Ill Wind

Rude's nerves were being stretched to the breaking point by Reno's hyperactivity. He had tried to be patient with the redhead, knowing that he was simply worried about Kerri being near her father, but it was hard. Reno just wouldn't shut-up, wouldn't sit down. He had been stalking around Rude's office like a cat for an hour now, nearly bouncing off the walls, asking questions about the most inane things, then interrupting with another before Rude could get the answer to the previous one out of his mouth. Rude knew he couldn't restrain himself much longer.

It was lucky for Reno that Elena stopped by to borrow some staples. She saw the way Reno was prowling the office, took one look at Rude's strained face, and grabbed Reno's arm the second he came near enough. “Come on, Reno, come visit with me for a while,” she said. Reno, too distracted to ask why, proceeded her out the door. Elena winked at Rude before following him, and the grateful look she got in return made her giggle.

The redhead was no calmer in her office than he had been in Rude's, but she thought that maybe by the time she lost her patience, Rude would have calmed down. Elena hid a smile at the thought of them trading Reno back and forth all day so neither of them would kill him.

“They've been down there a while, huh?” Reno asked. He had taken the stapler as soon as she had finished and now stood with it open in his hand, shooting staples at her cork message board. When she reached up and took it from his hands, he barely seemed to notice.

“Tseng is with her,” she said. “She won't get hurt while he's watching her, trust me.”

“I know that, yo. But what if she can't handle it? What if it triggers bad memories?” he asked.

“Reno,” Elena said in a gentle voice, “if she can't handle it, she doesn't need to be here. You know that.”

He turned and gave her a dirty look, which almost immediately softened as she met his eyes squarely, with no hint of apology in her expression. “I know, you're right, Lei Lei. I just--” He threw up his hands helplessly and sat down in the chair across from her, propping his feet on her desk. For once, she allowed this.

“You love her, don't you?” Elena asked, her tone light, casual, hoping to surprise an answer out of him.

“How should I know?” Reno said. At the irritated expression that crossed her features, he held up his hand. “I'm not being a smart-ass, so calm down, yo. I really mean it. How should I know? I've never been in love with anyone. How do you tell?”

Elena had to laugh. “Well, Reno, the way you've been acting lately is a pretty good indication.” She lifted her hands and started ticking off on her fingers. “You haven't shown any interest in another woman since you met her, you want to be with her constantly, before you guys started having sex, you slept in the same bed with her twice and didn't try anything, you waited until she was ready.” She paused to draw breath and then went on, “You were scared shitless when we lost her, you tortured to death the man who raped her, you came to me for advice about your sex life, and now you're worried sick that seeing her father might upset her.” Elena raised her eyebrows at him. “Should I go on? Because I could.”

“You think that means I love her?” he asked.

“It's not what I think that matters,” she answered. “You're the one who needs to think about it.”

He ran his hand through his unruly hair, messing it up worse than ever. “That's some scary shit, Lei Lei.”

Her eyes twinkling, she said, “Then kick her out of your place. Start going out on the town again.”

“Fuck you,” he said, but he was grinning.

“That's what I thought you'd say,” she returned.

Reno swung his feet to the floor and leaned forward enough to put an elbow on her desk. With his hand propped on his chin, he asked, “Just how do you know so much about being in love?”

Elena was momentarily tempted to slap the smug expression off his face. Instead, she looked down and muttered, “Shut up, Reno.”

He got to his feet and resumed pacing. “Oh, so my love life is fair game, but not Elena's, huh? That's fair.”

“Elena doesn't have a love life right now. You do,” she shot back.

“But Elena could,” he teased, and once more held up a hand when he saw the look she gave him. “All right, I'm dropping it now, yo. But I want it on the record that I'm not the only one who needs to think about things.” He strolled to her door and opened it before saying, “In fact, I think someone should lock you and Tseng in a room so you guys can...think...each others brains out.” With that, he was gone before Elena could find anything heavy enough to throw at him.