Guilt’s Cost: Part LIX

Cat Out of the Bag

Reno had gotten back with Quigley around two in the morning. After getting Quigley settled back into his old quarters, Reno had slipped quietly back into his own. Angel was asleep on the bed and he crawled under the sheets next to her. She stirred slightly at the disturbance and turned over to see him. Once she realized that it was Reno she threw her arms around him. Although it hadn’t been a particularly dangerous mission that he’d been on, she had still worried.

"How’s about a little welcome home romp?" Reno asked, bringing his lips to meet the base of her neck.

Angel sighed and pushed him away. "Sorry, I don’t really feel up to it."

"What’s wrong?" Reno was confused. She never turned him down after a mission.

"Tseng is in the infirmary again." Angel sat up and turned on the light next to the bed.

Reno furrowed his brow. "What happened? Is it the old man’s heart again?"

"Yeah." She leaned back against the headboard. "He had a little surprise when Tifa and Cid got back from Mideel and it was enough to send him into another attack."

"Shit, that’s a pisser." He sighed. "So what was the big secret mission to Mideel?"

Angel smiled weakly. "My brother is alive, and they brought him back here."

"Whoa, Sephiroth is alive?" His eyes went wide.

She proceeded to tell him how the life stream had pulled him down in the North Crater and then washed him up in Mideel. "And now he’s a different person."

Reno remembered back to the time when he was first reunited with Tseng and he had told him about Sephiroth saving him. Reno had been the only one Tseng had told about Sephiroth being Vincent’s son other than Angel. "God Damn, who would have guessed? But about Tseng, is he going to be okay?"

"Dr. Arlin is doing surgery tomorrow. She is bringing in a cardiologist down from topside, and I’m assisting as well. He will be in very good hands." She said quietly.

Reno didn’t know what to say. It wasn’t like him to show the concern he felt over his boss’s plight so he suppressed it. "Go figure. Sephiroth…"

"He took on a different name in Mideel, since he had no memory of who he was he had to create a new identity. Jaras is his name now." Angel looked up at the ceiling. "I haven’t gotten to talk to him much yet, but he seems very quiet, reserved. Not at all like I would have imagined."

"And how is Tifa doing with all this? Did you tell her yet about Cloud?" Reno asked, unusually serious.

"No, and I’m not going to be the one that has to, either." She frowned. "If Tseng wants to send her into that God forsaken lab to get Cloud, then he’s going to have to tell her. I’m not putting her through that heartbreak, no way."

"Sounds like Tseng ain’t in much of a position to tell her right now either." Reno laid back on the bed with his hands behind his head.

"It doesn’t matter anyway." Angel’s contempt for the situation was obvious. "That mission isn’t going to happen until Tseng’s better anyway. That’s one that is going to have his personal approval before going on. How can he possibly expect Tifa to go through that? I mean, maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if my father could go to support her, but alone? That is just too unfair to her!"

Reno thought for a moment. "Maybe Daddy can go."

Angel looked at him in confusion. "What do you mean?"

He smiled slyly. "If we need Vinny to keep Tifa from doing something stupid, then we have to have him. I could care less about Tifa going back to Cloud if she chose to if Vinny wasn’t in the picture, but he is and I know it would bother you. Since I can’t stand to see my woman hurt like that, I’m going to have to intervene."

"Reno, what are you suggesting?" She dared to ask.

"You know what I’ve got in mind. Vinny’s comin’ out of the fucking box. If that means I have to zap him every once in a while to keep that demon in him in check, then that’s what I’ll do." Reno was quite pleased with his plan. Defying orders was, after all, his specialty.

"Tseng will have your hide for this!" Angel was not one to go against her uncle’s wishes, and knew that Reno was in for the reprimand of his life if he did what he was suggesting.

"Fuck him." Reno rolled over on his side. "I’ll do whatever I want. I practically run this operation anyway."

"Just because you’re my uncle’s right hand man doesn’t give you license to do what ever you want." She reminded him gently.

He looked back over his shoulder at her briefly. "Well honey, that’s what I’ve got you for. He wouldn’t dare fire me or anything, knowing that it would piss you off. Like it or not, Tseng thinks the sun rises and sets in you."

Angel shook her head with a smile on her face and turned off the light. Somehow she knew that Reno was going to do this just as much for Tifa and Vincent as her. There were times when his righteousness almost made up for his crude persona. She snuggled down and put her arm around him. "I love you."

"Yeah, I know." Reno said proudly. "All the ladies do."