Epilogue

It was hard to believe that only a week had gone by since Elena had last walked up the front steps to the Healin Lodge. It was with a private smile that she reflected on the past seven days as she swiped her keycard through the reader and palmed open the wood-panelled door in a routine of familiar movements. She had the sense somewhere in the pit of her stomach, for the first time since leaving the hospital, that life was genuinely getting back to normal after what felt like a very long period of turmoil that had been masquerading as a nightmarish normality. Actually, she corrected herself as she took another bite from her apple, things were better than back to normal; the situation had progressed to a point whereby normal service was resumed, and then some.

Elena was almost too absorbed in her newfound contentment to notice the scene in the reception area. She stopped, mid-step, the door swinging closed behind her with a loud click followed by the usual muted beep of the electronic lock resetting itself.

Sitting in the receptionist's swivel chair, with the chair's more likely occupant displaced into his lap, was Reno. He was rocking the chair idly from one side to the other whilst grinning flirtatiously up into the eyes of a young woman. Elena blinked, wondering why it was she couldn't remember there ever being a receptionist before she had taken leave. To cut costs, the regular security personnel had manned the desk on a rotating schedule. Elena wasn't sure what it was that made her think this woman was a receptionist; perhaps it was the thick-rimmed, designer glasses paired with the freshly pressed, open-collared white blouse of a new employee who was trying to make a good impression that gave it away. Or perhaps it was that she clearly wasn't a Shinra soldier, nor was she a Turk, which left only the possibility that she was a desk clerk of some sort. She was too much a part of the furniture, quite literally, to be a visitor; even Reno wasn't that forward. She had an arm draped around Reno's neck and was smiling dreamily back at him. Reno, it seemed, had not lost his touch with regard to seducing company secretaries.

"Good morning, Elena," Reno addressed her, evidently not in the least bit fazed by her arrival. He spared her a glance that feigned a welcome and Elena took the brief, overdone smile he flashed her way to mean that she was to disappear so that he could devote his full attention to more important things.

"Reno," Elena replied levelly, as though she were merely passing him in the corridor. She resumed walking once more, the high heels of her boots clunking on the wooden floor. Normal service, it seemed, was resumed in every sense of the word.

As she reached the Turks' office, Elena found herself suddenly anxious at the prospect of seeing Tseng. She might have woken up with him in his apartment that morning before coming into the office via her own home, but encountering him at work for the first time was always going to be strange.

"Elena," he intoned flatly as she crossed the threshold, barely within his line of sight. Rude was at his desk, ramrod straight as always, sipping at a mug of coffee. He glanced up at her with a nod as Tseng spoke.

"Tseng, sir," Elena replied, striking her usual balance of respect and seriousness. "Rude."

"It's good to have you back. I trust you've had a restful week?" Tseng raised an inquiring eyebrow. He didn't once break his gaze from his computer screen as he spoke.

"I have, yes," she said, unable to hinder a muted smile. Tseng's dark eyes switched wordlessly to her for a few moments, divulging nothing. It was hard yet oddly pleasing to believe how differently they had looked upon her only an hour ago, from a distance that was less than a quarter of that which separated them now.

"Good," he replied. "Because you're going to need a fresh mind to get through that lot." He directed a brusque nod towards the two sizeable stacks of files and papers on Elena's desk.

"By the end of the week?" It was shamelessly optimistic, she knew.

Tseng pulled a smirk that reached right up to his eyes.

"By tomorrow afternoon."

"Right," Elena nodded once, sitting down abruptly in her chair. Talk about crashing back into reality, she thought soberly. Even after the events of the past week, Elena detected a slight chill run down her spine at Tseng's professional detachment. As close as she had become to him, there was no telling with Tseng whether his demeanour was pretence or reality. That was probably one of the reasons he made such an effective Turk. Elena had expected no less of him; she might have been something of an idealist at heart but it was through that particular trait that she had learnt to be very much a realist when it came to her working life. Elena spared a glance over at the inscrutable façade that was the face of her lover and breathed a shallow sigh. At least it kept things fresh and interesting this way, she supposed.

Several hours later and it was as if Elena had never been away at all. The four of them were at their desks concentrating on various bits of paperwork, some more dutifully than others, naturally. It was during quiet periods like this that the Turks had a chance to catch up on the administrative side of the job, although they never lasted for very long. There was always something or someone to keep tabs on and Rufus liked to have an ear permanently to the ground.

Elena had just opened the next folder in the overflow pile beside her in-tray when Rufus strolled into the office. He had had a busy day of meetings and it showed: he had shed his jacket and was thus stripped down to his grey waistcoat, his shirtsleeves rolled casually up to his elbows. He checked the white, ceramic-link watch fastened loosely around his left wrist as he moved to lean against the front of Reno's desk on one hip.

"Things are looking up," he said, folding his arms in a delicate, deliberate manner. "The investment deal with the last of G-Oil's shareholders has gone through."

Reno was the first to react, snorting an impressed laugh. "You actually got those guys to sell?" Rufus smiled in smug self-satisfaction, without turning to face Reno. "Of course you did," Reno answered his own question. "You're Rufus Shinra."

"Quite," Rufus replied. "Rufus Shinra who now owns fifty-one percent of G-Oil. Our dear old acquaintance, Mr Tuesti," he went on, dusting a fleck of fluff from his waistcoat with his index finger, "now stands at forty-four percent. So the monopoly on G-Oil together with the additional refinery sites we've already coveted will do just nicely." There was an ending to his sentence that was spoken only by the scheming glint in his eyes: – in my quest for world domination. Rufus might have been trying to make right his past wrongs but it could always be relied upon that he would go about it just as he went about everything: with calculating conviction.

"And Barret Wallace?" Tseng queried. He was leaning back in his chair, a congratulatory smile on his lips as he watched the President.

"He's not returning my calls," Rufus replied. "But it's always good to have a rival – especially an old one. It stops one from becoming too complacent."

"So you're not gonna try to muscle in on his oil investments?" Reno asked.

"Not for now," Rufus shrugged. "But never say never."

Rufus paced back towards the door. "Well, I just thought I'd share the good news before I call it a day."

"Never could resist an opportunity to brag, huh, sir?" Reno jerked his eyebrows up and down in a joshing grin. "But who'd blame you."

Elena always inwardly cringed when Reno joked with the President. Had he been anyone else she knew with certainty that he would never have gotten away with it. But Rufus, for all his affected aloofness, which to give him his due had calmed somewhat since Shinra's partial demise, wasn't above Reno's kind of banter. At least the redhead always wrapped it up with a deferential 'sir' for good measure.

"Oh, was it that obvious?" Rufus sighed, feigning disappointment. He seemed to be about to leave when he turned to the Turk. "Ah, one thing, Reno," he said suddenly, a teasing depth entering his tone.

Reno's attention visibly pricked as he waited for Rufus to continue. Perhaps he wouldn't be getting away with the joke, after all.

"My father and I might have disagreed on many things," said Rufus, his gaze going nostalgically out of focus for a few seconds, "and there was many a finer point about which he was mistaken, but I can say with some certainty that his policy on inter-staff relationships wasn't one of them." His eyes were suddenly engaged once more, and settled damningly on Reno. "Especially those within the same department."

Reno shifted in his seat, making it squeak. Elena was just thankful that the attention was on him as she felt herself pale in response to what Rufus had just said. She shot a surreptitious glance across at Tseng, who held her gaze for no longer than a heartbeat before shifting his focus elsewhere. Elena wasn't sure what it was about their unspoken exchange that drove a cold jolt of fear into her gut.

"I thought you'd relaxed that particular policy?" Reno replied, evidently taking some pains to avoid sounding like the smartass he was. "And Fran isn't technically in our department."

Fran, Elena had learnt since arriving that morning, was Rufus' new PA. It was her Elena had seen Reno with at the reception desk.

"She's close enough," Rufus replied. "And I'm sure I don't need to expressly remind you of current company policy, Reno. Inter-staff relationships are, at bottom, destructive and unconducive."

Despite that Rufus' unyielding gaze was fixed on Reno, Elena listened as though Rufus were speaking to her personally. Of course, it wasn't totally improbable that he wouldn't be saying the same thing to her and Tseng at some point down the line no matter what lengths they went to in order to ensure that the President never had reason to. Her eyes wandered in Tseng's direction once more to find him watching the exchange with his arms folded in what she would have said was silent support for the President's displeasure. Of course he was: it was his job as the Turk Director to enforce company policy within his department. Elena tried not to think, not to over-analyse when it was impossible to tell what Tseng was really thinking. She tried even harder not to give into the heavy feeling of insecurity that was growing with every syllable that came out of Rufus' mouth.

"Yes, sir," Reno replied. He knew when it was wise to admit defeat. "I'll sort it." Rufus gave a single nod in response and left.

"You mean you'll sort it with a booking for two in the Honeybee," Rude muttered, once he was sure the President was out of earshot.

"So what if I do?" Reno smirked. "I'll just have to be more discreet from now on. It's not like he can talk when he's carrying on with his personal physician – and has been doing for who knows how long."

Elena blinked. So that was common knowledge now. She should have known it wouldn't take Reno long to nose around enough to discover the identity of Rufus' mystery woman. Information retrieval was one of his fortes, and not just in the professional sense.

"Just so long as you know you're treading on dangerous ground," Rude replied nonchalantly. "How do you know she won't drop you in it once you've done something to upset her, which you inevitably will?"

It occurred to Elena in that moment that Tseng had placed a great deal of trust in her; if she were to let slip, by accident or otherwise, what they had been up to for the past week – to let slip that they were in a relationship – there was a fair chance that things would be unfathomably worse for him, professionally speaking, than for her. That wasn't to say that the repercussions for her would be any less damning, but Tseng was the one who had the furthest to fall.

"Ye of little faith," Reno shook his head, although his grin wasn't as self-satisfied as usual. "I'll take care of it, just like I always do. Worst that'll happen is he'll fire her for breaching company policy. I'm the more valuable employee and Rufus knows that, and he knows I know that. He just likes to throw his weight around now and again to remind us all who's in charge around here. Fran's just a bit of fun, anyway. It's not my fault he hires PAs who tick all my boxes."

Rude snorted and resumed typing at his keyboard. It wasn't the first time Reno had had 'a bit of fun' with a company receptionist.

"It's your funeral," Rude crooned sarcastically. "Never underestimate the value of a good PA, Reno."

"Yeah, you said that last time. And the time before that, and the time before that." Anticipating that Rude was about to say something else, Reno jumped in first: "And don't you start with the whole 'Turks are just PAs with bells on' idea you spouted last time. I am not dispensable." Rude closed his mouth with a shrug that echoed his last remark: It's your funeral.

Reno swatted a lazy hand at his partner. "Chillax, it's fine. It's not like I'm at it with another Turk, or some other such hanging offence."

Their repartee came to a halt as Tseng rose from his chair and headed for the door, a file clasped in one hand.

"Not going to tell on me, are you?" Reno asked suddenly. His cocksure tone was betrayed by the smallest hint of genuine worry in his eyes. Rude gave a shake of his head, containing his amusement behind his computer screen.

Tseng paused, hard-soled shoes chafing on the floorboards as he pivoted to flash Reno a narrow, exasperated glance of What do you think? As if I haven't got better things to be doing.

Elena waited to catch his gaze but Tseng turned once more, as if deliberately evading her, and disappeared.

-x-

Thoroughly tired from the kind of boredom that only a day of paperwork could bring about, Elena closed the document she had been working on and put it to one side. She had done almost half of the pile that Tseng had instructed she do by the following afternoon. The clock on her laptop signalled that there was only half an hour left of her shift.

Reno and Rude were working quietly at their desks, as was Tseng sitting across from her, the top half of his face only just visible over his monitor. She had only to close her eyes for a fraction of a second to see that same face above hers, intimately close, the weight of his body pressing down on her, the soft caress of his breath on her lips as he held her in his arms. Elena shook the memory of the previous night spent with him at his apartment and returned to the present.

Tseng had taken a working lunch and they hadn't exchanged more than a few insignificant, work-related words since Rufus' brief visit of a few hours ago. Elena had been descending into an increasingly troubled frame of mind ever since as she tried to work out if Tseng was having second thoughts after his quick exit from the office earlier. It wasn't that she had expected him to treat her any differently at work in light of their personal relationship – it was always going to be a tentative situation, Elena was under no illusions about that – but after Rufus' attitude towards Reno's casual fling with a PA, Elena very much doubted that Tseng wouldn't have experienced some degree of uncertainty, just as she had.

With both hands she raked her hair back and held it there for a second, deciding she could do with stretching her legs. A coffee break was what was needed, she thought as she got up from her chair and made her way to the door. Elena made a conscious effort not to let her gaze stray even remotely in Tseng's direction, as tempting as it was.

As she left, Tseng turned his head to the side, giving the appearance of looking down at the floor when his eyes followed her from the room.

A kitchenette was located further along the corridor, shortly before the bend around which Rufus' office was located. Elena watched the coffee percolating in the machine, her arms folded across her chest as she leant against the counter. By the time she broke from her thoughts, most of which were centred around the dreadful possibility that she and Tseng were going to be right back at square one after that afternoon, the beverage was more than ready. She sighed, added some milk and took a long sip.

She wasn't sure how it was that Tseng was one of less than a handful of people in the world whom she implicitly trusted, yet she spent so much time trying to work him out. Something told her that she ought to have been trusting him now; that he wasn't someone who went back on a decision once it was made. But this wasn't any ordinary situation, for either of them, and today, now that Elena had returned to work, was the first time it had really become a reality since their first night together in Kalm a week ago.

Elena drained her cup rather hastily, too uptight to sit there and savour the drink in silence. She put the empty cup in the sink and began to head back along the corridor to the Turks' office. As she reached the doorway of the kitchenette, she was aware of a door closing somewhere up ahead but didn't think too much of it. Whoever it was was now coming towards her along the hallway, footsteps moderate and rhythmic on the boards.

She looked up to find that it was Tseng. Even from a distance Elena sensed the intensity of his gaze and returned it, staring back at him equally as hard. As they drew closer Elena got the impression that he was undressing her with his eyes; they moved from her face, lowering gradually down the length of her until they reached the floor. Again, though, she found herself uncertain when his eyes left her. When she looked at him, at his immaculate suit, she could not help but think of the body it concealed underneath. The feel of his skin, the ridge of the scar Sephiroth had left him, and a few others besides, the scent of his flesh, the contours of his muscles and the way he moved; it was all so vividly there when she saw him.

As he came more or less level with her, Elena parted her lips to say something – anything – to make him look at her rather than at the floor, but he continued on his way as though she wasn't even there. Elena slowed her pace almost to a stop, trying and failing to resist the urge to turn, feeling like her stomach had just dropped out through a hole in her gut. Her collar was suddenly too tight, her tie strangling.

Before she could pivot fully, a firm hand closed around her left bicep and pulled hard, jerking her off balance as she was wheeled round and thrust forward in the direction of the wall. Only, she realised as her viewpoint was unceremoniously changed, it wasn't the wall but the door of the storage cupboard on the other side of the photocopying room, held open by a dark-sleeved arm. She didn't resist, knowing on an instinctive level that Tseng wouldn't hurt her even if her conscious mind was taking a moment or two to catch up. If anything, the unexpected experience was something of a thrill.

She would have stumbled forward under the force of the action had Tseng not guided her suddenly in the opposite direction and back towards him. Elena bumped up against his chest as he closed the door with his other hand. She tilted her face to look up at him, unable to see very clearly in the relative darkness. He had both hands on her arms then, preventing her from moving backwards. Not that she had any intention of doing so, anyway.

"Tseng…" Elena half breathed, half nervously laughed. "Isn't this a bit risky?" She could feel the pulsing of his heart through her chest.

"Oh, this won't become a habit," he replied dryly. Elena fancied she could hear him smiling, such was his tone. Her eyes were beginning to adjust to the dim light, enough so that she could see the mischievousness in his eyes. "Not while there are other people in the building, at least."

"Really?" Elena raised an eyebrow, her hand smoothing down the back of Tseng's arm to his elbow. "What about when there aren't any other people in the building?"

Tseng chuckled. "Well, that would be a different matter entirely."

He paused, holding her, and Elena sensed a seriousness about him as he stilled, face forming a deeper expression. They were virtually hugging each other and, in the moment's silence between them, Elena leaned forward further to rest her face against his shoulder. Tseng curled an arm around her back so that his hand found her opposite shoulder blade, embracing her properly. "The reason I've got you here," he began, lips not far from her ear, "is that things were said in the office earlier and I wanted to remind you that…" His speech slowed to another, brief yet somehow heavy pause. "I love you."

Elena froze against him, eyes widening. There was no 'reminding' her about it, she thought, for she knew with the utmost certainty that this was the first time he had said those words to her.

Elena drew her head back a little so that she could look at him once more, her stomach turning an ecstatic somersault. She did the only thing she could think of in response, her head spinning too much to give anything all that much thought at all, and kissed him, her previous anxieties forgotten.

Before she could get too carried away, for which there would be plenty of time later that evening, Elena broke her lips from his, her fingers smoothing lines back and forth on the stiff shoulders of his jacket.

"I'll have to be especially hard on you when we get back to the office," Tseng muttered. He had switched his grip so that his hands were holding her on either side of her ribs and he was showing no signs of being ready to leave. "All of this preferential treatment is completely inappropriate when we're on duty."

"Yes, it's very unprofessional of you to have dragged me in here like this," Elena agreed with him, a seductive challenge in her voice. "Wasn't Rufus just saying something about relationships within the same department?" She frowned through her smile, as though trying to remember some distant, inconsequential conversation.

Tseng unsheathed a devilish smirk and shrugged, moving forward to kiss her again.

"Let him."

-x-

~Fin~

Well, this is it – finally finished! I've loved writing this story, and I hope you've enjoyed reading it.

This last instalment is dedicated to sincethelastday: thank you for your faithful reviews and encouragement.

Thanks very much to everyone who's left a comment or added the story to their favourites/alerts. Most of all, if you've got this far, thanks for reading.