Guilt’s Cost: Part XCIII

Lunch Date

Upon leaving the ASRIO team in the hotel, Porter had slipped back into his office just outside the lab doors unnoticed. He sat slumped at his desk, staring again at the Death Penalty that he had taken from Vincent. When lunchtime rolled around, Porter had gone up to the accounting department with the escort of his dog to check on Rayna.

He found her buried in a mountain of papers as she tried to distract herself by working but by the frazzled look about her it wasn’t working too well. Porter came over and leaned onto her desk, smiling down at her. She didn’t even notice that he was there until he cleared his throat.

"Oh, Porter!" She said, brightening upon realizing he was there.

His grin widened. "I thought I would just come and check on you, in light of this morning’s events."

"I’m okay…" Rayna sighed, still in disbelief and shock over all that had happened.

"Do you think that you’ll be able to get away for lunch?" Porter asked.

She looked disdainfully at the papers piled around her, but shrugged. "I shouldn’t, but what the heck, let’s go."

Porter stepped back as she threw her jacket around her shoulders and grabbed her purse. He took her by the hand and led her from the building. Once out on the street, Rayna seemed to relax. She slipped her arm around his waist and nestled into his side.

Porter felt better having her this close and draped his arm around her shoulders as they walked. A shiver ran through his body and a blush came to his cheeks as he remembered their encounter from the night before. Even after that and the ordeal of the morning courtesy of Hojo’s interference she was still holding on to him as though he was the most important thing in the world. Despite the fact that come tonight he may very well lose his life, Porter couldn’t help but smile.

They walked to a nearby dinner and sat down. It was yet another establishment that had learned not to harass the Turk about bringing his dog in with him. Once settled in and having ordered, Porter placed his arm around Rayna who shared the same side of the booth as him.

She looked up at him, her expression one of worry. "So what’s going on?"

"ASRIO is here to get Tifa and Vincent out of Midgar. Since Hojo let Tifa go this morning they’re half way there, but they are going in tonight to get Mr. Valentine." Porter said quietly, not trusting anyone around them.

"But the implant in me, how did you know?" She searched his eyes for any comfort.

"Mr. Valentine told me not to put it past Hojo to do something like that, and so in curiosity, I asked him." Porter looked away, not wanting her to see the pain the memory of the day before caused him. "He made no attempt to hide it and told me flat out that if anything happened to him that it was there and would kill you."

"How long have you known?" She asked.

Porter dropped his gaze down to the table’s surface. "It was yesterday."

Suddenly the reason that Porter had shown up at her doorstep last night so upset and having drunk was revealed. Somehow she had convinced herself that he had been acting so strange because he had come to some sort of epiphany about his feelings for her. Rayna looked away and sighed. "So that’s what was wrong last night…"

"Once he told me that, I went a little crazy. I found Rude and we went out and talked for a while. I told him what had happened, and he warned me not to seek help from ASRIO, but I didn’t know what else to do." Porter’s voice wavered a bit. "If anything had happened to you, I never would have been able to forgive myself."

She brought her eyes back up to meet his. Something burned so deeply within him that she felt her heart race. He was risking his own life in order to save hers. There had never been a man on earth that would have done that for her. "Porter…"

He saw the first hint of tears come to her eyes and he couldn’t help himself. Porter leaned forward and kissed her. Maybe they hadn’t been going out that long, but somehow Porter knew that there was something far different with his relationship with this woman than any other he had gone out with before.

Their kiss was cut short as the elderly waitress dropped the plates containing their salads on the table. She rolled her eyes at the sight of the two young people openly displaying emotion and walked back towards the kitchen muttering something about ‘those damned kids’.

Porter and Rayna both broke into a short laugh at her comment, feeling again self-conscious about themselves. Having overslept they had been forced to skip breakfast in their mad dash to get to work today and they quickly downed their salads, eager for their lunches to arrive.

Despite the nervous tension they both felt, they ate well when their meals finally arrived. Once the empty plates were pushed back to the edge of the table, Rayna turned to Porter again. "So what happens now?"

He lost his smile. "I’m going to help them get Mr. Valentine out tonight."

"But you could be killed!" Rayna’s voice was desperate.

"It’s a risk I have to take." Porter had to look away again. "If it weren’t for Mr. Valentine and ASRIO that implant would have stayed in you God knows how long, and you could have died. I owe him this for saving you. I have to help them."

"But what then? Certainly you won’t be able to stay in Midgar, Hojo would have you killed!" She moved closer to him.

"I know," Porter hung his head, "I’ll have to leave with the ASRIO team. Maybe they will have a job for me."

"And what about me?" She felt tears in her eyes again. "You can’t just leave me here! Say that I’m going with you!"

Porter furrowed his brow and gazed down into her dark eyes. "Of course you are! That was what I intended all along! That is, unless you didn’t want to go."

"I do!" Rayna smiled to hear that he wasn’t abandoning her. "I hate Midgar, the only reason I’m here is because the company transferred me from the office in Kalm. I have nothing here without you."

"Just go home tonight after work. Once we have Mr. Valentine out I’ll make sure to come for you. Be ready, all right?" Porter wiped away the stray tear running down her cheek.

"I will." Rayna said, soon finding herself kissing him again.

For a second time they were broken up by the waitress as she tossed their bill onto the table.

Porter checked his watch, confirming what he already suspected to be true. "Time to go back."

They paid and left the restaurant, walking back slowly to the Shin Ra building. Rayna was in turmoil over the thought of what might happen to him that night. "Porter?"

He stopped and turned to her before reaching out to open the building’s door. "Yes?"

"Be careful." She said, looking down at the ground.

Porter took her in his arms and smiled. "I will, don’t worry. I love you."

Rayna produced a smile she wasn’t really feeling. "I love you, too. I’ll be waiting for you tonight."

He kissed her briefly and then stepped back. "I’ll be there."

They made their way into the building and back to their respective floors. The Turk spent several more hours in his office forcing himself to complete some reports which he eventually took up to a different department. Upon returning, Porter stopped short of his office door, deciding that it might be a good idea just to check in with Hojo to see what he was up to. He slid his pass card through the lock and stepped inside.

Hojo was again seated in front of his microscope, having abandoned Vincent to his madness for the time being. He gave passing notice to the Turk’s entrance and addressed him without turning to face Porter. "Go check on Mr. Valentine for me."

Porter replied wordlessly by nodding and went over to the short corridor that led to the room holding Vincent. He unlocked the door and peered inside to find Vincent no longer strapped to the table and again with some form of intact body. Vincent was still laying on the floor perfectly still where Hojo had ordered him to collapse. His insane laughter had ceased and he now simply lay unmoving on the floor, gazing up blankly at the ceiling over him.

Porter was concerned that he might be dead and stepped inside, allowing the door to close behind him. He walked to where Vincent was and stared down at him. "Mr. Valentine?"

Vincent made no response, just continuing to look into nothingness. His mind was completely devoid of anything now; his consciousness too frightened of anymore suffering to resurface.

Porter was at least relieved to realize that Vincent was breathing. Why he was motionless and unresponsive still concerned him, however. Whatever the problem might be, Porter didn’t feel that he should leave the pathetic man laying on the floor as he was and he stooped down to pick him up.

Vincent on his own wasn’t a heavy man, but with all the metal that Hojo had added to him he now tipped the scales at well over two hundred pounds, and Porter seriously had his doubts that he was going to get him back into the bed. With a significant amount of straining, the Turk did manage to get Vincent back into the bed, and tried to lay him out in some manner that looked comfortable. That done, Porter picked the sheets up off the floor and draped them over Vincent.

"Tifa is safe now. She is with your ASRIO friends. They got the implant out of Rayna, and I owe you my thanks." Porter said.

Vincent may have heard, or may have not. His face didn’t betray anything and his lips were tightly closed. Vincent was starting to remind Porter of Cloud’s lifeless yet living form.

Porter hung his head, having no idea what had transpired between him and the scientist to cause this. He hoped that it was only temporary whatever it was. "They are coming for you tonight."

With that, Porter walked back out of the room and into the main part of the lab. Hojo had moved from the microscope and was fiddling around inside the refrigeration unit, preparing to transport his precious embryos to the other facility.

Porter went over to where he was working. "Mr. Valentine seems to be catatonic."

Hojo scoffed. "Yes, he has decided to give madness a try. But he’ll be back."

"Oh." Porter looked back towards the door to Vincent’s room.

"Porter, I will be needing you to escort me to the other facility tonight." Hojo said, turning back to face his guard. "You may leave at five, but I will want you back here by eight."

"The other facility, Sir?" Porter was caught off guard by this.

"Yes, you simpleton, Department Two." Hojo narrowed is eyes at his Turk in annoyance.

Department Two was the name of Hojo’s second lab in Midgar up on the plate. Porter hadn’t been there in some months now and was glad that the reality was that he wouldn’t be going back. By the time eight rolled around, he and the ASRIO team would already have come and gone. The scientist’s other lab was an eerie place, located within the bowels of the old Reactor Six. The place reeked of Mako and was dark and unnerving. Hojo would vanish for weeks at a time doing God only knows up there. Porter had a feeling he didn’t want know.