Happy Family

Title: Happy Family
Author: Psycho D-Girl/Psycho Babble/Pho
Archived: FF.net, adult-fanfiction.org
Rating: R
Pairings: Cloud/Reno
Feedback: reviews are good
Story notes: Slash, Ki'ara is just a little over two years of age in this chapter.
Status: WIP
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the FF characters, they are the property of squareenix.


Cloud set the bowl of plain brown flakes down on the table in front of his daughter Ki'ara. She stared balefully at the bowl, then at Cloud.

"Choco puffs, daddy!" She said loudly.

"No," Cloud said calmly, as he sat down with a cup of coffee and some toast. She banged her spoon on the table.

"CHOCO PUFFS!" She yelled.

"No, eat that or you get nothing," he said.

"Daddy give me choco puffs," she said sulkily. Cloud snorted into his coffee cup, oh he'd heard the story of that one when Reno had decided to feed her choco puffs, orange soda and doughnuts for breakfast a few weeks ago. One would think that the red headed Turk had learned his lesson after that, but no, Reno had then taken her for lunch at a restaurant where he'd let her order three sugar laden desserts for her meal. Any normal; or at the very least any person with half a brain would have stopped at that; but Reno had made her chocolate chip pancakes, with maple syrup and ice cream for dinner, accompanied by a tall glass of cola. Reno had made Cloud promise to never feed her sugar again until it didn't make her so hyper that she practically bounced off the walls.

"I mean it," he told her, still speaking calmly. She closed her mouth and then pouted. After a few minutes with Cloud not budging on the matter, she finally dug her spoon into the cereal and started to eat slowly.

"Hate you," she mumbled.

"That's okay, I still love you," he said cheerfully. He glanced at his watch, put his cup in the sink, ruffled Ki'ara's hair, kissed her cheek and headed for the front door.

"Reno, I'm leaving now. Sasha said she'd be here before you have to go to work," he called up the stairs.

"See ya later, sweet cheeks," Reno's voice floated down the stairs. Cloud came back into the kitchen, Ki'ara was still eating her cereal.

"See you tonight, babe," he said. She waved with one hand.

"Bye bye, sweet cheeks," she said. Cloud rolled his eyes, from upstairs he could hear Reno's laughter. Cloud left and a few minutes later Reno ran down the stairs; poured himself a cup of coffee and slouched against the countertop.

"Finished breakfast yet?" He asked his daughter. She was pushing a few brown flakes around in the small amout of milk in the bottom of the bowl. She looked up at him, her mouth turning down.

"Daddy no' give me choco puffs," she informed him. Reno sighed in relief.

"Thank god for that," he muttered under his breath.

"Daddy?" She said.

"Yeah?" He set his cup on the counter.

"Get kitty?" She asked. Great, that was her new thing, she wanted a cat and kept asking for one.

"No, we talked about this, remember, honey?" He said.

"Said you'd think about it, not 'no'," she said. Reno rubbed his eyes with the fingers of one hand.

"Your daddy and I talked about it, maybe when you're older," he told her. He was a litte surprised when she nodded happily.

" 'K!"' She said.

"Come on, Sasha, where are you?" He muttered, just as the house phone rang. He picked it up, talked for a few moments and then hung up.

"Fuck it!" He snapped.

"Ohhhhh, daddy said bad word!" Ki'ara said. Usually Reno was very careful with the way he spoke around his daughter.

"Yeah, don't tell Cloud, okay?" He smiled at her. She nodded grinning.

"Can I get kitty?" She asked again.

"Blackmail won't work," he said.

"Black letters? I dunno how I makes those work, daddy," she said confusedly. Reno chuckled; there was a knock at the door and he picked her up.

"Nevermind. Guess what?" He asked her as he headed for the door.

"Wha?" She said obligingly.

"You're coming to work with me today," he told her. She cheered happily, but then stopped.

"Daddy?" She tapped him on the shoulder.

"Yeah?" He asked, grabbing her coat from the coatrack. She pointed at her feet and Reno looked down to see that she had a yellow sneaker on one foot and a blue lace up boot on the other.

"Daddy puts wrong shoes on," she told him. Reno opened the door.

"We'll be right with you, gotta get a change of footwear. Blue boots don't match the green dungarees, yo," he told his partner.

"Hi hi, Uncle Rude," she waved at the tall black man, who gave her one of his rare smiles in return.

"We?" Rude asked, as he came into the hallway and watched the redhead run up the stairs with his daughter.

"Yeah, she's coming with me today!" He called down to his partner.

"Does Tseng know this?" Rude asked.

"Nope! He's in for a surprise, yo!" Reno came galloping down the stairs, his daughter now sporting two matching shoes on her feet, he also had a backpack that he had thrown some toys and books in to keep her entertained. He waved Rude out ahead of him and quickly followed, slamming the door behind him. Rude climbed in the driver seat of his car and waited for Reno to strap Ki'ara into the toddler seat that the black man had installed in the back seat of his car.

"Daddy! I nots a baby!" Ki'ara called out.

"No, I know you're not. This is in case we get in an accident," Reno said, as he sat in the passenger seat of the car.

"Baby seat," Ki'ara said. Rude started his car and started driving, he looked at the child in the rearview mirror.

"No. it's a special seat I got just for you, the woman in the shop told me that it was only for big girls," he told the girl.

"Really, Uncle Rude?" She asked.

"Absolutely, I made sure of it," he paused briefly then asked.

"Are you a big girl?"

"Yes!" She said loudly. Rude glanced sideways at Reno.

"Just making sure, if you weren't then you wouldn't be allowed to use it," he said.

"I'ma big girl. Daddy tell him!" She said, taking Rude completely seriously. Reno snorted a laugh that he disguised as a cough.

"Oh, she's defienetly a big girl, she can even dress herself," He told his partner.

"How do you do that and she won't listen to me?" He asked Rude, who glanced at him and shrugged.

"By watching you mess up," he said. They arrived a few minutes later and Reno followed Rude carrying his daughter.

"Daddy, I wanna walk," she wriggled in his arms until he set her down. On the way up in the elevator, Reno crouched down to her.

"Okay, I want you to do some things for me today, okay?" He said.

"A mission like you goes on?" She asked.

"Yep, exactly like it. I need you to stay under my desk, not make much noise. Unless I tell you that you can, understand?" He asked. She made a face.

"But that's borin'," she said. He winked at her and leaned in close, lowering his voice.

"It's a stealth mission. If anyone hears you then they might catch you, no one must catch you, alright?" He asked.

"Okay," she said. The elevator doors opened and Rude walked out, Reno stuck his head checking for any sign of Tseng.

"Coast is clear, let's go," he told his daughter, keeping up the charade of her 'mission'. She followed behind him as he hurried to the Turk offices.

"Hello, sweetie," Elena said when they walked in. Ki'ara waved to her godmother.

"Hi, Laney," she said. Elena looked at Reno.

"Tseng is going to kill you,"

"Quick, under the desk," Reno pushed her gently towards it and she crawled underneath it. Tseng came out of his office on his way to get some coffee he didnt even look over at Reno.

"You're late," he said.

"Yeah, sorry about that," Reno said, pulling his chair into his desk.

"Ow! Daddy, you kicked me!" Ki'ara exclaimed, rubbing her shin. Tseng turned slowly a half full cup of coffee in one hand.

"What was that?" He asked his tone deathly calm.

"Uhhh...nothing?" Reno said unconvincingly. Tseng finished filling his cup, then set the pot down.

"Reno, you know what goes on here, this is not a creche," he said.

"The babysitter didn't show up, yo. What was I supposed to do?" He asked.

"Find another one," Tseng suggested.

"I didn't have time. She won't be any trouble," Reno said.

"She better not be," Tseng told him and went back into his office. Reno crouched to look under his desk.

"I told you not to make any noi...Ki'ara?" He sat up, then stood, looking around. The child was nowhere in sight.

"Son of a bitch!" He snapped.

"I'm surprised she stayed still this long," Rude said, sitting calmly at his desk. He was going to enjoy watching Reno panic.


(line breaker)


Meanwhile Ki'ara had made her way to the elevator and though she had to stand on tiptoe to reach the buttons she hit the top floor and the elevator started to move. She got out when the doors opened and walked down the corridor into an expensievely furbished office. She ran over and sat in the big comfortable office chair behind the desk and spun around a few times. At the sound of a low growl she peeked over the desk and her face lit up.

"Kitty!" She got down off the chair and walked over to the panther; Dark Nation. He growled at her again, but she just grinned and petted his head.

"Hello kitty, wanna play?" she wrapped both arms around his neck, hugging him and tried to pull herself up on his back, giggling when she slid off and landed on her butt. She quickly got back up and tried again, succeeding this time, she held onto his collar to keep from falling off again.

"Giddyup!" She yelled, tapping her heels against his sides. He growled again, low in his throat, threateningly. She giggled and tried to imitate him.

"Who are you?" A voice asked. She turned her head to see a blonde man had come in. She lifted one hand to wave and slipped off Black Nation. She hopped to her feet quickly.

"I'm Ki'ara. Who you?" She asked. A pale blonde brow raised slowly, so this was the child of Reno and Cloud, the bright red hair should have given that away.

"I'm Rufus Shinra," he replied; not used to be questioned by a two year old.

"What are you doing here?" He asked her, reaching for his phone.

"Playin with kitty, wanna play?" She asked.

"No, I have work to do. You shouldn't be here," he told her.

"I know, daddy said to stay under his desk and not get caught....you're not gonna tell him are you?" She asked anxiously. He tried not to smile.

"No, but you need to go back to him now. You don't want him to find out you're missing do you?" He asked her. She shook her head.

"No. Are you someone important?" She asked curiously.

"I'm your daddy's boss," he replied.

"Noooo....man 'at sings is daddy's boss," she informed him. Rufus was trying hard not to laugh at that, if Tseng knew what she called him...he could only imagine.

"Yes, well I'm his boss, so I'm your daddy's bosses boss," he said. She cocked her head to the side.

"Huh?" She asked.

"Nevermind. You should go back to your daddy now," he said.

"Okay!" She said, going to the door, then turned around.

"Iono where he is,"

"Should be on floor twenty nine," he said. She counted on her fingers, but after a moment she looked up at him.

"I don' know how many that is," she said. Rufus stood up, he'd never admit it to anyone, but he liked this child.

"How about we both go down to see him?" He suggested.

"Okay," she went with him to the elevator. On the way down he felt a tug on his hands.

"Mr. Rufus?" She said. He looked down at her.

"Yes?" He said.

"Wha's a faggot?" She asked him. He frowned slightly at the elevator doors.

"Where did you hear that word?" He asked.

"Woman that gets off elev'tor same place as me," she said.

"What did she say exactly?" He asked. She chewed her bottom lip for a moment thinking.

"That daddy was a faggot an' that I was a faggot child an' she di'nt want to catch a faggot disease from me," she told him, her voice sounding a little hurt. Rufus's face darkened; okay so he'd be the first to admit he didn't like it when he heard about the relationship between one of his turks and Cloud Strife, but that was more to do with how Reno's work performance might suffer. But to say such a thing to a child.

"What did she look like?" He asked her as the elevator doors opened and they walked out. Whoever the woman was she was about to get fired.

"She had yellow hair like you and daddy an' she was really skinny," she replied. He stopped outside the door to the turk offices and crouched down a little.

"You should probably talk to your daddy about this," he paused, then continued.

"But she shouldn't have said those things, it wasn't nice and it wasn't right, do you understand?" He asked. She nodded a little hesitantly, as if not sure she should believe him.

"There you are!" Reno's voice called as he came towards them from the opposite end of the corridor. He stopped when he saw Rufus Shinra next to his daughter.

"Sir, I'm sorry," he said. Rufus smiled pleasantly, he let go of the small hand.

"I told you to stay under the desk," Reno reprimanded Ki'ara.

"I was bored," she told him. Reno rolled his eyes.

"That doesn't mean you can just leave!" He snapped.

"Sorry," she mumbled. He took her hand and turned to bring her back into the offices.

"Come on," he said.

"Just a moment, Reno, I'd like a word," Rufus said. Reno pushed Ki'ara towards the door.

"Go on and this time stay there," he waited until she had gone back in and then turned back to the president.

"Sir, I'm really sorry, I hope she didn't disturb you to much," he said.

"She didn't I came back to my office to find her playing with Dark Nation. I think he was more surprised than she was. But that isn't what this is about," Rufus said and then told the redhead what the woman had said to Ki'ara. Reno sighed loudly, muttered a curse.

"Thank you, sir," he said. Then went into the offices and sat down at his desk, he picked up the phone and rang Cloud.

"Hey, Cloud, it's me Reno, we need to have that talk with Ki'ara today," he paused for a moment.

"Yeah, some woman on the top floor. We'll be there," he hung up, then bent to look under the desk.

"Oh, come on," he stood up.

"Rude did you see which way...?" He asked his partner. Without looking up at Reno the black man pointed down the corridor towards the elevator.

"How'd she get past me?" Reno wondered aloud. Tseng chose that moment to come out of his office.

"Meeting now," was all he said. Reno knew how much trouble he'd be in if he wasn't there, he just hoped Ki'ara didn't get into anymore trouble before he could find her.


(Line breaker)


Ki'ara had decided that staying still and quiet under daddy's desk was boring. She had managed to come all the way down to the level under the parking garage and no one had stopped her. She didn't know what was down here, but that's what exploring was all about, right? Walking down the long dimly lit corridor she came into a room that had a large cell in the middle of it with a man sitting on a cot inside. She walked up to the bars.

"Hello," she said. The man looked up and smiled slowly when he saw that it was a child.

"They're recruiting Turks younger these days," he said.

"Not a Turk, daddy's a Turk," she said. His smiled widened even more.

"Really?" He asked. She nodded smiling back.

"You works with daddy?" She asked him.

"That's right, but I'm afraid that I was accidentally locked in here; could you get the keys they're on the desk over there?" He pointed. She looked over at the desk and then back at him.

"You're not lyin'?" She cocked her head to the side. He tried to affect an innocent expression.

"I wouldn't lie," he said. Apparantly satisfied she went over to the desk and picked up the ring of keys, then came back and rattled the key against the lock until it slipped into the hole, after a moment there was a click and the door swung open.


(Line breaker)


Reno was finding it even harder than usual to pretend he was listening to Tseng as the Turk leader brought them up to date on the the last mission that Tseng and Elena had gone on. After droning on for another few minutes Tseng gestured to Elena.

"Marko Carson is well known to the authorities here for human trafficking; mostly with young children. He also enjoys having fun with them before passing them on to buyers here and in other parts of the world," Elena said.

"So in other words he's a prick that deserves to die?" Reno asked.

"Not before we get some answers from him," Tseng told him. Reno smirked crookedly.

"So we get to 'question' him in our own unique way; sounds fun," he said.

"Question him, but he's not to die until we get what we need first," Tseng eyed Reno carefully until he was sure the redhead understood.

"We have him here already?" Rude asked quietly.

"He's in one of the holding cells downstairs," Tseng said. There was a knock at the door and one of the secretaries came in without waiting for a response first, she went straight to Tseng and spoke quietly to him for a moment.

"Where was the guard?" Tseng asked her. She shrugged and turned to leave. Tseng looked at the other Turks.

"It looks like our friend Mr. Carson got out of his cell when the guard left him. Rude I want you to go to the observation room; I want to know where he is. Elena, you go to the lower floors, I'll head for the top, Reno, stay on this floor. As soon as we find out where he is, we'll all converge on him at once," he said. Each of them headed out to their given tasks.


(Line breaker)


Rude stood silently behind one of the ShinRa guards, his eyes on the security moniters. His phone rang and he pulled it out of his pocket.

"Yes?" He waited a moment, then he tapped the female guard on her shoulder and pointed at one of the moniters; the camera moved in for a closeup.

"I see him and he's not alone. If he hurts her..." he trailed off watching the man in the elevator.

"Yeah, I'll let Reno know," he hit the call end button then hit speed dial to his partners phone.


(Line breaker)


Elena stepped out from the stairwell door. Marko Carson came to a halt when he saw her, mouth stretching wide in a grin.

"Hi, Laney," Ki'ara smiled at her godmother.

"Ki'ara come here," Elena said.

"Oh, she's not going anywhere, blondie," Carson said quietly. Elena saw Tseng and Reno moving in behind Carson.

"You might want to change your mind, yo," Reno said quietly, his EMR clenched in one hand.

"Let the child go," Tseng said, his tone calm. Carson half turned so he could see all three Turks at once.

"You must be daddy," he said to Reno. Reno just glared at him.

"The girl is coming with me, she wants to," Carson's grip tightened around Ki'ara's wrist. She winced slightly at the pain.

"No I don't!" She said. Carson was backing slowly towards a large window at the end of the corridor. Ki'ara struggled with him, scratching with her free hand at the fingers he had around her other wrist.

"Let go!" She kicked out at him. Tseng reached one hand beneath his jacket, fingering his gun, ready to pull it out if needed.

"Listen you little bitch, stop struggling or I'll really hurt you!" Carson snapped at Ki'ara. He yanked her hard, at the same time Tseng; who had stayed back a bit, pulled out his gun and shot once, the bullet hitting Carson in the left shoulder. Carson fell backwards right through the glass window. His hand still wrapped around Ki'ara's wrist and he dragged her with him. Ki'ara screamed as she was pulled backwards. With a strangled yell Reno leaped forward, reaching for his daughter, his fingers closing on nothing but air.

"Ki'ara!" He was at the window almost instantly, staring downwards. He saw her falling, Carson had relinquished his grip on her wrist. He was dimly aware of seeing Carson hit the ground. Ki'ara however came to a sudden stop a few floors below them, her voice stopping mid scream. Tseng and Elena were beside him a moment later. Ki'ara looked upward as she swung gently back and forth.

"Daddy!" She called.

"Don't move! I'll come get you!" Reno yelled down to her. He put one foot on the windowsill and leaped over, quickly and easily he scaled the wall downward and stopped right behind her. He hung to the wall with one hand, he saw that the metal catch of one of the straps of her dungarees had caught on a broken flagpole. He pulled her towards him.

"Hold onto me tightly," he told her. Her small arms wrapped around his neck and she hung onto him, he could feel her trembling against him.

"Don't let go," he felt her nodding her head.

"Okay," she whispered. As soon as he had got the metal buckle free he started to climb upwards with her again and then in through the window. He hardly noticed Tseng who was on the phone with Rude.

"Is she alright?" Elena asked anxiously. Reno held his daughter close to him, she was still shaking and scared.

"Remind me never to complain about those stupid flags Rufus keeps insisting on putting up on the walls outside," he said to her.

"Reno," Tseng waited until the redheaded Turk looked at him.

"Take the rest of the day off. I'll see you in the morning,"

"Thanks, boss," Reno headed for the elevators.

"Shh, it's okay. I got you, it's okay," the words he spoke were to help Ki'ara, but also to try and calm himself down. She lifted her head away and looked up at him. He pushed the hair back out of her eyes.

"Did he hurt you?" Reno dreaded having to ask. She shook her head and then frowned.

"What is it?" He asked. She looked down and then back up at him.

"He tried to open the buttons on my pants, said I needed to use the bat'room and he was going to take me so we could have some fun," she told him. Reno clenched his jaw, his eyes narrowing.

"I'm sorry," she whispered. He put a finger under he chin and lifted it up.

"What he did isn't your fault, okay?" He asked. She nodded and then leaned her head back against his shoulder.

"But next time you need to do as I say, alright?" He looked down at her. She nodded again, sticking her pointer and middle finger in her mouth, something she hadn't done in a few months. It was a habit he and Cloud had tried hard to break her of. He sighed and decided that just this once he'd let her do it. He pulled his phone out and quickly dialled Cloud's number.

"Hey, got the rest of the day off, can you meet us now?" He asked.

"Great, we'll be there in fifteen minutes; and Cloud? We're going to have to have a talk about something else with her to," he waited a moment.

"Long story, I'll explain when we get there," he hung up.

"Goin' to see daddy?" She asked him sleepily. He kissed her forehead.

"Yep, going for some ice cream, would you like that?" He asked.

"Mmmhmm," she mumbled. Reno smiled down at her as he walked down the street.