A/N: I may have taken liberties with Reeve's character in terms of his history. I doubt anyone will care. After all, this IS about Genesis and Tifa, right? Who is Reeve, anyway? (please don't leave a comment explaining Reeve's character! :-p Thanks for reading.

enjoy,

fire mystic

Calm Before the Storm

"Where did you get this?"

"I told you. I can't tell you that."

Reeve slammed one fist down on the desk that was between them, his other hand pointing at the box with "HAZARD: Biological Material" stamped on the side, but from which the sample was now gone. His scientists had removed the sample using the utmost care, and Reeve himself had just recently returned from a debriefing of what they had found. Now it was time for information, which Tifa was adamantly refusing. This was not the Tifa he was familiar with.

"Damn it, Tifa. I have to know who you got this from! I have to know that your source is trustworthy."

The hand hitting the desk didn't bother Tifa nearly as much as how rattled Reeve currently was. Whatever he had found out, it was bad, and she couldn't get past the guilt of not being able to help him further.

"I can't tell you Reeve. All I can do is give you my word that my source is completely trustworthy." She knew it. She believed it. But she didn't think Reeve Tuesti would buy into the idea of a reformed Genesis.

Contemplating her for a moment, his expression remaining skeptical, Reeve finally raised his hands in a gesture of surrender.

"Your word has always been honest, Tifa, so I'll let it go." He looked at the box, as if by staring at it he might be able to glean more of the secrets that had been locked within, and inhaled deeply. "Based on the test results, this sample must have come from one of the new mutants we discussed when last we spoke. It contains Jenova material."

Those last words hung in the air. They made perfect sense. Of course the new mutants contained Jenova material, but...

"I didn't think Shinra had anymore Jenova material to work with."

Reeve was shaking his head. "I'm not sure. Shinra has been holding their cards close, and I no longer have access to their inner workings. I thought they had lost it all, but it's possible there were samples locked away somewhere.

"And then there is Cloud."

Tifa inhaled sharply. Would Shinra stoop that low? Damn betcha.

"Do you think they have Cloud?"

Contemplating her, Reeve shrugged. "It's crossed my mind. I still haven't been able to contact him. You?" Tifa shook her head and told him about her encounter with Reno. He listened carefully, not moving, barely breathing, even for a minute after she was finished. She was about to prompt him for some sort of response when he quirked a brow at her. "Reno is seeing Marlene? Isn't he a little...old for her?" Tifa couldn't help but laugh.

"I'm going to get my team on this right away, see what they can find out from their sources within Shinra. Like I said, Rufus is keeping things very quiet. It seems there is a lot going on beneath the surface of things, and if this sample is any example of what he's got his scientists working on, he has been very sneaky. I will also see what they can find out about Cloud. Is it possible for you to get more information from your source?"

"I'm not sure." She didn't want to explain all of this to Reeve. How would she without having to tell him the entire truth? "I'll try, but our contact has been rather...erratic lately." Reeve was staring at her intently, and she felt that deserved a bit more explanation. "Let's just say I don't think my source trusts Shinra anymore than we do. Can we let it go at that?"

"Sure. You know, Tifa, if I didn't know better, I might thinking you were getting your information from someone like Sephiroth himself." It was a good think Reeve was chuckling at the ridiculous suggestion because it meant he totally missed Tifa nearly choking on her own gasp.

It was a serious breath of fresh air to get out of that building. Tifa had to concentrate to maintain control and keep from running across the parking lot. That meeting had been one of the most uncomfortable meetings she had ever sat through, but she had done what Genesis had asked in his letter: Bring the sample to Reeve Tuesti. Reeve had, in the past, proved to be a worthy ally against the worst of Shinra's motives, even though he worked for Shinra. While Shinra had been suffering after the Sephiroth failure, Reeve had built an entire empire of sorts for himself and now had the resources to combat Shinra at an organized level. In many ways, Genesis and Reeve were trying to accomplish the same thing. Genesis simply couldn't do it as directly as Reeve could.

A couple of blocks away, Tifa stopped short, realizing that Genesis wasn't going to be able to stay invisible forever. At some point, he was going to have to step out of the shadows and let the world know that he was still alive. Would people give him a chance to prove he had changed? That he wasn't a threat like Sephiroth? A heaviness settled in the depths of her body. Things were going to be changing soon. The question was when, and how much.

Yuffie was waiting when she returned to Seventh Heaven. She was determined to talk about Cloud, and Tifa was having none of it. She fleetingly thought she should warn Yuffie, along with Barrett, Vince, and Cid, that Shinra was at their old games again, but she wasn't sure that was a good idea just yet. The last thing Reeve needed was rumors flying, giving Shinra a warning and sending them into hiding before Reeve was able to unearth anything. So she kept quiet, and Yuffie did the best she could to fill any silent space she could. Tifa started to wonder why Yuffie had even waited for her; she would have been perfectly capable of having this conversation with herself. She talked about Cloud, repeatedly mentioning how long it had been she had heard from him, and just as many times asking Tifa if she was worried. Then she asked about Marlene. She hadn't heard from Marlene in a couple of days. Was she okay? Had Tifa heard anymore about the Reno thing? She still couldn't believe...

Marlene. Tifa really needed to talk to Marlene, at least enough to let Marlene know that this didn't mean the end of the world. It had taken her three days to get the meeting with Reeve, and in that time, Marlene had remained low key, spending a lot of time in her room and being very quiet otherwise. Tifa hadn't done anything to disturb that silence. Marlene needed to fully realize what had happened on her own. Tifa's only hope was that Marlene hadn't been wearing the proverbial rose-colored glasses when it all happened.

She knocked on Marlene's door, half expecting for Marlene to tell her to go away, and was pleasantly surprised when Marlene called out "come in". She was sitting on her bed with one earphone in and her diary open across her knees. Apparently she was ready for this conversation.

"I've been looking through my diary," Marlene gestured at the book as she pulled the earphone out. "I was trying to find where it all went wrong."

Tifa sat down on the floor, leaning back against the door. "Did you find an answer?"

"I, um..." she choked on her words for a moment. "I think it was all wrong from the beginning." Tifa didn't respond to her, simply waiting her out.

"Everything you said about him was true, wasn't it?"

"I've never known Reno as anything but a Turk, Marlene. All of his motives come from Shinra orders. That's never good news."

"What about that time when I was little?"

"Did Reno really tell you he saved you?" There was a tug of a smile on Marlene's face. Tifa read it as a good sign.

"Yeah. He made it sound like he was the hero of the story."

Tifa snorted back a laugh. "Yep, that sounds like something Reno would say."

"But it didn't happen that way."

"No. It didn't happen that way."

"I thought...he made me feel special."

Oh heavens, Tifa thought. Of course he did. Reno had always been able to turn on the charm, and Marlene had no experience that Tifa knew of. Of course that kind of attention would make her feel special. It was something everyone needed, everyone craved. She knew how that felt all too well.

"I'm sorry, Marlene."

"Me too." She got up and came to sit by Tifa. "Tell me something. Do you really think people can't change?"

"I think...that change is difficult, and that if people don't have enough incentive, they won't want to change badly enough to make it happen."

"I could never have changed Reno, could I?"

"The only person who could change Reno is Reno." She shook her head, turning to look at Marlene. "You know, someday you're going to find someone who makes you feel special who you won't feel a need to change." She didn't know if Marlene would completely understand that now, but she would when the time came.

"And I won't need to climb in and out of windows for him." Tifa wrapped her arm around her as they both laughed. Maybe that time would come faster than she thought.

"Tifa?" She heard her name through the door, Denzel's voice as he came down the hall. He knocked on the door they were leaning against. "Are you in there, Marlene? Have you seen Tifa?"

"I'm here, Denzel." She hopped up, opening the door. "What's up?"

A strange expression passed over his face as he glanced between Tifa and Marlene, but it didn't stop him from delivering his message.

"Phone. There's a phone call for you downstairs. Some woman."

"A woman? Did you get a name?"

He shrugged. "Yuffie answered the phone. I'm just letting you know." He turned towards his room.

"Denzel?" She needed to tell him at least this much.

"Yep?"

"We're working on finding Cloud. I talked to some people today who can help." He had stopped in the hall, his head turned to the side. He didn't answer, just gave one sharp nod, a gesture that reminded her sharply of Cloud.

Downstairs, she found the phone hanging on from the wall on its ancient cord. Wow, she needed to get a new phone. Yuffie was serving drinks. Forget the phone. She needed to get a bartender in here before Yuffie shut the place down.

"Hello," she spoke into the receiver. "Seventh Heaven, can I help you?"

"Tifa?"

"Minna?" She couldn't help her smile. "I've been meaning to call you! How are you?"

"Oh, I'm fine, sweetheart. I was just calling to see if you were going to keep the reservation you made for this weekend."

"Reservation? I didn't make a..." Oh. Her heart fluttered once, twice, so hard it nearly hurt in its excitement. "Oh my goodness, Minna," she spoke slowly. "So much has been going on, I had completely forgotten. Of course I'm going to be there." She heard the relieved sigh over the line.

"That's wonderful! And if you want, you can come as early as tomorrow. I have your room all ready for you." She didn't need to offer twice.

"I'll be there. I'll call you from the road to let you know when.