A/N: Here's Chapter 1 :)

Tifa smiled to herself as she glanced around the almost full 7th Heaven; most of the faces were familiar, with a few usual customers in their self-designated corners. It was the usual Saturday evening routine; they all somehow ended up in the bar, wanting a drink was no longer a necessity, Seventh Heaven had become an unoffical meeting place between her friends and their families.

She preferred it that way. It reminded her of the first 7th Heaven, it had been used as a meeting place where they had all plotted against ShinRa. The bar she ran now was a far cry from the one she had owned in the slums; ShinRa, AVALANCHE and WRO members now sat in each others' company as allies and not sworn enemies.

Tifa fought the urge to roll her eyes as she watch her son, Ross, and his friend Robbie, aim kicks at each others' shins beneath the table. Robbie was Cid and Shera's son. The two of them were supposed to be studying, not bruising their shins. They had both turned eighteen a few months ago, and still neither of them showed any signs of growing up. Denzel had never been like that as a teenager; he'd helped out in the bar and had seldomly been in trouble in school. Ross, on the complete other hand, was the polar opposite; a week rarely went by without her or Cloud getting a call from the school or the principal himself regarding their son. Though his antics did seem to calm down whenever Cloud spoke to the principal instead of her.

She had wondered why he couldn't be more like his younger sister, Mai. But her perfect image had been shattered too; not only did Mai manage to get into just as much trouble as her brother, she was gifted with the ability to talk her way out of a situation, thanks to Reno's tutelage. Tifa blinked and glanced around the bar again, only then noticing the absence of the Turk.

"Where's Reno?"

Several heads turned and shoulders were shrugged before an explanation was offered, compliments of Elena as she smacked her and Tseng's son, Jared, over the back of his head. The teenager immediately handed Aiveen back her cellphone before his mother could land another strike.

"It's Saturday, he's probably off doing whatever he won't tell us about..."

In the years that had passed since the drama with Deepground, ShinRa, AVALANCHE and the WRO had formed a solid alliance. It had taken time to smooth out all the creases, but as a result they had all become firm friends.

It was due to this, that she and many of the others had noticed the Turk's odd disappearances at the weekends; Reno tended to go off the radar for a whole weekend every three or four weeks. She hadn't noticed at first, but after a couple of months she had asked him about it, but Reno had always smirked and refused to elaborate on what he got up to.

Not even Tseng or Rufus knew what he got up to. Either the Turks were extremely good at covering for Reno, or they genuinely had no idea about his personal life. Elena had told her how he had started disappearing after Meteor and Deepground, and had been doing so ever since. It didn't conflict with any of the missions he had been given, he had always taken care to fulfill his missions first, then disappear afterwards; it didn't interfere with his work, so Rufus and Tseng had no need to figure out what he got up to.

Tifa toyed with the idea for another few seconds before siding with the hung-over option. Whenever he did one of his disappearing acts, he did so from Friday evening to Monday morning, but Reno had been in the bar last night, so that ruled out his AWOL act this week.

She looked up as the door to the bar opened; Cloud entering with Denzel in tow. The two had been missing since early that morning, taking care of deliveries outside of Edge. A smile tugged the corners of her mouth as she watched her husband place a bundle of invoices in front of Ross, garnering a rather indignant glare from the eighteen-year-old.

"Nu-uh..."

Cloud ignored the teenager's wide eyes and open mouth. It wasn't a question. Denzel had helped out a lot, they'd had a lot of runs outside of Edge to take care of and Denzel had offered to take half. Mai had taken care of some smaller ones within the city earlier, while Ross had sat on his backside watching the television all day. Fair was fair.

"It wasn't a question."

Ross held his father's gaze for several seconds before glancing back to the stack of invoices; there was no way he'd win in a staring contest with him, and it didn't look like he could dig himself out of this hole. The blond groaned and scratched the back of his head as he rose from his seat. He knew from experience that if he put off doing the deliveries his father had given him, they would slowly grow in numbers; Denzel had a knack of slipping more into his work load when he wasn't paying attention. Ross had taken only two or three steps when someone's foot hooked around his, sending him sprawling on the floor.

He didn't even need to look up, he knew exactly who had tripped him. Ross shot Robbie a wary glare as he pulled himself up from the floor; he'd pay him back later, when he least expected it. There was no fun in trying to exact revenge if he expected it.

None of the four parents; Tifa, Cloud, Shera or Cid, even attempted to reprimand either of the two teenagers. Neither Cloud or Tifa tried to intervene as Mai entered the confrontation, due to Ross's failed attempt to trip her up as she passed by. While he wished for peace and quiet, he still found himself grateful for the fact that they could argue over stupid things. His teenage years had been spent trying to get into SOLDIER, followed by a lot of heartache and tragedies. They didn't have to worry about any of that now; they got to be teenagers and enjoy the childhoods and teenage years that their parents had been robbed of.

The fact that they were all here today was a miracle in itself. They had raised their respective families in a world free from Jenova and her puppets. Cid and Shera had been the first to settle down, and had been the first couple to have a kid. Once they had made the initial move, the rest of the gang had more or less followed the trend.

Some had found it more difficult than others; Rufus had been the last to settle down. But things hadn't gone exactly to plan. Cloud felt wrong for thinking it, but maybe the ancients hadn't thought ShinRa had repaid its' debt to the planet? Rufus girlfriend, Kirstyn, had died after Declan's birth. Rufus had been left with a baby and a company to balance, but it had worked out okay in the end.

Cloud shook himself from his thoughts as Ross's indignant voice rang out; the teenager stood at the bar, leaving through the bundle of invoices he had been left with.

"Ah Dad...these are all the weird customers! No way in hell am I doing the one for Mrs. Weste – it took me a solid hour to escape her last week! She keeps telling me about SOLDIER and stuff from Midgar – I wasn't born then, no offence or anything, but my interest in it equals zero."

Cloud fought back a smirk as he shrugged his shoulders and turned away from his disgusted son. The best thing about being a parent, in his opinion, was the entertainment value. He and Denzel had gone through the invoices earlier this morning, putting all the interesting customers into a single bundle for Ross to take care of.

If he were to be reasonable and offer and explanation: Ross was going to University next year, fingers crossed, he would have to deal with things he didn't like there. He would have to work with people he wouldn't necessarily like; technically he was just being a good father and preparing his son for real life. Also, he had been stuck listening to Mrs. Weste's ramblings two weeks ago, and was in no rush to listen to the woman again.

"Tough Ross. It's either those or the two in Kalm. Your choice."

"I'll do the two in Kalm if I can use Fenr-"

"Not a hope."

Ross groaned as he started to divide the invoices into their seperate streets; that was one argument he would never win. And not for lack of trying. His father never left him or Denzel anywhere near Fenrir. He guessed it didn't help that the two of them had trashed one of Rufus's company bikes by accident last year ... definitely not ShinRa technology at its finest.

"Awww, does ickle Rossy have to work today?"

The eighteen-year-old kicked his leg out; not bothering to look up as his older brother ruffled his hair. Doing the deliveries was bad enough without having to listen to him gloating. If he were a good brother, he would offer to help, but Denzel much preferred to watch him suffer.

Denzel laughed as he skipped around his brother's leg and sat on a bar-stool; two stools seperated the siblings, it was a safety distance in Denzel's eyes. Ross acted the idiot, but he was much smarter and sneakier than he let on. This way, the younger of the duo couldn't sneak up on him.

He wasn't entirely sure why Ross complained so much about Mrs. Weste, she wasn't the worst of their customers, she came in close second or third, but she wasn't the definitate worst. There was Mr. Magrew, who had been telling Denzel the same story, every week, since he'd started helping Cloud when he'd been ten. There was also Ms. Len, who had a fixation with trying to feed him. And then there was old Mr and Mrs. Seeley, who were convinced that he was their long-lost grand-nephew. The young man ducked as a paper ball flew dangerously close to his head.

"Ah-ah! Be a good little boy now."

Denzel shifted to the stool next to him; the safety distance between him and Ross had narrowed itself to one while he'd taken his eyes off the blond. He laughed as the teenager shot him a dirty look before returning to the bundle, oblivious to the fact that their Dad had taken the opportunity to slip a few more invoices into his work-load.

The smile remained on his face as he walked behind the bar and fished a drink from one of the small refridgerators, ducking to avoid another paper ball as he grabbed the television remote from the counter. He began to idly flick through the channels as he side-stepped another couple of paper balls; Ross needed to work on his aim.

Denzel's smile faltered as his eyes locked onto the television screen; he hated seeing things like this on the news...it reminded him of the news reports ShinRa had issued when sector seven had collapsed. The young man spoke quietly as he highered the volume; he ignored the paper ball that struck the back of his head.

"It's in Costa del Sol..."

The chatter of the bar dwindled into silence as, one by one, people turned their attention to the television; a young, female reporter stood in a torrential downpour, her black umbrella doing little to keep her dry. Behind her lay the wreckage of a small, dark blue car. The car lay partially wedged beneath a large truck.

No one spoke as the woman listed the names of the people in the blue car, and explained what had happened; the truck had skidded and failed to stop at a junction; the car had been carrying three teeangers from the local public secondary school. Denzel felt himself cringe as the woman listed the teenagers' ages: seventeen, seventeen and eighteen; now he understood why his Dad wouldn't leave Ross use Fenrir. He didn't want the kluts to end up on some news report like this one.

Attention was torn away from the television screen as a bar stool scrapped back along the wooden floor of the bar. Before anyone could question the Turk's actions, Rude had already pulled his phone from his pocket and stepped outside the door.

Reno fumbled for his phone; its shrill ringing only added to his splitting headache. He groaned into his pillow as he heard it hit the floor. Why were people ringing him this early? Maybe it wasn't early, but it was Saturday, he was entitled to sleep all day if he wanted to. He'd been at 7th Heaven last night, they knew he was hungover. If it turned out to be Elena or Yuffie calling him to gloat over how hungover he was, he'd seriously give them hell to pay for come Monday. It wouldn't be the first time the ninja had pulled something like that. The turk grinned to himself as the ringing subsided; he rolled over and put all of his semi-conscious concentration into going back asleep.

But just as sleep began to reclaim him, the shrill tone of his phone shattered the silence once more. Reno sat bold upright in his bed, now fully awake and aware that he wasn't going to be allowed any more sleep today. He made a mental note to switch his phone onto silent next weekend. The turk wiped sleep from his eyes and blinked as he tried to decipher the caller ID. The rehearsed rant he'd been preparing for Yuffie vanished as he realised it was Rude calling...and had been for the last three or four calls. He lay back across his bed as he flipped the phone open:

"Yo, what's up partner?"

"Turn on the news."

Reno pulled himself upright once more and sat on the edge of his bed; an uneasy prickling sensation crept up the back of his neck as he noticed the severity of Rude's voice. Generally speaking, he did enough talking for bother of them. Rude had been his partner for years; he was one of his closest friends; Reno knew when something wasn't right. Possibilities began to flash through his mind – had something happened at the ShinRa building? Or with the WRO? Or worse yet, Sephiroth and his three puppets?

"Why? What's going on?"

"Just do it, Reno."

"What the hell's going on?"

Silence met his answer; just when he was about to give up on an answer, Rude spoke quietly.

"It's Arleen."

Any thoughts of Sephiroth and the three remnants, ShinRa, or the WRO were cast aside as the Turk snapped his phone shut and lept from his bed. A sickening knot tightened itself in his stomach as he rushed through the hall and into the living are of his apartment, narrowly avoiding the corner of the coffee table as he scanned the area for the television remote.

If it was on the news, then it was bad. Reno found himself wishing it had been something to do with the past ghosts of ShinRa; he could deal with that. He gave up his search for the remote and quickly began flicking through channels via the buttons on the television, stopping as he finally found the channel he'd been looking for.

Reno felt the bottom of his stomach give way to the lead weight that had formed from his apprehension; he knew the registration plate of the car; he knew that stretch of road; he knew why they'd been travelling on that road; he knew the school-bags and books that littered the road...he knew the three names the young woman listed in her report.

"Arly."

He backtracked until his calves bet the edge of the sofa; he sat down in a daze as the reporter continued with her report. She was speaking, but he heard none of her words. All the Turk could see was the familiar car; deformed, smashed and partially wedged beneath the truck that stretched across the road. Reno sat in silence as he tried to organise his spinning thoughts: Ryan almost always drove Arleen home...why hadn't Kelly called him already? He stood and raced back to his room, tossing his duvet aside and grabbing his phone. He scrolled through his call register, almost hoping he had missed a call from the woman, but he hadn't.

It was only as he closed the phone, that he realised he was shaking. He stood and stared dumbly down at his hands; why was he shaking? He'd gone through countless dangerous missions and stared death in the face on several occassions...and now he stood in his apartment; his stomach knotted and fear chilling him to his core. Why? Because he didn't know. He didn't know how badly hurt his daughter was.

Reno shook himself from his stupor, quickly deciding on a plan of action. He threw on the clothes he had discarded the night before; a worn pair of jeans and plain black t-shirt. He walked into the living area again as he dialed Rude's number, while slipping on a pair of sneakers; he spoke before the man had time ask anything.

"I'm going to Costa del Sol."

"What about work-"

"Right now, I care more about my daughter than my job. Can you explain what's going on to the others? I haven't got the time or patience for questions. I'll call you when I know what's going on."

He hung up before Rude could answer. He grabbed his wallet and keys from the kitchen counter, then headed for the door. He couldn't face all the confusion and disbelief right now. Rude was better at explaining things anyhow; he'd cover all the explanations while he was gone. Right now, all he wanted to do was get to Costa del Sol and make sure his daughter was okay.

A/N: Hope it was an improvement on its first draft and thanks for taking the time to read ;)

3rd Revision - 18/04/11