All for Love

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Part 2: Chapter 13: Finale

Adrienne entered the room as Rude's coffee cup flew out the window. Reno dusted his hands off with a satisfied grin. The blonde woman just blinked.

"Overtime?" she asked her husband.

"Got it in one," Reno mumbled, walking back to his desk.

"You owe me a coffee cup Reno," Rude mumbled.

"What, like the other five I owe you too?"

Rude just grunted and went back to his work. Reno turned his gaze to Addy.

"Tseng wants you to do a reactor check on number one by the way. Though I'd tell you now before I forgot."

Adrienne sighed. "Alright."

"I'll go instead if you want?" Reno offered.

Adrienne waved a hand. "Nah I'll go in a little while." With that she went to her desk, pulling a little book out of her desk drawer. She then began writing in it.

"You know, it might get done with you just sitting there," Reno grinned.

Adrienne stopped writing for a second and smiled. "You and your delusional thoughts Re."

"Hey! It might!"

"I can't see it happening though," she said as she began to write again.

"Hey Rude! Got another coffee cup?" Reno said casually.

Rude began to hide the one he had just found. "No," he said.

Reno stopped the cup and gasped. "Liar!" With that, he proceeded to try and obtain the cup.

Adrienne sighed, putting the book away. She went off to do the Reactor check, leaving the 'boys' to play throw the cup out the window.

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It took a little over half an hour to reach the Reactor's main doors. She signalled for the guard to let her in. The guard gave her a friendly nod and opened the main gate.

Adrienne hated reactor checks. it involved finding the main engineer on the site, which wasn't as easy as it sounded. They always moved around the reactor non-stop for their entire shift, making them difficult to find.

Her thoughts began to wander as she walked around the reactor.

I wonder if I should give up being a Turk. I can stand to be a house wife, a lot more safer than this job, she thought with a small grin. Seriously though, it'd be nice. She began day dreaming about having a huge house where her children could play around in the garden. She'd look out the kitchen window and smile as they messed around, making each other laugh. She pictured the other child being a girl, with long curly blonde hair, bright blue eyes, giggling every few minutes in a sweet way.

Adrienne smiled, her eyes drifting to her stomach. I could live with another boy too. It'd be nice for Cal to have a little brother to play with. She giggled as she pictured a little boy, near identical to Callum, playing with a little toy truck. She shook her head to get rid of the image. Job to do Addy, stop thinking girl.

She walked to the main control room of the reactor. Not finding the engineer there, she made her way to the reactor core.

Wonder what Re will say to having another kid? she wondered. Probably be over the moon like last time. He'd better be. She giggled again, relieved that there was no one around to call her mad. The grin didn't shift from her face. So what? I'm allowed to happy once in a while right?

She reached the reactor core, finding the engineer tweaking some dials on the main computer system. Adrienne gave a polite cough to gain the man's attention

The brown haired man turned a bit startled then gave a smile. "Reactor check?" he asked. Addy gave a nod.

"They volunteered me to come down," she said with a groan. The engineer gave her a look of sympathy and began walking back to the main control room. Addy followed him.

"I know if I was a Turk I wouldn't want to come down here," the man offered, trying to start a conversation.

"Tell me about it," Adrienne mumbled. "Well it was either this or nothing."

The engineer laughed. "Man, you Turks are always so busy."

Adrienne grinned. "Of course we are. When I'm not doing random reactor checks, I normally either sit there, sit there and drink or sit there and read. Lots of choices."

The man laughed again. "Sounds like fun."

"Oh it is," she giggled a little.

The two of them reached the control room a little while later. The engineer wasted no time in making a print out of the reactor levels. As he was doing so, he glanced at the security camera TV that monitored certain areas of the reactor. As the screen flicked to the reactor core, he noticed some people running away from it.

"Hey! Come here a minute," he asked Adrienne.

"What is it?" she asked as she walked over.

He pointed to the screen. "What do ya make of that?"

Addy gazed at the TV watching the replay of the footage the engineer had been looking at a few minutes ago. She looked closer at the core, watching what the blonde haired man was doing. As he walked away, she caught on what he'd been doing.

"A bomb," she mumbled lifelessly.

"What?" the engineer said, a little shocked.

"They planted a god damn bomb!" Adrienne said loudly as she reached out for the nearest phone. Dialling the number numbly, she waited for someone to pick up.

"Reno here," came the voice.

Adrienne was silently glad. "Re?" she said in a quiet voice.

"What's a matter Addy?"

"Avalanche.......... they...... they've planted a bomb in the reactor," she said dazedly. Of all her years of being a Turk, she'd never been this scared in her life.

"Where are you?" she heard Reno asked in a panicked voice.

"In the control room."

"What are you still doing in there!?"

"I-" she started before Reno cut her off again.

"Never mind that, just get out of there Addy, ya hear me?"

Adrienne looked over to the engineer, the look on her face saying everything. Can we get out......

The engineer shook his head. "We'd have another three minutes at most," he said sombrely.

"Addy? You still there?"

"Re........" she trailed off. A tear dropped down her cheek. "I- I'm sorry."

Even though she knew it was coming, the explosion still shocked her. She stared open mouthed as the mixture of searing hot reds and whites came towards her.

Reactor One blew up at ten PM, taking with it anyone that was in it at the time.

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Reno stared at the handset of the phone as the explosion rocketed the whole of Midgar. The flat dead tone the phone was making was nearly deafening to the redhead's ears. He didn't blink for several minutes, but when he did, a tear escaped the corner of his eye.

Rude stood up from his desk and walked over to the window where Reno was standing. He didn't have to ask what the matter was, it was clear in front of his face. Reactor One was up in flames. Avalanche had struck again, after three years of nothing.

"Reno....." Rude began, but didn't know how to finish.

Reno let the receiver of the phone fall out of his hand. It hit the side of the desk with a thud, rocking from side to side.

"She's......." was all Reno said, his voice seemed empty. He didn't say anything else as he walked out the room ignoring what Rude was trying to say to him. She's gone......

Reno walked out of the office, nearly bumping into Elena, who had Callum with her. The blonde cocked her head to the side as she saw the look on Reno's face.

"Re what's-"

"Callum, come here," he said in a toneless voice. Without objection, the little red head walked over to his father.

Without another word, Reno bent down so he was level with his son and hugged him with all the strength he had left. It was then the rest of the tears fell.

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Fini