,” she grumbled, her voice muffled by his chest.

He smiled and held her closer. That simple action sent a wave of emotion through her so intense that she nearly choked on it in an attempt to stifle the tears. Every muscle in her body became painfully rigid as she tried to hold it all back futilely. He pressed her closer, enveloping her smaller form in his and suddenly the tension just left her. She let it all go, allowing herself this temporary relief. It would not last but it felt good to be held by him and for now she wasn’t going to be ashamed of that. Little did she know but at that precise moment his thoughts had run along the same lines.

Smoothing her hair, he looked down at her and sighed audibly. Aeris had never been the most predictable girl. She wasn’t like other girls, in more ways than one. It was what had attracted him to her in the first place. Right now, she was behaving a bit more like a normal girl, though in her own special way. He was sure once she was through with her tears, she’d probably beat the living tar out of him. Zack smirked, almost looking forward to fending her off. She was quite cute when angered.

He sighed again, eyes staring out blankly as he contemplated what he’d come here to do. Words had never been his forte. Action had always been his gig, but even as dense as he was sometimes, he knew that this time his words would have to speak louder.

Worse, this situation required the right words. Being that he and words had an uneasy alliance at best, not to mention the fact that he had a rich history of picking the wrong words, well... he was pretty sure he was humped.

With another, more determined, sigh, he pulled himself together and ruffled her hair, a surefire way to get her to look up. It worked like a charm. He was suddenly gazing into large, incredibly green eyes, wide and still wet with tears. In the moment, he became aware of just how young she was.

His next few words, hell, the next few sentences were the most important thing he would say in his life – and hers. Licking his lips, he felt a surge of almost giddy nervousness.

No pressure, Zack, Ol’ Buddy, Ol’ Pal. No pressure at all...

She was patting down her hair. He had at least five seconds before she started yelling at him. He took the opportunity.

“Hey, Aeris, I’ve been thinking,” he began, trailing off when his mind went unhelpfully blank.

“Yeah, I know. You said that already.”

The tone of her voice suggested rising annoyance.

“Well, uh, you know how you wanted me to quit working for Shinra?”

She nodded slowly. That had been a bit sore spot for both of them, one of the many things that had bogged the relationship down. She didn’t quite like the idea of starting a life with someone who was connected to the company that hunted her and was destroying the planet she sought to protect, and he didn’t really understand why she was so vehement about it, mostly because that when pressed, she refused to explain. It had irritated him. It wasn’t like he didn’t know she hid a pretty big secret. It wasn’t like he didn’t know the Turks were after her. Hell, he even knew who contracted the Turks in the first place. He’d wanted to hear it from her. He wanted her to tell him, not because he browbeat her about it, but because she wanted to tell him because she trusted him.

He’d read that in one of those magazines she liked so much, having read them non-stop since the day they’d broken up – though he’d never tell her in a million years.

And from reading those magazines he became aware of a vital fact. He realized they were both so damned stubborn, that neither of them bent, hence the argument became never-ending. That is, until two days ago, when Zack had an epiphany of epic proportions.

Things had been quiet even since the end of the conflict in Wutai. Accordingly, Shinra had to figure out what to do with their First Class Soldier Elite, as they were, technically, not needed anymore. At first, most of the things they’d been asked to do were right up Zack’s alley, which was to say any military assignment that was too dangerous for anyone else to do and required a certain amount of stealth and skill. They’d dealt with a few hostage situations, some limited SWAT work – not to mention the anti-terrorist initiative President Shinra had set up with them specifically in mind.

This was where the problems began. Shinra had decided that the Soldier Elite were to be the public face of Shinra. So instead of doing exactly what it was they were trained for, Shinra had relegated them to the level of your friendly neighborhood policeman: guarding dignitaries, patrolling the streets with a small contingent of grunts to fool people into believing they were safe... hell, Zack was sure they’d be rescuing kittens from trees pretty soon.

Sure, not being in constant danger was good. Doing good for people was... well, good. But that’s not what it felt like to him. He didn’t like being the public face of anything, and he knew everyone else in Soldier felt the same. They hadn’t gone through rigorous combat training and mako treatments to open malls and mix with celebrities. It was a mockery of what he felt Soldier stood for. All the sacrifices they’d made. All the battles they’d won or lost, and the friends they left dead in the field – it seemed like all of that was for nothing. He had joined Shinra’s army to be someone, to protect home and hearth... to be a hero. He didn’t join up to be a grinning mask on a poster.

What it got right down to was, he didn’t think he was doing good anymore. He felt like he was a small part of a larger machine. See, a long time ago, he’d been blind to the suffering beneath the plate, just like most people were who didn’t have to live there. Aeris had changed all that. He’d seen and he’d heard, and nothing could take that away, even when he tried hard not to think about it. Shinra was glossing it over and using the Soldier Elite to do accomplish their goal, in more ways than one. He saw that now.

It had started a few weeks ago. A riot had broken out at a peaceful demonstration in Sector 2. There had been a group of environmental rights activists and not just a few upper plate university students but a veritable battalion, who were protesting the quality of life under the plate. Specifically, they’d been concerned about what was in the water due to a rash of illness that had been traced back to a reactor leak that had spread through the municipal water treatment plant.

So a gathering had been held in what served as a park under the plate. The Soldier Elite, along with a contingent of grunts, had been sent down just to make sure nothing happened, but something HAD happened.

On the evening news, they’d reported the protestors had thrown rocks and bottles at the armed forces which justified the use of lethal force. Truth was, not one bottle or rock was thrown. A jumpy grunt had started to fire into the crowd indiscriminately and when they’d panicked and fought back, chaos had ensued.

Zack had done everything in his power to stop the riot, but he was only one man. By the time the dust settled, seven civilians had been killed – three of them students. A few grunts had been injured, but there’d been no fatalities on Shinra’s side at all.

But what stuck with him... the one thing he’d remember the rest of his life from that day was the image of a small child, clinging to its dead mother as it wailed. He’d come upon that child in the aftermath, and when he went to pick that child up, she cringed in fear and sobbed all the harder. He sat on the curb and watched her from a distance until a social worker came to collect her.

Minutes afterward, he’d been dragged into Shinra headquarters and quickly debriefed, and then promptly shoved in front of the cameras to explain what had happened to the press. He had lied to them; lied as smoothly and as coolly as a professional and it made him sick to his stomach. Looking out into those glaring camera lights but seeing the image of that cowering child, he realized that this wasn’t what he’d gotten into Soldier for.

That had been the beginning of his epiphany.

The exclamation point at the end of the epiphany had been the orders he just received this morning. They were being sent on some bullshit monster hunt in the boonies. Sure, they were also supposed to protect a crew of repair workers sent their to fix a malfunctioning reactor, but for the most part the mission was pretty much a bug hunt in the middle of damn nowhere. Correction, it was a bug hunt in the mountains of damn nowhere – Nibel-something. The only interesting thing about the mission was he’d finally get to work with the illustrious General Sephiroth. He’d heard the rumors about his power but didn’t believe half of them. Soldiers had a tendency to exaggerate. Still, whether the things said about him were true or not, Zack was sure there was loads he could learn from the Great Sephiroth. This, of course, was beside the point.

The whole mission was nothing more that pointless busywork, meant to garner more positive PR for Shinra. No doubt, when finished with the repair job, the story of their success would be “leaked” to the press, along with scads of impromptu photos of them mingling happily with the citizenry.

Shortly after having received those orders, the thoughts he’d been holding back broke through. Zack had always wanted a family eventually. Having a great job was a part of that because he understood that a family needed stability. He thought he found that at Shinra but more and more he wondered if that was enough. Sure, a steady paycheck was good but if that paycheck came at the expense of others, what kind of message did that send?

When he had children, he wanted to be proud of his job. He wanted to be a role model for them and he didn’t think he could do that working for Shinra. Besides, the woman that would be their mother (or so he hoped, anyway) wouldn’t approve.

That was the other thing he’d been thinking about. Whatever secret she held, he had plenty of time to find out and he could wait for her to tell him, because, really, he learned there was no other woman that was as perfect for him – not like she was. He couldn’t think of spending the rest of his life with anyone else.

Right now, he couldn’t promise eternity but he really wanted to try. And so... he smiled at the shocked look on her face. He nodded when she asked if he was really serious about quitting Shinra. And he hugged her close when she smiled brilliantly.

Abruptly, she pulled away, which disappointed him a bit, and graced him with a troubled expression. “Zack, why? Why are you quitting?”

Hell, she knew the answer and she knew that he knew that she knew and he wondered why she asked in the first place, but he supposed clarity was always important.

“You.”

“Me?”

“Mmhmm,” he hummed, nodding in affirmation.

“But... but WHY?”

“Because I was thinking that maybe... possibly... we could give it another go.”

“Wha—I don’t understand. You want to...”

“And I thought I was the dense one!” Zack chortled, ruffling her hair again while she huffed adorably. “I want you to give me a second chance. I was a jackass and I want to make it up to you.” He went silent, overwhelmed by his own words and the kernel of doubt that rested in his heart. Would she, could she forgive him? “If you’ll have me, that is.”

“A second chance...” she whispered, feeling equally overwhelmed and unbalanced. “What is this... is this your idea of a joke?”

He smirked a bit, tweaking her nose. “I’m always serious, no joke. I wanna be with you, and only you. After this next mission, I’m quitting Shinra. I thought of setting up a business down in the lower plate, bodyguard for hire sort of thing. Offer myself at a reduced rate to anyone what can pay, any amount – hell, I think I’d even work for free if it came to it. Point is, I want to help the people down there and... I figure what better person to protect them from Shinra and all the other monsters down there than me?”

Aeris looked at him doubtfully, shaking her head. There was no way she was hearing this, but the look in his eyes said otherwise. She’d never seen him so determined and suddenly the hope she’d felt so distantly as of late surged forward.

“You’re serious, aren’t you?”

“One hundred percent,” he affirmed. He turned away, his cheeks coloring uncomfortably. “You know, I can’t do this all alone. I thought that maybe there’s a certain business savvy flower-girl that might help me with the paperwork side of things, not to mention I could use a good healer. You know, being as prone to head injuries as I am.”

She exhaled heavily, and for a moment he was worried, but then she just looked up, shook her head, and smiled. “Fine, I’ll do it.”

“Do what?” he asked, swinging her around until she giggled. “Give me another chance or the business thing?”

“Both, you big doofus. Both,” she sang, fingers clutching his shoulders as she held onto him tightly. “Now let me down.”

He did, but he didn’t let her go. They talked quietly after that, making plans neither of them were sure would ever come to fruition, but it felt good to make them. It felt right. They were interrupted from their reverie by a harsh ‘Ahem’ coming from the entrance to the alleyway. There stood Reno, leaning against the wall, arms still crossed, glaring at them. He’d witnessed about half of the annoyingly tender reconciliation and could take no more, not if he wanted to keep breakfast down, anyway.

“Sorry, I’m interrupting,” he stated, clearly not apologetic in the least. “Aeris, don’t you have business to attend to?”

She stared at Reno, then Zack, and shook her head. “No, not really.”

“Pfft! Fine, I guess it ain’t none of my business that half your flowers have ‘walked’ away while you were makin’ kissy face with Spike over there.”

“You didn’t stop them!?” she accused shrilly.

“Maybe... guess you won’t know till you check,” he retorted smoothly, examining his nails with mock-disinterest.

Grunting, she turned back to Zack with an anxious look on her face, who immediately anticipated her thoughts. “Don’t worry, love. You go. I’ll see you later.”

“When do you leave?”

“In about a week.”

“Will I see you before then?”

“’Course! I expect you to be there to see me off,” he pronounced with a half-serious grin on his face.

“I’ll be there.”

“Good.” She turned to leave. He caught the triumphant smirk on the Turk’s face. Giving back as much as he got, Zack smirked in return and twirled the girl back into his arms, kissing her full on the lips until she was breathless. When he pulled away, he stage whispered: “I love you, Aeris.”

Still stunned from the kiss, her cheeks flaming red, she murmured back: “I love you too.”

The Turk’s narrowed eyes gave him a delicious sense of satisfaction. It was clear that Reno had designs on the girl. Aeris was, as always, oblivious. She’d never been able to tell when a guy had the hots for her, which was most of the time as she was a very pretty girl. And if Zack knew anything about pretty girls, it was this; they tended to have lots of guys sniffing around them, hoping to get lucky -- no matter how remote the possibility. Reno was no exception. Zack heard the rumors about him – the Turk was almost as big a ladies man as he had once been.

Her hanging out with someone like him didn’t set with Zack all that well. Not only because of his rep as a player, but because he was a Turk. They weren’t known for their scruples, they were known for their lack thereof. Clearly, the Turk had been acting as her bodyguard. He didn’t think Reno would have attacked him if he wasn’t. Question was why he was doing so in the first place? Something was definitely up, and if he had more time and if his relationship with Aeris wasn’t on such shaky ground, he’d be demanding answers right about now. As it was, he knew he’d have to trust Aeris. She had her reasons, no doubt, and it really wasn’t his place to question her. He’d never been the demanding, possessive type anyway.

Of course, this didn’t mean he wouldn’t warn the Turk off after he got back. It just meant he wouldn’t flip out and beat the living tar out of him in the alleyway – or ever really. And as he walked past the Turk, he smiled amiably, stopping in front of him to clap him on the shoulder... hard.

“Thanks for keeping an eye on her for me, man. I owe you one.”

“No problem, buddy,” the Turk sneered, shrugging his hand off as he paused for a moment before pointedly adding, “Heard you got a month vacation in Nibelheim. Hope you have a real good time and don’t worry, I’ll continue to keep an eye on her... as a personal favor from me to you.”

Zack smiled slowly, refusing to be goaded into a fight, even though it was sorely tempting. “You do that then,” he said before turning away to offer a final farewell to Aeris, who seemed puzzled by the tension in the air.

Reno watched the Soldier’s form fade until it was obscured by the distance and the crowd, his eyes narrowed dangerously. “Get tea-bagged, pooftah,” he snarled under his breath.

Clearly, he didn’t think he had been overheard and he was quite surprised by the not-at-all-amused cough behind him. Aeris glared at him with lips pursed, her eyebrows disappearing into her hair. “Well, would you like to explain yourself?”

Reno froze instantly. He remembered one of the old nuns that had tried to impart some knowledge into him during his brief, and mostly pointless, time in school. She had been an insanely thin old crone with beagle eyes and a hooked nose. Kids in class used to joke that the whole nun thing was a cover – they said she was a witch. Reno didn’t know from witches, but the old bat sure as hell was something that rhymed with it.

He remembered the look the Ol’ Heifer would get on her face when she glared at him with her good eye. It was that look that so many teachers wear when faced with a child that tried all patience; weary, exasperated desperation – as if they were hoping for an errant bolt of lightening to strike their tormentor, AKA their student, dead.

Right now, Aeris had the very same look on her face, though she wore it MUCH better. Really, he didn’t mind it so much on her, but for the fact that it reminded him so vividly of that old nun.

“Well, are you going to answer me?” Aeris pressed, trying her best to mask her impatience with him.

“Yes, Ma’am!” The squeakiness of his reply startled her into awed silence. Quickly gathering what pride he had left, he coughed and grunted lowly, as if to firmly assert his complete manliness. He crossed his arms and attempted to look serious. “What was the question?”

“What was that all about?” she repeated, not deterred or distracted by his strange behavior.

“What was what all about?” he asked in a parody of innocence, hoping to deter or distract her by way of confusion.

“Ha,” she laughed lightly, realizing he thought she didn’t notice. Typical man. “You actually thought I didn’t notice you two playing ‘quien es mas macho’ over there, did you?”

“HEY! I AIN’T PLAYIN’ TIN-ASS-MACHO NOTHIN’! I’M ALL MAN, BABY!” he shouted, instantly enraged at what he could only guess was an insult to his masculinity. “YOU WANT ME TO SHOW YOU HOW MUCH OF A MAN I AM--”

And with that, he prepared to unzip his pants and whip it out.

“OH, MY GAWD, NO!” Aeris cried, closing her eyes tightly and waving her hands frantically in the air, as if the action somehow would stave him off. “PUT IT AWAY! PUT IT AWAY! I DON’T WANT TO SEE IT!!”

She shouted like that for a good three minutes before she noticed he was laughing at her... hysterically.

In between gales of choking laughter, he managed to wheeze out: “Y-yu-yuh-you actually thu-thought I was... I wuh... I wus gonna...”

Her face took on the look of a constipated toddler, all red-faced and angry. “YOU JERK!” she exclaimed, smacking him on the arms repeatedly in a sad attempt to stop the peals of laughter coming from him.

Once she’d tired of walloping his shoulder and he stopped laughing, they left the alleyway. Aeris felt that she had a full day, despite the fact that it was well before closing time. She informed Mr. Fennyman of her decision and proceeded to take down her display with Reno’s begrudging help, of course. He’d been quiet for a few seconds which was always cause for worry.

After a moment, he spoke. “Hey, Aeris... what does tin ass macho mean? I mean, I get macho but the tin ass part? I don’t appreciate bein’ called names or nuthin’ and I ain’t no fruit...”

Had this been the first time he’d said something like this, she probably would have laughed uneasily, all the while praying he wasn't serious. Instead, she just shook her head at his ignorance and packed away her flowers. He wouldn’t give up and she tried her best to ignore him as he ceaselessly pestered her about the meaning behind what he considered a terribly mysterious insult. And as the last slat of her display was tucked away for the night, they meandered through the lavender hued evening, barely noticing the light fall of snow that powdered the world in a translucent glow as they headed for the small church.