Put me in your dry dream
Or put me in your wet
If you haven't yet
No, if you haven't yet

Put me in your blue skies
Or put me in your grey
There's gotta be someway
There's gotta be someway

Devendra Banhart - At the hop.

Put me in your blue skies.

Reno briefly looked at the giant clock on the police station as he hurried inside. He was only five minutes late. Smiling at security as he flashed his ID card, he continued downstairs into the gloomy cellar under the station where the lab was located. Reno knew exactly where to find Tseng.

Short of breath, he pushed his ID card in the slot, and the doors slid open, "Sir?" he asked, walking into the lab. A pretty blond lab assistant turned her head and smiled at Reno. "Agent Tseng is at the morgue," she said softly. "It is straight down three doors, and.. " she started to explain.

"I know where it is," Reno mumbled. "Thanks," and then he turned and left the lab, heading for the morgue. What the hell was he doing in the morgue? Reno shrugged, only one way to find out. He ran his ID card through the slot at the morgue door, and stepped inside in the office, even if the doors was closed to the morgue, the smell of death, and the cold of the room, seeped into the office. Tseng was nowhere to be seen, so Reno figured he'd have to be in the morgue itself. Opening the double doors to the morgue Reno whispered, "Sir?"

"Reno," Tseng said with his back to the door. "You finally decided to grace us with your presence."

Reno noted the cold edge to the voice that had nothing to do with the actual temperature in the room. "Us?" Reno said, stepping closer to Tseng, deciding it would just be best to let it slide.

"Meet Harmony," Tseng said, stepping away so Reno could see the corpse on the slate.

"Harmony?" Reno repeated, realising he sounded like an idiot, but he could only think of one person with that name. He cocked his head and looked closer at the body. "Holy shit, Tseng.. I mean, Sir" Reno said softly. "You got yourself a superstar there."

"I know," Tseng said.

"As amazing as that is, why are you performing an autopsy on her? And why did you call me here?" Reno said, trying to hide his slightly annoyed reasoning, since he'd rather be home with Cloud, who was probably vegetating on his sofa as they spoke.

"Because," Tseng said, smirking to himself, a clear sign that he had something really clever to say. "One thing is a dead A-lister," he said gesturing towards the dead pop singer on the slate, "but another is murder, and then again there is all the stuff that doesn't add up."

"Like what? She probably owed someone money, or was killed by some crazed fan or something," Reno said, crossing his arms over his chest.

"You can say crazed again," Tseng said dryly. "Look at her eyes."

"They aren't there," Reno whispered, looking into the holes in the woman's cranium where her eyes had once been. "But I thought you'd done that, like just now."

"Reno, you are such an idiot sometimes," Tseng whined and threw his hands up in the air. "Why on earth would I gouge her eyes out?"

"Don't know, sir," Reno mumbled, feeling a little guilty for coming across that stupid.

"So, I looked it up, and found out that in some cultures, they believe that.." Tseng started.

"The last vision that a dead person has, will be stuck there, in order for the ghost to come back and haunt the perpetrator," Reno finished, feeling a little better about himself.

"Exactly," Tseng said with a little smile. "But I called you here, so you could take a look on her case file, and tell me what you think"

"Alright," Reno said a little puzzled, "but why are you even taking this case? It's not like its something that the police can't handle."

"I think differently, but you take her case file and go make some coffee, and I will finish up here, and join you upstairs in our office," Tseng said, already turning to get the power bone saw.

"Alright, sir," Reno said taking the case file from the metal counter next to the sink.

"And Reno?" Tseng said with his back to his partner.

"Yes?"

"Stop calling me Sir when we are alone," Tseng said, a smile evident in his voice.

"Sure thing," Reno said, and added "Sir," as he pushed the double doors open on his way out.

_____________________________________

Once up in the office, Reno grabbed a cup of coffee and sat down with his feet on the windowsill. "So Harmony, that name didn't do you much good now did it?" He took a sip of the coffee, and opened the file folder. He quickly gave up, because he couldn't concentrate anyway, he retrieved his phone, and flipped it open, dialling Cloud, and to his relief it was picked up pretty quickly.

"Hey there," Cloud shouted, to drown out some noise.

"Hey," Reno said, frowning slightly, "Where are you?"

"Out," Cloud answered cryptically, "I'll be back later."

"Oh, ok," Reno said. "Want me to call you when I finish here?"

"Sure thing," Cloud shouted. "Till then ok?"

"Till then," Reno said, and flipped the phone shut. That was bullshit! Where the hell was Cloud off to? He could hear he was driving, but they had left that stupid bike at Tifa's. So Cloud would have had to hurry out the door minutes after Reno to make that trip to Tifa's and get the bike. "Damn," he mumbled, and took another sip of his coffee, and opened the file folder again. This day was shit, he could feel it in his bones, and goddammit how he needed a drink.

Reno flipped through page after page of shit he did not need to know about the deceased Harmony. But then something caught his eye, it was a crime scene shot, and a chill went down his spine, he knew that place! Could it be? He left Harmony's file on the desk and quickly went out the door, to run down to the archives, his hands shook slightly from morbid excitement, making it harder to run his ID card through the slot. "What the hell was his name?" he mumbled to himself, running two fingers across the file cabinets down the isle. "Fuck, I can't remember," he whispered, looking lost at the hundreds of file cabinets. Resting against a cabinet, suddenly not feeling as smart as he did moments ago, he sighed. "You know it Reno, get a fucking grip" he absentminded bit a fingernail, "Dudley?" he mumbled, "bah! Dudley, fudley..uhm.." he tasted the word, "Fu..Fo.. Yes! Of course! Folsom!" he yelled out loud. "How the hell could I forget that name? Folsom Harrison," And now it suddenly went a whole lot faster, searching for the case file in the cabinets. And within twenty minutes Reno victoriously pulled Folsom's papers from a drawer. "Got'cha"

Without opening the file, he hurried back up to the office he shared with Tseng. Only to find Tseng there already, making some coffee for himself. "Yo," Reno said with a smartassed smirk. "Finished up with the stiff?"

"Yes, I finished up with the victim" Tseng said dryly, "Did you read the case file?"

"Honestly, then... no" Reno said, but didn't feel guilty, "I have been down in the archives looking for something," he said with a smile and tossed Folsom's case file on the desk with a noisy sound. "I need some more coffee, then you can tell me what you found on that dead chick."

"Alright," Tseng said with a tired tone. He sat down on his chair, and lay four additional papers on top of Harmony's case file. "She died before having her eyes removed, the eyes was removed with what appears to be an ordinary butter knife, but what is interesting is what actually did kill her."

Reno turned around with a cup of hot coffee in his hand, and leaned against the windowsill, looking off into the parking lot. "Which was?"

"Mercury."

"Quicksilver?" Reno asked puzzled.

"Yes," Tseng said with a sombre expression. "Someone injected her with mercury in her heart, killing her on the spot."

"That's just.. Twisted," Reno whistled, as he tore his longing gaze from the freedom of the parking lot, and back to the files on the desk. "Alright this is what I thought, stop me if this sounds too far out." He leaned in over the desk and opened Harmony's case file and pulled out a picture, laying it in front of Tseng. "Recognize anything?" he asked, smirking as Tseng looked thoughtful, and did not reject his line of thought yet. "Alright so look at this," he said and laid the picture he had found in Folsom's file beside it. "It's the same damn shack," Reno said, his voice dropped to a whisper "What are the odds?"

"You're right," Tseng whispered, taking the pictures in his hand, looking from one to the other, "I thought it looked familiar, but this is eerie, its exactly the same."

"So you think they got like a shack for ritualistic murder in the shanty town?" Reno laughed mirthless and sat down with a sigh "It's not a copycat, because Folsom and Harmony were killed in different ways, yet dumped in the same shack." Reno stirred his half cold coffee with a pen, "Tseng?" he said softly "do you think that is a coincidence?"

Tseng put down the pictures. "No, I don't," Tseng said, shaking his head "The reason I took this case was for the graffiti on your brothers wall, remember that?"

Reno nodded, he remembered all too vividly.

"It was a known fact that Harmony preferred partners of her own sex," Tseng said with a thin voice.

"Yea, everyone knew she was lesbo," Reno said mostly to himself. "So?"

"The killer stuck a note into her thigh with a safety pin, saying 'one down'" Tseng said, beginning to feel a little bit uncomfortable.

"I'm sure I'm not hearing this Tseng, you are not sitting there, telling me that Raiden snuffed…"

Tseng shook his head "No, I'm not," he said sternly. "But I think that Raiden's abductor might have, and besides how would Raiden know about the shack? Did you tell him?"

"No, Raiden didn't know what I did for a living before he was standing at Shinra tower with me," Reno said, feeling a little guilty.

"Alright," Tseng said. "So I think you should take these two files with you, and study them, meet me back here tomorrow at eight in the morning, and tell me your theory," he said with a smile. "In the meantime, I will look into the archive and see if there should be any other murders with mercury at all within the last fifteen years or something."

"Sounds like a plan," Reno said, picking up the case files for Harmony and Folsom. "Tomorrow then," he said with a smile and went out the door, this was the longest and most meaningful conversation they had had in months, maybe just maybe they really could get over this little obstacle and get back to working like a team.
____________________________________

Once in the parking lot, Reno picked up his phone and dialled Cloud. Waiting impatiently he got into his car and sat thumbing the steering wheel annoyed. Growling as the phone stopped ringing and went on voice mail. "Hey, pick up! I'm going home now, call me," he said in a clipped tone before he flipped the phone shut and tossed it on the passenger seat.

Once home, Reno had harboured a little tiny hope that Cloud would surprise him by being there, and was just being obnoxious for fun, but he found his apartment empty, and the boxes in the corner that was still to be unpacked reminded him how little he really wanted to be here. He put the case files down on his sofa table, and went to the kitchen to get a beer. If he had anymore coffee right now, he would have a cardiac arrest. "So you guys, spill it, what the hell is that connects you other than some stupid ass shed made of tin plates and old wood."

Loosing all track of time as he read the case files, he didn't register that he was reading in half darkness before there was a loud buzz from the door. Annoyed he put his morbid reading down and turned on the light over the sofa table as he went past the light switch on his way to the door. He had been prepared for a lot of things, but not this, as soon as the door swooshed open, Reno had his arms full of Cloud. "Cloud, you.." he said, but was silenced with a deep kiss, not that he was about to argue, some remote part of his mind, registered that it had been ages since he had held Cloud, and that he should cherish this moment, but somehow the blonde's body seemed so familiar that Reno's hands moved on their own accord. The fact that they never made it further than the living room floor didn't matter, all Reno cared about was touching Cloud's naked skin.

Cloud hit his knee in the process of getting his clothes off, it throbbed and hurt like hell, but as Reno wrapped his arms around him, rolling him around, feeling their bodies against each other, he forgot his knee hurt. Cloud was about to tell Reno that he was afraid that this would be over all too fast, but as he looked up at the red haired man, he could tell from his expression that he felt the same way, so he just smiled and wrapped his arms around Reno's neck and brought him down to a lazy slobbery kiss.

They had barely started before it was over, chuckling like two teenagers, they lay on the floor half amused and half ashamed that they had both finished just by touching and kissing. "Damn" Reno laughed, draping an arm over his eyes. "You gotta stay the night, and let me make up for that."

"You read my mind," Cloud grinned, as he sat up and reached for Reno's shirt to clean off his stomach.

Reno sat up too, and kissed Cloud on his cheek before he moved to stand completely, "I need wall to wall carpet, man," he mumbled to himself and rubbed his knees.

Cloud laughed softly and got up too, and flung himself onto the sofa, with a blissfull sigh.

"When I called you earlier, where the hell were you at?" Reno said softly as he came back from the kitchen, carrying a glass of water.

Cloud looked up at Reno and folded his hands behind the neck, and rested back into the couch. "Tifa called me," he said, "Someone broke into her store room." Cloud smiled as Reno frowned. "It was strange tho'," he said with a whisper. "Nothing was missing, nothing besides some extra stuff I had laying about to fix the bike, that is."

"Yeah, that is odd, Reno mumbled and dropped down beside Cloud in the sofa.

"Now if it was booze or food that was missing I would understand it," Cloud said, leaning in over the table, looking at the case files spread over the surface. "Maybe its nothing, maybe it was just because they decided there was nothing else of real value they could nick."

"Yeah, that's probably it," Reno said handing the glass to Cloud, who drank the rest of the water in greedy sips. "I am supposed to have a theory about this in the morning," he sighed and pushed a paper about Harmony further in on the table. "And I don't know what the hell to think."

"This was your emergency?"

"Yeah," Reno said with a sigh. "Leave that to the professional" he grinned, and grabbed Cloud.

"Smart ass," Cloud grinned, purring as Reno planted a kiss on his shoulder. "Ready for bed yet?"

"Very," Reno said with a predatory smile. "Lets see if I can pass my own two minute record."

Cloud grinned, and let Reno lead him off into the bedroom.

TBC.