13 – Cleaning The Slate

(A/N - No excuse for taking so long other then the normal ones like writers block, real life & just plain laziness. Usual disclaimer. Anything you recognize doesn't belong to me.)

13 – Cleaning The Slate

Put to rest
What you thought of me
While I clean this slate
With the hands of uncertainty

--What I've Done by Linkin Park

The Two exchanged looks that spoke louder then words. Reno hadn't just 'gotten bad', he'd done a backslide to his post-Sector Seven days. Rude ran a hand over his face with a sigh as Elena looked around from her spot just the other side of the door afraid to even step foot in the apartment. The moment was broken by the sounds of several youth's chatting loudly as they climbed the stairs to one of the floors below.

Rude closed the door with disgusted grunt. The youth's had given him an idea. Walking over to the stairs he walked down half a flight before leaning over the railing. "Hey kids," he called down.

The sound of mutterings echoed up the stairwell before the head of one of the youth's made an appearance over the railing. "Yeah mister?"

"You live in this building right?"

"Yes sir," came the hesitant reply.

"Do you and your friends want to make some money?" Rude asked as he leaned on the railing.

The tousle haired youth pulled back out of view. More mutterings floated up the stairwell as the youth's debated between themselves. Silence ascended for several more minutes before the same kid stuck his head back out. "Depends on what you want mister. If it's anything illegal, like drug running or sex kinks or any of that shi... er.. stuff then you'd better be getting out of here fast cause I'll have my friends call the authorities faster then... then.. well faster then you'd think." The kid's confidence petered out at the end but he was still putting up a brave front.

Rude let out a gruff laugh. "Hell no kid, I ain't into any of that crap. I need someone to run down to the local hardware or grocery store to pick up a list of cleaning supplies. The quicker the better. I'll also need someone to help haul the trash out to the dumpster as well." He grinned at the look on the kids face. "I got the Gil to cover the costs plus extra for..." Looking at Elena a moment he raised an eyebrow, "Hey little sister, water or sodas?"

Elena, who had been staring at the closed door the entire time, blinked several times before turning around to face Rude. "Umm.. Water. I don't trust anything that's colored in that.. that... that..." She was at a loss of words to describe the apartment's condition.

Rude nodded to her then looked back down. "A case of water & sodas or whatever for those helping me and my friend out. Hades, I'll even throw in take out for lunch for everyone." And dinner he said to himself remembering what the place looked like. "Someone get a pad & pen or pencil so a list can be made."

"Ok mister!" the kid said again quickly vanishing. A door was heard opening before the echo drifted up "Mom! Mom! Where..." the rest faded out.

Rude did laugh this time as he shook his head. His amusement was short lived when he caught Elena staring at the dark brown stains on the floor. Years of experience allowed him to know what it was without further examination. "Hey," he called out to the young woman. "Come on, no dwelling too much on what you see. Our little red-head is in the best hands possible getting the best possible care. Come on Elena, let's go down stairs to figure out what we'll need."

Taking a deep breath then letting it out in a huff causing her bangs to be blown up she turned away. "Yeah. We're going to need a lot of stuff. And I mean a LOT of stuff!!"

The two of them made their way down several floors to meet with the kids and to start on the 'List' as it was being termed. The kid's mother offered to drive down to the store with her son to pick up the items on the list even.

"24 pack of water, case of sodas or whatever you guys are going to want to drink. A good mop with several replaceable heads, don't worry about price just get the best quality possible, and a mop bucket. A couple of brooms, do we need vacuum cleaner bags?" Rude asked glancing around.

"No," the mother said. "Building has central vacuum system. Just have to find the hose or I can bring mine up for you to use."

Rude nodded. "Thank you Ma'am. Surface disinfectant and cleaners, garbage and trash bags, dish detergent, bug spray and baits. Are all the apartments the same?"

"Yes, basically the same. Just decorations are different. Do you know if he has any rugs or anything of that nature?" She asked.

Rude shook his head. "Couldn't honestly tell you Ma'am. Why don't you go ahead and get carpet powder just in case. Oh, bleach and Gaia's Pride laundry detergent. Biggest bottle they have. Maybe a laundry basket or three." He went over a mental list of everything he had done before when getting Reno back on track. Almost total stripping of the apartment had occurred then as well. "Recycling or trash?"

"Recycling. It's the smaller bin next to the trash container in the alley."

With a nod of his head Rude stored away the information. He would put in a call to see if the bins could be picked up early since he had a feeling they would be over-flowing by the time they were done. "Can you think of anything else Elena?" he asked turning to the young woman.

Said woman had her arms crossed over her chest, eyebrows drawn down as she chewed on her bottom lip in deep thought. "What about any meds or drugs we may find? How are we going to dispose of them?" she asked looking up.

"Hmm," that was a good question. "Pick up the big storage bags as well if you could. Any meds or med bottles can be put in the storage bags. Same goes for any drugs. We'll take everything back to the hospital so the Doc will have an idea of what Reno's been fooling around with on top of everything else."

Several of the kids exchanged looks before they started whispering to each other. Finally the impromptu leader got shoved forward with looks and gestures to ask what was all on their mind. "Um.. sir? What's wrong with Re?" the young man flushed then corrected himself. "I mean Mr. Reno. Why is he in the hospital? Is he going to be OK?"

"Reno..." Rude started but was at a loss of what to say.

"Reno ran into some trouble," Elena cut in. "Right now he's in good hands with Doc Jorgen over at the hospital. It will be a few weeks before he's released and then he may or may not be back here for a while. It all depends on what the Doc says. But I'm sure he'd be happy to know you guys asked about him."

One of the girls raised her hand slightly before speaking. "Can we send him stuff? Like get well cards and flowers and stuff like that?"

"He's going to be in ICU for a little while so instead of getting flowers or anything like that, why don't someone pick out a nice get well card and everyone sign it. Me or Rude can take it down to the hospital for you." Elena smiled at the girl then looked at the rest of the kids still smiling. It was good that there were more then just her and Rude who were concerned about the red-head.

Rude again nodded his head in agreement. "If you do want to get flowers I'd recommend going with living plants." He then pulled out his wallet and removed a few bills. Extending his hand out to the kid's mother, he offered her the money. "Here you go ma'am."

The woman took the money then did a double take. "I can't take all this. It's way too much even for everything on the list," she protested. Even if she bought the most expensive brands of the items on the list she wouldn't use more then a quarter of the money.

Rude chuckled. "Take it Ma'am. Your helping me out so I'm paying for the time your spending doing things I should be doing. Your saving me that time that I'll be using to start to figure out just how I'll..." At the sound of a throat being cleared he amended himself. "We'll be cleaning up the mess inside Reno's apartment. Plus the kids will be doing part of the hard work by hauling it out to the dumpster for us so they will also be paid for their time. Pay for Honest work. Don't argue ma'am, just take the money. Please, if nothing else then think of this as a way of helping out Reno."

The Woman raised any eyebrow. "You know that's playing dirty?" she then shook her head and tucked the money and the list together. "Alright sir, you drive a hard bargain." Turning she shooed the kids away. "Mindy, go and get the garbage bags and big storage bags. That will give them a head start since it will take me about an hour."

In the hour that Mindy and Cindy's mom was gone, Rude and Elena had managed to find Reno's stereo system along with his music collection, they also filled about half the garbage bags with easily identifiable trash, had opened all the windows in the apartment to air it out, and were more then ready to take a few minutes break to go and collect the supplies to continue their endeavor.