Desha's Reno of the Turks Fan Fiction

Interludes – Scene 10

Scene notes: This takes place immediately following Chapter 15: Family Matters:

“B-but… we can’t make it all the way back to Midgar from here on just what we have in the tank…”

“‘Course we can’t. That’s why we’re stopping in Costa del Sol,” he said, his grin widening, “And since we’ll be there anyway, why not take the opportunity to enjoy the beach without someone tryin’ to kill us?”

“I… but… can we just do that?”

“Why not? We’re officially off duty for four more days. Worst case scenario, Tseng’s kinda pissed at me for borrowing the copter without tellin’ him… which he’s probably gonna be anyway, so I might as well make the most of it.”

---

“Oh, come on, Reno… It was your idea to come here! You can’t just sit in the bar all day…”

Reno sighed and took a long sip of icy cold beer before deigning to shift his focus back to the rookie.

“And I’m not gonna. But I’m not goin’ anywhere this time of day,” he replied. It was just past noon… they’d arrived a scant hour ago, found a room, and enjoyed an early lunch. And then the redhead had happily found himself a seat at the bar and ordered himself a beer. He was presently on his fourth.

“But I want to have some fun on the beach…”

“So? What’s stoppin’ ya?” he asked, amused by the woman’s hesitation to leave him alone after their little misadventure. And a little touched by it, as well. He grinned. “I promise I’ll try ‘n avoid bein’ taken hostage while you’re gone.”

Elena huffed in irritation and crossed her arms over her chest. “What was the point of coming to a beach resort if you weren’t going to hang out on the beach?”

Reno drained the bottle and then gave her a somewhat disbelieving look. “You serious?”

“What?”

“‘Lena, have you looked at me lately?” he asked, with a snicker. “You have any idea what the sun’ll do to me right now? Us redheads don’t tan. We fry. I’m not going out there ’til it’s a little less… direct.”

The rookie rolled her eyes and grabbed him by the arm, dragging him bodily off the bar stool. “Come on, you big baby. I have sunscreen you can use.”

“Unless it’s somethin’ like SPF five million and I bathe in it, this is gonna end badly…” he cautioned her, but against his better judgment, he let the woman coax him out of the bar and into the bright afternoon sun as she led him back towards their room.

“Now sit there hold still,” Elena said cheerfully, pushing him down onto the edge of the bed, before digging through the little bag of of purchases she’d made upon their arrival and coming up with a small plastic bottle. Reno stripped off his t-shirt, and frowned slightly.

“I’m tellin’ ya… I’m better off just waitin’ ’til later…”

She pointedly ignore him as she slipped in behind him and poured some of the sunscreen onto her hands. Reno flinched slightly at the sudden contact of cool lotion on bare skin as Elena began applying it to his back and shoulders, but relaxed moments later, enjoying the feeling of her soft hands on his body and her thoroughness as she rubbed it in. And she was being thorough… even going to far as to add a second coat. Maybe he could get away with it. It’d be nice to enjoy the whole day while he was here for once, instead of hiding out like a vampire until the sun wandered away from its apex.

“There… All protected from the mean, nasty sun,” she declared, happily, “Now let’s go… There’s a volleyball tournament starting.”

---

Several hours later…

Reno was laid out flat on his stomach across the bed. He didn’t dare move. Every time he moved, it felt like the skin was being flayed from his back. He moaned loudly to the empty room. A few minutes later he heard the door open, but he didn’t bother trying to turn his head to look.

If he was lucky, it was someone coming to put him out of his misery.

“I… um… got something for the sunburn…” a hesitant voice ventured. Reno didn’t answer. Figures he wouldn’t be that lucky. He felt the edge of the bed dip slightly as a weight settled next to him. “Here… This should make it feel a little better.”

He cringed as fire met ice, and he was almost shocked when whatever the rookie was pouring onto his back didn’t simply start to sizzle against the intense heat of his sun-scorched shoulders. By all rights, it should have. Then came her hands.

“Ow… Ow! Not so rough!” he whined, tensing under the uncomfortable pressure of her touch with a whimper. She quickly pulled away from him briefly, and then resumed smoothing the mystery remedy into his skin with a much lighter caress. It took her several minutes to cover everything. When she was done, he had to admit… he didn’t feel quite so raw. It still hurt like bitch, though.

“I am so sorry, Reno…”

As tempted as he was to blame her for his current predicament, it was really his own fault. He knew better. He’d had this same painful experience on more than one occasion. He’d known exactly what would happen… and he’d let her talk him into it anyway. Just like he’d let Rude talk him into it a couple of years ago. And Tseng, a year or so before that. And that blonde he’d met the last time he was here on his time off. Come to think of it, he was really bad about letting people talk him into roasting himself alive…

“‘Lena… do me a favor. Next time we take a vacation together, just leave me in the fucking bar.”

~fin~