Author's Note: So this is the last chapter. I'm kind of sad, but kind of happy at the same time. I sat staring at the last sentance for a couple minutes trying to decide if that was really the ending or not. =P I WILL be posting more stuff soon, I promise. I have a oneshot I was writing for someone that I will finish and post next and then I have a couple more oneshot ideas in mind. I also have the basics of another chapter story floating around in my head. I want to thank you all for reading, I never ever guessed that so many people would be interested in some story that I cooked up and wrote, but then again it IS Reno we're talking about so ...that's what we're all here for. =P Anyway. Thanks so, so much for reading and especially for reviewing. I really appreciate the reviews, you guys are all exceptional. Love you all!! xD

They were already driving to the hospital when Reno came to. Elena was sitting with him in the back seat. Slumped against her, Reno's eyelids fluttered open and he groaned. Elena looked down at him the moment he made a sound. As soon as their eyes met, she bent forward and kissed him hard. He kissed her back before breaking away.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, "For everything."

"It's ok, it wasn't your fault." She held him close, happy to have her Reno back, but scared that she might still lose him. He leaned against her, staying very still with his eyes closed lightly, a pained frown on his face.

"It hurts, Elena," Reno's voice was barely audible, but clearly strained.

"We're taking you to the hospital now," she placed a hand on his forehead, feeling the heat that radiated from his whole body, "They'll take care of you."

"I hate the hospital…" he muttered.

By the time they arrived at the hospital, Reno was only half-conscious. Tseng insisted Elena be looked over even though she protested that she didn't need it.

"We can keep arguing about it if you'd like," Tseng had his arms folded sternly, "But who do you think is going to win?" Elena sighed and allowed herself to be led away by a nurse only after Rude planted himself next to Reno with obviously no intention of letting the redhead be taken anywhere by himself.

After being declared medically sound except for fatigue, Elena was allowed to rejoin the other Turks. Reno was settled comfortably in one of the hospital beds he despised so much, awake but slightly hazy.

"They took some blood samples, checked his pulse, gave him some pain killers, and told us to wait," Tseng told Elena as she pulled a chair over to the side of the bed so she could hold Reno's hand, "What's your status?"

"I'm fine," Elena said, a hint of smugness in her tone, "Just like I said."

"Better safe than sorry," Rude spoke up, looking at her seriously, without his sunglasses on for once, an extremely rare occurrence. Elena shrugged, and turned back to Reno who grinned up at her.

"Maybe I'll get some time off," he said in a loud whisper.

"Like you actually work when you're at work!" Tseng smirked and stuck his hands in his pockets.

"Hey, that's not fair," Reno frowned, "I try very hard. I'm just easily distracted. And Elena's quite distracting." Here he grinned wickedly. Elena rolled her eyes, but there was a smile on her face. Before she could reply, a doctor entered the room followed closely by a nurse. They were deep in conversation, their words dying off as the entered the room. Stopping at the end of the bed, the doctor just looked from one to another, a confused scowl on his face.

"Uh, this is very strange," he seemed to be struggling for words, "From analyzing the blood samples we stumbled across amounts of an unknown substance, possibly two. However, we were unable to isolate it or establish much information about it at all because it slowly vanished." The poor doctor was quite perplexed.

"So…is he ok?" Elena asked.

"Well yes, actually. He has a fever but it's not severe and hasn't gotten any worse for as long as we've been monitoring him. Other than that, there isn't anything abnormal about him. I don't know what this substance was however or where it came from or whether or not it will have any future side effects. We did manage to make a few observations but these are hardly conclusive." The doctor looked lost.

"Thank you for your time, doctor," Tseng said, steering the man away from any questions that might arise, "We're very grateful. We'll be taking him home now-"

"But we really should keep him here for observation," the doctor argued, "There is no way for us to determine what could happen, or even has happened to him."

"We shall keep a careful eye on him, and we will certainly let you know if anything odd occurs," Tseng's voice was stern, and clearly ended the conversation with finality. The doctor shrugged and muttered something inaudible although the word "Turk" could be heard. The man retreated quickly, leaving them with the nurse who had Tseng sign a few papers before she too left the room.

"So… I'm free to go?" Reno asked. Tseng nodded.

"Wait here for a minute, I'm going to step out and make a few calls." Tseng left the room, leaving the other three by themselves.

"I like to confuse doctors," Reno said smugly.

"It's just because you're so screwed up," Elena scoffed, "Not really something to be proud of." The redhead pretended to be offended.

"Why, Elena! That's very hurtful. You don't love me!" he cried out dramatically, flopping over so his back was to her.

"Oh, come on," Elena stood up and leaned over him to kiss his flushed cheek, "You know that's not true."

"Prove it," he shot back, trying not to smile.

"I shouldn't have to, you should just know." Turning back to her, Reno became serious suddenly.

"I know. I do." Before he could get any further, Rude cleared his throat loudly and when they looked over at the other Turk, he was pointedly enthralled in the view from the window which basically consisted of other buildings. Reno's eyes sparkled and he held back his laughter.

"Oh, Elena, I love you soooooo much!" he said in an exaggerated tone, wrapping his long arms around her neck and pulling her down so he could press his face against her neck. Rude turned on them with a glare. Luckily for Rude, or maybe Reno and Elena, Tseng came back at this point.

"I just spoke with Rufus," he said, giving Reno and Elena a strange look, "And while they obviously can't fire the man, he's going to warn him to leave us all alone in the future or risk getting a funding cut. It's not completely satisfactory, but it's the best we can hope for. Also, I retrieved the blood samples they had taken, just in case, and the notes they had on Hojo's drug. We may have our differences with the man, but at the end of the day we are still Turks and our job is to protect Shinra's best interests, which in this case means covering up for their deranged scientist's experiments."

"Whatever," Reno mumbled, rolling out of the hated hospital bed and on to his feet, taking just a moment to catch his balance, "I wouldn't let him get near any of us ever again anyway. Then again, he probably values his funding well enough to leave us alone."

"Hurray," Elena spoke sarcastically, "That's one less person who wants to kill and/or do horrible things to us that we have to worry about."

"Hey, we've all got each other, if no one else. So if the rest of the world wants to hate us, well screw them." Reno draped an arm over Elena's shoulders, looking very serious.

"True," Elena replied, and the others nodded in agreement, "Let's get you home. You may be feeling much better but you still have a bit of a fever. You need to rest." Reno rolled his eyes, but grinned and didn't complain.

Later, Reno was curled up in bed sleepily watching Elena as she went about the room, straightening things and getting ready for bed herself.

"Do you need me to get you anything?" she asked before settling down.

"Nope," Reno managed to untangle himself enough from the blankets to hold his arms out to her. Smiling, Elena climbed into bed and crawled over to him, settling herself in his arms. Sighing contentedly, he pulled her closer and closed his eyes, her head tucked under his chin. She reached up and placed a palm on his cheek, then felt his forehead with the back of her hand. He was still very warm, but the fever was definitely going down. Gently rubbing his chest rhythmically, she began drifting off to sleep quickly, exhausted.

"Elena?" His voice was quiet, still sleepy, but serious and thoughtful.

"Hmm."

"I will always have you here with me, right?"

"No matter what," Elena leaned up to kiss him deeply, "Forever."

Author's Note: So that's the end then. Even though this is the last chapter, don't forget to review! xD Maybe even if you haven't reviewed before you might could spare a minute or two to tell me what you thought of the story as a whole. I love getting those reviews. xD I promise to reply to each and every one, I know I've slacked off a bit lately. I can't reply to the anonymous ones, but trust me, that are just as treasured as the others! I hope to see you all back again for the new stories I hope to post soon!