Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It was the second week of June and the morning's heat made it obvious that summer would begin in only a few days. "Well, at least it's not raining," said a brunette woman, roughly in her mid-thirties, as she picked up a large box from the moving truck parked on the side of the road. She struggled under the weight of the oversized and over stuffed cardboard as she lugged it into a historical looking apartment building and up two flights of stairs.  

Despite the woman's slender build, she clearly did not work out often, as her constant trips up and down the two flights of stairs were quickly winding her. Luckily, her door was the closest to the stairs, making the trip shorter. Upon entering the apartment with the most recent box, she carefully placed the container down on the marble island counter of the kitchen to catch her breath. "No elevator, no air conditioning... no wonder this place was so cheap," she quietly grumbled while fanning herself and looking around the apartment. She was grateful that she had hired movers to take care of the larger furniture like couches and her bed, but the rest was up to her to carry from the rented truck.

"Emma Swanson?" an elderly voice asked from the doorway, causing the brunette to turn to look for the source. Standing in the hallway was a kind-looking older man in his early 70s with thinning white hair. Based on a guess, all the stair climbing required to maintain the building kept him active and lively since he didn't seem to need a cane.

"That's me," she confirmed and walked over. "It's nice to officially meet you, Mister..."

"Jacobs," the man replied with a smile, offering a hand, which Emma took to give a gentle shake. "I'm just glad I could find a new tenant so quickly. The last one up and left after not paying rent for four months," the Landlord explained with a grumble.

"Seems it worked out well for the both of us then. It's a lovely apartment," Emma complimented. While the place had its shortcomings, it was more than enough for a single person. A small hallway to the back of the apartment divided out space for a bedroom, bathroom, and study as the main open space to the front sported a full kitchen/dining area with marble counters and up-to-date appliances that led into a spacious living room.

"I'm glad it's to your liking. I was hoping we could do the move-in walkthrough if you have a minute. I'll hand over the keys after that," the landlord offered Emma a folder he had been holding in his other hand. "That will cover all the service providers for phone, internet, electricity, and water that have leads into the building. You are welcome to take your pick. It also has the number for our service and repair department if anything breaks," he further explained as the two walked through the apartment. There was some pre-existing damage to a few of the walls, and one of the door hinges was out of line, but other than that, it was as described. With those discrepancies documented, she signed the paperwork and handed it over to Mr. Jacobs.

"Seems everything's in order. You should introduce yourself to your floormates when you have the time." Mr. Jacobs suggested as he motioned for Emma to follow him to the doorway. "There's Bastion Howells across from you; he's an interesting sort, but a good guy. Next to him is the Russos, a newly retired couple. Good folks. If you need anything, they'll likely be more than happy to talk your ear off," The landlord gestured to a door each time a new name came up. "And you'll be sharing the kitchen wall with Chris Redfield in the apartment to your right. Military sort, so he's often gone. A quiet fellow, but he pays his rent, so I can't complain too much," the landlord said with a shrug.

"Thanks for the heads-up, I'll be sure to introduce myself after I get settled." Emma agreed.

"I'm sure you'll fit right in. Here's your key and a spare. The Russos have a key share thing going on,  something about it being safer than leaving a key under the mat in case of emergencies. So if you want to join that, make sure to mention it to them," With that he handed her two keys to the apartment. 

"I might have to take them up on that offer. I can be a bit of a klutz," she admitted as she walked down the stairs with Mr. Jacobs to get another box while he continued to explain the ins and outs of the tiny community she was joining. 

Seeing the front door of his office seemed to spark yet another useful tip. "Oh, mail arrives around 4 pm each day. They usually leave packages on the shelf by your door, but feel free to use that for holiday decorations. You can leave a note for the postman if you prefer that they leave packages in the main office if they're too big to go through the mail slot," he explained while gesturing to the old fashion door that had a thin rectangular slit for mail with a brass cover that could be locked from the inside.

"Thanks again. I'll make sure to reach out to you if anything comes up," Emma said, while wondering if maybe Mr. Jacobs had a case of the pot calling the kettle black when it came to how much the Russos like to talk, because he was talking a lot. 

"Good, good. See you around then," Mr. Jacobs excused himself and went to his office on the first floor; while Emma went back to the street and continued moving boxes up to the apartment. By the time the truck was empty, it was roughly 2 pm. Emma took another deep breath after getting the window air conditioning unit set up for her apartment.

"Okay, one more trip," she coached herself before heading back down to the curb with her keys for the rental truck. After a few stressful traffic manuvors she was finally driving out of town. Emma tapped her fingers against the wheel while humming quietly to the music from the radio as she drove to her old apartment and parked outside. Upon walking into the mostly empty unit, she was greeted with barking, which caused her to laugh as she was tackled by the larger fluffy gold and white-furred dog. "Duke! Who's my good boy? Have I been gone for seven forevers?" Emma cooed while petting the dog and ruffling his fur.

"Are you ready to see your new home?" she asked, receiving a bark in response. “That’s a good boy. Go get your stuffy,” she instructed, causing the dog to hurry off and pick up a very well-used, almost flat teddy bear. Duke followed her back and forth as she carried boxes to the truck. After another hour of packing and driving, Emma made it back to the new apartment with Duke and unpacked the last boxes. She dropped off the moving truck at the rental center down the road and walked the rest of the way back to her new home before flopping onto the couch.

Seeing his owner collapse caused Duke to hurry over and start repeatedly licking Emma in an attempt to revive her. "I can't feel my legs," Emma grumbled while receiving the puppy bath for a few moments. She eventually nudged the dog away, so she could sit up while trying to renew her resolve. "I can do this. I just gotta meet the neighbors, and then I can go to bed," the woman coached herself before giving another tired sigh. "Meeting people is draining... what do I even say?" she asked herself, petting Duke.

She glanced at the kitchen hoping to catch the time from the Microwave clock. Instead she found an idea. "Cookies might make it easier..." she quietly mused before pushing herself to get up, wash her hands and face, then start unpacking the kitchen.

By the time she had everything put away it was 7pm, making her feel all the more grateful that she had planned her move well enough that she could keep what food she had from her last apartment and avoid a trip to the store. Eggs, flour, sugar, brown sugar, butter, vanilla, a pinch of salt, baking soda, and chocolate chips. With all the ingredients laid out alongside the bowl and mixer, Emma started preheating the oven and measuring them out with a smile. "They do say making cookies is a realtor's trick to make a house feel homely. Maybe this will help me feel more moved in too," the woman mumbled to herself with a short chuckle. She’d made it about halfway through mixing the dry ingredients before a frown started to form. She scraped the bottom of her sugar container for the last scoop needed, only for it to be empty.

Crap... Well, she could try a half batch, but that would be pretty skimpy as far as cookies went. A regular batch made twenty-four, half a batch made twelve. Between three neighbors. So, four cookies a plate... Yeah, that was not going to work. She was not going down as the neighbor who gave out four cookies as a 'nice to meet you' gift. She’d be better off not offering a gift at all at that point. Especially since cookies were easy to make. Not to mention, she already had the other ingredients in the bowl for a full batch...

"Okay, just ask a neighbor for a cup of sugar. It's not that weird. It's practically a rite of passage in sitcoms," Emma reasoned as she put down the measuring cup to head over to the door and enter the hallway. Three doors and three options. It seemed like the Russo family would be the one she needed to make a better impression on. After thinking it over, Emma went to the door to her right and knocked on it. This Chris guy was rarely around anyway, right? So, it wouldn't matter as much if she made a bad impression, and if he wasn’t home, then no harm, no foul.

It took a minute, but shuffling could be heard behind the door followed by a few clicks and the sound of metal sliding against metal. The door opened shortly after, showing a man in his early to mid-forties. He seemed confused and didn't say anything after opening the door.

"Hi, I'm Emma Swanson, your new neighbor," Emma started since the guy seemed quiet. "I just moved in today. I'm in the middle of cooking, but I'm short a cup of sugar. I was wondering if I could borrow a cup from you?"

"Name's Chris... Let me see if I have any," he closed the door, and the sound of sliding metal announced that the lock had been put back into place. A minute or so passed before the sound returned, and the door opened once more before Chris offered a measuring cup of sugar. "Here. Need anything else?" While he didn't seem grumpy, he did sound tired and disinterested. 

"Thank you, that should be it. I'll get the measuring cup back to you soon," she promised as she accepted the offered ingredient while fighting off a pang of guilt. He hadn't been sleeping already, had he? 

"'Kay. Have a good night then," he said, closing the door once more and locking up before Emma could say anything else. 

That was no skin off her teeth. At least she had what she needed. Once safely back in her own apartment and kitchen, she smiled. She had already met one neighbor. That wasn't so bad. Though, since he seemed tired, maybe she'd drop his cookies off in the morning or something... She thought over what to do about that as she finished making the chocolate chip cookies. Then she placed eight on each paper plate before plastic wrapping them with a small handwritten note to introduce herself and added her contact information in case they needed to reach her.

"Wish me luck, Duke," she said to the contently resting canine before heading over to the door directly across from her own. After knocking, a young man around her age with long dark hair that was pulled back into a ponytail answered the door.

"Hello? Oh. Um, hi," he replied while trying to process an unexpected visitor with baked goods. She seemed a little too old to be a girl scout.

"Hi, I'm your new neighbor. I just moved in across the hall. My name is Emma. I thought I'd make some cookies and introduce myself, so," Emma offered the plate to the young man. "Here you go.” Yikes. She’d done a lot better during her first introduction, and that one hadn't gone great either.

The man smiled at the gesture. "That is so sweet, thank you," As he accepted the cookies, Emma noticed that his nails were very nicely painted.

"Oh wow, I love your nails," Emma praised before she could catch herself, though the man's smile only grew. "Who do you go to?"

"Thank you, I actually do them myself," he proudly answered. "I'm a nail tech at the nails and spa just down the road. Just stop by and ask for Bastion, and I'll help you out."

Emma happily nodded. "I definitely will. I'm usually at a keyboard, so I keep my nails short, but if a special occasion arises, you'll be the person I go to," she confirmed, feeling much more relaxed now that it seemed like the conversation was going more smoothly.

"All right. Well, you have a good night, Emma. It's very nice to meet you."

"Thanks, you too," Emma replied before waving and heading back to her apartment as Bastion closed his door. Once she got the next plate of cookies, she walked over to the door diagonal from hers. The Russos had a very homey feel to their apartment with a door wreath, a welcoming mat, and a small potted plant on their door-side shelf. "Maybe I should pick up some flowers," Emma whispered to herself. The plant was a nice touch, she had to admit. With that, she took a breath and knocked on the last door only to hear…well, she wasn't sure what she was hearing. It didn't quite sound like English, but two voices were heard on the other side of the door. Italian?

Sure enough, the door opened to show a short, graying woman with her husband sitting on the couch in the background watching TV. "Hello dear, are you lost?" she asked with a concerned expression.

"Oh, no, I'm not lost. I'm your new neighbor across the hall. I was hoping to introduce myself and drop off some cookies," Emma explained before offering a hand. There we go. The third time was the charm. "My name is Emma Swanson. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Oh! It's a pleasure to meet you as well," the woman greeted, accepting the handshake before calling over her shoulder in Italian for her husband. "My name is Anna, and this is my husband, Marco," she said as the graying man walked over to join her. "We're home most days, so if you need anything, make sure to let us know."

"Thanks. Mr. Jacobs mentioned that you have a key share going for the floor?" Emma asked, as Anna accepted the plate of cookies.

"Yes, did you want to join?" she replied.

"No, she just brought over cookies and asked about it for her health, my dear," Marco pointed out, earning a gentle swat from Anna.

Emma gave a half-hearted chuckle as she took one of the keys from her pocket. "If it's not a problem, I'd appreciate it."

Anna accepted the key. "It's no trouble at all. I'll get it copied and give one to the other two as well. I'll have your set over by the end of tomorrow."

"Oh, we all keep a copy?" Emma asked, surprised. It wasn't an issue, but it wasn't what she initially expected either.

"Just out of caution, at least one of the four apartments is bound to have someone home. If it's an emergency, it's best for everyone to be able to help out when possible. It will be nice to have all four of us on the same page. The last tenant was rather adamantly against participating." The woman went on to tell Emma more about each of the other tenants. 

Five minutes passed, then ten.

"I see. Well, thanks again," Emma said with a smile. Mr. Jacobs was right; she did talk a lot.

"It's our pleasure. Is there anything we can help you with? Did you get all your boxes unpacked?" Anna asked in a motherly tone.

"Everything is taken care of," Emma confirmed. "I just wanted to introduce myself. I won't take much more of your time. It's getting late."

"All right, have a good night Emma," Anna said before nudging Marco.

"Good night," he said before turning to go back to his place on the couch.

Emma waved and she turned to leave, as Anna closed the door. Once home in her own apartment again, a triumphant smile crossed Emma's face. She did it. She moved in and met her neighbors. They all seemed pretty nice too, which was a stroke of good fortune. Emma looked at the last plate of cookies and the mess on the counter. She should probably wash everything, but she was tired… she'd wash the measuring cup and return it tomorrow. For now, she picked up the final plate of cookies and walked to Chris's door again, where she left it on the empty shelf before heading back.

Emma had just finished locking up for the night when she heard a loud THUD against her door, causing her to jump back with a yelp as Duke started barking. Whoever it was, the barks seemed to scare them off as she heard footsteps quickly hurrying down the stairs. She hadn't exactly been stealthy about moving in, but she didn't expect someone to try and break in because of it.

Maybe, I should talk to the landlord about installing one of those doorbell cameras... If I offer to pay for the installation, maybe he'll allow it, Emma thought fearfully as she walked over to the still grumbling dog to sit next to him and pet him until he calmed down.

What a strange day.

Chapter Text

A week had passed since the incident with the door, and it still had Emma shaken up, but she was hopeful the meeting she scheduled with the landlord would provide her with some good news. She got dressed for the morning in a nice blouse and jeans. It was a Sunday, so she didn't need to dress for work, but it seemed appropriate to wear a nicer shirt for the meeting. 

Once she was ready, she made her way down the stairs to the first floor and knocked on a door labeled 'office.' 

"Come in," she heard from the other side, and with permission given, she opened the door to head in. The office space was cluttered with antique shelves filled with books and binders of papers. Mr. Jacobs sat at his desk where a computer that looked like it was from the ‘90s was set up and quietly humming as he clicked away at a yellowing keyboard. "Good to see you again, Ms. Swanson. Please take a seat," he offered as he motioned to two discount office chairs set up in front of his desk. 

Emma nodded and closed the door behind her before walking over, taking a seat, and wincing slightly as the chair creaked.

"I apologize that I couldn't meet with you sooner. What can I do for you?" Mr. Jacobs asked with a sincere smile. 

"It's not a problem, I was wondering if it would be all right if I replaced my current doorbell to one with a built-in camera?" she requested, which caused the landlord to look at her with some confusion. "Shortly after I moved in, someone slammed into my door. I'm not sure why anyone would want to, but I'm worried that they were trying to get into my apartment. I'd feel more comfortable if I had a way to see if they stop by again."

the landlord's confusion turned to sympathy. "I see. Well, I'm sorry you went through that. Given the circumstances, I think that's reasonable enough. Let's draft up an amendment to your lease, so you can make that addition," Mr. Jacobs agreed with which caused Emma to smile widely. This would certainly give her some peace of mind.

"Thank you so much, Mr. Jacobs," Emma replied as he slowly clicked away at a keyboard.

"Luckily, I had a request for one of those doohickies a few months ago, so I have a template already worked up. I just have to change out the names and dates," he said, waving off Emma’s thanks before pressing another key, which woke up the printer set up on a short table by the window. Just like everything else, it looked like it hadn't been updated in at least twenty years. 

"Oh? Have there been other incidents?" Emma asked with a note of concern, which was once more waved away by the elderly landlord.

"Just some punk kids pulling that old ding-dong ditch prank. You'd think kids could come up with something more original," Mr. Jacobs half-heartedly complained, and Emma chuckled in response.

"I'd prefer that prank compared to them body checking my door," she admitted, but hearing that the culprit for the other incident was just some kids goofing off made her feel better.

"Same here. I prefer not to have to replace a door. If you catch the kid, let me know, and I'll give them a talking to they'll never forget," Mr. Jacobs insisted. "They'll be giving the stairwell walls a fresh coat of paint if I get any say in the matter."

Emma relaxed further as the printer finished providing papers. "Well, if I catch anything on the camera, you'll be the first to know," she agreed as the landlord collected the pages, signed and dated a few, then handed them over to Emma.

"Initial here and here, then sign and date here," he said, pointing to the different lines that needed her attention. Emma did as requested after reading over the document to make sure it was a standard enough agreement and found that it was about what she expected. She was responsible for the installation and maintenance of the security camera. It couldn't be excessive, and footage from the camera must be provided upon request of the landlord or authorities, and it needed to be removed when she moved out.

"That should do it," Emma confirmed as she finished the final signature on the document and handed it back to Mr. Jacobs.

"All righty then, feel free to install it when you have the time. Have a good morning," He said, dismissing her from the office.

"Thank you, sir." Emma got up, then went back to her apartment. She had banked on getting approval for the camera and bought it on Amazon the night of the odd door slamming incident to help herself fall asleep. It wasn't much, but just knowing that the security system was on its way was enough to help her feel safer. She walked inside for a brief moment to grab the box and a few screwdrivers before heading back outside to get to work. She rolled up the sleeves of her blouse before beginning to tinker with the current doorbell.

As she worked on the project, the sound of a door opening and closing got her attention, causing her to instinctively look for the source. Upon glancing over, she found Chris leaving his apartment. Emma gave a short wave, "Good morning."

"Morning." Chris looked at the growing amount of clutter around her door. "Is something wrong with your place already?" he asked with a hint of surprise.

"Hm, oh no, nothing is wrong per se. I'm just installing a door camera," Emma admitted with a slight wince in her expression. It wasn't the most trusting thing to install after just moving in but the other night had really freaked her out.

"I didn't realize the lease allowed for that," Chris replied with mild curiosity. She wasn't breaking her lease in the first week, right? That would be a new record.

"I signed an amendment agreement," Emma confirmed before bobbing her head. "There's some kid running around and messing with the doors. They scared me half to death the other day by slamming into my door," she explained further, resulting in a silent 'ah' motion from the man.

"That explains the shouting and barking," he replied, crossing his arms.

"The walls are that thin? I'm sorry about that. Duke usually doesn't bark that much. He'll just alert me if someone is at the door." Emma hoped he wasn't too upset. The last thing she needed was a noise complaint.

Instead, he just raised an eyebrow. "So the shouting is normal then?"

"No!" she corrected her volume, "Er, I mean, no. That won't happen again. I'm sorry," Emma insisted, feeling flustered. 

Chris simply nodded in response and saw little other reason to continue the conversation. "All right, well, see you around. Thanks for the cookies," he added with a short wave as he continued on his way to the stairs.

"No problem," she replied, finally relaxing after he was out of sight. "Well. Off to a great start there," Emma muttered under her breath with a slight frown. It was a good thing Mr. Jacobs said Chris wouldn't be around too often. Which turned out to be true. Aside from Chris installing his own camera, which looked like one of the tiny ceiling domes you'd see in a retail store, the guy was barely ever home.

'*'*'*'*'

Life went on, as usual. Wake up, take Duke for a walk, shower, eat breakfast, go to work, come back, eat dinner, relax for a few hours, then go to bed. This went on for a good few weeks, and despite the rocky start to the new apartment, July was turning out to be a peaceful month.

It was certainly appreciated since it helped her feel more comfortable about leaving the apartment. Emma was just making her way home after a quick after work trip to the corner store. She smiled upon finding that her door was still in place and shifted some plastic bags from one arm to the other to try and free up her hands to get her key from her pocket.

“Good evening, dear!” Mrs. Russo called as she carefully walked up the apartment building stairs alongside Marco.

“Good evening, Mr. and Mrs. Russo. Did you have a nice walk?" Emma asked as she put down the bags on the floor. She'd only known the couple for a few weeks, but it was already rather apparent that the woman could talk for far longer than her arms could support the bags.

"Yes, the weather was perfect," she said happily as she reached the second floor. Immediately after her expression shifted. "Puah!" she exclaimed with a frown before speaking Italian, which caused Marco to chuckle, raise his hands in surrender and retreat to their apartment. "What is that?" she asked, gesturing to a jar in the grocery bag.

"...Tomato sauce? I was thinking about making some spaghetti for Sunday dinner," Emma answered as she took out the store-brand jar, causing Mrs. Russo to scrunch up her nose and shake her head.

"Oh no, you shouldn't use that. It's no good. It's full of preservatives and no flavor. Not to mention completely overpriced. One second. You stay right there," she insisted before hurrying to her own apartment, then returning. "If you're eating Italian food on this floor, you're going to be making it right," she offered Emma a piece of paper with a recipe written on it. "This will taste much better. It's straightforward to make and cheaper than the processed jars from the store. If you need any help with it, just let me know, and I'll come over."

"Oh. Um, thanks," Emma said, surprised and confused. Still, she accepted the recipe and looked it over. It didn't seem too difficult. It was a lot of waiting, though. "I'll pick up some tomatoes over the weekend and give it a try."

“Good good, and make sure you let me know what you think. Be honest, okay?” Mrs. Russo requested.

“Of course, I’ll let you know after I try it,” Emma agreed with a nervous smile. While the request came with good intentions, there was no way Emma would say anything bad about it, even if she didn’t like it. If this was a family recipe, it would be rude to say anything cross about it.

“All right, now remember to make sure that you—” Mrs. Russo started but was cut off.

“Anna,” Marco frustratedly called from their apartment.

“Oh. Coming darling,” she replied before looking back at Emma. “I’ll talk to you later, dear.”

Amused and grateful for Marco's assistance, Emma gave a short wave as the woman left, “See you around.”

The recipe sat waiting on Emma’s counter for a few days after that. Waiting, but not forgotten. On Saturday, she picked up the necessary ingredients during her regular trip to the store. Sunday came soon after, and with it came the multiple-hour-long process of making all her meals for the week in advance.

At least all of the waiting required to make the tomato sauce recipe would be filled by working on other meals.

The thought caused her to smile as she put away the last of her Sunday meal prepping into the fridge. Even with all the extra cooking going on around the pot of tomatoes and spices, it still had ten minutes or so left of cooking before the recipe said it was done.

“I guess I timed that well enough,” she quietly mused as she got to work on her dinner for the night. She still needed to boil the noodles. She checked a pot that had been simmering on the stove, stirring the contents while thinking over her last conversation with Mrs. Russo.

The young woman chuckled at the memory. She honestly wasn’t completely sold on the recipe. Mint wasn’t her first pick of herbs to include in tomato sauce, but she was curious enough to give it a try like she said she would. After tasting the sauce, her expression shifted to content surprise as she bobbed her head. "Not bad, all right," she said before starting on the spaghetti. "Seems I'm making tomato sauce from scratch going forward."

Before long, the meal was ready, a heaping plate of spaghetti with freshly made sauce, green beans, and some garlic bread. Emma happily curled up on the couch with her plate of food as she heard heavy footsteps walking up the stairs, and the door to the right opened then shut with a loud thud causing her to wince slightly. "Well, the neighbor is home," she muttered, looking at Duke, who was more focused on begging for scraps. She chuckled and shook her head before tossing the dog a green bean, which was wholeheartedly rejected by the pooch. "Such a brat," she teased, shaking her head as she bent over to pick up the green bean from the floor, then walked over to throw it away in the kitchen trash can.

Cabinets could be heard opening and closing from the other side of the wall, causing Emma to frown. Now that she thought about it, she hadn't heard hide or hair from the guy in a little over two weeks. A frustrated and loud slam could be heard, making her wince once more. That wall really is thin, gracious, she thought before looking at the leftovers on the stove.

Was it being nosy to bring over a plate of food? Probably. Emma drummed her fingers against the counter while staring at the food and thinking it over before noticing the measuring cup in the dish drainer. She did still need to give that back as well.

Curiosity killed the cat, but, luckily, I’m more of a dog person, the young woman thought as she put together a paper plate of food and grabbed the measuring cup before heading over to Chris’s door to knock on it. Nosy or not, it was a decent excuse to try and figure out what on earth he was slamming his cabinets about. Sorry I kept this for so long. I made too much food, so I hope it works as an apology. By the way, what’s with the slamming cabinets? Okay, bye ...

See? Easy. 

'*'*'*'*'

Chris walked into his apartment with a quiet grumble as he closed the door behind him. That last mission was rough, though it wasn't like any of his work was a walk in the park. It took a solid three days to find the Baker house in Louisiana and formulate a plan before getting Ethan and Mia out of there. Another two days of running through the mines, chasing after Lucas Baker... That explosive psycho maniac. So many good people died, and all he could do was watch and keep moving forward. It bothered him. And it was still unsettling to have to work with Umbrella within the BSAA... After that, it was another three days spent combing the area for Zoe, then his time was mostly spent in recovery, counseling, and quarantine before the standard debriefing.

He let his bag fall from his shoulder with a tired sigh and walked over to the kitchen to look around for something to eat. Nothing. Peanut butter. Nope, nothing. Protein bar. He closed each cabinet, getting more frustrated as he heard the clock's ticking echoing between his ears. STOP! he mentally shouted as he punched the countertop to try and rid his mind of the bombs strapped to the necks of his teammates and to his own arm. 

It took him a moment to catch his breath and calm back down. Once he did, he looked back at the jar of peanut butter and the protein bar. He should probably just order take-out, but he wasn't in the mood to go pick something up, and delivery apps were highway robbery at this time of night. He was about to head over to the fridge to check it for anything not molding when he heard a knock at the door, which caused him to frown and stare at it with suspicion. They never did find out who Lucas was trying to contact, and he was not expecting guests. Luckily, this was what the camera was for, so he pulled out his phone and opened the app to take a peek at who it was.

Oddly enough, the new neighbor was standing outside holding a plate of food and a familiar measuring cup while looking anywhere besides the door. What was her name again? Ella? She didn't exactly look like a threat, so he put his phone away and made his way to the door to open it. "Did you need something?" he asked.

"Hey," she greeted with a note of nervousness. Lord talking to strangers was stressful. "So I made too much food. I figured I'd drop off a plate with your measuring cup. Sorry it took so long for me to get that back to you," Emma explained and offered the two items.

Well, his options were overpaying, a peanut butter-covered protein bar, or a random plate of food from the new neighbor... "Thanks," he said, taking both. "And don't worry about it. It's not like I was here to use it anyway."

"I see. Do you travel a lot for work?" she asked. Was that why he was slamming his cabinets like that?

"Something like that," he replied with a nod to indulge the small talk for a moment. At least it was better than letting his mind wander to recent events.

So he was slamming them because he was frustrated with work, or maybe he didn't have food after being gone so long... "Well, if you're low on supplies, I'm usually up and eating breakfast around 7:30, I just went shopping the other day, so I have enough to share," Emma offered with a smile.

Ha, no. "I'll keep that in mind," he said with a curt nod. "Have a good night," Chris added to show he was done talking.

"Good night," she replied, turning to leave as Chris closed his door.

He walked over to the island counter to set the plate down so he could focus on putting away the measuring cup. He wasn't super keen on taking food from someone he barely knew, but... his eyes drifted once more to the protein bar. That would have to be for breakfast. At least she was kind enough to put it on a paper plate, so they didn't have to start playing whose turn is it to return the dish.

He had dinner, showered, slept while plagued by nightmares of exploding heads and zombies, then woke up the next day.

The daily grind started over again as he shuffled from his bed to the kitchen to try and make a cup of coffee to find… yeah, that was empty too. He stared down at the empty container as if the coffee grounds would materialize if he glared at it long enough. That lasted for only a moment before he threw out the container and focused on getting ready for the day. He needed to head back to HQ for paperwork and drills with the team. He changed into a plain black Under Armour t-shirt and some off-white slacks, then walked back to the kitchen to grab the protein bar and slip that into his front pocket with his keys and wallet. After lacing up his combat boots, he decided to head out, locking the door behind him before looking over to the door by the stairs. He checked his watch. 7:43 AM.

He was already leaving early for work. Let's see. Overpay at some cafe, get watered-down garbage from the office, or spend five minutes talking to the new neighbor and hope she has decent taste... All right. Just a cup of coffee, then head out, he thought before walking over and knocking on the door, resulting in barking from within the apartment.

"Duke, hush pup. It’s too early for barking, shh,” could be heard. Shortly after, the barking calmed to mild husky grumbles and chatter before the door opened, revealing Emma, who seemed surprised to see him.

"Chris, good to see you. Come on in," she said as she moved to open the door further, which Duke took as an invitation to hurry into the hallway to check out the visitor. The dog was a mixed breed with long floppy ears and a long blonde coat with white markings on the paws and stomach. Emma looked at the grumbling dog as he tried to sniff at Chris from a safe distance. "Duke, go get your stuffy," she said, which caused the dog to immediately head back into the apartment to look for his favorite toy. "Sorry about him. He's gentle but opinionated." She moved so Chris could enter the apartment.

Chris quietly nodded. "I see," he replied, starting to regret his decision, but it was too late now. 

Once he was in the apartment, Emma closed the door behind him. "What can I get you?" she asked.

"Just a cup of coffee," he answered, looking around. It seemed like she was mostly unpacked, aside from a small stack of boxes by the living room.

"One cup of coffee coming up," she replied before walking over to the kitchen and motioning for Chris to join her. The BSAA agent did so and took a seat at the island counter. "Cream and sugar?" she asked as she took a mug from one of the cabinets.

"None," he replied with a wave of his hand.

"Mmkay," she said, pouring a cup from a half-full pot she likely made for herself earlier and put that on the counter before walking around the kitchen. "How was your trip?" she asked in an attempt to hold a conversation while she continued to get ready for work. She still needed to pack her lunch.

"It was work," he replied, giving as few details as possible before sipping at the warm cup of joe. Missions were classified information, after all. Besides, what was he going to say? A civilian would not handle exploding heads and zombies well.

"Fair enough," she replied with a shrug before opening the fridge. She mentioned that he should stop by if he was low on supplies. It was just a cup of coffee, but all the same, he had stopped by, and he didn't appear to have anything packed for lunch. She looked over six Tupperware containers, took out two of them, and placed them on the island by Chris. "Take your pick. It's not much, but it should hold you over for lunch until you can get to the store."

"That's kind of you, but I couldn't," he responded. He usually just skipped lunch anyway. It was a bad habit, to be sure, but it was what it was.

"I insist. You were kind enough to give me a hand when you didn't really know anything about me," Emma pointed out with a gentle smile. Maybe she was being pushy, but honestly, it sounded like he was having a rough go with all the door slamming last night. A little kindness could go a long way.

"I still don't know anything about you, and we're already more than even. It was just a cup of sugar," Chris rebutted before returning to sipping his coffee.

"Fair point." She shrugged as Duke wandered back into the room carrying a worn-out teddy bear that appeared to be missing half of its stuffing. The pup sat down and stared at Chris, then picked up a paw to wave at him. "Duke, no, bring it here," Emma instructed, earning a grumble from the dog as he got back up and walked over to her.

"He's an interesting dog," Chris said, hoping to change the subject.

"Thanks. He's a rescue, but I raised him from ten weeks on," she replied with a chuckle. "He's all bark, though. At the first sign of trouble, he'll be hiding behind a couch."

"I doubt that," Chris said, amused that first off, she was worried that a dog was going to scare him considering all he'd seen. Not that she knew. Secondly, at the concept of what appeared to be a 70-to-80-pound tank of a dog cowering in fear when he was used to the ones at the BSAA.

"No, no, I mean it. Watch," she said before standing directly in front of Duke and pointing her hand at the dog to look like a gun "Bang," she said. The dog stared at her before reaching up with a paw to push her hand down with zero interest in her shenanigans. "I didn't teach him to do that," she said, looking back to Chris, who actually cracked a smile as he watched her make various other hand gestures to the dog, yet the only one he'd react to was when she pointed her index and middle finger, which the pup would push away.

"Interesting," he said before finishing the last of his coffee and looking at the two meals still sitting on the counter. She wasn't that awful to talk to, and the food she dropped off before was decent, so he picked one up at random. "Thanks for the coffee and food," he said, getting up. "I should be heading out, though."

"Not a problem, have a good day," Emma replied with a wave as Chris let himself out and moseyed down to the parking garage. Once he was comfortably set up in his car, he started making his way to the BSAA headquarters.

Work was eventful as it could be, and by that, it was mostly boring. With fieldwork, everything was chaos, but that resulted in a mountain of paperwork to do until the next trip. Chris sat at his desk and filled out report after report before eventually looking at the clock. 2 pm. Seeing the time, his stomach complained. A cup of coffee and a protein bar during his ride in did not make for enough food. The team lead rubbed his eyelids before getting up and heading to the cafeteria to get the food Emma had offered him from the fridge and put that in the microwave.

"Hey Alpha," said a familiar voice.

"Lobo," Chris replied with a nod to the heavy arms expert.

"The fearless pack leader finally left the cave," he joked with a smile as he gave Chris a nudge. "I didn't think you normally did packed lunches."

"Yeah well, first time for everything," Chris replied with a shrug.

"What's the occasion?" Lobo asked with a mild level of curiosity.

"None, just heating up a peace offering from the new neighbor. They handed it off while I was on my way out," Chris replied before taking the small container.

"Peace offering? Is that bacon mac? Hell, how badly did you scare them?" Lobo asked with an amused smile but then waved it off. "I'm just messing. Anyway, when you get the time, the rest of the squad is at the range for practice. You should join us; the paperwork isn't going anywhere."

"I'll be there in ten," Chris agreed, earning him a solid pat on the back.

"All right, man, see you there. I'm going to beat your record for sure this time," Lobo said while walking backward towards the exit before turning around.

"Not a chance," Chris replied with a laugh. He had a good team, and he was grateful for it.

Chapter Text

It was the first week of August, and Saturday had returned. A few weeks had passed since Chris stopped by for coffee. She remembered being surprised the day after finding the empty and clean Tupperware container on the shelf by her door. It had been carefully placed next to the vase she set up, which she'd started putting fresh flowers in to make her door look homier. She was just about to walk out with a replacement bundle of colorful Carnations, Celosia, and Peonies when she heard an excited knocking at the door with chattering outside, causing Duke to bark. Emma smiled and told the dog his usual command to get his stuffed animal so he'd stop barking before opening the door.

"Auntie Emmy!" two small voices happily cheered after seeing the woman open the door. A family of four was waiting on the other side, consisting of a father, a very pregnant mother who appeared to be around Emma's age and two little girls. One was five, and the other was two.

"Hello, you little beans," she said before kneeling to be at eye level with the kids. As soon as she did, the two quickly tackled her in a hug. "Oooh, it's been forever, hasn't it? Are you excited about your sleepover?"

The older of the two broke the hug first to look at Emma. "Can we have pizza and ice cream?"

"Pizza AND ice cream," Emma parroted back in mock shock, causing the girls to giggle and squeal. "Oh, I don't know about that. That might be too much. If you're very, very good, then I'll consider it," she said before noticing the door to her right open. There stood a less-than-impressed neighbor. Emma winced before mouthing a quiet 'sorry.'

The oldest child, however, was none the wiser. "Hi! I'm Summer," she exclaimed, waving to Chris, which the younger sibling mimicked.

"Hiya am Summer," she said with a toothy grin.

"Maurie, no," Emma whispered as the toddler forgot to say her own name instead. While Emma was focused on Maurie, Summer had already started walking next door.

"What's your name?" she asked with a happy and curious smile.

"Chris," he answered after a moment of contemplation, though his unamused expression remained.

"Hi, Chris," she parroted back, accepting the name.

"Summer, get in the house," her mother ordered, clearly more used to telling the child what to do with authority. "I am so sorry about that. She's very excitable and likes making friends," the mother went on as she walked over to pick up the small child, who only protested further by kicking to get away. Tantrum in five… four… three…

"I set up some paper and crayons on the table. Do you want to draw with me?" Emma offered as she picked up on the growing frustration of the child.

Distraction accepted, and tantrum avoided. The leg flailing became less aggressive and more excited as she wanted to hurry into the apartment while she watched the younger sister toddle in to try and get to the crayons first. Once both of the kids were inside, Emma gave a sigh of relief before she noticed that Chris had gone back into his own apartment.

"Thanks again for watching them, Em. It helps a lot," the mother said with a appreciative smile.

"Don't worry about it, Chel. What are friends for if I can't be the cool Auntie?" she replied with a short laugh.

"Chelsea, we're going to be late," the father pointed out with a gentle nudge. 

Chelsea pulled Emma into a quick hug. "You're the best," she whispered before letting go. "We'll be back first thing tomorrow, I promise."

"It's fine. I got this. Take your time and get going. You and Jack need the break," Emma said, laughing as she nudged her friend to go.

"Fine, fine, see you tomorrow," Chelsea said with a chuckle, then carefully made her way back down the stairs with the help of her husband. Once Emma was sure that Chelsea had made it downstairs safely, she went back into her apartment and locked up, per usual. The two kids were happily sitting at the table. The oldest was already working on her third masterpiece while the youngest was trying to feed a crayon to Duke.

"Maurie, don't give Duke crayons," her word grew increasingly panicked while briskly walking over to take the crayon and put it onto the table. "Duke, bed," she added as the dog wandered off to take its place on the couch and begrudgingly laid down.

One oven pizza for lunch and a healthier dinner later with several games and episodes of Paw Patrol in between made for a very tired Auntie Emmy as 8 pm finally arrived. The golden hour. Bedtime.

"Okay girls, time to get into your PJs," Emma announced as she pushed herself to get off the couch.

"One more episode?" Summer asked with a hopeful smile causing Emma to falter slightly.

Curse the puppy eyes, but if she had to listen to another song about the power of friendship, she was going to go insane. "No, bedtime," she insisted, sticking to her original statement.

"Frozen?" she asked with a giggle thinking she was clever.

"Absolutely not," Emma replied as she picked up Maurie.

"Ice cream?" Summer asked as she flopped over with a big grin. This was turning into a game.

"Summer, no," Emma warned with a firmer tone, which caused the girl to pout before getting up to grab Emma's leg.

"Can I give my new friend the picture I drew for him first?" she asked while amplifying her attempt at a pouting puppy face.

"New frie—Summer."

"PLEASE?"

"Okay, okay. Just keep your voice down. It's late," Emma relented. "You can put it through the mail slot, but you have to go to bed right after."

"Okay." She smiled as she hurried over to the table to dig through the mountain of papers she drew on to find the perfect one. While the five-year-old was busy with this, Emma got Maurie changed and tucked into bed. "Auntie Emmy, can you help me with my letters?" Summer requested.

"What do you want to spell," Emma asked in return as she walked over to the table to see she already had her own name on the back of the picture she chose.

"I want it to say: To Chris," Summer said with a nod, causing Emma to chuckle. Hopefully, the military man had enough of a sense of humor to be okay with this. Emma took a blank piece of paper and wrote out the letters for Summer, who carefully copied each one. The S was backward, but she did a pretty good job overall.

With that, Summer flipped over the paper, allowing Emma to see the chosen drawing. It was a frowning red stick figure. A black shirt and blue pants were added after, in what Emma guessed was an attempt at drawing her neighbor. He was standing in what appeared to be a scribbled grass field. There was a tiny house in the distance and—

"Is that a bird?" Emma asked, pointing at a large section of green and red markings in the sky.

"It's a dragon," Summer corrected with a pout.

"A dragon, right. Now I see it. And that's a cat?" she asked while pointing at a white and orange blob with two red dots.

"Nooo silly, that's Duke," Summer giggled as she now believed Emma's guessing was an attempt at a joke.

"Ah. Of course," Emma said. Right. Why wouldn't Duke be there to help her neighbor with the dragon by the house? Dear Lord, please let him have a good sense of humor, Emma thought as the frowning face of the stick figure finally registered.

"Okay, I think it's ready," Summer declared after quickly drawing a yellow sun in the corner.

"All right, let's go. Remember, no knocking on the door or shouting. Just put it through the mail slot," Emma gently instructed, which caused Summer to nod.

"Okay," she agreed with the determined expression of a child on a mission as she got out of the chair.

Emma gave a quiet sigh before opening the door for the child. "Go on then," she said, and Summer quickly hurried over to Chris’s door to try and get the mail slot open, but it wouldn't budge.

The child made a few sounds of frustration. "Auntie Emmy, it's stuck!" she loudly complained before she eventually tried sliding the letter through the small gap in the metal door. Sure enough, the rather loud announcement resulted in footsteps and the sound of shifting locks as Chris once more opened the door.

Please let me crawl into a hole. I don't want to exist right now. Holy heck, please just let me go invisible, Emma thought as she watched the child stand there with a smile as the door opened.

"Hi," Summer happily greeted as she looked up at the much taller man. "Auntie wouldn't let me watch Frozen, but she said I could give you the picture I drew if I promised to be quiet about it and go to bed after."

FEARLESS CHILD , PLEASE STOP TALKING!

Chris looked over to Emma's door to find her halfway in her apartment, watching with a clearly uncomfortable expression as she gave him a nervous wave in greeting. He gave a short nod of acknowledgement before noticing the child walked into his apartment, so she could try and get the picture out of the mail slot before walking back out into the hallway.

"Anyway, here's the picture," Summer held it up for Chris to take.

The tired man accepted the paper and looked it over. Was that supposed to be him? "...Thanks. Now go to bed," he said as he looked back at Summer.

"Okay, bye new friend!" Summer waved while hurrying back over to Emma. "I did it," she whispered with an ear-to-ear grin.

"Very nice, get inside," Emma quietly insisted before whispering another quiet 'Sorry' to Chris. Once the door was closed and locked up, Emma held her face, which was warm from embarrassment. Summer, however, happily skipped to the bathroom to change and brush her teeth before walking to Emma's room and crawling into bed next to her sister.

"Auntie Emmy, can we have a bedtime story?" the child asked as Emma walked into the room to get her own clothes.

"I think you've had enough excitement before bed. Get some sleep," Emma countered. She heard a few grumbles in response, but the girls stayed in bed. Thank the heavens. "Good night."

"Night, Auntie Emmy," Summer replied.

"Ni-night," said Maurie with a yawn. With that, Emma made her way over to the bathroom, changed, and went over to the couch to settle in for the night.

The next morning, waffles were served, and the girls were happily enjoying them until a knock was heard at the door, resulting in the usual greeting. Duke barked. Emma gave him his command for silence, then opened the door to find the girls' father on the other side of the door.

"Daddy!" Summer squealed excitedly as she rushed over and clung to his leg.

"Dadda," Maurie parroted, grabbing his other leg.

"Heya kiddos, did you behave for your Auntie?" their father asked, receiving nods from both girls and a head shake from Emma.

"Sorry about that, but thanks for watching them while we were at the doctor's," Jack picked up Maurie as he spoke.

"Not a problem. How was date night?" Emma asked.

Jack laughed. "Chel went into labor two hours after we dropped off the girls," he admitted, causing Emma to gasp.

"Oh my gosh, what are you doing here then? Get back there," Emma said, swatting at his arm.

"Relax, she's fine, and so is little Annie," Jack replied with a chuckle. "Chelsea wanted me to pick up the girls and take them home, though, so they're ready to meet their new sister."

"She's here?" Summer asked excitedly.

"Yep, you get to meet her tomorrow. Grandma is waiting for you guys at home," Jack explained to the girls, resulting in giddy cheers.

"I'll show Maurie how to be a good big sister," Summer confidently announced.

"I'm sure you'll do great," Jack agreed before smiling at Emma. "Thanks again for watching them. You'll have to tell us about how it went in the group chat later."

"Sounds like a plan. I'll get the girls' bags," Emma said, then walked back to the bedroom to grab the two princess backpacks, which she handed over to Summer and Jack.

"Thanks, see you around," Jack called before taking Summer's hand to walk out of the building.

With that, Emma closed the door, looked at the mess that was her apartment, and got to work with Sunday cleaning and cooking.

She was looking forward to an uneventful week after the craziness that was the weekend, but that didn't end up happening. Three days later, as Emma was getting ready to curl up on the couch with a bowl of popcorn, she heard footsteps going up the stairs to the second floor.

"That's odd... I thought everyone was already home for the day," Emma whispered before hearing the sound of a door shaking. Once, twice, thrice. The sound moved around the floor before, eventually, her own door started to rattle for a moment. "What the heck?" Emma said as she quickly got up and put the popcorn down on the coffee table so she could move to hide behind the wall of the small hallway that separated her open living space from the private rooms. The rattling stopped as soon as it started. A shuffling could be heard, then the sound of shattering glass before the footsteps quickly hurried back out of the building. Emma waited a moment before cautiously walking over to the door and opening it to find that others were doing the same. Mr. Russo had a shotgun in hand while Chris was holding a pistol. It seemed like an overreaction, but Emma couldn't deny she had considered grabbing a knife from the kitchen before opening the door.

"Did you hear that as well?" Bastion asked as he looked at the others.

"Yeah, I think we all did," Chris confirmed with a frown before putting the safety switch back into place.

"What was that?" Mrs. Russo asked, peeking out from behind her husband. "Oh, oh no, Emma, your flowers," she cooed as she noticed the mess.

"It's fine. I can clean it up and get a new vase... maybe plastic this time, though," she said, frowning as she kneeled down to pick up the bigger chunks of glass and the discarded flowers.

"Did anyone see who it was?" Mr. Russo asked, receiving a collection of head shakes.

"No way, I didn't want to go near my door after that. Emma, is this what happened to you when you first moved in?" Bastion asked curiously.

"Sort of. They just slammed into the door and left last time," Emma explained before getting back up with the vase shards and flowers in hand.

"Maybe the cameras caught something," Chris suggested, crossing his arms.

"Maybe. Well, I'm not going to be sleeping any time soon," Emma admitted with a forced laugh. "Did you want to stop by for a cup of coffee so we can compare footage and see if we can figure anything out?" she offered to Chris as Mr. Russo grumbled about installing a camera after this as well, then went back into his apartment.

"Sure, I'll be over in a moment.”

"If you two find out anything, let me know. It will help calm my nerves," Mrs. Russo placed a hand over her heart. "I'm too old for this," she complained as she went back inside and closed the door behind her.

"That's so weird. I've lived here for years and haven't had anything like this happen before." Bastion frowned. "Maybe I should get a camera too..." he muttered while rubbing the back of his neck before forcing a smile as he looked at Emma. "For now, I'll leave this mystery to you, detective Emma."

Emma chuckled at the joke. "I'm sure it's probably just the same teen Mr. Jacobs mentioned who was bothering the third floor," she suggested to give Bastion some peace of mind.

"Perhaps. Well, try and get some sleep," Bastion replied before heading in as well. Emma tossed the glass shards in the trash before starting a pot of coffee. Once that was taken care of, she got a broom and dustpan from the closet to clean up the last of the glass from the hallway. By the time she finished sweeping, Chris had walked out of his apartment and locked it behind him.

"Let's see what we got," Chris stated as he walked over.

Emma nodded. "Right," she said as she let him into the apartment, closed the door behind him, and locked it to calm her own nerves. Upon seeing that Chris had taken a seat at the island, she put down the broom and dustpan by the door then joined him in the kitchen. After pouring two mugs of coffee, she offered one to Chris as it was, before adding some milk and sugar to her own cup.

Chris frowned as he clicked around on his phone and accepted the mug. "Looks like they had a mask on."

"You're joking," Emma replied as she put the milk away, then took out her own phone to check. Sure enough, she saw pretty much the same thing. A figure completely covered from head to toe walked over to Bastion's door and shook it while jiggling the handle before walking out of frame. The figure eventually walked back into the frame and did the same thing to her door. They noticed the flowers, picked up the vase to take them out, threw them on the ground first, then poured the water into their hand and smashed the vase in frustration. Once the figure noticed the camera, their eyes went wide, and they bolted for the door. They had been trying to get in...

"Shit," she said as she watched it again in horror. "I think they were looking for a key," she said, showing the footage to Chris.

"Seems possible."

"Well, great. What do I do now?" Emma questioned, frustrated with the situation. At this point, it was pretty clear it wasn't some teenager messing around. Someone was trying to get into the apartments with no clear target since they went to all the doors.

"Without a face or a way to identify them, not much..." Chris admitted as he offered the phone back. "With any luck, noticing the cameras will be enough of a deterrent."

"So, what? I just hand over the footage to the authorities and hope it doesn't happen again?" Emma asked with an exasperated expression as she accepted the phone and put it on the counter.

"There's not much else to do at this point. They didn't get in," Chris pointed out. "Keep your door locked when you're not here and at night, and you'll be fine.”

This didn't really comfort Emma much as she picked up her coffee and sipped at it while thinking. "You're military, right?" she asked though it was clearly rhetorical as she continued to speak. "Can you teach me some self-defense stuff? Maybe this is normal for you, but this is really freaking me out. I only just moved here," she pointed out while trying to convince him to help her. "I'll pay you for your time. Just once a week until I get the hang of a few moves, or whatever they're called."

"You don't need that. You're panicking," Chris gently rebuttled.

"So if someone does get in, what's going to keep me safe? Duke?" She pointed her thumb over to the living room, where sure enough, Duke was still hiding in the space between the couch and wall with a terrified expression. "If this is the same person as before, they only slammed into my door last time. I'm not asking for full boot camp training, just enough to be able to hold off a threat until someone can help me."

Chris’ frown deepened as he considered it before sighing. "All right. You made your point."

"You'll help me?" Emma asked with a gleam of hope.

"I have another trip coming up in a few days. I'll be gone for roughly three weeks," he explained before sipping his coffee. "We can go over a few things now, and after I'm back, I can help you on Thursdays after work until you're confident that you have it down. I don't usually get home until late, though, and I won't go easy on you just because you're tired."

"Understood, thank you so much," Emma agreed, already starting to feel a lot better about the whole unwanted apartment door check situation. 

Chris finished the last of his coffee and got up to walk over to the space between the kitchen and living room, then moved the table to the side before motioning for Emma to join him. Emma put her cup of coffee down and walked over. "I need to see what I'm working with first of all," he explained before holding up an open hand. "Punch my hand."

"What?"

"I'm not repeating myself," he said as he started getting into his usual drill mode. Emma did as she was told and punched the man's open hand. It was not exactly impressive.

"Harder," he coached, figuring she was holding back. Once, twice, thrice. Nothing really impressive came from that. It seemed she just lacked upper body strength. Maybe she did need the help... "Okay, kick right here.” He patted his side.

"I'm not going to kick you," Emma rebutted.

"Do you want my help or not?" Chris snapped back, which quieted Emma, whose expression shifted to a more determined one. Emma swung her leg at Chris’s side. To his surprise, it was actually a pretty solid kick. The form wasn't great, but it had force. Once, twice, thrice more, and he nodded. "All right, you have a decent lower body and core strength, but the upper body is lacking pretty badly. That's going to be your weak point," he explained, to which Emma nodded.

The two went over different holds and breaks that would be useful in an emergency. An hour or so had passed before Chris held a hand up to stop. "All right, that should be enough for you to practice while I'm gone," he said before walking back to the kitchen.

"Thank you," Emma replied while following him at first before going to her purse sitting on the far counter. Right, she didn't usually carry cash... She went to the fridge instead and took out another lunch pack. "It's not much, but hopefully, this will work as collateral for the lesson until I can pay you properly."

Chris looked at the Tupperware before accepting it. "You don't have to pay me, but if it bothers you that much, then food is fine." He figured that would at least keep her from trying to give him money.

"Food it is then," Emma agreed as Chris made his way to the door and unlocked it. "I hope your trip goes well," she added as he walked away. "Have a good night."

"G'night," he replied, closing the door behind him so Emma could lock it after he left.

With the apartment safely locked up, Emma walked back over to the empty space where the table once was and practiced a few small jabs before sighing quietly. "Yeah. I'm gonna have to work on that..." she admitted before putting the table back into place, cleaning up the abandoned popcorn, and going to bed.

Chapter Text

After the door rattling incident, August went on without much fanfare, and it gave way to the first day of September. As Chris said, he was gone for a little over three weeks. Luckily this trip was easier than the last one, he thought as he walked up the stairs to the apartment. Upon making it to the second floor, he noticed that the vase outside of Emma's apartment had been replaced since he was last around.

That is hopefully a good sign that what happened isn't bothering her as much as it did before, Chris thought while he walked past and dug the keys out of his pocket, so he could unlock his apartment. He closed the door behind him as he dropped his bag and walked over to the fridge to find that, yep, everything was growing. Again. He frustratedly closed the fridge. These mid-length missions were always killers. With long-term missions, he'd at least have a place of his own rather than the barracks, and with short ones, he was usually home before his food spoiled.

He couldn't complain about this mission too much, though. It was more of a formality as he and the others helped Ethan and Mia Winters get settled into their new home in Romania for witness protection, monitoring, and military training. Ethan was a decent guy, so it was good to see that the two were adjusting to their new lives well enough. Mia seemed to be struggling the most with this, but hopefully, the meds would help her with time.

As he allowed his mind to meander, he looked through the cabinets and found a similar theme since he generally didn't keep junk food around the place. Some stale chips, an expired jar of salsa, and the usual box of protein bars. Chris gave a tired sigh as he tossed the chips and salsa into the trash, then looked at his watch. 7:56 pm. It was late... All the same, he pocketed his keys, left his apartment to walk next door, and gave two sharp knocks against the wooden door.

"Hello? Oh! Chris, welcome back," Emma greeted with an initial tone of confusion before recognizing him. To be fair, it had been a minute since he shaved.

"Hey," he replied. "Do you mind if I take up your offer for food?” She did say she'd give him food for the lessons, so he might as well ask for it when he needed it.

Emma smiled at that. "Sure," she agreed and moved out of the way, so she could open the door further and let him in. This wasn't exactly what she meant when she made that offer, but, eh. "What are you in the mood for? Quick food or tasty food?" she asked as Chris walked over to what was becoming his usual seat.

"Quick," he replied, sitting down at the kitchen island.

Phew. "Can do. Let me think for a second." Emma closed the door and walked over to the fridge to see what she had before nodding. "Okay, got it," she took out a container and heated up the toaster oven. She then retrieved the tiny oven's baking sheet and opened the container she grabbed to start setting what looked like homemade chicken nuggets on the sheet. "How was your trip?"

"It was work," he said once more with a shrug, causing Emma to chuckle.

"Is that the only answer I'll get to that question?" she teased with an amused tone as she put the tray of bites into the small toaster oven.

"Probably. How has practice been going?" he asked as a change of subject.

"Going well, I think," Emma leaned against the counter to face Chris while waiting for the food to finish warming up.

"You think?" he parroted back while raising an eyebrow.

"I don't know enough to know if I'm doing it right or wrong, but I've been practicing," Emma explained, shaking her head slightly.

Upon hearing this, he leaned to check the toaster oven. "We have a few minutes. Let's see if you made any progress," he suggested as he got out of his seat and walked over so he could move the dining table to the side. Emma took out her phone, set a timer, placed the device on the island, and then joined him. Once she made her way over, he held up his hand for her to try and punch.

"Aim here," he instructed, tapping the inside of his palm. Emma nodded before taking a wide swing at the target, only for Chris to move and put her into one of the practice holds from before, causing the woman to yelp in surprise. "Think, what do you do?"

"Right, um," Emma thought it over a second and went through the motions but to no avail. Chris eventually let her go.

"You're panicking," he pointed out. "What's causing you to freeze up?"

"You surprised me, is all," she sheepishly answered.

"If someone breaks in, they're not going to give you a warning," he countered, and as much as it annoyed her, he was right. "Right now, you're practicing to prevent that, so use as much force as you need."

"Okay," her resolve returned as she mentally prepared to try again.

"Let's actually go ahead and practice your punches. No surprises for now," he instructed, and Emma complied. It took a few minutes, but after a while, she was distracted by the timer going off. Once more, Chris used the opportunity to put Emma into a hold.

"Chris, the food is going to burn," Emma warned with a frown.

"Then get out of the hold," he quipped, with little to no sympathy. He'd eaten worse than burnt chicken nuggets.

Emma tried again. It took about four tries and Chris loosening his grip slightly, but she managed to get out eventually. The woman seemed surprised at first when she noticed that she could move her arms. Then her surprised expression was replaced with a smile, which didn't stay long as she remembered the alarm still going off.

"Oh shoot, the chicken," she hurried over to turn off the alarm, get the nuggets out from the toaster oven, turn it off, and put them on a plate, which she moved to the island. "That's better," she contently remarked as peace and quiet were restored to the apartment. Chris walked over and looked at the food as he took a seat.

"What is this anyway? Leftover Chick-fil-A?" he asked with a hint of curiosity. He did say fast, so he wouldn't complain, but it didn't hurt to know what to expect.

"Frito chicken," she happily answered. "It's an old recipe I made up during my college years when I was out of breading." Chris stared at her, bewildered, which caused Emma to chuckle. "Hey, don't knock it until you try it. Besides, that's one of the better recipes from those days."

He shook his head and tried a bite. The breading was crunchy and somewhat salty, but it tasted pretty decent. "Why does that work?"

Emma shrugged in response. That was a good enough answer for Chris, who continued to munch on the meal. Emma placed a glass of water next to his plate, which was also accepted. Once he finished the meal, Emma moved the plate and glass into the sink and the two continued to practice for another hour before Chris went back to his apartment for the night.

'*'*'*'*'

Chris and Emma's new routine went on for the next few weeks. Each Thursday, Chris would stop by around eight and go over different holds and breaks with Emma for about an hour. On Sundays, Emma would drop off a small stack of Tupperware meals for him to eat throughout the week. This did not go completely unnoticed. 

Lobo was enjoying his lunch as he watched an increasingly familiar yet odd sight that he had caught a few times now. Chris had recently walked into the cafeteria to warm up lunch, and before Lobo could say much, Chris went back to his office to eat. Lobo quietly hummed to himself before getting up and tossing his take-out container, so he could head out early to meet up with the rest of the team. Sure enough, Umber Eyes, Canine, Night Howl, and Tundra were already there and warming up.

"Hey you guys," Lobo called as he walked over. "Have any of you noticed something weird going on with Alpha?" 

"Not really," Tundra replied as she adjusted her hand wraps.

"You're not trying to start trouble, are you?" Canine asked, shaking his head.

"He looks like he's finally getting some of his weight back. The New York mission he was on a few years ago really knocked him down," Umber Eyes chimed in with a shrug.

"Yeah, he started taking his lunch breaks again out of nowhere," Lobo confirmed, which caused Night Howl to laugh.

"So, he's finally eating again. That's a good thing. Or are you worried that means he's going to kick your ass harder?" Night Howl suggested, causing the others to chuckle.

"Hey, I won that last sparring match fair and square," Lobo retorted.

"Then you won't have a problem with him getting back to his old muscle mass. The dude looks like a skeleton," Umber Eyes remarked.

"A skeleton compared to someone that literally punched a boulder into the air," Lobo said in return.

"Sounds like you're worried to me," Tundra pointed out, earning a few more snickers from the others.

"She's not wrong," Canine agreed. "Anyway, are you still good for drinks tonight, or are you too busy patrolling the cafeteria."

"Yeah, yeah, I'm still good to go. Who else is going?" Lobo answered, dropping the subject.

"We're all confirmed except Alpha. I haven't had the time to ask him yet," Night Howl admitted.

"Hound Wolf Squad, roundup," Chris shouted as he walked into the gym. With his words, the five immediately got into formation.

"Sir, yes sir," they all replied.

The day went on with business as usual before starting their workout regimen to stay mission-ready. When they had finished their assigned routines, Umber Eyes was the first to head over to Chris.

"Hey Alpha, we're heading out for drinks after work. Are you in?" he asked, though he seemed to be expecting a yes.

Chris checked his watch, which read Thursday, September 21st, 6:48 pm. Upon seeing the day, he shook his head. "Nah, can't make it this time. I have plans."

"Who has plans on a Thursday?" Tundra asked with a mixture of disbelief and curiosity, causing Chris to give a short chuckle.

"There was an attempted break-in at the apartment over a month ago. It scared the neighbors pretty bad. I've been giving some self-defense pointers to the newest one," he explained as he packed up.

"The bacon mac neighbor?" Lobo asked, overhearing the conversation.

Chris nodded. "Yeah, that's the one. It freaked her out, so she asked for a few lessons and insisted on paying. I got her to drop it by accepting lunches as collateral."

The answer seemed to surprise the others. When they looked at Lobo, he had an 'I told you so' expression plastered across his face.

"Oh, sorry to hear about the break-in. Good luck with that," Night Howl said with some sympathy.

"All right, but you're hosting poker night next week since you're ditching this week," Lobo declared with a smile, which Chris waved off.

"Sure, whatever. Just don't expect much," he agreed as he slung his bag over his shoulder. "See you guys tomorrow," he added before giving a war shout, which the others responded to in-kind like clockwork.

Once Chris was out the door, Canine looked at Lobo.

"Okay, what are you planning," Canine asked.

"You can't tell me you're not a little bit curious," Lobo said, defending himself right out of the gate. "This chick shows up out of nowhere a few months ago, and suddenly, they're buddy-buddy enough for her to make the guy lunch multiple times a week?"

"I'll admit you kind of have a point. It is a little strange when you put it that way," Tundra reluctantly agreed.

"I'm staying out of this," Umber Eyes said, holding up his hands as he walked away.

"Same," said Night Howl as he packed up as well.

'*'*'*'*'

Another week passed, and before long, the workday of September 29th was drawing to a close, and it was time to welcome the widely anticipated evening of poker night. Lobo was just starting his afternoon workouts in the BSAA gym when Night Howl walked over to use the machine next to him. "... Okay, I'm in. what's the plan."

"My man, I knew you'd come around," Lobo said with a chuckle, causing Night Howl to shake his head.

"Don't make me regret it. Umber Eyes is still pretty against this," the man said in return.

"Not to worry, it's easy. You get to reap the rewards of my curiosity. I promise." He smirked. "Just make sure you're at the meeting point on time and be ready to back me up."

"Right," Night Howl said, although he wasn't sure if that made him feel any better or not.

All the same, he did as he was told and made sure he was on time. To his annoyance, he ended up waiting outside the apartment building for the others. Tundra and Lobo showed up next, followed by Umber Eyes, then Canine. Each of them had a pack of beer with them. The group of five walked into the building and up the stairs to the second floor. Once Lobo noticed the vase with flowers, he smiled. Bingo. That was not there last time he visited. He took a hard turn to break off from the group and knocked on the door, only for Umber Eyes to hook his neck and start pulling him away while the other three remained at the door.

"Seriously?" Umber Eyes said quietly as Lobo chuckled at his victory upon seeing the door open.

"Hello? Can I help you?" Emma asked through the partially opened door, clearly confused.

"Sorry to bother you, I think we got the wrong door," Canine said with a sheepish smile.

"Oh. Who are you looking for?" she asked, relaxing enough to open the door further.

"Alpha. Is he on this floor?" Night Howl asked, only to see Emma's expression shift back to confusion.

"Chris Redfield," Tundra clarified, which relieved the uncertainty.

"Oh, you almost had it then. Chris’s door is—" she started, only for Chris’s door to open and show a less than thrilled team captain.

"The hell are you guys doing?" Chris asked, perplexed.

"Sorry Cap," Lobo squeaked out from Umber Eyes' chokehold. "Forgot which door was yours.” 

Chris didn't buy this lie for a second. "Get in here before I kick your ass," he said as he got out of the way so the five could go inside. At this point, Umber Eyes finally let go of Lobo and went to enter Chris’s apartment. Similarly, Night Howl and Tundra started to walk over.

"Hey, you should join us for poker. Do you play?" Lobo asked, which caused the group to pause once more.

"Um. Well, that's very kind of you. I don't want to impose, though," Emma replied with a nervous smile. This is weird, she thought. 

"It ain't trouble to have one more, right guys?" Lobo insisted before looking to the others for backup.

"It would be nice to not be the only lady at the table," Tundra added with a slight smirk.

"Aw well, don't be mean and count out Lobo," Canine said and laughed, causing Lobo to glare at him.

"He only counts as a lady when he's bitchin'," Tundra said with a snicker.

"So, 90% of the time," Umber Eyes pointed out as he joined in on the ribbing.

Holy hell, who are these people, Emma thought. She tried not to smile at that, but she pretty clearly had a bad poker face.

"Okay, yeah. She'd be fun to play with. She can't keep a straight face to save her life," Night Howl noted with a chuckle.

"I resent that. I'm not that bad," Emma said with an embarrassed laugh.

"Those are fighting words. Come on Cap, just give the thumbs up already," Lobo pressed with a grin that said, Please let this work.

"Fine," Chris relented while making a mental note to put the team through the wringer first thing on Monday. "Everyone, get inside before I change my mind."

Emma gave a sympathetic smile since it seemed like he had been pressured into letting her join in, but at the same time, it was kind of funny to her since this reminded her of how she had a hard time telling her nieces no. It must be a family thing, found family or otherwise. She locked up her apartment and cautiously walked over to join the group in Chris’s apartment before he closed the door.

"Who brought the deck?" Umber eyes asked as the others all looked between each other. "You're kidding," he asked in disbelief as everyone started to chuckle.

"We all brought beer," Canine offered as consolation with an amused smile.

"Just messing with you guys. I got them here." Lobo grinned as he put a stack of three decks on the table, and there was an audible group sigh of relief.

"Who did the least reps today?" Chris asked as he moved to take a seat at the head of the table.

Twenty, fourteen, sixteen, twenty-four, eighteen, they each listed off before looking at Emma.

"... What's a rep?" she asked with a sheepish grin, causing the others to laugh. This was a mistake. 

"It's the number of times you do a set of exercises like crunches or pull-ups," Night Howl explained out of sympathy. "I think we have our dealer for the first round," he added with a chuckle before grabbing a beer from one of the packs and taking a seat. The others followed suit and picked a beer from the collection before sitting down, while Emma simply sat without one.

"Ye ain't gonna drink?" Lobo asked curiously. "By the way, don't worry about keeping the decks separate. They're the same three we use each month, so they're already mixed up."

She gave a nod of understanding at the explanation before speaking. "Well, it just doesn't seem right for me to take a drink when I didn't bring any to share," Emma admitted as she shuffled the three decks into a stack.

Tundra was the first to shake her head after hearing Emma's answer. "Which one do you want? You're fine to have a few. We brought way too much as it is," she offered, which helped Emma relax . It was nice that there was another lady around.

Well. If they’re going to insist, one won't hurt. "Do you have stout?" Emma asked. 

"Good taste. I brought a few," Night Howl praised with a smile as Tundra picked one up from the pile and handed it down to the guest.

As the others took care of handing out drinks, Emma started dealing out two cards to each player before noticing an issue. "Do you guys usually play with chips?" she asked since she wasn't sure how they would do this without them.

"Shit, I knew I forgot something," Lobo admitted, causing the others to grumble and complain. "Sorry guys, it happens sometimes."

"One moment," Emma said, getting up and heading back to the door. A few minutes later, she returned with a few unopened packages of cookies. Oreos and two types of Chips Ahoy, regular and M&M. "Maybe these will work instead," she suggested with a laugh as she closed the door behind her.

"Cookies?" Umber Eyes asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah, my grandpa would play poker with us using hard candies, so I figured maybe cookies would work... they're at least round like chips," the brunette explained as she walked over and put the packages down on the table.

"I'm down for that," Canine agreed as Emma took a seat and started divvying out the treats. "Adds an extra level of difficulty since you can end up eating your money." The others nodded in agreement, and Lobo smiled.

"Hey, while we're making adjustments. I brought these," he said as he put an extra stack of cards on the table. "If you tap out first, then you have to pull a punishment card?"

The others laughed at that and nodded once more.

"You could remember that, but you forgot the chips?" Umber Eyes pointed out, causing Lobo to wince. Whoops.

"Well, since you forgot the chips, you should take two already," Chris said, smirking. 

That got Lobo's attention. "Hey now, that was an honest mistake."

"What happened to all that confidence from earlier?" Canine countered with a snarky grin. "Are you scared of your own idea?"

"No," Lobo replied, and begrudgingly took two of the cards before giving a quiet sigh. "Talk in a British accent for the next three rounds," he read out loud in a very poor British accent, which caused Night Howl to laugh and shake his head no. Lobo looked over the other card to read that next. "And each player pours a shot worth of their drink into a glass. Drink the whole concoction before you can play aga—Ah, come on," he muttered with a frown as the others howled with laughter. Tundra got up to look for a clean glass, and when she got back, each person poured in some of their drink. Lobo somehow managed to down the whole mixture by the time Emma was done sorting out the cookies.

"All right, with that, I think we're ready to go for the first round," she contently announced. "Who's in and who's out?"

The group played for about an hour and a half or so. Surprisingly, Emma was actually keeping up with the others and managed to avoid punishment so far. That was about to change, though.

"Three of a kind," Canine said with a smile.

Emma raised an eyebrow. "Seriously?" she asked, looking at the cards in confusion.

"Yeah, they're right there." He gestured to the cards he had put down on the table. A queen of hearts, clubs, and diamonds. Emma put her own hand down, showing two pairs, two aces and two queens, a queen of hearts and a queen of diamonds.

"Okay, so which of us is cheating then because that's the fourth queen of hearts, and there were only three decks," she pointed out.

"Really?" Night Howl asked with a perplexed expression. Chris held up a hand to get everyone to pause as he picked up the discard pile. Sure enough, he stopped, plucked out two more queen of heart cards, and put them on the table.

"What the hell..." Tundra sighed in frustration. The decks weren't balanced the whole time.

"Hold up. I think we're missing something obvious here," Lobo said, looking at Emma. "You were counting cards," he pointed out, which caused Emma's expression to drop as the others stared at her with a mixture of shock and surprise.

"Holy shit, you're right," Canine said with a laugh. "What the hell was your grandpa teaching you?"

"Wait, is that against the rules?" Emma asked nervously.

"YES," everyone replied in unison.

"Well, how am I supposed to know if others are cheating if I don't keep track of what has already been used?" she pointed out.

"Emma, THAT is cheating because you know the odds of the deck, which isn't something everyone knows." Chris held his face and tried not to laugh.

"I'm just impressed she was able to keep up with three decks worth of cards even after two beers," Tundra said while trying to tone down her chuckling. "Not bad."

"Hey, if I had to take two cards for forgetting the chips, I think cheating gets two cards as well," Lobo pointed out with a wolfish smile.

"Yep."

"Agreed."

“Seems fair."

"I'll second that."

They all agreed before looking at Chris.

"Pack rules," he said with a shrug as Emma's shoulders dropped. That hardly seemed fair to her. She didn't know.

"You do that while I sort the cards to get the extras out," Tundra said, sorting the cards in the meantime.

Emma nodded and picked up two of the punishment cards. "Share an embarrassing fact," she read with a frown, thinking it over. "Gracious, that's a difficult one. Um."

The others snickered and sipped their drinks as they waited. She bounced a few facts around her mind, weighing which would be the least embarrassing to share. She had only just met these people, and one was her neighbor, so she didn't really want to share anything that would make her look bad. "Okay, I got it. I have an irrational fear of overnight trips. Particularly if it's with a large group."

"What?" Umber eyes asked, amused but mostly confused.

"Why?" Night Howl asked with a laugh.

"That is more information than anyone here needs, and I am not drunk enough to talk about it," Emma rebutted as she swallowed the last of her beer.

"Well shit, someone get the woman another drink because I'm curious," Lobo said with a snicker, then got up to do just that. He handed Emma a third beer, which she accepted while shaking her head.

"Now you're just blowing it out of proportion," she protested as her face turned red.

"They're going to ask all night. Might as well spit it out," Tundra warned with a gentle smile while continuing her sorting.

"She has a point. Besides, that's hardly embarrassing. Unusual, sure, but not embarrassing," Canine pointed out, causing the others to nod in agreement.

Emma massaged her temple. "Fine, fine. So, when I was in my early twenties, I used to fall asleep in my day clothes. It was a bad habit that started in college because I wouldn't get enough sleep. It wasn't exactly comfortable, though, and evolved into an even worse habit of stripping in my sleep. Now I don't like going on overnight trips in a group because I worry that habit will rear its head when I least expect it since I'm not conscious of it," she explained before opening her drink and downing a good swallow of it as the others start cracking up. "So yeah, now you know way more about me than you need to."

"That is amazing," Tundra said with a chuckle.

"I have several questions," Lobo started, earning a glare from Umber Eyes. "Which I will respectfully keep to myself."

"Thank you," Emma replied as she looked at the last card with a perplexed expression. "Hm. I don't know if I can do this one," she admitted and showed the card, which read, 'Do an unflattering impression of the person to your left/right.' "I don't really know either of you guys well enough to do an impression.” She glanced between Umber Eyes and Canine.

"That's a fair point. Maybe draw again?" Night Howl suggested as a potential solution.

"Well, you're Chris’s neighbor. Maybe do an impression of him instead," Canine countered with a snicker.

"That could work," Lobo agreed, and Chris made a vague gesture of 'do what you want,' though his expression said, choose carefully.

"Okay, uh." Emma thought about it before attempting to mimic Chris’s voice. "Aim here. Hit like you mean it... uhm. Get in here before I kick your ass," she said, which caused the others to openly laugh while Chris frowned.

"Oh my fawkin' god, that was beautiful," Lobo said, clearing his throat after almost choking on his drink.

"All right ladies, the deck is all fixed up. There were three floaters," Tundra said while tossing the floater cards over to the kitchen island. She then shuffled the decks again. "I'll deal this time. Let's get back to the game."

The game continued for another two hours as the group whooped and hollered between rounds at the various punishments until a knock was heard at the door. Chris got up and opened it to find Mr. Russo.

"I'm glad you guys are having a good time, but some of us are trying to sleep," he said with a scowl, which caused Chris to look over to the clock that read 11 pm.

"Sorry about that. We're just wrapping up," he responded, followed by a few disappointed grumbles behind him.

"Good," Mr. Russo said with a nod. "And good night," he added before heading back to his apartment. Chris closed the door and looked at the others.

"Hound Wolf Squad, pack it up," he instructed, and everyone pushed their cookie chips into the center. Roughly a third remained as they were munched on throughout the game.

"Hound Wolf Squad?" Emma asked as she put the remaining cookies in one of the leftover packages while making a mental note to throw them away once she got home.

"Wait, did we seriously not introduce ourselves?" Tundra asked as she looked at the others before frowning. “Well, shit. Sorry about that. I'm Emily Berkoff. I go by Tundra in our squad. I'm the Recon specialist of the team. I tend to go in first and set up supply points, but I keep a low-profile combat-wise," she explained.

"Dion Wilson, also known as Canine, I'm the K-9 handler for the squad, but I'll offer ground support as well," he said with a smile. Dion appeared to be the youngest of the group.

"I usually go by Night Howl in this group, but my name is Charlie Graham. No relation to the past president of this fine country. I'm the communication specialist, so I usually team up with Tundra for setting up safe points," he explained, and Emma nodded once more.

"Lobo's the name, heavy weapons the game. Though, at this point, I'm about to outdo Alpha here for his wings," he said with a laugh.

"Don't get cocky," Chris replied and crossed his arms. "You still got a long way to go before you can outmaneuver me."

"Yeah, yeah sure. Anyway, you can call me John," he said with a wink, only to get nudged away by Umber Eyes.

"Suppose that leaves me for last. My name is Ronaldo Elva. I'm the sharpshooter and second in command for the squad. Friends call me Umber Eyes," he explained, and Emma smiled again.

"Well, it's very nice to meet you all. I'm Emma Swanson. I'm a Junior Marketing Director for a local record company," she said while mentally wincing. Yeah, that was not even close to being as impressive as the rest of them. "Thank you all for your service to help keep civilians like me safe. If there is ever anything I can do for you guys, just ask."

"You're sweet," Tundra said with a chuckle. "See you around sometime, Emma," she added before putting on her coat. "You guys ready?" the woman asked while looking at the other four. She received a chorus of yeahs and yeps in response.

"Hound Wolf Squad, out," Umber Eyes called with a salute to Chris, and the group walked out, followed by Emma.

"That was fun. Thanks for letting me crash your get-together," Emma said as she walked past Chris. "Have a good night," she added, then went back to her apartment.

Chapter Text

Another Saturday was about to begin, welcoming in the Fall season with the first week of October. Emma was enjoying sleeping in since the tiny terrors were not visiting this weekend. Eventually, she slowly crawled out of bed with a yawn and looked out the window. Rain. She gave a tired sigh. "Well, I'm going to be sleepy all day. Joy... Eh. I'll probably still go out to the Penny Arcade," she muttered under her breath before pulling out her phone to see an odd notification.

Ring: Camera Error - No signal

"Huh?" she felt a chill crawl up her back. Something was wrong with her camera? She quickly went to the door of her room and locked it before checking to make sure no one else was in there with her. Once she was sure the area was safe, she checked the last available footage. 3:45 AM. The camera just went dark, then offline a few seconds later... "Maybe the battery died," she whispered to herself to calm down. There didn't seem to be anyone in the footage, so there was nothing to worry about. Right?

Emma took a deep breath as she walked back to the door to her room and unlocked it before heading out to her front door to unlock it as well. Sure, she was still wearing her pajamas, but she needed to put her mind at ease more than anything else. Besides, they weren't exactly scandalous. It was a tank top and plain, loose cotton pants.

Just as she feared, the camera was smashed. Seeing that caused her to shake involuntarily. Why is this happening? she thought as she went back inside to get a screwdriver, then returned to start taking the broken camera out of the wall. A noise behind her caused her to jump slightly before quickly turning around. "Bastion. Oh, thank heavens it's just you. You scared me," she admitted with a nervous laugh.

"Yeah, I was just going to head out to work for the da—what's wrong?" Bastion asked as he noticed Emma shaking.

"I'm just cold, is all. Did you end up installing that camera for your door?" she asked and her voice cracked.

"No—Oh honey, what happened this time?" Bastion asked as he walked over and saw the broken camera. "Can I give you a hug?" he asked, clearly feeling sympathy for his neighbor. Emma silently nodded in return, and Bastion did just that. "You poor thing, this is just not right," he soothed, giving her a good squeeze. Emma took a deep breath as he did so. The gesture was comforting, even if it was short-lived.

"Stay here a second. I'll be right back, okay?" Bastion instructed, and once more, Emma nodded before continuing to try to get the camera out of the wall.

Bastion walked over to Chris’s door and knocked on it before going over to the Russos’ and knocking on their door as well. Both opened one after the other.

"Bastion, what is it, love? Isn't it a little early?" Mrs. Russo asked while Chris remained silent.

"Emma had another incident," Bastion bluntly explained as he crossed his arms. "They smashed the camera this time."

This news caused Mrs. Russo to gasp and Chris’s brow to furrow.

"It's fine, really. I'll just replace it," Emma said, though she was clearly mostly trying to convince herself. All the same, Chris walked over to look at the damage. His expression darkened as something else caught his eye.

"They didn't just break the camera," he said before kneeling to inspect the lock and rub a thumb over it. "There are scratch marks... Deep ones too. Looks like they were trying to pick the lock."

"Oh, my heavens," Mrs. Russo exclaimed before heading back inside. "Marco! Marco, you need to go get Mr. Jacobs right now," she said with panic in her tone before the two started speaking in Italian.

"You are not helping," Bastion chided with a frown.

"What am I supposed to do, ignore evidence? The lock needs to be changed," Chris retorted as he got back up.

The nail tech gestured to Emma, who was now shaking even worse than before. Someone really was trying to get into her apartment. "It's going to be okay. If you need to, you can stay with me for a night or two," he offered sympathetically.

"No, that's fine. I can't be this frightened of my own home. It's mine, not theirs," Emma said, trying to regain her resolve as Chris took out his phone and checked his own footage.

"Looks like my camera was too high up for them to reach, or they just didn't care enough to take it out." He looked over the recordings. "Yeah, there they are," he said, still frowning. "I'll give Mr. Jacobs the footage, so it can be added to the police case. Maybe they'll pick something up. This can't be the only place they're going to, so they'll end up sloppy at some point," Chris offered in an attempt to calm her nerves while clicking away at the screen.

Emma nodded, clearly still processing this as she scratched at her neck. What if they keep trying? What if they get in? What do they want? She didn't own anything particularly valuable. She didn't work with classified or sensitive information. She made web-ads for a wannabe record label for a living. Did someone blame her for being rejected? She wasn't even a part of that process.

“Emma... Emma!”

"Hmm?" she murmured before eventually processing that Chris had been trying to get her attention.

He gave a quiet sigh. "Do you want to work on another lesson?" he offered, which caused Bastion to raise an eyebrow, but he minded his own business.

"Sure. Yeah, I think I'd like that," Emma agreed.

"Are you going to be okay if I head out then?" Bastion asked. "I can call in sick.” He gave her a gentle smile, but Emma shook her head.

"No, you don't need to do that. There's not much else that can be done anyway," she admitted with a frown.

"Okay, you have my number if something comes up, right?" he asked and Emma nodded. "Good. I'll check in on you during lunch. Hang in there," he said, giving Emma one more quick hug before heading down the stairs.

"Are you ready?" Chris asked as he gestured to the door. "Mr. Russo seems to be handling the conversation with Mr. Jacobs, and I already emailed him the footage," he added, and once more Emma nodded.

"Yeah, let's go," she agreed and opened the door for them to head inside. Emma closed the door behind Chris, and he went through the usual motions, pushing the table out of the way so they had space to move.

"Let's start with the basics. No surprises this time," Chris said and held up his hand as Emma got into position and threw a jab at his hand. She had been working on it, he could tell. The addition of two 5lb weights next to her TV stand confirmed as much, but the improvement was minimal. He frowned at this. The threat was becoming much more apparent, but she wasn't going to be ready to meet it at this rate. "Like you mean it," he insisted as Emma tried again with similar results, even though she appeared to be putting in more effort. His frown remained. "All right, let's see your kick," he said, and sure enough that was actually improving. Marginally, but it was better. It didn't make any sense.

"Let's try something different," he suggested as he stepped back. "Give me a set of ten punches in the air.” Emma complied, repeating the motion, and Chris watched while walking around her. "All right. Now ten kicks," he instructed, and once more she did as she was told. Well hell! No wonder she wasn't progressing. She was stiff as a board when punching compared to her kick. It was practically night and day now that he noticed it.

"Kick," Chris said and as she did so, he pushed her. To his surprise, even without a warning, she stayed in place and just ended up leaning to the side. Not a single skip or hop, even though she was standing on one leg. What the?

"Punch," he ordered, and once she did, he tried pushing her again. This time she stumbled to the side.

"What on earth are you doing?" Emma asked, clearly getting frustrated. 

"Troubleshooting," he said with a perplexed expression. How was her balance better on one leg than on two? "Do you have a prosthetic leg?" It was the only answer he could think of.

"What? No!" she replied, confused. "What are you on about?"

Chris shook his head. "Nothing. We need to fix your stance," he said before walking to stand next to her. "Do another kick but slower this time," he instructed, and she complied, still confused. "Stop there," he stated, and she held the position. "When you're kicking, you're putting your full-body movement into it. You don't have a lot of mass to work with, so that extra movement is doing your end force some favors," he explained, then said, "release,” and Emma went back to standing properly.

"Okay, that makes sense," she agreed, and her frustration seemed to lessen.

Chris moved to stand behind her and placed a hand on her lower back, which instantly caused her to tense up again. "Relax, I'm not going to push you," Chris said, and Emma hesitantly relaxed. The woman was no longer shaking, which was good, but as she punched, he felt the muscles in her back tighten to keep it from moving. "You need to move into the punch," he remarked before standing next to her again. "The more distance your fist travels, the more momentum you give the punch, which means more force, making it hit harder," the agent explained. "Like this," he said, showing her a few exaggerated jabs. It was more than was really necessary, but she needed to get the idea of full movement.

That was an easy mistake to fix, and he felt some guilt that he hadn't been taking her lessons seriously enough to even check that until this point. After this latest incident, though, he couldn't deny that she could potentially run into trouble. He watched her try a few of the exaggerated jabs before standing in front of her again and holding up his hand. "Try again."

Emma hit the target as requested, and a slight smile crossed his face. That was what he was looking for. "Much better," he affirmed. It wasn't really a ton of progress, but it was better than the zero progress she was making before. Upon hearing the praise, a weak smile crossed Emma's face, only to turn into a yelp as she was pulled into a hold. "Don't go and get cocky from a little bit of progress," he warned, making sure he had a good grip on her. She chuckled at his scolding before attempting to get out. "Use what you learned, put your body into it," he coached, and on the second try, she was out.

"Better, but you need to be able to do this on the first try without hesitation," he said, offering a hand so she could try again.

"Right," Emma replied and accepted the offered hand. "Thanks, Chris."

The two practiced for another hour before heading over to the kitchen, where Emma poured each of them a cup of morning coffee. "I'm going to go grocery shopping later. You're not usually around, so I don't really get to ask. Is there anything, in particular, you want for lunch?" she asked, causing Chris to pause and think.

"I'm trying to eat more protein lately. I need to get back into shape," he admitted with a quiet sigh.

"You're not already?" she asked, notably confused.

"I let myself slip," he further confessed. "I'm certainly not in my old boulder punching shape," he added with an amused smirk before sipping at his coffee. This was always a fun story to bring up.

"I'm sorry, you punched a what?" she asked, clearly baffled, which caused Chris to laugh.

"Yeah, it's honestly not that impressive. It was mostly pumice, so it was deceptively lightweight," the agent admitted. "Just don't tell the others that. I have a reputation to uphold."

"A boulder-sized chunk of pumice... wouldn't that only be possible in an active volcano?" Emma asked, still trying to process that new, unexpected fact.

"Yeah," he confirmed with a chuckle, clearly enjoying the confusion. "I see you paid attention in science class."

"Why in the hell were you—Oh my gosh, okay, never mind. I don't want to know," she said with a laugh. "Let's just stick with 'it was work.'"

Chris nodded in agreement. "That's probably for the best."

"Anyway, protein-packed lunches. I can do that," Emma said before looking at Duke, who was not so patiently sitting by the door with his leash. "Shoot. Hey, I need to walk Duke... are you okay with locking up when you're done with your coffee?"

Chris nodded.

"Thanks," she said and hurried back to her room, closing the door behind her before walking out, properly dressed for the autumn weather. She'd worry about showering and changing once she got back. The poor pooch was probably at his last straw. She hooked up Duke's leash and opened the door. "See you around," Emma said in parting before leaving.

She took the fluffy tank out for a longer walk than normal to try and make up for the wait before bringing him back into the apartment. Sure enough, it was locked up as she had asked. Once she got back inside, she gave Duke his breakfast before checking her phone.

9:41 AM

1 New Message

[unstored number] Hey Emma, it's Chris. I got your number from Bastion. Text me if you get spooked while you're shopping.

Emma chuckled at that. "Well then, someone clearly threw away the plate of new neighbor cookies. I already gave you my number," she said with a shake of her head. "Oh well. I'll give you a pass since you're watching what you eat." A few clicks later and Chris’s number was saved on her phone.

[Emma] Hey Chris, thanks for the offer. I'll keep it in mind.

'*'*'*'*'

Things seemed to calm down after that. The camera replacement arrived by Thursday and was promptly installed. Before Emma knew it, the weekend had arrived once more. The girls spent the night from Friday to Saturday, leaving her schedule much more crowded.

"Okay, I had all of yesterday to take care of chores after the girls left... I did nothing," Emma said to herself, frustrated that she had fallen behind on her usual routine. "That means today I have to be a boss and do all of it.” She coached herself to have the willpower to actually be an adult. "I can do this.” She thought over the list of different chores to be done. Let's see. Grocery shopping. Laundry. Clean the apartment. Um. Walk Duke, but that's an everyday thing. What else? Meal prep, right... Make sure to buy extra groceries because of doubling the recipes.

The woman bobbed her head. Maybe she could multitask on some of this. If she started her laundry now and cleaned the apartment while waiting for the wash cycle to finish, she could move her clothes to the dryer before heading out to pick up groceries. The laundry would be done by the time the groceries were put away. She could take that back to the apartment to fold, then go into some meal prep while watching a movie. Then, once all of that was done, take Duke for a walk. Perfect. Excellent plan.

With the day of chores organized, Emma set to work collecting her dirty clothes and sorting them into darks, lights, and brights. She looked at the three piles and bobbed her head. Using three washers and dryers would be excessive. Just put the darks and brights together. Using two of the shared washers would be more acceptable. It wasn't great for her clothes, but she didn't really care that much, as long as her white blouses didn't turn pink.

Emma placed the brights and darks back into the basket before heading out of her apartment and down the hall to the shared laundry room. She opened the door and found a silent washing room. None of the machines were in use? She thanked her lucky stars for that and moved to fill one of the washers before heading back to her apartment to collect the light clothes, her bag of quarters, and laundry soap. Then, she made her way back to the laundry room. Another washing machine was filled, soap was added to both, the lids were shut, and once the machines were paid, they actively churned, and the rushing sound of water could be heard as the wash cycle began.

Phase one complete. Emma happily went back to her apartment to work on cleaning.

'*'*'*'*'

Chris yawned while sitting on his couch and reading a field survival guide on gun maintenance. It was a rather fascinating chapter on what to do if your ammo gets wet, since putting it over a fire to dry it was a generally stupid idea. As he was reading, the sound of washing machines could be heard from the other side of his living room wall, which caught his attention. "Shit... Bastion, please tell me you didn't use all of the machines again," he grumbled as he put the book down on the coffee table and got up. The one nice thing about sharing a wall with the laundry room was that he got a pretty decent reminder to take care of his own washing too.

He walked back to his room and gathered up his clothes before getting soap from the closet and a few quarters from the change jar on the counter. With that collected, he went over to the shared laundry room and checked to see if there was an open machine.

"Phew." He walked over to find only two of the four washing machines were in use. It was his lucky day. The washing machine next to the dryers was available, so he'd be able to just throw things over after. With that, he plopped the basket of unsorted clothes into the washer, put in some soap, paid the machine, and went back to his apartment to pick up where he left off with his reading.

'*'*'*'*'

Emma happily hummed to herself while sweeping and listening to music. Let's see. What to make for meal prep... Protein-packed. Hmm. Chicken with peanut sauce would have a lot of protein. That tastes great with snow peas and rice. Maybe some lemon and herb fish. Emma continued to think over different recipes she already knew how to make and enjoyed as well, so she could create a mental shopping list. She did ask, so she might as well take his request into consideration even if he was making up crazy stories about punching boulders in a volcano. In what situation would that be necessary or possible? How would he even survive in a volcano?

An amused chuckle escaped her as she picked up the now full dustpan and carried it over to the trash. She tossed the collection of dirt and dog hair before checking the time.

10:15 AM

She had put her clothes into the wash well over an hour ago. They should be done by now. She finished putting the broom away before picking up her laundry basket and her bag of quarters once more, then made her way back to the laundry room. While initially, she believed her wash might still be running, it turned out it was a different machine that one of the other tenants had started after she left. Emma took her lights over to the nearest dryer and plopped them in before starting the cycle. She then went back to collect the brights and darks.

"Oh gosh, I should have moved these first," Emma complained in a strained whisper as she carried the much heavier, larger batch of waterlogged clothes to the next closest dryer and got them started. Yeah, next time, she would have to do three batches. This was too much. Oh well. With that, she made her way back to her apartment to drop off her basket and quarters. Once she had her shoes and jacket on and her purse over her shoulder, she made her way to the parking garage to get in her car and head to the grocery store. Shopping took a little bit longer now, but it was a small price to pay for something as useful as self-defense lessons from an expert.

'*'*'*'*'

Chris’ stomach growled after he finished a few more chapters of his book. Hmm. Probably should eat something since he only had a protein bar for breakfast. With that, he put his book down yet again and walked over to the kitchen to make a quick ham and cheese sandwich. He'd just taken a bite before catching a glimpse of the microwave clock, which read 12:43 pm. It took him a second longer to notice his apartment was silent... Oh no, his clothes. He left them in there for almost four hours.

He put the food down before hurrying over to the washroom to throw his clothes into the dryer next to the washer he had been using. He plunked a few quarters into the slots, started the machine, and winced at the grinding sound the dryer was making. Honestly, none of the machines sounded great lately. He frowned at that and went back to his apartment to finish his lunch. He'd have to talk to Mr. Jacobs about that later. He'd been in this apartment for over ten years now, and the washers were old when he moved in. They were well past due to be replaced.

'*'*'*'*'

Shopping took a while, but that was expected. Emma made her way up the stairs, bringing her groceries into the apartment. Her arms ached, but carrying everything in one trip was worth it. Not really, but she'd tell herself it was, darn it. She quickly got to work putting everything away in the fridge and cabinets before picking up her basket and heading to the laundry room. Her clothes should be done by now.

Emma walked in to find that the one machine was still running. "Weird," she said under her breath. Oh well, it should be done soon. With that, she took out the brights and darks from the dryer that had turned off and got to work folding them on the counter across from the machines. At least this way, she could get some of her folding done while she waited for her lights to finish drying... wait, didn't she put those in first?

The thought caused her to look around and see if someone had moved her clothes to a different machine. Nothing. They weren't on the counter, either. So that had to be hers. She shook her head and went back to folding. It only took her maybe fifteen minutes, then she was left with nothing to do.

Well, it can't be much longer at this point, she thought as she took a seat on one of the wooden stools next to the counter space and took out her phone to wait... and wait... and wait... What the heck? Is the machine broken or something? Why is it still running? It's been almost an hour, Emma thought. She was starting to feel sore from sitting on the wooden stool for so long.

'*'*'*'*'

Chris walked up the stairs to the second floor with a frustrated expression. That was a waste of time. After finishing his lunch, he paid the landlord a visit. In his attempt to bring up the out-of-date equipment to Mr. Jacobs and point out that it might need to be repaired, he instead ended up in a much longer than necessary debate on what constituted an 'out of date' machine. It certainly didn't help that the elderly landlord would not drop it and let him leave. If the drum of a dryer is grinding under the weight of a single load of laundry, it's time to replace the machine. They barely even worked as it was anyway, and the models were at least twenty years old. It wasn’t like they were recent additions, and he was being ridiculous. What was he even paying rent for if the guy wasn't going to take care of the building?

He made his way over to the laundry room. At this point, his clothes were probably done. To his surprise, he found Emma sitting there waiting while staring at her phone with a bored expression.

Emma looked over as she heard the door open. "Oh, hey Chris," she said in greeting before going back to her phone.

"Hey," he replied and moved to wait since it seemed his machine wasn't done yet... none of the other machines were going, though. So why was she here? "Waiting for something?"

"Hm? Oh, um yeah, the dryer is taking forever. I think it might be broken," she admitted while gesturing to the dryer that he had put his clothes in. "What about you?" she asked with some level of confusion as well. There didn't seem to be any other active machines... what was he doing here?

"Waiting for the dryer," he replied, gesturing to the same one. "I just put my clothes in there an hour ago."

"Oh... That's the one I was using before I left. I went to get groceries. I only just got back a little less than an hour ago. Um…" Emma was starting to piece together what had happened. She didn't want to jump to accusing him of not checking the machine, but her clothes were missing otherwise.

Chris pinched the brow of his nose. Goddamn it all. His grumpy thought was cut short as Emma started laughing.

"Maybe Bastion accidentally took my clothes? I know someone was using a washing machine when I went to move mine to the dryer," Emma offered as a potential explanation. It didn't seem likely that Mrs. Russo would mistakenly take her clothes.

Nope. No, that was me, Chris thought, embarrassed that he failed to check and make sure the dryer was empty. It had been so long. He just figured whoever else was using the machines had well since left.

"Would you mind checking before I go and ask him?" Emma requested sheepishly. It kind of seemed like it was more likely that her clothes were still in there.

"Yeah, sure," he agreed, and the two waited for the machine to eventually come to a stop.

Chris walked over, opened the machine, then picked up the bundle and moved it over to the counter. Sure enough, clothes far too small for him were mixed in.

"Well, at least that mystery is solved," Emma said with an attempt at a smile.

"Sorry about that," he mumbled with a slight frown. How to fix this...

"It happens," Emma replied with a shrug. She moved her basket next to her and out of Chris's way, then got to work. Let's see. Hers. Hers. She folded each piece after picking it out of the pile and added it to her basket. Not hers. "Here you go," she said, handing that over to Chris, who accepted and folded it.

Guess this is all that can be done. With that, he got to work as well. His. Also his. He'd fold each piece while making sure to stay away from anything that very clearly wasn't his. Even then, it couldn't be completely avoided. He offered a shirt over to Emma. "Yours."

"Thank you," she replied, accepting it and folding it before putting it into her basket. Well. They were both here. "So, how was your week?" she asked, figuring chatting might help clear the air of embarrassment between the two. It was a simple mistake, so they might as well fix it and talk as friends.

"It was fine, nothing too exciting," he replied with a shrug as he accepted the unspoken offer to chat. What to ask in return... "How are you holding up? Any more door issues?" he asked, figuring after what happened before, he should check.

"Nothing so far," Emma replied with a slight frown. It didn't make her worry any less, but at least whoever was trying to get in was leaving her alone for now. "The lessons seem to be helping, though. Thanks again for that, by the way," she mentioned as they continued sorting through the pile. "If anything, I might feel bad for them if they do get in. They won't know what hit them," she said before giving his arm a light tap with a closed fist, figuring a joke would help as well.

He raised an eyebrow at that, and an amused smile crossed his face before he nudged her back. "Yeah, they'll wonder how a leaf got into the building. Was that supposed to be a punch?"

Emma chuckled as she caught her footing. "Hey, I was going easy on you, is all," she retorted, causing him to shake his head as he took a few socks out of the pile and set them to the side.

"Mhm, sure," he replied before a thought came to mind. "Oh. I'm going to be away for work next week. So, this coming Thursday will be the last lesson for the month."

"Not a problem. I can always practice on my own,” It was nice of him to help her. "Hopefully, I'll have this punching stuff figured out soon, so I can get out of your hair."

"It's not a problem, I don't mind. It helps me go over the basics," he shrugged. As uncertain as he had been before, it was kind of nice spending time with her every so often. On top of that, having a place to go for a meal after being away was pretty useful. She could be curious from time to time, but she wasn't too pushy about it, so it wasn't a nuisance or anything. She was actually pretty patient. After all, she wasn't getting on his case about this whole mistake.

The two continued to idly chat, and before long, the pile was sorted out. "It was kind of nice to get to talk for a bit," Emma said what Chris had been thinking earlier. "See you later. I should have your meal payment ready around seven or eight."

"Take your time. See you around," he said in return, and the two made their way back to their respective apartments.

'*'*'*'*'

True to her word, Emma adjusted the meals she was making for Chris, but soon after, he was sent off for a week to check on Ethan and monitor his progress. The days of October came and passed, and before long, it was the 23rd. Luckily, this time around, he still had food that was not yet moldy and was able to avoid having to go to his neighbor for scraps to hold him over. Not that it really changed much since, even though they missed a week of practicing, Emma dropped off a stack of five Tupperware containers in exchange for the empty ones waiting on his counter. It had become a natural part of Sunday evening over the last three months that neither of them really questioned anymore.

The weekends were never long enough, and Monday began bright and early. Chris gave a tired sigh as he made his way into the cafeteria to put away his meal for later, only to find the whole Hound Wolf Squad staring at the bulletin board on the far wall. The leader gave an attention call, which the group instinctively reacted to and lined up. "Shouldn't you guys be busy?" Chris asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Hey, ease up. It's our first day back after a mission," Lobo said with a laugh.

"We were just catching up on company news. Anything worth knowing is usually posted to the board anyway," Night Howl admitted as he shifted to relax a bit.

"Pretty sure that you'll find it interesting." Umber Eyes smirked.

"Hey, don't tell him. We're gonna end up losing," Canine chided while nudging Umber Eyes, which got Chris’s attention.

"What? Are they hosting another shooting competition?" Chris jokingly asked.

Tundra raised an eyebrow. "And here I thought the one holiday you wouldn't forget is Halloween.” This caused Chris’s expression to shift to confusion and then realization. Halloween was coming up in a few days.

"There it is." Night Howl chuckled.

"The BSAA is hosting the usual costume contest. Are you gonna join in again?" Umber Eyes asked. "That sailor costume was a big hit a few years ago."

"I was more a fan of the samurai one the year after," Lobo poked fun at the leader with familiar mischief in his tone. "Hey, let's make this fun.” 

"Here we go," Tundra rolled her eyes.

"What if we make it a contest for us too?" Lobo offered with a smile. "The person with the lowest rank for the costume contest has to host Thanksgiving?"

"So, what you're saying is that you're volunteering to host this year?" Canine asked, earning a frown from Lobo.

"Hey, it could be anyone's game. I don't think any of us really had time to prepare something this year," Lobo argued before looking to Chris. "No repeat costumes, though. If you wear those damn short shorts again, I swear to the powers that be—"

"You'll what?" Chris asked, amused.

"... I'll think of something, but it's officially cheating to reuse an old costume," Lobo said upon realizing he really couldn't back up that threat. All the same, the others nodded.

"Yeah."

“Fair."

"Agreed."

Umber Eyes chuckled and looked at Chris. "Pack rules, right?"

"Fine," he reluctantly conceded. "Now get to work. I don't want to see any of you distracted by this."

"Yes sir," the group said and went on their way. Chris looked at the poster for the costume contest with a small smile before taking a picture of it with his phone and sending a quick text.

[Chris] -Image file of the poster- Hey. Think you can help me out again this year?

[Bastion] I thought you'd never ask.

[Bastion] What are we doing?

[Chris] Not sure... Vampire?

[Bastion] Eh. Kinda boring, but I'll see what I can find to spice it up. I only have a few days, so don't expect a miracle.

The days moved quickly, and soon Halloween day arrived. Chris heard a knocking at his door around seven in the morning. He walked over to find Bastion waiting on the other side with an arm full of clothes. "Took you long enough," Chris jokingly greeted.

"How do you feel about corsets?" Bastion asked with a devious smile, which got Chris's attention.

"You're joking, right?" Chris asked with mild concern.

"Nope. Either let me in or don't take my help," Bastion offered his ultimatum, still smiling away.

"...Fine," Chris reluctantly agreed and moved out of the way, so Bastion could enter.

"Thank you," Bastion said, walking into the apartment and towards the living room. "You have black dress pants already, right?"

"Yep," Chris confirmed as he closed the door.

"Good, go ahead and change into those for now," Bastion instructed as he laid out the different pieces he had brought with him on the couch. After a minute or two, Chris walked out wearing his dress pants and a plain white undershirt.

"Oh no, you won't be needing that. Off." Bastion gestured to the shirt, which Chris reluctantly removed. The nail tech handed over a pure white corset that closed in the front with three thick plastic clasps that looked similar to the ones on Chris’s regular tactical gear. Chris put on the corset with a grumble. "It's a bit tight," he complained. It felt weird too, as it only covered from his hip to right under his chest.

"That means it's working," Bastion amusedly remarked. "All right, now put this on over it but don't button it up." Bastion handed him a very loose cotton button-up shirt. Again, Chris did as he was told, donning the shirt before tucking it into his dress pants without buttoning them up. Bastion then gave him a new package of fake fangs.

"Go ahead and put those on too. I need to work with this last piece for a second," Bastion instructed while adjusting a floral broach. The agent opened the package to get the plastic teeth out, attaching them to his canines to make them look sharper. "So what are we doing about this area," Chris asked, making a vague gesture to his bare chest.

"I mean, you could wear some dog tags if you want," Bastion suggested, seeming confused by the question.

"Bastion, I need a shirt," Chris insisted as he checked the time. 7:25.

"You have one," Bastion countered, gesturing towards Chris.

"One that covers me, I know I got away with the half-bit for the samurai costume, but I got a warning with it, and this is definitely more skin than that," he pointed out, a frown starting to cross his lips.

"Fine, take it off then. We can rearrange the layers," Bastion said with a disappointed sigh. "Offices are no fun."

Chris fumbled with the top clasp for a few moments with little progress before noticing that it was pressed in, but not releasing or popping back into place. "Shit, it's stuck."

"What do you mean it's stuck," Bastion asked, bewildered. "Suck in," he demanded as he walked over and attempted to help. Unfortunately, with how long his nails were, it was difficult to apply pressure to the clasp.

"I am!"

"Umm…" Bastion mumbled before an idea came to mind. "Okay, just stay right there. I'm going to get some help.” Then he walked out of the apartment.

It took a few minutes, but he eventually returned with Emma, who was also in costume, but Chris was too distracted to focus on that.

"What on earth?" Emma exclaimed upon seeing Chris. Holy! Hello pectoral! What was that outfit? "Okay, hold still.” She walked over and checked the clasps. "I could try cutting the fabric.”

"No! That's my favorite corset," Bastion cried, horrified.

"You tried putting him in your clothes?" Emma asked, bewildered. "What were you thinking? Of course it's stuck.” She walked over to the kitchen to get a butter knife to wiggle into the clasp to try and get it to release. It took her a good ten minutes, but she managed to get all three clasps open.

"Well, to hell with that thing. I'm not putting that back on," Chris grumbled as he tossed the corset over the back of the couch.

"What are you trying to dress as?" Emma asked, trying to focus on his face. He had a nice six-pack, though—Crap! Eyes at eye level.

"I could ask you the same thing. What did you do to your face?" Chris asked since he finally had time to breathe and absorb his surroundings. Emma's hair was now a sticky black color and was clumped together in sections as if it was soaked in ink. She wore black-out contacts and black lipstick, dripping marks leaked from her eyes and mouth. A simple black sleeveless A-line dress clung to her torso but flowed freely from the waist to a few inches above the knee, complemented by matching black stiletto heels, opera-length black gloves, and a black choker.

"It's kind of an inside joke at the office," she said, laughing. "I'm going as a diva meltdown."

"You look like The Ring decided to go to junior prom," Bastion said.

"Perfect, that's about what I was aiming for," she joked. "So... space pirate?" she asked, confused by the corset.

"Vampire," Chris answered.

"Well, not anymore. You're ditching the main part of the costume." Bastion sighed.

"Probably a good idea. He's already got some bruises forming from that thing," Emma pointed out before putting a hand on her hip and drumming her fingers. "Give me a minute," she requested before heading back over to her apartment. While she was away, Chris took the time to fix his shirt, untucking it so he could button it up except for the top three buttons, then tucking it back in. It was more comfortable now that the corset was gone.

Emma eventually returned with two containers, a plastic straw, and a toothbrush. "Luckily for you, I had to look up the drip effect thing for my own costume." She smiled as she opened the container, which had a dark mixture in it.

Chris walked over and looked at it suspiciously. "What is that?"

"It's chocolate syrup, water, and red food coloring. It's safe," she promised, "I used the same thing with black dye. A bit of blood from one corner of the mouth will make the vampire part more apparent when people can't see your teeth."

The agent nodded. "Fair enough... what's the other container?" he asked since that one hadn't been opened yet.

"Hair mousse with white dye. I was thinking about going with a white version of this costume but decided against it. Dracula is usually depicted with white streaks of hair on the sides. Do you want to use these?" she offered.

"Sure. If I don't place, I'll lose the bet with the squad." He frowned slightly, causing Emma to chuckle.

"Do you guys bet on everything?" she asked, amused.

"It passes the time," Chris replied with a shrug as he sat at the kitchen island.

"Fair enough. Hold still then, and I'll help you with this."

He nodded before holding still as Emma gently held the side of his face in one hand while using the straw to pick up a few drops of the fake blood and placed them at the corner of his lips to let the mixture drip slightly and dry. "Okay, good," she remarked before opening the mousse and picking up the toothbrush to scoop some out and gently brush it into the sides of Chris's hair.

Bastion leaned against the back of the couch and watched with a small smile as he noticed Chris relax during the process and close his eyes. Suppose anyone could enjoy a little personal attention.

"There, all done.” She stepped back so Chris could get up and go take a look.

Chris took out his phone to use it as a mirror. "Not bad," he said while looking himself over. "It could maybe use more blood, though?"

"You're the boss," she said with a chuckle. "There's plenty in the container, so you can reapply throughout the day if you need to."

"Maybe some hand marks on the shirt?" Chris suggested.

"I don't mind. It's a goodwill find, so I'm not attached to it." Bastion agreed.

“Sounds good. Did you want to help with that, Bastion?" Emma requested since her gloves took forever to get on.

"And mess up my nails? Oh no. I'm good. You have fun with that," the nailtech grinned.

"Ah, right," Emma said, wincing. She had forgotten how sensitive Bastion was about his hands. She took a moment to shimmy off her gloves, dip the tips of her fingers in the mixture, and press them against Chris’s neck, waiting for it to dry before taking her hand away. "One down."

"Maybe one here-ish," Chris suggested, grabbing a section of the shirt close to his torso.

"Sure, I can do that," she agreed and dipped the fingers of her one hand in the mixture before rubbing it into the palm of her other hand. Once it was coated she grabbed the shirt where Chris had before. "Do you want some blood splats as well?" she offered with a chuckle.

"Might as well," Chris said with a nod as Emma dipped her fingers once more and flicked the mixture at Chris, resulting in various splatters.

"Okay, I'm cutting you off there." She laughed then went to wash her hands before closing the containers. "Any more, and you're going to get pulled over by a cop."

"Thanks, both of you. With any luck, I'll be able to avoid coming in last place," Chris said as he got up and looked at the microwave clock, which read 8:03. "Shit, I'm going to be late.” He hurried to get his shoes on.

After hearing this, Emma looked at the clock and quickly grabbed her gloves. "Oh dang it!" Emma exclaimed as she managed to get one on while hurrying to the door. "I'll see you guys around."

"Let me know how it goes, you two," Bastion called with a laugh as he walked out and went back to his own apartment.

"Will do," they agreed in unison. Chris put his second shoe on before he walked over to the counter to get his keys and wallet then grabbed the last lunch pack from the fridge so he could rush out for the day.

After narrowly avoiding a speeding ticket, he managed to park and make it to work. 8:31 AM. Technically late, but who was counting? He walked into the cafeteria and found Hound Wolf Squad chatting.

"Hey Alpha, took you long enough," Tundra teasingly greeted. She was wearing an interesting costume that looked like a fried egg over a black long sleeve shirt and leggings and a headband with horns.

Umber Eyes, Night Howl, and Canine were wearing matching outfits with canes and sunglasses, while Lobo looked like a giant dust bunny full of clutter wrapped in gray tulle.

"So, vampire, three blind mice, deviled egg," Tundra listed as she pointed at each person before looking at Lobo.

"Sharknado," he announced with a smile, which caused the others to groan. "Hey, it's creative. Besides, what are you three going to do if you lose? You can't all host Thanksgiving," Lobo grumbled.

"We'll just work together," Night Howl shrugged.

Chris shook his head. "When do we get the results anyway?"

"Around noon, I think," Canine answered before gesturing to the doorway. "You gotta get your picture taken for the poll, though, and that's going out in ten minutes," he added, which got Chris’s attention.

The team captain quickly put away his lunch and briskly walked to the receptionist to get checked in for the contest. It wasn't his best costume, but it was better than nothing. As Canine said, a company email went out shortly after with a rule that you couldn't vote for yourself and that the poll collected email addresses, so they would know.

By noon, the results were in.

Deviled Egg - 8 votes

Vampire/Dracula - 7 votes

Three Blind mice - 14 votes

Sharknado -

"Twenty three votes and third place overall?" Canine read aloud as the group had decided to have lunch together for once.

"I told ya it was creative," Lobo mused with a cocky smile.

"You wrapped yourself in a sheet of fabric and hot-glued sharks to it," Tundra Grumpily retorted.

"Don't hate the player, hate the game," Lobo rebutted. "Besides, that's rich coming from the Walmart clearance bin."

"So, if we divide fourteen by three," Chris jokingly suggested, only to get a chorus of arguments in return from the three.

"That is not how that works. You lost." Night Howl frowned.

"So, what time is dinner?" Umber Eyes asked with an amused smile.

Chris gave a tired sigh. "Fine, I'll host but don't expect anything impressive."

The squad laughed as they ate their meals and finished up a very unproductive day at the office. Paperwork got nowhere, and gym time was mostly spent talking since some costumes were more of a safety hazard than others. The day eventually ended, though, and everyone made their way back home.

Chris was admittedly not in the best mood as he entered the apartment. Did he seriously have to host Thanksgiving? He just hosted poker night, and his apartment wasn't that spacious. Thanksgiving was a large meal, and they barely had enough space at the table to play cards. Well. They could just put all the food on the island and bring their plates back and forth... but that wasn’t the point. Chattering voices became clearer as he made his way up the stairs to the second floor.

"Are you sure you're okay with that, Em? It's asking a lot," said a vaguely familiar voice.

"Yeah, I don't mind. It's just a few months," Emma's voice replied and was greeted with high-pitched cheering, which caused Chris to wince. Once he made it to the top of the stairs, he found two tiny little girls dressed as princesses, a now not pregnant mother holding a baby dressed as a pumpkin, and an exhausted father standing next to her. Bastion was leaning in his doorway, and the Russos were also standing in the hallway as Mrs. Russo cooed over the children, who were more than happy with the attention.

Wow, everyone is here. "Did I miss a meeting?" Chris asked to make his presence known.

"Nah, just handing out candy. We have trick or treaters visiting," Bastion said with a shrug. "How'd the contest go?" 

Chris stared at Bastion with a deadpan expression in response.

"That well?" Emma winced as Chris shook his head. "Oh well. You'll get them next year," she offered with a half-smile.

At this point, Summer finally realized that the vampire by the stairs was Chris and gave a small gasp. "My friend is bleeding?" she asked with a horrified expression before walking over to wave her magic princess wand at him as if it would miraculously make the ‘blood’ go away.

“It’s chocolate, Summer," Emma stated to try to get her to calm down.

"Oh," she said, then paused to think about it before looking at Emma. "Auntie Emmy, can I have chocolate blood too?"

"You probably already do with how much candy you've eaten," Emma quietly muttered, causing the parents to laugh.

"We should get going before they crash. Thanks again, Em. We'll see you next Saturday?" Chelsea asked, and Emma nodded.

"Yep, see you then," she contently confirmed.

Chris made his way past the gathering to his own apartment to wash up and get some sleep.

Chapter Text

Halloween had been a treat, but time continued to move forward, and it was now Saturday, November 18th. Emma sat on the edge of her couch, holding her newborn niece and rocking gently to try and get her to fall asleep. She hummed with her eyes closed. The kitchen island behind her was a mess of sugar, flour, and icing while the two older nieces sat next to her, slowly drifting off instead of watching the movie. Thinking back on it, it had been quite a busy day.

"Auntie Emmy, can we make cookies?" Summer asked with her usual doe-eyed stare that she used when she wanted something.

“Why do you want to make cookies?” Emma asked, shaking her head as she looked over at the table covered in papers and crayons. They were just interested in making a mess.

"I overheard mommy saying that she wanted to get the neighbors presents cause we're staying with you on the weekends, but she didn't have the money for it," Summer explained, which caused Emma to frown. "So I wanna make them something instead, so mommy doesn't have to worry about it... and then I can make even more friends."

Darn this child and her lack of a filter.

"Besides, I'm almost this many," she said, holding up six fingers. "So I can cook if I want to," Summer added with a nod, having determined that herself.

"Fine, I'll make some sugar cookies, and you can decorate them. How does that sound?" Emma offered as she started digging out different ingredients to place on the counter in preparation.

"And I'll help," Summer insisted.

Help was one way to put it... more like pour things on the counter, as she only got half in the bowl. By the time the cookies were done and decorated, it was dinner time. The girls enjoyed a meal of Hamburger Helper with veggies before sorting out the cookies onto four plates. One to keep and one for each neighbor. Emma helped Summer write a simple thank-you note for each one and then added her own handwritten note.

Each plate had been delivered without much fanfare; Mrs. Russo took a while to get away from since she wanted to talk to the girls. She was probably working through empty nest syndrome, so Emma didn't mind too much. Even Chris seemed sympathetic enough to understand the situation as he patiently accepted another drawing from Summer along with the cookies.

Emma smiled at the memory as the ending credits started to roll for the movie, playing a dramatic orchestral rendition of the main song. "All right girls, bedtime," she quietly announced, slowly shifting to get up. 

Soft footsteps on the stairs outside caught her attention as her expression switched to curiosity. Emma's face paled when she heard the door rattle slightly. "Not now," she murmured as her eyes widened in fear. "Girls, bed now," she forcefully instructed as she dragged Summer along while carrying Annie.

An aggressive thud against the door was heard, causing Summer to scream and Duke to start barking. "Into the bedroom now," Emma ordered as the baby woke up and started to wail. Emma quickly put Annie down in the crib, making sure both older girls were in the bedroom before locking them in. She needed to make it as difficult as possible for whoever this was to find them.

*Crash, bang, thud.*

Emma locked the bathroom and the study to make it harder to tell which door was which before looking back to the front door of her apartment. She heard a gunshot, and a bullet tore through the door, breaking the lock.

They have a gun?! Oh my god, oh my god, no no no. They didn't have a gun before. Why do they have one now? She didn't know how to handle this.

One more solid thud and the door burst open, revealing a familiar masked individual. Emma yelped and quickly moved to get out of view as another shot rang in her ears and a hole appeared in the bathroom door.

Oh god, oh god, oh god.

She tried to focus as she leaned against the wall and listened for footsteps. Focus. She couldn't let them get any closer to the kids. As soon as the figure was in view, she reeled back a fist to take a jab at their throat, landing the hit, but the figure got hold of her arm and kicked her leg out from under her, pinning her to the ground.

"Bitch, get out of my way," the voice growled, putting the gun in their back pocket as they wrestled against her attempts to get free.

'*'*'*'*'

"Take it easy," Chris said as he closed the door to his apartment with a plate of very sloppily decorated cookies in one hand and another drawing in the other. He was about to drop the cookies in the trash like the last plate but paused as he noticed a small folded piece of paper with To: Criz written on it. Instead, he put the plate down on the island, folded the drawing in half, and put it in a drawer with a similar folded piece of paper.

He carefully took the note out from the plastic wrap and opened it.

To: Criz

Thak you fer beeing nice to Aumtie Emmy

Zummer

Chris shook his head with a soft chuckle before sitting down on the couch and reading the rest of the note.

Hey Chris,

Sorry about the girls. I know they can get loud, and Summer won't seem to leave you alone. I appreciate your patience, though. They're technically not my nieces, but their parents are good friends of mine. So they raised the girls as if I was a blood relative. Their parents are having a hard time with the bills for the holidays and need to work overtime. So I agreed to watch them on the first and third weekend of each month for the next few months, while their grandparents watch them for the 2nd and 4th. This will probably go on until January but not long after that. It should go back to just one or two visits every few months from there. I know it's not ideal for everyone else on the floor, so let me know if there is anything I can do to be accommodating during this time.

Thanks,

Emma

He wasn't exactly a fan of listening to the girls screaming, but it was reasonable enough if she was just trying to help out some friends. They seemed like good people. "I'll put up with it, for now," he muttered before putting the letter down on his coffee table, then getting a book off the shelf to pass the time.

A Traveler's Record of Romania: A Beautiful Country, It's People and Many Villages.

He'd picked this one up a few months back when he was getting Ethan set up in Romania. It wouldn't hurt to know more about the area if he ever found himself there for future missions. Considering he'd already had to go for a check-in, that seemed like it could be a regular occurrence. He managed to read a few chapters before nodding off.

BANG

Chris stirred back to consciousness as he looked around. Why did that sound like a gunsh—

A second shot was heard, and a scream after.

"Shit," Chris said as he hurried to his own room to grab his pistol before making his way into the hallway. After confirming no one was there, he cautiously but briskly walked over to Emma's door to find that it had been knocked off its hinges.

"Get off of me!" could be heard as Chris looked in to find whoever this creep was, with Emma pinned to the floor, trying and failing to get away. If he took the shot, that would be the end of this, but the two were struggling too much to get a clear and safe target without accidentally hitting Emma. It was a risk, but he slowly and cautiously moved closer as he flipped his pistol around to hold the barrel like a hammer.

"Let go! Let go of me," Emma cried as she managed to get one arm free, only for it to end up back in a pin a moment later.

"Stop moving around so damn much. It'll be easier for both of us," the intruder said. "I don't wanna kill anyone, but they said I can't be havin' witnesses."

"Get off of me!" Emma shouted once more, making another attempt to get free by kicking the guy but to no effect due to her grounded position. This wasn't what she trained for at all.

"Shut u—" the voice fell short as Chris cracked the pistol handle over the back of the intruder's head. The intruder felt heavier, causing Emma to give a panicked shout, only for the weight to be removed. She quickly crawled away as she started to hyperventilate. Dilated, watery eyes darted around for any further threat, only to find none.

"C-Chris," she stammered, relieved as she watched him take the weapon from the intruder and remove the magazine from the gun, pocketing the bullets, before heading over to Emma to check on her. The young woman struggled to stand up. Her legs felt like they were made from jello.

"It's going to be okay," he said, putting his arm under hers to help her get up as she tried to speak.

"It's—I couldn't—Gun," Emma tried to force out, holding onto him for support as tears openly fell. Any other time she'd be embarrassed by her actions, but right now, she needed to hold on to something so she didn't crumple to the ground. "Why?" she managed to finally ask, her voice cracking.

Feeling the small, shaking form clinging to him made him pause. It took a moment, but he moved to hold her. "I don't know," he said, answering the simple but reasonable question. "We're going to find out, though.” He looked down at the unconscious figure.

Mr. Russo and Mr. Jacobs cautiously peeked into the apartment, one with a shotgun, the other with a crowbar. "It's safe. I got him," Chris confirmed, causing the older men to relax and walk over. The two noticed the shaking and stammering woman and silently nodded to Chris before working together to get the intruder out of the apartment and into the hallway.

"I-I tried," she squeaked out between breaths. "I t-tried, but it didn't matter." Emma hid her face in her hands, feeling guilty for soaking Chris’s shirt with tears. "I c-couldn't do it," her voice cracked again, as she was clearly holding her breath between words to try and keep from sobbing more than she already was. She was terrified. She was embarrassed. She just wanted to crawl under a blanket and disappear for a few minutes.

"You did well," Chris quietly lied in an attempt to offer comfort. "You wanted to be able to hold them off until you could get help, and you did," he added, still trying to get her to calm down. Yeah, it wasn't exactly a combative display fit for the silver screen, but she was alive, the kids were... where were they? A concerned expression crossed his face as he looked around. Duke's tail could be seen peeking out from between the couch and wall in his usual hiding place, but there was no sign of the three noisy munchkins until a soft wailing came to his ear.

"Auntie Emmy? Auntie Emmy, Annie doesn't like this game no more... can we come out now?" a quiet voice asked from behind the sturdy wooden door. Hearing it seemed to bring Emma to her senses and reminded her of her surroundings.

"The girls," she gasped and moved to stand on her own, waiting for a second to make sure she was stable before taking a small piece of metal from her pocket that looked like an allen wrench. She shuffled over to the door and pressed it into the small hole of the doorknob, causing a soft click. Emma took a deep breath before opening the door. She was still shaking like a leaf and couldn't hide that.

"Emmy, are you crying?" Summer asked, concerned, before noticing Chris. "Why is Auntie crying?" She looked at him with a confused expression.

"I just saw something sad, is all," she answered with an attempt at a smile.

"You need to sit down, or you're going to faint and scare them worse," Chris warned quietly, causing Emma to nod.

"Is Chris sleeping over too?" Summer asked as she walked out of the room with Maurie. The question caused Emma to genuinely laugh as she sat on the couch.

"No, sweetie. He was making sure we're okay," Emma said as she fumbled to take her phone out. Chris watched her attempt to get the device unlocked for a few moments before sitting next to her and taking the phone.

"Password?" he asked. Emma responded with a short string of six numbers. "Which number are you trying to call?"

"It's in my contacts under Chel," Emma said quietly as she rested her head in her hands with her elbows on her knees. She was still in shock, but it was starting to pass.

"Can we watch TV?" Summer asked, still unaware of the extent of the danger they had been in. Emma nodded, causing the girl to happily hurry over to pick out a movie from the shelf. In the meantime, Chris dialed the number.

"Em? What's up?" asked a concerned voice on the other end.

"Hey, Emma isn't doing well," Chris replied.

"Who is this?" Chelsea asked, cutting Chris off.

"It's her neighbor. There was a break-in. The kids are safe, but you need to come pick them up," he explained. 

"What?! Oh—Oh my god. I'm on my way now," she exclaimed, and the call ended.

"She's on her way." Chris handed the phone back to Emma.

"Thanks..." Emma replied, accepting the phone while avoiding eye contact. "And, thank you for saving me..."

"Not a problem," he gently replied. "Are you going to be okay?"

"Yes? ...No? ...I don't know," Emma said with a frown. "I just feel kind of pathetic. I made such a fuss about wanting to be ready and bothered you about it, but I still wasn't."

"Then that just means you need to keep practicing.” She was at least doing better than before, but it was probably a face because of the girls. "You kept them safe. I'd say you did pretty good," he repeated before noticing Mr. Jacobs waving for Chris to join him in the hallway. "It's not much but, if it helps, you can stay the night at my place. Duke as well, if you can get him out from behind the couch."

Emma attempted to smile at that. "Thanks, Chris."

"Not a problem... I'll be outside. If you need something, just shout," he said, getting up.

"Well, that I'm good at," Emma remarked with a short chuckle as she shook her head.

She’s making jokes. That’s good, Chris thought as he walked out to find the intruder unmasked and cuffed with two police officers in the hallway along with Mr. Russo and Mr. Jacobs. "Why does he look familiar?" Chris asked as he looked from Mr. Russo to Mr. Jacobs.

"Benny Miller," Mr. Jacobs stated while frowning at the cuffed man, who was barely in his mid-twenties. "Your last neighbor who skipped town out of nowhere back in May..." Saying that brought an expression of realization. "You still owe me four months' rent," the landlord accused. "What the hell got into you, Benny?"

"Shit, look I'll tell you whatever you want, just don't kill me," Benny whimpered, trying to scoot away from Chris as he noticed the gun at his hip.

"We're not going to kill you, kid. But you're going to jail for a really long time," the police officer insisted as the other stopped him from scooting away.

"I can't go to jail for this. I won't make it in the slammer," he said, panicking. "You guys make deals, yeah? I'll tell ya everything if you get me a deal."

"Why were you trying to break in?" Chris asked with a sneer.

"You locked me out of my place before I could get everything out. I was stashing something important in there. I needed it back, or they were gonna get me," the young man explained in a terrified tone. “I tried getting in when it was late with my old key at first, but the lock was different. I remembered Mrs. Russo ran that key exchange. So I tried seeing if any other places were open so I could get in that way, but people started putting up cameras. I couldn’t have witnesses; they were clear about that. Pickin’ the lock didn’t work. I was getting desperate, man," his lip starting to quiver. "They told me guarding that shit would be quick, easy money. Said it was worth millions, and they didn't like it when I told ‘em I lost it. Told me I had till the end of the year to get it back, or I was a dead man 'cause that's when they needed it."

"What were you guarding, and who were you guarding it for?" the police officer behind Benny asked.

The young man hesitated. "You promise you're gonna cut me a deal?" he repeated.

The police looked at each other. "As long as you're telling the truth," they agreed.

"Fine... I was watching it for the Stingrays," Benny said as if that should mean something to them, but the group just looked at each other confused.

"... Who?" the first officer asked, peering at Benny.

"You know. The stingrays," Benny repeated before sighing. "Look, they aren't a big gang yet, but this deal they had me guarding was gonna put us on top."

"Oh, for fuck’s sake..." Chris growled, irritated. Some no-name gang stashed crap in the apartment next door to his and almost killed innocent people over it..."Where is it?"

"I hid it in the wall of the hallway," Benny admitted before looking at the cops, who both nodded to each other. One went into the apartment. It took a good 15 minutes, but he eventually walked back out, holding a leather-bound book.

"Yeah, that's it," Benny confirmed.

"This is worth millions?" the police officer asked in disbelief.

"Bet your ass it is," Benny insisted. "It's a black book of debts for the Striker gang. Loan sharks. Swiped it off one of their goonies back in February. We'd been negotiating the sale for months. It was gonna make us rich."

"It was going to get you killed," the cop corrected. That was a name they recognized. "You're a damn idiot, trying that."

"That's good, though, right? I'm free to go?" Benny questioned with a hopeful expression. "I did what I promised."

"Not a chance. You're still coming with us," the cop said, which caused the young man's expression to drop.

"But you said—" Benny started but was cut off.

"I said we'd get you a deal. I didn't say we were gonna cut you free and forget," the cop clarified.

"All right kid, we got you your book, now let's get moving," the cop behind Benny said before picking him up by the cuffs to get him to stand. With that, the two cops led him out of the building.

"And don't forget he owes me money. I still expect reparations for this," the landlord called as the cops walked the man out.

"It’s a shame the kid got tangled up with that kind of mess," Mr. Russo added with a frown. "I'm gonna go tell the misses everything's sorted..." He gave a short wave, still seeming disgusted with what he heard.

"Have a good night," Mr. Jacobs said to Chris and the leaving Italian, who gave a quiet 'Puah' in response.

Chris shook his head and made his way back into Emma's apartment. She was still sitting on the couch, but she had Annie in her arms and Maurie was sleeping next to her. She must have gotten up to get the baby. He was still worried since the door couldn't close, so he stayed, for now, to make sure that everything got sorted out.

Before long, footsteps echoed up the stairs with heavy breathing as Chelsea could be seen standing in the broken doorway, out of breath.

"Mommy!" Summer exclaimed and happily hurried over to hug the woman, who knelt down to repeatedly kiss the top of the child's head. Chris watched from his place by the counter as Emma stood up and walked over, still puffy-eyed from crying, but she had finally stopped shaking. Chelsea picked up Summer before looking at the door, then at Emma as she hurried over and pulled her friend into a hug.

"Are you okay?" Chelsea asked as she let go. "Of course you're not. What am I saying? Oh gosh, Em."

"And you," she looked at Chris before walking over to give him a quick hug as well. "You helped too, thank you so much.” She smiled at him. "I don't know what I would have done if I lost a single one of my girls, Em included. Thank you," Chelsea said before looking back to Emma. "Come on, you're coming home with us."

"She can't, mama," Summer said as if that was obvious, which confused the three adults.

"Baby, why wouldn't she? Of course, she can," Chelsea corrected, which caused Summer to shake her head.

"Nuh-uh," Summer replied matter-of-factly. "Auntie Emmy and Chris are having a sleepover."

This child.

Chelsea had just about as good of a poker face as Emma did, as she tried very hard not to laugh. "Summer, no."

"They are!" she said louder, as if she was being accused of lying. "I heard'em say so, I did!"

"Okay, honey," Chelsea said as she put down Summer before looking to Emma, who was pretty red in the face now, while Chris was very interested in inspecting his pistol. How was it that, coming from a child's mouth, an innocent enough offer sounded so much worse than it was?

"The police asked me to stay put. They're going to come back in an hour or two for a statement. I do need to stay here," Emma offered as an explanation. "Chris was kind enough to let me borrow his couch in the meantime since my door is broken."

"Okay... If you need me, call. I don't care what time it is," Chelsea said as she accepted Annie from Emma. "Summer, sweetie, can you go get Maurie? It's time to go home."

Summer nodded and walked over to her sister, giving her a gentle shake. The toddler woke up with a grumble, and Summer got her off the couch. They walked over to their mother, and within a few minutes, the family had packed up, leaving Emma and Chris behind in the mess of an apartment.

How to fix the awkward silence tho—

Chris started to chuckle as if he heard the beginning of Emma's thought. Hearing him laugh caused a smile to cross Emma's face.

"Stop, or I'm gonna start laughing too," she muttered between giggles.

"Ready for a sleepover?" he asked, shaking his head.

"Go to Hell," Emma said with a solid laugh.

"Fine, you can stay here then," he suggested with a smirk as he shrugged and walked away.

Emma gave a short whistle, and Duke cautiously popped his head out from his hiding place. "Come on," she said, following behind Chris. She was glad that despite the craziness of the night, she could still relax around him. The thought caused her to pause slightly and shake her head. It was nothing. Once they were inside, Chris went back to his room, grabbing a spare blanket and pillow from his closet, before walking back to the living room to find Emma looking over the book he had ditched earlier.

"Romania?" she asked curiously.

"It's something to read," he replied as he put the blanket and pillow down on the couch.

"That sounds an awful lot like 'it was work' to me," Emma pointed out.

"Something like that," he agreed, taking the book.

"All right, I'll stop asking then," Emma replied, accepting that the guy had his secrets.

"Probably for the best," he admitted then gestured to the couch. "If you take off the cushions, there's a pull-out bed. Just lock the door when you're done talking to the cops.” He took a few steps to head to his own room. "Night."

"Good night," Emma replied before getting to work moving around some of the furniture so she could get set up for the night. The police returned as they said they would and got a statement from Emma. Once that was taken care of, she eventually settled in to rest on the couch. Neither one really slept well, but they got some rest nonetheless.

Chris was roused by an extra source of heat next to him and a soft pressure against his cheek. He peeked an eye open to find Duke lying on the bed and snuggled up next to him, licking the BSAA agent's face. "Ugh, Duke no, off the bed," he grumbled, as he pushed the dog to get him to move. Duke got up and jumped off the bed with an offended expression before heading out of the room.

What time is it? Chris thought as he lazily reached over to try and grab his phone from the nightstand. 6:48 am. Too early. Chris took a deep breath before pushing himself to get up and head into the kitchen, noting along the way that Emma was still out cold on the pull-out bed in the living room. He went over to the coffee maker and got a pot started. By the time it was done brewing, the smell had caused Emma to stir from her slumber with a grumble.

She felt the same as she looked. A mess. She tried running a hand through her hair to tame it, which only partially worked. At least her eyes weren't swollen anymore. With that, she got out of bed and trudged towards the smell.

"Morning," she greeted. Chris nodded in response before handing her a mug, which she gratefully accepted. After a few sips, she spoke again. "... Is it okay if we practice later?"

"Are you sure?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah." She nodded. "Not like we can meet up this week anyway with the holidays coming up," she added as further reasoning.

"All right. I have some errands to do, but be here by three," he responded.

"Will do," she said before taking another drink of her coffee. "Thanks."

"Not a problem," he replied.

The two finished their drinks in comfortable silence before going their own ways for the time being. Emma washed up and got into a fresh set of clothes, then took care of Duke. The police stopped by again shortly after and took a few pictures of the hole in the wall, the bullet hole in the bathroom door, and the front door before giving her the all-clear to go back to normal activities in the apartment. She was grateful for that since the mess from the cookies was still waiting to be cleaned up.

She had just about finished dealing with that when she heard footsteps going up the stairs. Chris knocked on the broken door to let her know he was back when she was ready. "Duke, bedtime," she announced as the dog walked over to her room. She closed the door behind him, then went over to Chris’s apartment, where he was waiting in the doorway for her.

Chris let her into the apartment once more and shut the door. "I think we should make some changes to the lessons," he admitted, which got Emma's attention.

"Okay," she said cautiously as she watched Chris clear a space for them to use by moving his dining table to the side. Then he walked to the living room to mess with the pull-out bed, taking the mattress off it and placing it in the area he had just cleared.

"What you were learning before worked if you were on equal footing and in very specific scenarios," he explained, admitting to the shortsightedness of his training. "Now you need to work on how to get up when you're knocked down," he went on. "So, you're going to be doing floor training. And you need to think about how to get out yourself. No more drills. You need to be able to adapt and find your own solution."

Emma nodded at the explanation. As much as it wasn’t pleasant to admit, he had a point.

“We’re also going to agree that a knee to the nuts is fine and dandy in an emergency, but if you do that to me, you will be hurting for it," he warned, making Emma laugh.

"I promise," she said while holding up a hand as a vow, "that I will not purposefully assault your manhood, but if you toss me, and it happens by accident, that is on you."

Chris grumbled at that but nodded as he walked onto the makeshift mat and kneeled before motioning for Emma to join him. She cautiously did the same, and within a matter of seconds, she was pinned with her wrists over her head. Memories of the night before came to mind, causing her breathing to become quicker.

"Relax. I'm not going to hurt you," Chris reminded as he noticed the beginning signs of panic. "Look for a weak spot."

Emma took a moment to calm down and accept that she wasn't actually in danger before shifting. A weak spot... the back? She tucked in both of her legs before trying to reach around. She managed to end up partially sitting on his back in an odd, contorted position that looked like a game of twister from hell.

Chris was impressed with her first instinct of tucking in her legs, only to end up completely baffled after. How did she—"What are you doing?" he asked in an incredulous tone.

"I have no idea," she openly admitted. What was he expecting? "You said to look for weak points," she rebutted, only to end up eating the mat as Chris rolled over and knocked the air out of her with his shoulder jabbed into her back.

"Yeah well, whatever that was, it wasn't it." He laughed before getting up. "You were close, though."

Boom, flop, bam. It had almost been an hour.

Ouch. "...One more try," Emma said, clearly feeling some level of determination, which caused Chris to shake his head.

"All right," he said, amused. Each time she was getting a decent start but would end up goofing somehow. At least she was using her strengths to her advantage. She hadn't even attempted to break the hold with her arms.

Okay. I can do this, Emma thought as she went through what had and hadn't worked before. She brought her legs up again so the flat of her calf was pressed into his chest before shifting her right leg so it was bent with her foot flat on the mat, allowing her right knee to press into him. Okay. Now what...? Shift and PUSH.

Thud.

One moment he was thinking over how to change the plan again since this wasn't working; the next, he was staring at the ceiling with Emma's face a few inches from his, gazing down at him with a shocked expression.

That worked? THAT WORKED?! She smiled at the thought. She did that. Her. Where the hell was that last night?

Chris smiled back at her before he spoke up. "Not bad. Let's try it again but do it faster," he instructed.

"Right," Emma agreed, and the two continued training.

Chapter Text

Time passed slowly as the next few days resulted in repairs around Emma's apartment. Doors were replaced and walls were patched. Thanksgiving arrived after that, announcing the last Thursday of November. Emma woke up early to start cooking an oversized meal for one. Thanksgiving was a celebration of family, but Emma was basically on the opposite side of the country from her parents and siblings, which made it more difficult. She gave a tired sigh as she pushed herself out of bed and checked her phone.

Thursday, November 23rd, 7:08 AM

[Chelsea] Are you sure you don't want to come over to my parent's place for Thanksgiving? You know they adore you.

Emma smiled at this and tapped away at her screen.

[Emma] Yeah, I'm sure. I already thawed the chicken overnight in an ice bath. I'm cooking that bird.🔥

With that sent, she put her phone in her back pocket, grabbed a hair tie from her nightstand, and pulled back her hair. She had barely gotten started with her daily chores when her phone went off again. Seemed like Chelsea was awake, too, so Emma moved to lean against the counter and chat with her friend.

[Chelsea] I'm surprised that guy you keep spending time with didn't invite you over. Oh, wait. I guess I have to clarify which one now, huh? 6_6

[Emma] Chel, no.

[Chelsea] Chel Yes! Girl, what are you going to do for the rest of your life?

[Emma] I don't even know what I'm doing tomorrow!

[Chelsea]💅 I could make some suggestions...

[Emma] Oh my gosh, you're so grounded.🤣

[Chelsea] 🤣 Btw, Summer wants to know if you'll teach her how to go backwards next time we're at the park.

[Emma] Using the babies to distract me, how dare ... But yes, I will help her with that. You're still grounded though and I'm muting you for the rest of the day.

[Chelsea] Worth it 😏

Emma laughed at the conversation before putting her phone down on the counter and getting back to work. She still needed to walk Duke and make an entire mini feast. At this rate, she wasn't going to be eating until 2 pm.

'*'*'*'*'

Chris had managed to sleep in for once, thanks to the holiday. He likely would have slept longer if the smell of food didn't cause his mind to slowly wake up and remind him that he was hungry. He grumbled and got out of bed before heading to the bathroom to wash up and change. With a shower and shave taken care of, he lazily stared into the mirror as he brushed his teeth. Working out and fixing his diet seemed to be helping him get back to how he was before. Who would have thought? Joking aside, it was nice that he was finally able to recognize himself again.

He was about to head over to the kitchen when he noticed his phone buzzing to find a new message from the Hound Wolf Squad group text.

[Night Howl] Hey Alpha, what time are we meeting at your place?

Chris looked over at the clock. It was around 10. He should probably clean up a little bit.

[Alpha] Any time after 1 is fine. Remember, I'm providing the location, so you guys need to provide the food.

[Tundra] 2:30 would work for me.

[Canine] 2:30 works.

[Lobo] Yes sir.

[Umber Eyes] On it, boss.

Chris put his phone into his pocket and ate a quick bowl of cereal for breakfast before getting to work on cleaning up around the apartment. He washed up the cluster of dishes in the sink, gave the floor a light sweeping, and vacuumed before setting the table. 12:21, roughly two hours to spare. The agent went and picked up his book on Romania again and took a seat in the living room, so he could start reading to pass the time.

A few hours later, Tundra waited outside the apartment, holding a deep round dish in one hand and her phone in the other.

[Tundra] Where are you guys? You're late.

[Night Howl] Pretty sure you're just early.

[Umber Eyes] Lobo had the bright idea of carpooling and ended up taking his sweet ass time.

[Lobo] Mac n' cheese is an art that cannot be rushed.

Tundra shook her head as she saw a familiar car pull into the parking garage. Before long, the group of four arrived, each holding a different dish and a bottle.

"All right, looks like we're ready for a party," Canine happily cheered.

"Seems like it," Tundra agreed, putting her phone away. "Let's get in there before the food gets cold.” The suggestion came a little late because hers was already starting to cool off. With that, the five of them went up to the second floor and knocked on the correct door this time, much to Umber Eyes' relief.

Chris put down his book on the coffee table before answering the door. "I was starting to think you guys got lost," he jokingly greeted with a slight smirk as he let them in.

"Blame Lobo," Night Howl suggested in response as Chris closed the door behind them.

"Already planned to," Chris admitted, amused.

"Hey, not cool, keep your hands off my mac n' cheese if you're gonna be like that," Lobo interjected with a frown as he put his dish down and went to pour himself a drink. In the meantime, each person set their food on the table and uncovered it. Sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, mac n' cheese, deviled eggs, and stuffing.

"What a spread. The main course smells great too," Canine praised before looking at Chris, who raised an eyebrow. "When is it going to be ready?"

"I didn't make anything,” Chris pointed out, which caused the others to stare at the table of sides and no main course before looking back to Chris.

"What host doesn't make the main dish?" Tundra asked, bewildered.

"She has a point," Night Howl agreed.

"I told you I wasn't cooking," Chris grumbled while holding his face. What part of that did they not get?

"Well fuck," Umber Eyes said with a frown.

"This is ridiculous," Lobo said, already holding a glass of wine. He rolled his eyes as he leaned against the kitchen counter and loudly knocked on the shared wall. "Ey, yo Emma, get over here and tell the captain what's what." The others laughed at what they felt were silly antics, only to go silent as a knock at the door was heard shortly after.

"Wait, that worked? Holy shit," Canine said as Chris flipped off the group and went to go answer the door. Sure enough, there was Emma.

'*'*'*'*'

Emma was just pulling out a dish of potato gratin from the oven when she heard three loud slams against the wall. "Holy sheea—" she said as she juggled the dish to keep a hold of it.

"Ey, yo Emma, get over here and tell the captain what's what," demanded a muffled voice from the other side of the wall.

What on earth was that about? She frowned as she put the dish of well-seasoned, cheese-covered, thinly sliced potatoes down on the counter. She shook her head, dusting her hands off on her jeans before heading out and knocking on Chris’s door. It took a minute, but the door opened, showing an annoyed Chris Redfield.

"Hey, are you okay? I heard someone punching the wall and shouting?" Emma asked with a confused expression.

"No, we're not okay. Alpha here is being a stingy asshole and won't feed us," Lobo called from inside the apartment.

"They're fine," Chris countered, glaring in annoyance at Lobo in particular. "They're just being cranky because they were dumbasses and didn't actually plan properly."

"No one brought a main course," Canine piped in to further explain while shaking his head.

With that, Chris looked back at Emma. "Sorry to interrupt your day."

"Oh, is that all it was?" Emma asked with a short laugh, gracious these guys were such goofballs. It was hard to believe they were some sort of military group. Hm, well, she did say before if they needed anything, they should let her know. "One minute, please leave the door open?" Emma requested before briskly walking back to her apartment. She returned with a nicely plated chicken surrounded by roasted carrots a few seconds later.

"Oh my gosh, no, you don't have to give us your food," Tundra insisted with a hint of guilt as she watched Emma return with the decent-sized serving dish.

"It's fine. I made too much anyway," Emma replied to try and ease any concerns. "If I'm stuck with leftovers, I'll be sick of chicken by the end of the week."

"Well, at least eat with us then if you're giving us your main course," Night Howl suggested, and the others nodded in agreement.

"Nice of you to invite someone else into my house," Chris pointed out with a frown.

"Emma can be my plus one. She's a guest that way." Canine shrugged, causing the others to chuckle.

"Can we just figure out if we're eating or not?" Umber Eyes jokingly asked.

"Fine, Emma is Canine's plus one then," Chris reluctantly agreed, dropping it as he shook his head. "The things you guys do for food," he added under his breath as he let Emma into the apartment so she could put down the plate.

The table was still a bit skimpy because of how few side dishes there were. There was no way what they had would feed seven people. The chicken would be picked clean since those usually only fed four or five people, tops. Emma thought it over before she walked back out of the apartment, only to return again with the dish of potato gratin, freshly baked rolls, and a gravy boat. It didn't add much more to the table, but it would help. "That's maybe enough for seven? I have a few other dishes if we need them," she offered as she took a seat with the others, and Chris closed the door to his apartment.

"Dang, no wonder Alpha has been bulking up," Lobo remarked as he took a seat. "Can you make my lunches too?" he asked, earning him a side-eye from the captain, but Emma just chuckled under her breath.

Please no. She didn't mind her deal with Chris, but feeding three people lunch would be a bit much.

"You realize you actually have to work out to bulk up, right?" Night Howl teasingly pointed out as he started dishing food onto his plate.

"Hey, we could do that too," Lobo said with a laugh which earned him a swat on the arm from Tundra.

"That's sweet of you, but I have my hands full as it is," Emma replied with a nervous smile.

"You don't have to be polite," Umber Eyes pointed out before looking at Lobo. "She says fuck off," he translated, causing everyone to laugh. Even Chris started cracking a smile as the group relaxed and talked.

The meal went on, and while the food was sparse, the wine was well covered. Before long, everyone was on their second glass and happily chatting away about their last practice round at the range back at HQ.

"What about you, Em? You ever go shooting before?" Tundra asked with a smile. To everyone's surprise, she actually nodded.

"Yeah, once. That was, gosh. That was eight years ago, I think," Emma admitted.

"What got you out to the range? No offense, but you don't seem the type," Canine asked curiously.

"None taken. I'm really not, but it was a blind date that Chel set up," Emma reminisced with a laugh. "I thought it would just be a quick lunch date, but he took us to a range instead and handed me a rifle of some kind with a busted… um… the part you rest on your shoulder. I think he called it a... I think it was named after a hat? A beret?"

"A Barrett? The hell was he thinking handing a beginner a broken sniper rifle?" Umber Eyes wondered, bewildered.

Emma shrugged. "The guy was a total prick and ended up throwing a hissy fit," Emma said, waving it off. "I got the Center x on my first round, which was apparently insulting."

"First time using a gun, it was broken, and you got a bullseye? Bullshit," Lobo accused, shaking his head, which caused Emma to smile.

"I can prove it," she admitted with a smirk as she put her glass on the table before getting up and walking out of the apartment. After a moment, she returned with a folded up, yellowed piece of paper and handed it to Lobo as she took her seat. "I kept the target paper to wave it at my friend anytime she tries setting me up."

Lobo unfolded the paper and seemed surprised. Sure enough, there was a paper with eight holes, all clustered around the center with the middle punched out.

"Let me see that," Umber Eyes requested, and took the paper to read the corner. “200 yards, 10 out of 15 total shots dated nine years ago," he read, then passed it to Tundra.

"Ten? There are eight holes?" Tundra pointed out before handing it off to Chris.

"The guy in charge of marking the sheets at the range said I hit the same spot twice a few times," Emma explained, shaking her head.

"Well hell, we gotta get you to a range then and see if that's beginner's luck or not." Night Howl chuckled, but Emma continued to shake her head.

"Nah, once was enough for me," she insisted. "It was loud, and using the dang thing hurt. I'll leave that to the professionals." Emma smiled. "Now, if you wanna try some laser tag, I know a place." The others laughed but seemed to understand. Civilians were civilians for a reason.

"Laser tag would be fun. We could practice a few drills in smaller groups," Canine suggested, looking to the others.

"There's a place on the other side of the park called the penny arcade. It looks like it's straight out of the late ‘80s. Bowling, laser tag, rope courses, roller skating, all that stuff," Emma explained with a chuckle.

"I can feel Lobo resisting the urge to make a bet out of this already," Tundra said with a laugh.

"It's not a bad idea since you brought it up," he replied.

Chris shook his head. "Better make it a good bet then," he said before sipping at his drink.

"I'll get back to you on that," Lobo agreed.

The group continued to chat. Before long, 6:30 rolled around.

"All right boys, I'm going to call it. I still have stuff to do today," Tundra announced as she got up from the table.

"Yeah," Night Howl agreed. "You guys ready?" He looked at Lobo, Canine, and Umber Eyes, who all nodded.

"Thanks for hosting, Alpha. This was nice," Umber Eyes said as he got up. A few goodbyes later, Chris closed the door behind the group to find Emma had picked up some dishes from the table and brought them to the sink.

"Shouldn't you be heading home?" he asked and received a shrug in response.

"I figured I could at least help clear the table first," Emma said as she put the stack in the sink. "Did you want a hand with the dishes?"

"I should be fine," he replied.

"Mmkay, I'll head out then," Emma agreed since she didn't want to overstay her welcome. After collecting her own dishes from the table to take with her, she walked to the door. "Thanks for having me. It was fun," she said, smiling slightly.

"Not a problem. You saved me a headache by getting them to stop complaining," Chris admitted with a halfhearted chuckle before a thought came to his mind. "Oh, I'm going to be away for a few weeks again," he added, which caused Emma to nod and stop outside the doorway.

"Ah, thanks for the heads-up," she said in response. "I hope your trip goes well. Stay safe."

"Thanks," he replied. "See you around." 

Emma went on her way, and once the door was shut, Chris turned and looked back at the mess that was his apartment. Empty wine bottles, glasses, and dirty dishes waited for him on the counter and table. He dumped out what was left of the half-full bottle of wine and emptied the glasses that still had some left in them before pitching the bottles in the recycling and getting to work on the dishes.

He managed to get about halfway through the pile of plates and stemware before his phone went off. He frowned and wiped off a hand on his pant leg so he could dig his phone out of his pocket and check it. Work. Great. He accepted the call and held it to his ear with his shoulder so he could keep working on cleaning up.

"What's going on?" he asked in an even tone without bothering with pleasantries. It was a work call, so best to get to the point. "What do you mean the file is missing?" he asked, concerned, as he put down the dish he had been holding and turned off the water. "Yeah, I know what 'missing' means."

He moved to hold the phone with one hand and pinch the bridge of his nose with the other. "Fine. I'll be right there. I think I have a copy in my study." He was already on his way to the back room. "Give me an hour. The drive takes a while," he said as he looked at different books, binders, and boxes with various labels. "Bye." With that, he hung up and put his phone back into his pocket. Some people.

'*'*'*'*'

Emma put her dishes in the sink before looking at the abandoned side dishes on her island. She chuckled at the sight. "Well, guess I really am going to get sick of leftovers," she quietly mused as she wrapped up the containers and put them away in the fridge. She stretched before heading back to the hallway closet so she could get a scoop of food for Duke.

"Come on boy, time for dinner," she called before giving a short whistle. Once the pup was happily munching on his kibble, she shifted to take out her phone and sent a quick text.

[Emma] We're still good for 7:30, right?

[Tanner] Yep, see you there.

She smiled upon seeing the timely response. After washing the dishes and cleaning up around the apartment, she noticed the clock hit 7:00 pm. Time to start getting ready, she thought with a smile before heading back to her room. When she walked back out, she had put on a winter coat and carried a small duffle bag. Emma pet Duke's head on her way to the door. "Hey bud, I'll be back late. Love you," she said, giving him a smooch on the top of his head before heading out.

'*'*'*'*'

The stupid file took forever to find. It was buried in a box in the far corner of his study that he hadn't touched in years. Chris made his way over to the door, took his jacket off the coat rack, and put it on with a wince. It was getting snug in the shoulders. He knew he needed to get a replacement. The majority of his clothes didn't fit right now, but shopping was difficult when he was gone for at least a quarter of the month and didn't get home until late the rest of the time.

As he closed the door behind him, a confused expression crossed his face. Did his door just echo?

"Hey, are you heading out too?" Emma asked, amused as she noticed the same thing.

Chris tried to shrug, but the coat made it difficult. "Some work stuff came up."

Don't laugh. Whatever you do, don't laugh, Emma thought. "Ah, well, it's unfortunate that you have to go in during the holidays," she said instead as the 'fat guy in a little coat' scene played out in her mind. Not that he was fat. He was broader than when they had first met, but that was more in the shoulder area. Frankly, he was more on the muscular side considering Hallowe— You know, maybe stop thinking about that.

"It happens," Chris said in return as they started making their way down the stairs. "What about you?" he asked with a raised eyebrow as he noticed the duffle bag. He didn't realize she was going to the gym now.

"Not much, just meeting up with a friend at the park," Emma replied.

At this time of night? That was kind of concerning, but if she was meeting someone there, she'd probably be fine. "Sounds nice. Hopefully, the team didn't keep you with the dinner fiasco," he said instead.

"Nah, it’s fine. The plan was to meet at 7:30 anyway."

They made their way to the sidewalk. This poor guy. It was freezing outside, and he looked like if he sneezed wrong, he'd split his jacket. The mental image caused her to chuckle.

"What's so funny?" he asked, confused.

"Nothing." Emma waved it off. "I was just thinking I might watch a movie once I got home, is all. It's been a while."

"Okay." That didn't seem like something to laugh about. She was awful at lying. "See you around," Chris said with a slight wave before heading toward the parking garage.

"See ya," she said in return and started making her way to the park.

Chapter Text

Emma smiled as she walked with Chelsea around the mall on a busy Sunday afternoon. Chelsea was pushing Annie and Maurie in their double stroller while Summer walked between the two women. It was still early in December, and Jack was hard at work, so Chelsea needed some help distracting the kids while she did some gift shopping. They had just started their trip, and they had a few bags already when a curious question was brought up.

"Hmm, what do you think we should get for your neighbor?" Chelsea asked, causing Emma to raise an eyebrow.

"You're getting him a gift?" she asked curiously.

"You're not?" Chelsea asked in return with a confused tone. "If he didn't show up, you very well might not be here, and I don't even want to think about that." She shook her head. "Both of you kept my girls safe, so yes. He's darn well getting a Christmas present, and he's going to like it."

"Yes, mom," Emma said with a chuckle. She had to admit it was a good point. Maybe she should get him a gift. Home invader aside, he had become a decent friend over the last six months, and she couldn't deny she enjoyed spending time with him. Would it be weird to get just him a present, though? Maybe she should get something for the other neighbors too.

"So. What does he like?" Chelsea asked as she continued to push the stroller.

Emma thought about it but her efforts felt in vein. "... Romania?"

"Emma Swanson, you're kidding me," Chelsea replied, which caused Summer to giggle.

"Ooooo, you're in trouble. She used your full name," Summer taunted with an ear-to-ear grin.

Little turd. "What? He doesn't talk about himself that much," Emma said in response before thinking about it more. "I guess he likes Dracula?" she suggested confusedly. "He dressed up as a vampire for Halloween, and there's that book about Romania that he was reading recently. Transylvania is in Romania, so maybe that's why he was interested?"

"Okay, there we go. Now you're using your brain," Chelsea said with a short laugh. "So, he likes supernatural stuff and reading."

"I suppose I could go with a book... I don't know. This is all based on a guess," Emma mused aloud while partially backpedaling on the idea. A guess wasn't really a great place to start off... "Maybe something practical?" she suggested instead as she thought it over more. "Probably not sweets or food, though. He's been working on eating better lately, and I already make food for him regularly anyway."

That got Chelsea's attention. She stared at Emma with annoyed disbelief. "Hold on now. How regularly? I thought you just said you don't really know the guy," she pointed out with a frown. "Tell me you're not being all wifey to this guy you barely know? I know I taught you better than this."

Oh dear. "That's not it. It's a deal we made a while back. He gives me self-defense lessons once a week, and I make lunches to pay him back for his time," Emma explained while motioning for Chelsea to stay calm.

"You are so lucky the girls are here right now, or this would be a very different conversation," Chelsea warned, pouting with a disappointed tone.

"Yeah, I can tell. Your thoughts are very loud right now," Emma replied with a nervous smile. "Let's just focus on shopping.” She looked around for a distraction to save her from being scolded. "How about we check in there?"

Luckily, the distraction was accepted and between the two of them, they managed to find what they were looking for. Chelsea found a nice Swiss army knife, while Emma found a similarly practical gift for Chris and even a few gifts for the rest of the neighbors. Emma watched the kids at the mall playground while Chelsea quickly ran around to grab gifts for the girls and paid for the local charity group to wrap everything nice and neatly before taking them back to the car.

"Sorry about the wait. Are you ready to head out?" Chelsea asked as she stood by Emma.

"I think I got everything," Emma confirmed. "Good luck getting the monkeys out of there, though."

"I got this," Chelsea replied with a confident nod. "Who wants bagel bites for lunch!" she called, and rather quickly, the two roaming kids hurried over to stand by Annie's stroller. "Works every time," she said with a smile. "All right crew, let's pack up and say bye to Auntie Emmy," Chelsea instructed.

"Bye, Auntie Emmy," Summer said, giving Emma a hug before looking at her mom. "Do we get to sleep over again on Saturday?"

"No, you just had a sleepover weekend," Chelsea answered with a slight frown. "So not this Saturday but next Saturday."

"Both?" Summer asked with a hopeful smile.

"No, because you're visiting gramma this Saturday," Chelsea reminded, and the child bobbed her head.

"Fiiine," Summer relented as if she had a choice. Gramma was pretty cool too.

"Oh, before I forget, here," Chelsea said and handed over a small, neatly wrapped box. "Do you mind dropping that off for your neighbor? It should fit through the mail slot."

"Sure." Emma accepted the package. Chris always had that slot locked, for some reason, but she could drop it off next time they had a lesson. "See you guys next week," she said before picking up her bags to head home as well.

Once she got home, Emma got to work on wrapping up the gifts she'd found for her neighbors. Chris’s was wrapped first and placed under her tree next to Chelsea's gift for him to make sure she remembered to give him both. After that, she moved on to wrap the other gifts. A gift card to the local beauty supply store for Bastion because she knew he was picky about that, and a nice bottle of Italian wine for the Russos.

Once those were wrapped, she made her way across the hall to drop them off since they were probably home at this point. Sure enough, when she dropped off each of the gifts with her neighbors, the conversation went about the same.

“Thanks so much! Here, I got you a gift as well. Hey, you're already going around, right? Chris wasn't home when I checked. Here, can you take this over to him? Thanks again.”

A soft smile crossed her face as she added the two extra gifts to the pile. How she turned into Santa's little helper was beyond her, but she had a rather healthy pile of gifts for the guy waiting under her tree.

'*'*'*'*'

Chris dragged his feet up the stairs of the apartment building to the second floor. Another mission and another three weeks of living hell. They had a new lead to follow in the meantime. Another stateside strain popped up in some backwater town. No mold this time. Another virus. He wasn't sure which was worse at this point, and unfortunately, they hadn't found the source of it yet. So, that meant missions were going to be more frequent until they determined who was making it.

The tired agent went to his door, opened it, tossed his bag into the apartment, and closed the door without going inside. His food was spoiled at this point, he knew it, and there was no point in checking. Chris stretched out his back as he walked over to Emma's door and knocked.

As usual, Emma opened the door a crack to see who it was before smiling and opening it further. "Hey," she quietly whispered the greeting. "The girls are sleeping, but come on in," she motioned for him to enter the apartment.

"Thanks," he said, keeping his volume down as well. Emma carefully closed the door as Chris went to his usual seat.

"How was your trip?" she asked with a knowing smile.

"It was work," Chris said, only to hear an echo as he realized Emma had said the same thing. "Yeah." He gave a short chuckle. He supposed that was becoming a predictable answer.

"So, quick food or tasty food?" she asked as she opened the fridge to look for something to reheat, figuring he'd give his normal answer and request something quick.

Chris thought about it for a moment. "I have time... Let's go with tasty," he said with a twitch of a smile.

"Tasty... hmm," Emma murmured with a thoughtful tone. That was a surprise. Now then, what to make... "I can do that." She closed the fridge and shifted to get the rice cooker set up.

Once that was set, and the starch was starting to cook, she looked at Chris, propping his head up by holding his forehead as he rested his elbows on the island counter. "...You look tired," she said with a note of concern as she put down a cutting board on the counter before getting him a glass of water.

"I am," he replied with a smirk as he moved to sit without holding his face. "It's that bad?" he asked as he accepted the glass.

If he's tired, then why did he say he has time? He should go rest... "You have bags under your eyes," she pointed out as she went back to the fridge to get an uncooked chicken breast and put it on the cutting board.

"Tends to happen," he replied as she started dicing it up. "We still have work to handle, so we'll probably be sent out again soon."

"Already?" Her concern was compounded, causing her to turn to look at him.

He nodded. "Work is work," he stated in a matter-of-fact tone, and Emma shook her head in response before returning her attention to her cooking. "That doesn't make it right. They should let you rest.”

Chris gave a halfhearted chuckle. Sadly, the BSAA didn't seem to agree with that. Not that he minded. He preferred staying busy. She always seems to be worrying about something, he thought as he sipped his glass of water.

Emma finished cutting the chicken and washed her hands before walking out of the kitchen and into the living room. "If you're going to be touch and go for the next while," she started as she made her way back, "I might as well give you these now."

She put a small stack of gifts down next to him. "The others asked me to hold onto them," she explained before going back to her cooking, smiling at the memory from earlier that month.

As the memory played in her mind, she hummed quietly, taking out a frying pan and placing it on the stove to heat up. She added a bit of soy sauce, precut onion, and some minced garlic first to get the pan flavored before cutting up a carrot, green pepper, and red pepper on a second cutting board. It was more than she needed for a single serving meal, so she put the extra vegetable slices into plastic bags then into the fridge. Once the sauce started to bubble, she added the chicken, veggies, vinegar, water, and some pepper before putting a lid on the pan.

"There." She nodded before washing her hands again. "Should be about thirty minutes or so." She continued to whisper, so she wouldn't wake the kids.

"Sounds good," Chris replied, also keeping his voice down. "Should I open these now?” He gestured to the small pile sitting on the island counter next to him.

Emma shrugged. "I don't see why not. It sounds like you may not be around for the holidays anyway.” She was curious to see what he'd think of the gifts... from everyone. Not just hers.

Chris nodded and picked up the first package. "From Chelsea?" he asked curiously while looking at the tag.

"She insisted," Emma replied as she shifted to relax, leaning against the counter by the stove and keeping an eye on the boiling food. "Said she wanted to make sure she thanked you properly."

He accepted the explanation and opened the package to find a Swiss army knife. "Huh, always good to have a knife handy." He smiled at the gift and examined it before putting it in his pocket with the pocketknife he already had. She doesn't need to know about that.

He moved on to the next gift and looked at the tag. "Bastion's," he read, then removed the paper to reveal a white shirt box. Upon opening it, he found a familiar corset inside, which caused the agent to make a face before noticing a note attached.

Just kidding. Make sure you give this back. Your gift is underneath it.

Chris shook his head and moved the cursed clothes aside to find a nice-looking black sweater. Huh. He needed a few new shirts. He put the box to the side and opened the next, smaller and squishier package from the Russos to find a handmade navy-blue scarf with another short note.

You're always out so late. You'll catch your death in this cold. Stay warm and happy holidays.

This caused him to chuckle as he put the scarf on the counter and moved on to the final gift. Emma was nervous knowing that it was hers, so she distracted herself by collecting the used wrapping paper to throw away.

Chris added more wrapping paper to the pile she was picking up and found the last item was a soft black mid-length coat. Once more, there was a note with the gift.

You probably won't need this in a volcano, but I've heard Romania gets pretty cold if you're not a vampire. Hope it helps. Happy Holidays.

Chris got up to take his jacket off, resting it on the back of the bar-height chair. He put the coat on, then draped the scarf around his neck as well. The coat fit decently. It was a little loose, but that was better than being too tight. He could probably have it taken in if it bothered him. "How do I look?" he asked with a small smirk.

Oh, thank heavens. It seems like he likes the gift, Emma thought as she walked over to adjust the scarf and tie it. "There. Nice and cozy," she said with a shy smile.

Chris was about to reply when movement caught his eye, and he heard a quiet giggle. Peeking out from the small hallway of the apartment was Summer, who waved once she was noticed.

"Summer, you're supposed to be asleep," Emma said, walking over to the child.

"I was, but then I smelled something, and I woke up..." she responded as she moved to stay out of arm's reach, climbing onto a chair at the island counter. "I can have some?" she said more than asked.

"So long as you don't wake up your sisters," Emma said quietly as she glanced over to find Chris removing the scarf and coat once more, placing them over the back of the couch since the island chairs were full now.

Is it warmer now? Probably just the stove, he thought and took his seat next to Summer.

The child rested her chin on the counter and kicked her legs to keep herself entertained while waiting for the food. Chris took his seat, and Summer watched with curiosity as he rolled up his sleeves. The young girl stared for a few minutes while Emma cooked the chicken.

"Hey, Chris?" Summer asked softly, still resting her chin on the counter.

"Hm?" he replied as he leaned his elbows on the island counter.

"...Are you a dad?" she asked plainly, which caused him to stare at her in confusion.

"No," he finally replied, trying to keep a straight face. While he was confused about why she asked, he was also somewhat mortified by the question. Where did that come from?

Emma stopped what she was doing to turn and look at Summer as well. Why in the he—

The thought was stopped short as she realized something. Summer wasn't looking at Chris’s face. She was looking at his arms.

"Why are you asking that, Summer?" Emma asked to see if her hunch was correct.

Summer shrugged.

"Is it because you saw his arms?" Emma pressed to try and clear that up.

The child nodded, keeping her chin on the counter. "Yeah. All dads have hairy arms. My dad has hairy arms, and so do all my friends’ dads. Mr. Russo said he's a granddad, and he has very hairy arms, but Bastion doesn't, and he's not a dad, " Summer concluded.

Lord, give me strength. "That's not how that works, Summer."

"Oh," she replied with a confused frown. "How does that wo—"

"Food's ready," Emma cut off the question as she put a small plate of plain rice down in front of Summer with a spoon. The other dish still needed a few minutes, but this child needed to go to bed.

Before long, Summer finished her food and was picked up by Emma, who made sure she went back to bed.

"Sorry about that," Emma apologized as she walked back over to the stove to check the main dish. Upon seeing it was ready, she plated up the chicken and veggies over a bed of rice and put it down on the island in front of Chris with a fork.

"What were we talking about before?" he asked with an amused expression.

"I genuinely don't remember," Emma admitted with a short laugh before heading to the fridge. "Did you want a drink to go with that?" She took a beer out for herself. She definitely needed a drink. Summer, please, for the love of all that is holy, develop a filter.

Chris thought it over and nodded. "I'll take one." Lord, I need one after that.

Emma offered him a can before opening her own and holding it out. "Cheers." She clinked her can against Chris’.

"Cheers," he said as well, and they both took a drink before quietly enjoying each other's company.

Chris ate his meal feeling no real urge to rush, even though it was later in the evening. As Chris ate, Emma cleaned up the cutting boards and pans in the sink. It was nice to relax without needing to talk.

Once Chris finished his meal, he got up and brought the dishes to the sink.

"You don't have to worry about that. I'll wash them in the morning," Emma said, making a slight shooing motion to suggest he should stop.

"Are you sure?" he asked in return, raising an eyebrow. Granted, he hadn't ever washed his dishes before now, but given she put in the extra effort to make something from scratch just because he asked, it seemed only right to clean up after himself.

"Yeah, it's fine," she confirmed.

Well, he at least made an effort. "All right, I should head out then," he said, collecting his gifts.

"Have a good night," Emma replied before heading over to get Duke's leash.

"Are you going out?" he asked with concerned curiosity. It is really late. Much later than last time. She shouldn't be going out on her own like that.

"Yeah, I usually take Duke out before locking up for the night," Emma explained.

Right, she couldn't exactly not take care of her pet, but that didn't really change the problem. "Mind if I join you?"

"You don't have to do that. You're tired. You should rest," Emma countered. It was a sweet offer, but he looked like he hadn't slept properly in days.

"Wouldn't have offered if it was a problem. Besides, it’s a good excuse to test out the coat," he replied.

A slight smile started to form. That was a fair point. Not really, but she'd accept it. "All right. Yeah. If you don't mind, I wouldn't mind the company. It's just a quick walk around the block."

Chris put on the coat he received along with the scarf, while Emma got her own jacket and hooked Duke up to his leash.

Emma locked up the apartment, and the two, plus the dog, walked down the stairs and out to the sidewalk to start their trip around the block.

"So, do you think you'll be around for the week?" Emma asked in an attempt to start a conversation.

"Should be. Hopefully.” There would be a nightmare of paperwork waiting for him if he had to leave again so soon, and he'd rather avoid that.

"Good to know. I'll try and drop off some meals tomorrow then," she replied.

"Don't put yourself through the trouble," he said as they walked. "If you're going to insist, then just put whatever is left from earlier in a box and call it good."

"It's not exactly trouble. I'm just making more from my own meal prep," Emma told him. It wasn’t like she was doubling the number of recipes she was making. That would just be masochistic.

"Well. It's appreciated." He smiled.

"Not a problem," she replied, glad to be appreciated.

This was nice. Honestly, she probably would have been fine on her own, but oh well. Better safe than sorry. The two walked in peaceful silence before Chris spoke up. "So, how's work?" he asked. She usually asked him the same thing, so it seemed like a fair enough question.

"Fine. A bit stressful, but what job isn't?" she said with a tired chuckle. "There are a few rumors about a potential merger that has everyone anxious, but other than that, same old routine."

He listened and nodded to show he heard. "So a merger is a bad thing then?" he asked since he wasn't completely sure. He wasn't used to corporate terminology.

"Not always. It's a 50/50." She shrugged. "How's the coat test going?" she asked to continue the conversation.

"Not bad. It does what it's supposed to," he replied. It was a surprisingly decent coat. Definitely not waterproof by any stretch of the imagination, but it worked.

The answer caused her to laugh. "Well, I'm glad it does what it's supposed to. That would be rather confusing if it did anything else."

Hearing her laugh caused a few chuckles to escape him as well. The two continued to chat as they walked and took care of Duke before eventually going back. It was a quick walk, but it was a nice addition to wrap up the day before a peaceful night of sleep.

'*'*'*'*'

December 23rd rolled around on a Saturday, and the holiday spirit was in the air in the form of snow. Cold, wet, obnoxious snow. Chris gazed out his living room window that overlooked the back alleyway behind the building. The sun was starting to set already, even though it was barely 4:30 pm.

His stomach started to growl with the realization that dinner time was approaching. He could make something. It would probably be cheaper and healthier to cook… But it was the holidays, and he didn’t feel like it.

Chris made his way over to the kitchen and opened a drawer to dig through some loose papers. A small collection of drawings on printer paper had started to form among stray pens, pencils, and a collection of takeout menus. After digging around for a few moments, he eventually picked up a colorful folded menu. Thai food sounded pretty good right about now. Something with a bit of heat and spice to warm up the biting winter cold.

Chris took out his phone, dialed the number on the pamphlet-style menu, and then opened it to double-check a few things. The phone rang a few times before there was a pause as the call was answered.

“Thank you for calling Aroy Thai. What can I do for you?” the voice on the line said in greeting.

“Hi, I’d like to place an order for pickup,” Chris replied while looking over the menu. “Could I get an order of panang noodle with a side of pot stickers?”

“Sure, would you like anything else with that?” the voice asked as they went through the usual motions of a call-in order.

“No, that’s it,” Chris confirmed.

“All right, your total will be $19.29,” they responded, while the chatter from the busy restaurant could be heard in the background. “Will you be paying over the phone or at pickup?”

“I’ll pay when I pick it up,” the agent answered. Just telling people his card information never sat well with him.

“Okay, your order number is #239. Just give that information at the counter when you get here. Your order should be ready in 30 minutes,” they explained as though going through a memorized routine.

“Thanks, I’ll be right there,” Chris said.

“Have a good day,” the worker said before hanging up.

Chris pocketed his phone before putting on his new coat and scarf and a heavy-duty pair of sneakers. The place was only ten minutes down the road, but he’d rather get there and wait for the food rather than show up later and get food that had been under a lamp for twenty minutes, only for it to be cold by the time he got home. Once he was properly prepared for the icy winds outside, he made his way out to the sidewalk and started his brisk walk.

To his surprise, it actually wasn’t that bad out, despite the snow. There was barely any wind at all, and his coat kept him plenty warm, allowing him to walk at a more leisurely pace. He quietly observed his surroundings as civilians happily made their way around town. The sounds of life carried on the gentle breeze as he passed various well-lit and warm shopfronts. As his eyes scanned the various shops along his left, he noticed a familiar face through one of the snow-rimmed windows.

Emma smiled contently to herself, sitting alone with a book at a coffee shop. Seeing this caused him to stop for a moment as it brought up a new conundrum. He had recognized her, and he wasn’t exactly in a hurry. He could probably stop and say hello for a moment. Would that be annoying? She seemed to be relaxing, and he didn’t really have a reason to go in there otherwise. It was cold out, though, and he hadn’t ordered a drink with his meal. Coffee and Thai food… that was an interesting combination. Screw it. He was overthinking th-

Just as he was about to continue on by, Emma looked up from her book and noticed Chris standing a few paces away from the crosswalk and seemingly examining the building. What a small world. Maybe he’ll see me if I wave? Emma smiled at that thought and did exactly that.

Oh, shit, she saw me. Well, now I probably look like a creep. Great, he thought while trying not to visibly wince as he gave a slight wave back. Running away would only make this worse, so he made his way over to the door of the coffee shop and walked in. Just act natural. “Hey, I thought that might be you. I wasn’t sure, though.” Smooth.

“Hm? Oh yeah, sorry. Reading glasses,” Emma said as she took off the pair of spectacles that he honestly didn’t even notice. “So, what are you up to? Taking a stroll to get in the holiday spirit?” She gave him a joking smile.

“Something like that,” Chris confirmed even if it wasn't quite true. “I figured I might get a cup of coffee while I was out.”

“Well, you found a good place for that.” Emma chuckled. “It’s crowded, though. If you need a place to sit, I’ll share my table.”

Chris checked his watch. He still had about twenty-five minutes until his food would be ready. He was just going to wait at the restaurant anyway, so why not? “I might take you up on that offer, thanks,” he agreed. “I’ll be right back.”

Emma nodded and went back to finish the page she was reading. By the time she finished reading and marking her place, Chris had returned with a simple black coffee and taken a seat at the table.

“Hopefully, I’m not interrupting your day.” He shifted to sit more comfortably in his seat before taking a sip of his drink.

“Nah, I was just looking for a change of scenery to read, and maybe people watch. Winter can get bland, so it’s nice to get out of the apartment,” Emma replied as she put her book off to the side.

“So, what are you reading?” Chris asked, glancing at the book.

Emma nudged her book so that the cover faced Chris. “The Rest Is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century,” she read the title aloud with a slight smile. “I picked it up, thinking it might help out with work. It hasn’t been particularly helpful so far, but it’s been a fascinating read.”

“Really?” he pressed to give her the chance to fill the silence since he didn’t have much to talk about.

“Yeah, it was written by this guy, a popular music critic. Anyway, it mostly goes over the history of music starting in the 1900s and into the early 2000s. It’s an interesting perspective on what did well and why,” Emma said, then paused. “And I am realizing I might be rambling,” she admitted with a short chuckle.

“You’re not rambling,” Chris said in response. “So, it’s going over music theory?”

Emma smiled and nodded. For a while, Emma happily talked about the content of her reading along with how and why it was interesting to her. It was mostly gibberish to Chris, but she seemed excited about it, so he did his best to listen as he sipped at his drink. Before long, the conversation had evolved into a general discussion between the two about their latest reads. Emma returned the general interest and asked Chris how his own reading attempts were doing, since she remembered seeing the book on his table a few months ago.

The sun had disappeared behind the skyline, and full cups became empty. Emma glanced out the window as she noticed the streetlights turning on. “Oh goodness. I should probably head out. I still need to feed Duke dinner,” Emma admitted, realizing how late it had gotten. She checked her phone, and yep, it was 5:10. She had initially planned on being home by 5.

“I should probably be heading back as well,” Chris agreed. This was nice, though. He was glad he decided to head out.

“Are you going to the apartment?” Emma asked curiously, and Chris nodded.

“Yeah, I have a few reports for work to catch up on,” he said, getting up and putting on his coat, then waiting for Emma. She did the same, collecting her purse and book.

As they walked home, they picked up their conversation again until they made it to the second floor.

“That was fun. See you around,” Emma said with a smile.

“Yeah, see ya,” Chris replied with a slight parting wave before returning to his apartment as Emma entered hers.

Chris had just started taking off his scarf when he noticed the take-out menu on the counter. He stared at it for a second before the realization dawned on him. “SHIT,” he said and quickly put the scarf back on and started making his way back out of the apartment. He’d completely forgotten about his food.

Chapter Text

December 31st, 11:59 pm

The apartment building was awake and lively as each tenant stood in their open doorway. The Russos had put out a radio for everyone to listen to the countdown together, along with an old recorder player that eked out an old Italian tune. The older couple slowly danced together with small, gentle steps, their age starting to catch up to them. Time slowly ticked away until the countdown eventually began.

Bastion looked across the hall to Chris before gesturing with his head towards Emma.

Ten…

Chris stared at Bastion with an expression of confusion. What?

Nine…

The nail tech gave him an exasperated expression in return. You're an idiot.

Eight…

Chris’ expression shifted from confusion to annoyance. Well, fuck you.

Seven…

Bastion returned the annoyed stare. Fuck you, too. I'm trying to help.

Six…

Emma glanced between the two, confused. What's with the faces?

Five…

Bastion shook his head and walked over to Emma.

Four… Three… Two…

Bastion put an arm around Emma's shoulders.

One…

January 1st.

"Happy New Year!" the radio announced as Bastion gave Emma a peck on the side of her forehead while the Russos kissed as well.

"There, now we'll both have good luck for the new year," Bastion remarked with a smile before ruffling her hair. "With any luck, we'll both find a man."

Hearing this caused Emma to laugh. "You're ridiculous," she said, smiling all the same. "Well, thank you. I appreciate the New Year's luck."

The Russos went back into their apartment for a second before returning with glasses and a familiar bottle, the wine Emma had gotten them for the holidays.

"Here, a toast to the New Year," Mr. Russo said as he put the glasses down on the shelf by Bastion's door. He poured out enough for the five of them, which emptied the bottle. Once everyone had a glass, the older Italian held his out towards the group. "Cheers, to a year of good health and prosperity."

"Cheers," the others echoed, each taking a sip from their glass.

"Any big plans for the day?" Bastion asked the group.

"Sleep," Mr. Russo said with a laugh.

"I'm too old to stay up this late." Mrs. Russo nodded in agreement.

"I'll probably be going to the park with Chel, Jack, and the girls. Summer has been really eager to visit again," Emma answered.

"Lobo talked the squad into doing laser tag later," Chris replied.

"Sounds fun. Well, I'm going to be working because New Years is a cash cow. So, you'll have to excuse me. I need my beauty sleep," Bastion said before downing his drink.

"We should probably call it a night as well," Mrs. Russo chimed in. "Just leave the glasses on the shelf. I'll pick them up in the morning." She sleepily instructed before heading to her door with the empty bottle.

"Sounds good. I should probably do the same,” Emma agreed, and Chris nodded. "Good night, everyone," she said before heading inside.

'*'*'*'*'

"Auntie Emmy, look! I'm doing it," Summer cheered as she shuffled her feet to move backward across the ice at the pace of a snail. In all honesty, she was just walking backward using the toe picks.

"Good job, sweetie. Keep it up," Emma called as she watched from the side, standing next to Chelsea and Jack before she looked at the girl's mother. "Give it five more minutes, and she'll be out cold for you by the time she gets home." Emma snickered.

"Thank heavens. And thank you for coming out here with us. The girls have been really excited about this," Chelsea stated with a grateful smile.

"Not a problem. It's a nice warm-up," Emma responded.

"So, are you going to be showing off again later?" Chel asked with a teasing grin. "I think someone here would love to see you." She wiggled her eyebrows.

Emma rolled her eyes but smiled all the same. "I signed up for one of the earlier solo skater slots to get some practice. Shouldn't be too much longer. It's getting late."

"Emmy! Emmy, I wanna go fast again!" Summer shouted over.

"Again?" Emma asked as if this was shocking. It wasn't.

"Yeah!" Summer cheered.

Emma laughed. "Okay," she said as she walked over to the rink entrance and took off the covers for her blades to join Summer on the ice. She took the little girl’s hands before carefully skating backward to lead Summer to the outer edge of the rink, where the more experienced skaters were doing laps. They weren't really going that fast, but giddy laughter and cheers proved that Summer was having a good time all the same. "Careful Summer, don't pick up your feet. Let yourself glide."

"You do it all the time, though," Summer pointed out with a sour frown, which caused Emma to laugh.

"I have been skating longer than you have," she retorted. Before long, an announcer's voice could be heard calling for the skaters to get off the ice. Emma led the two off the rink and put her blade covers back on.

'*'*'*'*'

"I can't believe you got us kicked out," Canine half-heartedly complained.

"What? How was I supposed to know not to move shit around to make better cover?" Lobo said in his defense. "It's not realistic."

"It's laser tag," Umber Eyes pointed out, though he seemed amused as well.

"Yeah, and I still kicked your ass even though you were cheating," Chris confidently teased.

"Huh..." Tundra paused as she looked over to see a well-lit ice-skating rink that stood out against the dark night. "Was that there before?" she asked, confused.

"Maybe? The place looked different during the day," Night Howl said with a shrug.

Soft classical music could be heard as a couple skated alone on the ice with a large crowd gathered around the rink. The crowd cheered as the music faded away, and the couple took a bow before gliding off the ice.

"That was Oscar and Olivia Averillo skating to Emile Waldteufel's 'The Skater's Waltz.' Next up, a solo routine by Emma Swanson," a distant announcer's voice could be heard from the rink.

"Ain't that your neighbor?" Lobo asked curiously.

"Yeah," Chris said with an expression of confusion.

"Well, this I gotta see," Tundra remarked before motioning for the others to follow and walked toward the rink to get a closer look.

A soft but quick melody started to play as the group walked over.

“Go!” sang a voice over the speakers as Emma rocketed onto the ice the second the music started. Instead of her usual office wear or fitted T-shirt with jeans, the young woman wore black sports leggings, light-brown leather ice skates, and a bright peach-ish orange sports bra with a thick silver zipper in the front and an unusual top over it. The top was a similar peach color, but it looked like it was only the neck of a t-shirt attached to two long sleeves that bunched at the wrists like any other cotton long-sleeve shirt.

"Day-um, look at her go," Lobo said with a laugh as the group watched her make her way around the rink, weaving, spinning, forward-backward, then forwards again, gliding around to the music at a snappy pace with the biggest smile on her face. As the music picked up speed, so did she, and her various stunts took on more precision. Then she turned to go towards the center of the ice rather than the usual lap.

Emma leaped to make a tight spinning double rotation before landing on one foot and skating backward.

Suddenly, what Chris noticed while training Emma made sense. She had a decent core and lower body strength, and she knew how to stay stably balanced on one leg.

She landed a second aerial spin before going back to her laps around the rink. Each time the long, main note of the chorus was sung, the same trick was landed as she used the brief pause in between to keep up her speed. When the melody returned, she performed ground tricks, using the built-up speed to spin in place on one foot, before crouching down while continuing to spin, grabbing her lifted foot. Then she stood up again to regain momentum as she raised her foot over her head for a few seconds before going back to laps to regain speed.

"Huh, she's actually pretty good at this," Canine admitted as he clapped along with the music.

As the conversation went on, so did the routine. Another chorus meant four more jumps, and Emma was starting to sweat as she kept up her pace, trying to move even faster as the chorus led into the main high note for the song.

As the high note was sung, she attempted a tighter, faster spin for a triple rotation, only to land wrong. The momentum sent her tumbling across the ice, slamming into the wall. The music stopped as there was an audible gasp from the otherwise silent crowd.

"Are you okay?" the announcer asked, and Emma gave a thumbs up to signal she was fine.

Chris was about to hurry over to help her but paused and watched with confusion as some random guy quickly skated over to her. He helped her up before carrying her off the ice. The crowd cheered all the same as Emma and the mystery figure left the rink.

"We should go check on her," Umber Eyes suggested, and the others nodded in agreement.

"Right," Chris agreed.

They hurried over in the direction they saw her carried off in.

"That was reckless," an unfamiliar voice chided as they approached.

"I'm fine. Honest," she said with a wince as the mystery guy knelt in front of her, wrapping her ankle.

"You're going to need to keep off it if you can help it," he instructed. "Where did you put your street boots? You need to get your foot in there before it swells any further, so you can go home."

"Ey yo, Emma," Lobo called to get her attention before she could answer. It surprised her at first, but then she looked over and smiled.

"Well, if it isn't the wolf pack," she greeted. "What are you guys doing here?" Oh gosh, they saw me eat ice. Great.

"Lobo got us kicked out of the laser tag place," Canine explained, earning a solid punch to the arm in retaliation from Lobo as Emma laughed. "That was amazing, by the way."

"You guys are too much," Emma said, shaking her head.

"Who's this? A friend from work?" Tundra asked.

"Tanner Penmark," he said with a smile to try to mask his annoyance. "And no, I'm in Bio-Med for stem cell research."

Great, Bio-Med. I already hate him, Chris thought with a frown.

"Emma is my skating partner. We've been doing routines together for a few years now," Tanner explained further before looking between Emma and the group. "It's nice to meet you guys. A friend of Emma's is a friend of mine, but this is actually pretty serious. So, you should go," Tanner said in an attempt to shoo the group off.

"No worries, Emma. Did you want us to walk you back?" Umber Eyes offered. "We were heading that way anyway."

"That—" Emma paused but nodded. "Yeah, actually, that would be great," she agreed with a weak smile before looking at Tanner. "My boots are with my bag over by Chel on the other side of the rink," Emma said in answer to his earlier question. "I know the girls were going to stay longer to watch your routine. You should stay," Emma suggested with a defeated tone. She really wasn't happy about it, but she couldn't stay here like this. Her ankle would only get worse the longer she waited.

"Right," Tanner replied with a disappointed frown before giving a short sigh. "I'll be right back." With that, he walked away.

"Well, this sucks," Emma mumbled.

"You okay?" Night Howl asked, causing Emma to look over at him in surprise.

Oh, crap, that was out loud. "Y-yeah, I was just looking forward to this, is all," she said with a shrug. "Oh well, injuries happen." So much for New Year's luck...

Tanner returned shortly after with Emma's bag, which she accepted so she could swap out her skates for snow boots.

"Thanks again, Tanner. We'll have to reschedule some time," Emma offered, as the guy gave a short laugh. He wrapped an arm around her waist to help her stand before pulling her in for a side hug.

"You worry too much; we skate every other day as it is. Get some rest," Tanner insisted with a gentle smile.

Emma nodded. "Right," she replied, attempting a smile as she returned the hug before picking up her bag and walking over to the Hound Wolf Squad.

"Ye ain't gonna wear a coat?" Lobo asked, confused.

"Didn't bring one," Emma admitted as she continued to walk with a slight limp. "It's not that far to the apartment," she added as the group walked with her back to the main park pathway.

They barely got four steps past that when Night Howl started patting down his pockets. "Hey guys, I think I left my keys back at the laser tag place. I'll be right back."

"You're my ride hold up," Canine cried as he and Umber Eyes followed after.

"Hey, wait for me," Lobo called shortly after before running off as well. 

Tundra shook her head. "I should probably make sure they don't burn the place down. You got this, Alpha?" the woman asked, looking at her leader.

"Yeah, I got this," Chris reluctantly agreed. They were ditching him, and he knew it.

"All right, well, package secured then. See you at work," Tundra said before walking after the other four.

"They're certainly a lively group," Emma remarked as she started walking again.

"Yeah, good people, though," Chris agreed with a shrug before noticing she was still limping.

"So, what happened to get you guys kicked out? Did someone get tackled?" she joked. She got no response, but her hand felt lighter, her shoulders heavier, and her feet no longer touched the ground. "What the heck?" She gasped as she tried to understand what just happened, only to find that she was being carried and had the coat she gave Chris over her shoulders.

"I did end up tackling Umber Eyes, so that was part of it," Chris admitted as he continued walking back to the apartment with Emma in his arms and her bag over his shoulder.

"You guys are terrors. What the heck?" Emma laughed as she relaxed.

"Terrors, huh?" Chris repeated.

"Absolute menaces," Emma affirmed with a smirk. "I don't think I've ever met more childish adults."

"So I'm a child?" he added with mock offense.

"The biggest man baby I ever met," Emma insisted with a teasing grin as she chuckled at her own joke.

"I'm sorry, that sounded an awful lot like 'Chris, please drop my ass and walk away,'" Chris sarcastically said as Emma clung to him.

"Chris, don't you effing dare," Emma cried, genuinely concerned that he would drop her. She wrapped her arms around his neck.

"Effing... really?" he teased instead, earning a sour frown. "Relax, I won't drop you."

After a moment, she eventually relaxed her hold on him to sit more comfortably and allowed herself to rest her head against the man who was carrying her. Even with their joking around, he really was kind to her. Yet, at the same time, as much as she enjoyed being around him, she couldn't ignore the feeling that she didn't really know anything about him. Comfortable silence wasn't enough anymore.

"Hey, Chris?"

"Hm?" He hummed to confirm he heard her.

"What's your favorite color?" she asked, watching the scenery pass by.

"Why?" he asked curiously, only to get a shrug in return. He pondered it for a moment. "Blue."

"Least favorite?” she asked as she thought of random questions that people would be able to answer about their friends.

Chris contemplated again as memories of fieldwork came to mind, dead bodies and vacant, empty stares. "Red," he replied quietly.

"Bad habits?" she asked.

"I'll have a smoke when I'm stressed to calm my nerves," he admitted as they exited the park and continued towards the apartment.

"You shouldn't do that," Emma chided, though it was half-hearted. She did ask, and no one was perfect.

"I know," he admitted in an even tone.

"Mmkay," she said with a shrug.

"You're unusually curious tonight," Chris pointed out, causing Emma to chuckle.

"I just realized I never asked, is all," Emma replied, and Chris shook his head. "Birthday?"

"March 22nd," he replied as he walked up the curbside stairs to the entrance of the apartment building.

"Huh, so that's coming up soon," Emma said, mentally stashing that info away.

"Yep," he acknowledged as he kind of figured what her next question would probably be. "This coming March will mark forty-five years, and the world still hasn't figured out how to kill me."

"Oh, stop that," Emma said, giving his chest a gentle swat as he unlocked his apartment door and left it open after entering, he'd go back and close it later.

"Hey, it's made some good attempts." He grinned.

"I don't want to know," Emma replied, laughing as he put her down on his couch. Wait a second. "I don't think this is the right apartment," Emma pointed out hesitantly as Chris walked away.

"I have some medicine that will help you heal up faster," Chris explained, heading over to his supply bag to dig out a spare med injector. That stuff worked fast. It was honestly overkill for a sprained ankle, but it had the vaccine for the virus mixed in there as well. It couldn't hurt to be careful, and this would be the easiest way to give it to her without flat out telling her about it. He walked back over to find that she'd already taken her boots off and was starting to fiddle with the bandage Tanner wrapped around her ankle.

"Is that an Epi-pen?" she asked as she saw the device.

"Sort of," he replied as he shifted to sit on the floor in front of the couch. He wasn't really sure how to properly explain it without getting into trouble back at HQ. Emma was quiet but allowed him to hold her leg and remove the bandages. "It's going to pinch," he warned.

"Okay," she hesitantly complied. This was weird, but he'd proven to be pretty trustworthy since she’d gotten to know him, so she'd go with it. A click and a jab later, the device was pressed against her injury, causing a sharp pain to run through her leg, which tweaked a nerve. She instinctively kicked out her leg and clocked Chris in the nose. He stumbled back while holding his face where he was kicked.

"Chris! Oh my gosh. I am so sorry. Are you all right?" she asked as she got off the couch to sit on the floor in front of him. Emma gently reached out to hold the sides of his face, trying to get a look at where she kicked him. "Let me see it," she requested to make sure she hadn't hurt him too badly.

He eventually moved his hand away, repeatedly scrunching and releasing the muscles in his face to make sure nothing was broken. A small nervous chuckle escaped Emma's lips as she stifled full-on laughter, but as she did so, Chris started to chuckle too, and soon they both were laughing about what happened.

"I warned you it was going to pinch," he said through his laughter as Emma continued holding his face. Well, he knew her kick was getting better, at least.

"I know, I know you did. It just happened," she said with a sheepish grin through her own giggles. "I'm so sorry," she repeated. "Are you okay?" Huh, his eyes are a very nice shade of blu— Wait. Oh shit, she should not be this comfortable just grabbing his face like this. Hands-off, hands-off. What was wrong with her? Just because she was comfortable around him didn't mean she could just get in his space like that.

Chris’ laughter slowed to a stop as he realized he was staring at her. "Yeah, I'm fine.” He looked away.

They both shifted to stand up while avoiding eye contact, only for Emma's panicked thoughts to distract her. "Wait... My leg isn't swollen anymore?" she said, surprised, as she tapped it against the floor and felt no pain.

New topic accepted. "I told you it would help. It should be completely healed by now," he told her while trying not to think about certain things... Why did he feel like he was forgetting something? "If you don't believe me, do you want to test it out?" he offered before patting his side and taking a training stance.

Emma looked at the clock on the microwave across the room. 9:20pm. Okay, if you keep acting so embarrassed over nothing, you're going to make it awkward. "Alright um." She hesitantly took her own stance and attempted to kick him. 

Chris tried not to laugh. "What was that? You barely nudged me. I promise it's not going to hurt. Try again." 

"I know. It's- I just missed," Emma replied while trying to recollect what was left of her resolve.

"Sure." 

After taking a breath and allowing a moment to focus, Emma tried again.  This time a thump could be heard from the more genuine impact. 

"Better," He approved while remaining in position. "One more try."

Again she repeated the motion. What started as a simple exercise to prove a point continued on as habits set in. Punch, punch, kick, punch. As they continued, the annoying presence of furniture became hard to ignore and was moved out of the way. Kick, punch, punch, kick. Chris got the pseudo mat from the couch and put it out. While it wasn't Thursday, the unexpected routine felt peaceful and relaxing to the pair all the same since they ended up practicing at his place more often than not so they could have access to a mat.

The pair stepped onto the mat and got started. Chris held up his hand as a target and moved it after each hit, so she could practice switching between kicks and punches. A kick and a punch later, Chris grabbed her wrist and pulled her into a pin, which she broke, only to have her leg taken out from under her and end up in a different pin against the mat. It was their own wordless song and dance. Hold, break, pin, break, hold, break.

This particular pin ended up stumping Emma as she tried and failed to get away, causing her to laugh. She tried kneeing him to get him to budge, only for it to land below the belt, missing anything particularly sensitive but still too close for comfort. Emma looked guiltily up at him. "It was an accident."

"Mhm," he said as he shifted his position to a much more difficult pin, which kept her from being able to move her legs.

"I didn't mean it, I didn't mean it, I didn't mean it," she repeatedly said through nervous giggles. She wasn't sure what was going to happen, but she knew she was in trouble. Despite this, she felt no real threat. Trouble didn't mean danger when it came to Chris.

"That's not an apology," Chris pointed out as he dug the top knuckle of his thumb between two of her ribs and pressed into a nerve, making her laugh.

"AHAHAHA no, no, no. He he, that's not- hah hah, that tickles, ha ha ha," Emma tried to speak through her laughter but failed.

"Sorry, what was that? I can't hear you," Chris replied in a bored tone despite his smirking.

"Sorry! I'm sorry," she cried, smiling ear to ear while trying to get away.

"Better," he said as he let her go and rose, helping her up as well. "Coffee?" he asked.

Emma checked the clock once more. 10:32 pm. It was a bit late for caffeine. She'd be a zombie in the morning, but spending more time with him didn't sound too bad. "Yeah, thanks," she agreed and walked with him past the closed apartment door to the kitchen.

Chris got the coffee maker started before thinking about it more. "Oh. That's what I forgot," he said, which caused Emma to raise an eyebrow as Chris walked away.

"You forgot something?" she asked curiously, only to see him return with a small, oddly shaped gift.

"It's late, but I didn't have time to get anything until recently," he explained as he offered it to her and remembered the whole debacle it caused.

'*'*'*'*'

Chris cupped his hands to his mouth and breathed into them to try and warm them up as he walked into the office. It was getting cold out quickly as winter set in. He had just made it to the kitchen to drop off his lunch in the fridge when he ran into Umber Eyes.

"Alpha, looking sharp," Umber Eyes said with a laugh. "You finally got a new coat that fits?"

"Thanks, and yeah," he said, nodding in response. "It was a gift from the neighbors."

"You mean a gift from Emma," Umber Eyes corrected with an amused grin. Chris didn't deny it. "She's a sweetheart, that one. You got her something, right?"

"Haven't really had the time," Chris admitted.

"So you're going to make time, right?" Umber Eyes pressed.

"I'll get around to it," the team lead said with a shrug. "The case with that new virus strand takes priority."

"Just don't let Tundra hear you say that. She's taken a shine to not being the only female voice, and she'll put you through the wringer if she finds out," Umber Eyes jokingly warned.

"Don't let Tundra hear you say what?" Tundra asked as she walked in with an ‘I dare you to lie to me’ expression.

"Emma got him a gift for the holidays," Umber Eyes replied, rather quickly throwing Chris under the bus.

"Ah, so he's bitching about going shopping," Tundra said, unamused.

"It's that obvious?" Chris asked with a scowl.

"I've known you for how long? You have never gone shopping for the holidays. You've even been putting off getting clothes that fit properly. It's not a hard guess." Tundra smirked. "All right, what did she get you?"

"Coat," Umber Eye chimed in.

"Right," Tundra said with a nod to Umber Eyes before looking at Chris. "Look, if you need help, just let me know, but try not to put it off, or you'll forget, and I need her to count cards for me next poker night," she warned and went to get her cup of morning coffee.

Chris chuckled at that and continued with his workday. They hadn't really found any leads yet on the source of the new virus. Not that it was surprising, it had only been three days. 

On his way home, he noticed the exit that led toward the local mall. After a very quick internal debate, he took the exit to the mall's parking garage. Finding himself in the oversize shopping complex, he took out his phone to text Tundra.

[Chris] Ideas?

[Tundra] Jewelry?

[Chris] No.

[Tundra] Sheesh.

He walked  around in one of the stores until he found a set of bath salts and sent  a picture of it to Tundra.

[Tundra] Is she your grandmother or the cute girl next door?

[Chris] Hey, I'm trying.

[Tundra] You do not buy women hygiene supplies unless you're related to them or sleeping with them. Get out of the B&B.

Chris put down the container and walked  out of the store to keep looking.

[Tundra] She seems to enjoy cooking? Maybe something for the kitchen?

[Chris] Pretty sure that’s  just as bad as the B&B.

[Tundra] God,  you're difficult. Fine. Um...

[Chris] She has a dog?

[Tundra] You're shopping for her, not the dog.

He rolled his eyes at that and continued  looking around in a few stores while bantering back and forth via text before something caught his eye.  He took a picture and sent  it to Tundra.

[Tundra] That actually could work. Unless you want to keep looking.

[Chris] It's been an hour, no.

With that, he made his way  to the checkout counter.

'*'*'*'*'

Emma accepted the gift with a gentle smile. "You didn't have to get me anything," she remarked as she opened it and stared at it in confusion. It looked like a small house made of metal raised by four legs and a metal tray to stand on. "It's cute," she said, looking it over and discovering that the roof came off. Inside the tiny metal house was a small package with a few dozen thin strips of paper and matches. "A candle holder?" she guessed before looking at Chris to see if that was right.

"Not quite," Chris said with a slight frown. This would have been easier if it came with a box. "More like an incense burner. The shop said it's called a worry hut. You write down things that are bothering you and put it in the hut to burn it."

The explanation caused Emma to laugh.

"You don't have to be rude if you don't like it," he said, giving her a playful nudge.

"No, that's not it. I love it," Emma affirmed before setting the tiny metal hut and its tray down on the island. "Let's try it out and see if it works?"

She took the package out of the top to offer Chris one of the slips of paper. He accepted it before grabbing a pen from a small cup on the counter, which he offered to Emma. She started writing. Chris grabbed a second pen and tried looking over Emma's shoulder to read her paper, only for her to cover it. “No peeking," she chided as she put the pen down and folded up the paper.

He shook his head. "Fine," he relented before writing down a short message of his own, then folded the paper as well. "Ready?" he asked. Receiving a nod in response, they both put their papers into the little metal holder.

Emma put the roof back on top before speaking. "May I do the honors?" she requested as she took out one of the matches from the small paper book.

"By all means," Chris agreed as he poured two cups of coffee.

The young woman struck the match and placed it into the house through the small 'door' opening, allowing the papers to catch fire. It didn't take long for the air to smell of vanilla and cinnamon. Chris handed Emma a mug as she took a deep breath and smiled before relaxing and resting her elbows on the island. "I think it works," she said, taking a sip of the coffee.

Chris nodded. "Yeah, I think so too," he agreed, doing the same as he leaned back against a counter. The two peacefully enjoyed their drinks while waiting for the small flame to die down.

The burning papers, while illegible now, hid similar messages before fading to ashes to eternally hold their secrets.

I think I have feelings for him.

I think I have feelings for her.

Chapter Text

Another year and another Valentine’s Day spent alone. Emma shook her head at that thought as she finished her day of work. It might as well just be another Wednesday. Oh well. At least chocolate is usually on sale the day after, she thought as she got up and packed up her things to head home. However, to her surprise once she made it back to her apartment, she found a decent size box sitting in front of her door.

"Hm? Hello. What are you?" Emma quietly asked under her breath as she picked up the box. She didn't remember ordering anything... All the same, she unlocked her door and made her way into her apartment with it. "Duke, I'm home," she called, and the dog lazily stretched to get off the couch and greet her.

After closing the door behind her, she leaned over to pick up the pile of mail on the floor and carried it all over to the kitchen counter. "Let's figure out what I bought at three in the morning and forgot about," she joked before getting a pair of scissors to cut the tape that held the box shut.

Inside was a nice vase, a bundle of bright, colorful flowers and a red envelope. "Oh wow, these are gorgeous," Emma whispered in awe. After another moment of looking the flowers over, she quickly got the vase out and set up with water then placed it next to the tiny metal hut on her island counter. She used the scissors to trim back the stems before putting them into the vase. "Let's see here. What secrets do you hold little envelope?" Emma asked as she opened it to find a rather cute-looking card. Inside it had a simple printed message. “Happy Valentine's Day. Your secret admirer.”

"Aw, Chel." Emma smiled as she set the card next to the vase before taking out her phone to take a picture of the bouquet and send it to Chelsea.

[Emma] -Picture of flowers- You're too sweet, thanks so much! They're beautiful.

Emma put her phone away and got to work on heating up one of her premade dinners. She had just finished reheating the plate of food when her phone went off again, alerting her of a response.

[Chelsea] AHAHAHA. Oooh gosh. Honey, no. I didn't send those.

[Emma] Wait, what? Then who did?

[Chelsea] How should I know? Lmao. Let me know when you figure out who it is, 'cause something tells me we're going to have other things to talk about too.

Emma rolled her eyes at that. Well, whoever it was they didn't want to put their name on the gesture, so she'd respect that for what it was and just appreciate the thought.

...Maybe it was Mom, Emma thought while munching on her food. Hm. That would be a first though, and she would have called three times by now to make sure that it arrived on time. The mystery remained as she washed her dishes, fed and walked Duke then went to get ready to head out to the park for the evening.

Around 7 pm there was a knock at her door, which caused Duke to start barking. "Shush, go get your stuffy," Emma instructed, and the dog reluctantly complied. Once the pup was busy, she unlocked and opened the door.

"Tanner?" Emma asked, surprised. "Hey, I was just getting ready to head out."

"Hey to you, too. I managed to get out of the lab early for once, so I figured I'd stop by and see if we could walk to the park together," he explained with a shrug and sheepish smile.

"Wow. Well, that is a rare surprise. Usually, it's a text saying you're going to be late or can't make it," she teased in response. "Come on in. I just need to get my bag and coat."

"’Kay," he said and walked in, closing the door behind him while Emma went back to her room to get the aforementioned items.

Tanner put his bag down by the door and looked around. "You have a nice place," he complimented before noticing the flowers on the island and smiling. He walked over to the island and picked up the tiny metal house held up by four little metal legs, only to wince as the roof fell off and ashes poured onto the tray. "What is this thing?" he asked with an amused laugh as he tried to put it back together.

"What's what?" Emma walked out of her room now wearing her coat and carrying her bag over her shoulder to find Tanner messing with the tiny metal structure. "Oh! The worry hut. Isn't it cute?" she asked with a smile.

"It's certainly... unique," he replied. It wasn't his style, but he'd be nice since it was something she seemed to like.

"I think that's part of its charm," she admitted as she fondly looked at it. "It was a holiday gift from one of my neighbors."

"Ah." And now he hated it. "The neighbor who stopped by the rink last month?" he raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, that one," she confirmed. Wait. How did he know Chris was her neighbor? She’d never mentioned that...

"Well, speaking of holiday gifts, thanks again for yours. I got it set up on my desk at work." He smiled as he looked over the metal box with holes for a second longer before putting it back on its tray.

"Not a problem, you made it rather easy on me to be honest," she replied with a laugh. "I'm surprised you only just got it set up. You've mentioned how boring and plain your desk is and how you want to put up some pictures every time we’ve met up for at least the last year."

"Well, I had to find the right pictures first... and in my defense, white walls, white jackets, and white desks make for a pretty bland work environment," he said while rubbing at the back of his neck. "Speaking of colorful, though, the flowers look nice," he gestured to the bundle to try and shift the topic back to what he had initially hoped they’d talk about.

"Thanks, they just arrived today. No idea who sent them though. It's a shame," she admitted with a thoughtful smile as she shifted her attention to the brightly colored arrangement.

Her response caused his shoulders to drop. "No idea? At all?" Come on, how hard is it to guess?

"Not a clue," she confirmed with a confused frown as she looked from the flowers to Tanner. "I asked Chel, and it wasn't her."

He gave a defeated sigh. "It was me," the scientist admitted. He'd hoped that the secret admirer part would make it obvious, but supposed he should have known better...

"Wait really?" Emma asked, which just made him crankier.

"Well yeah," he said, trying to keep his sullenness out of his voice. "Who else would they be from, the neighbors?"

"You never know. They are quite thoughtful. All of them," Emma said with a chuckle. "I don't think I've ever had neighbors who did a gift exchange before or got together for New Years to make sure no one was alone.” She thanked her lucky stars that she had such sweet neighbors.

"Yeah, I'm sure they're real friendly," he said with an attempt at a smile.

Oh gosh, right. I should say something about the gift. Stop getting distracted. "That was really sweet of you to send those. It made my day." Emma gave him a quick hug. "You're such a good friend to think of me during the holidays," she added, still as happy as could be. It was a nice gift, but it would be rude to make assumptions. If it was anything else, he'd say so.

Well, that stung. "Not a problem," Tanner replied as he returned the hug, keeping an arm over her shoulder to signal they should go. "Come on, we should head out before the slots fill up. We'll need one to practice."

"True, they fill up quickly on Wednesdays for some reason," Emma agreed as she walked out of the apartment with him then locked up the place. "Thanks for suggesting meeting up today. This is going to be fun."

"Not a problem," he replied as his smile return upon seeing how happy she was.

'*'*'*'*'

The first day of January was the last day of peace Chris had. The next morning, he got a call to pack up and head back to the infection site to look for more clues on where the strain came from and who was producing it. Five days getting clues, debrief for a day, seven days in Romania, two days to debrief. Then back to Louisiana for five days for mold samples. Debrief. Back to the virus outbreak center. Debrief. Louisiana. Debrief. It felt like it was never going to end. He was gone until the second week of February.

Lobo flew the chopper back to base as the rest of the tired group sat and waited.

"So, five bucks says they send us right back to Louisiana," Canine said, earning him a hard stare from the whole group.

"Don't even joke about that," Tundra hissed with a weary sigh as she put a cigarette in her mouth and attempted to light it.

"AH! Not in my chopper, you'll mess up the electronics," Lobo shouted as he heard the familiar clicking of a lighter through the communication headset.

"Jerk," Tundra frustratedly whispered.

"I heard that," Lobo rebutted.

"Look, we're all tired. We'll get back to the barracks and get some rest," Umber Eyes said in an attempt to cut off the arguing.

"I don't even know what day it is anymore," Night Howl admitted as he leaned back in his chair to try to get some sleep. "How long do you think they're gonna have us running like this?"

"Could still be a while." Chris leaned forward to rest his elbows on his knees. "We're not any closer to finding whoever is behind either incident."

"Maybe call up that sister of yours, see if she has any leads?" Tundra suggested.

"Nah, she's still pissed that I didn't make it out to Sonido de Tortuga to help her back in '14," Chris replied.

"That's right, the Mojave Desert mission. I heard about that one. Good times I'm sure," Night Howl said, shaking his head.

"It was a fuckin’ nightmare," Chris grumbled with a frown.

"BSAA HQ inbound. Welcome home people," Lobo announced, resulting in a collective sigh of relief.

It took two days, but they were eventually released with an on-call order to be ready to leave within three hours of notice. "Why even let us unpack?" Chris grumbled as he walked through the parking lot with his personal bag slung over his shoulder.

He eventually remembered where he parked and unlocked the car to throw his bag in the back seat before getting into the driver's seat and slamming the door shut. As he got buckled in and started the car, he looked over at the cup holder and saw a half-empty pack of cigarettes. He picked it up and shook out one. After getting the cigarette lit, he put the car in gear and drove off, listening to the radio to try to drown out his own thoughts.

The sun was down by the time they released the team, as usual. What time is it? he thought as he glanced at the clock. 8:23 pm. "Fuckin’ hell," he murmured while trying to keep the cigarette in his mouth.

It took another half hour, but he eventually pulled into the parking garage by the apartment and found a spot. He waited a moment to take a breather and contemplated a second cigarette before shaking his head, getting out of the vehicle to grab his bag, and heading in. He walked up the stairs to the second floor and looked over at his door before taking a turn and stopping short to knock on Emma's door.

'*'*'*'*'

"I'll tell you a story, before it tells itself," Emma sang quietly before switching to humming as she swept up around her apartment. Duke was shedding as usual, and it always made a mess of the place. "We've all got expectations, and sometimes they go wrong. But no one listens to me, so I'll put it in this song," she sang along while cleaning, only to hear a beat that didn't fit with the music. That got her attention as she looked around, confused, before taking out one of her earbuds.

"What was that...?" she wondered as she checked her phone.

Ring: Alert, motion detected

Huh... she checked the app to find Chris standing outside. Upon seeing that, she quickly locked the screen and put the phone back in her pocket as she walked over to the door to open it. "Hey, stranger." She greeted him with a smile, only to notice he didn't seem to find that funny. Her smile relaxed into a concerned expression. "Could you use a bite to eat?" she offered and received a nod in response. Upon seeing that, she moved out of the doorway and let him in.

Chris quietly walked over to his usual seat at the island. It smelled like cinnamon and vanilla... Sitting on the Island was a familiar tiny metal house with a few cold but fresh embers. What actually caught his attention, though, was a new vase with flowers in it and a card sitting next to it... her life really did keep moving even when he wasn't around... What day is it? He finally bothered to check. February 16th. That explains that.

After locking the door, Emma walked over to the kitchen and started the usual ritual by getting him a glass of water. "How was your trip?" she asked as she put the glass down on the island, then went to the fridge to see what she had to work with.

Curiosity got to him as he picked up the card to check it. Happy Valentine's Day. Your secret admirer. "Hell," he muttered in response as he put the card back, causing Emma to look at him, her expression immediately shifting to one of concern.

She didn't know how to respond to that answer... he’d never said anything besides 'it was work' before, even when he was about to collapse. It caused her to ache. It felt like he was saying 'help', but she didn't know what to do. She looked from him to the open fridge before closing it. She had to at least try something. She walked over to her purse and picked it up.

"Let's go then," she said as she walked to the door and put on her shoes, then her coat.

"What?" he asked, confused, as he watched her walk over to the door.

"Leave your bag here. We're going for a walk," Emma replied with a nod, trying to seem confident. In all honesty, she had no idea what she was doing.

He was tired, and he didn't want to get up, but there was a fire in her eyes. Chris gave a weary sigh and pushed himself to stand. "All right." He joined her by the door. "Where are we going?"

"I don't know," she admitted as they walked out, and she locked the door behind them. "But we'll know when we're there." She gave another short nod before walking with him out of the building.

That sounded like a waste of energy that he already didn't have. All the same, Chris went along with the instructions and followed Emma.

Where to go... He was hungry, that was usually why he stopped by. Most of the restaurants seemed to be closed, though, as the two walked down the main road. Closed. Closed. Also closed... Open!

"There," Emma said with a smile as Chris raised an eyebrow. She pointed at some mom-and-pop place called 'Bite & Slice.'

He paused to examine it before looking at her with a quizzical expression. "You're sure?" he asked and she rolled her eyes before taking his arm.

"Yep," she confirmed and walked in with him to find a small place that was empty aside from the staff behind the counter. The narrow location had a few booths off to the side set up for customers.

"Take a seat, dearies, we'll be right with you," said a woman's voice from the back.

Chris walked over to a booth with Emma and they took a seat opposite to each other, taking off their coats to keep from getting too warm. Once he was settled in, he quietly rested with his eyes shut for a moment. "I've played along. What are we doing here?" he asked before opening one eye to look at Emma.

The question was reasonable, but she didn't know how to answer. After a pause, the woman finally spoke. "Sometimes when life gives you hell, the best thing you can do is go somewhere you've never been before, so it can't find you for a bit," Emma answered with a sheepish smile.

Chris stared at her, surprised, before closing his eyes again, this time with the small beginnings of a smile as he relaxed. "...Bull shit. You just made that up because you don't know why we're here."

"Guilty as charged," she admitted, which caused him to chuckle and shake his head.

She was trying though. He couldn't fault her for it. He opened his eyes again to find her examining the menu, so he picked up one as well to look it over. What even was this place? After looking over the menu it seemed like it was mostly a pizza place, but they made a bit of everything. That usually wasn't a great sign for food quality, but he let it go. "A burger sounds good," he said quietly.

"Yum," Emma replied with a short chuckle. "I think I'll get a slice of pizza."

"Original," he smirked.

"Oh hush, it's a pizza place," she said with an amused smile. This was good. Was this working?

A waitress eventually walked over, putting down two clear red, thick plastic cups of ice water along with two straws. "What can I get you?" she emptily asked, clearly ready to clock out for the night.

"I'll get a cheeseburger with buffalo sauce and a beer. Whatever you have is fine," he stated and put the menu back behind the napkin holder.

"A slice of pepperoni pizza with a coffee," Emma requested and the woman nodded.

"Anything else?" she asked and they both shook their heads. Upon seeing that, the waitress walked away.

"Buffalo sauce on a burger?" Emma asked with a jokingly judgmental stare.

"Hey, don't knock it until you try it, Miss Frito Chicken," he teased and received a shrug in response. Emma picked up a straw and peeled off one end of the wrapper. With a swift breath of air, the remaining wrapper flew across the booth and hit Chris's shoulder. "Really?" he asked, amused. Emma laughed. Hearing that was cathartic. He picked up his own straw and mimicked the motion, only for the wrapper to hit her in the neck.

"Brutal, mine was nonlethal," Emma said, faking disbelief.

"Then don't pick a fight," he responded with a shrug. The two went back and forth, asking random questions before one in particular came to Chris’s mind. "So, how long have you been skating?"

"Oh gosh... Since I was around eight?" Emma answered after thinking it over.

"A while then... How long have you been skating with that Penmark guy then?" he asked, fiddling with a straw wrapper.

"Hmm. About four years," she replied. "It's part of why I was interested in that apartment to be honest. It’s closer to work and the rink, and the roller-skating rink is nearby as well, so I could practice during the summer too."

He nodded as she spoke to show he was listening. Lord above, why did he have to ask that? It just made him cranky again.

"Here's your burger," said the waitress as she put down a plate in front of him and a cheap beer shortly after. "And your pizza," she added, placing a greasy paper plate in front of Emma along with a coffee. "Cream and sugar are next to the ketchup. Can I get you another water?" she asked out of habit and both reject the offer. "All right, well, if you need anything else let me know. Otherwise, you can pay at the counter when you're done." She walked away, kind of hinting for them to finish up, even though the window sign showed the place was open until 1 AM.

"That smells pretty good," Chris admitted, gesturing to the pizza before picking up his burger to take a bite. He needed this. He didn't know how she knew it, but he did.

Emma smiled then took a rolled set of silverware and opened it to get the fork and knife before cutting off a piece of the slice, which she placed on Chris’s plate. "There," she said before picking up the remaining slice and taking a bite. The two enjoyed their food in silence for a few minutes before Emma spoke up again. "Mind if I try a bite?" she asked, gesturing to the burger.

"Vulture. You should have got your own," he joked as he motioned to shoo her away.

"I shared my pizza," Emma exclaimed with mock shock.

"Well, that was your mistake then." He snickered as Emma made a face and went back to eating her food. He'd been around her enough to know she wasn't actually upset and was trying to get a reaction out of him. He eventually rolled his eyes and handed over the burger. She accepted it and turned it around to take a bite from the side he hadn't been eating from.

Emma smiled and handed the burger back. "Okay, you win. That's pretty good," she admitted, causing Chris to laugh.

"Thank you. Now was that so hard?" he asked, taking it back so he could finish off the last few bites of his meal.

"Yeah, it was, since I had to fight you to get you to let me try it. Stingy." She put the last bite of crust in her mouth. "I'll be right back," she added, getting up to head over to the counter and pay for the food.

Chris finished the burger in the meantime and took a last swig of beer from the can... Maybe this is working too well...

With their meals finished and paid for, they both put their coats back on and went outside. "I think Hell's starting to catch up," he quietly said, which got Emma's attention.

"I guess we better get running then," she suggested with a smile before looking around. "This way." She grabbed the sleeve of his coat and led the way again. They walked for a while. It was getting close to 10:30 and everything was closing up at that point, but they eventually found the only other building still open.

The smell of popcorn wafted out from the brick walls of the theater. "Wanna see what's playing?" Emma suggested as an option to get out of the cold.

"It's worth a look," he agreed with a shrug.

Two tickets later, and they were on their way to watch some old re-run about a crazy inventor and his magical car. About thirty minutes into the movie, Chris felt a weight against his shoulder, only to find Emma had fallen asleep. He frowned and thought for a few moments. She was trying pretty hard to help him feel better. It would be rude to wake her up. Besides, it wasn't like he could blame her. It was a kind of boring movie. He moved the cup holder back and shifted closer, so she could rest more comfortably. It was maybe another ten minutes before he fell asleep as well.

An hour and a half later, he felt someone nudge his shoulder. "Hey man, the movie is over," one of the workers said, causing Chris to startle awake. How long was I out? He blinked a few times as Emma started waking up as well.

"Oops..." she said with a yawn that caused him to quietly chuckle.

"Oops," he agreed and got up. "We should head back."

"Yeah," she agreed as she got up as well and walked out of the room with him. They made it back into the main hall of the theater when she noticed something that caused her to smile.

"One last thing," she requested, leading the way again.

"Emma, you passed out thirty minutes in," Chris pointed out, even though he hadn’t done much better.

"Trust me," she said, looking back at him before stopping in front of one of those chintzy-looking photo booths that spat out strips of three pictures.

"You're joking," he remarked, crossing his arms as she knelt down to put a few stray quarters from her purse into the machine.

"Nope," she replied with a laugh. "I do this every time I go to the theater. You can stay outside if you want." She shrugged before going into the booth.

He waited a few seconds, then rolled his eyes and got in. The machine recognized that there were two faces and showed suggested poses for them to mimic.

Eventually, the machine started printing as they walked out. Emma picked up the glossy papers, then handed one of the photo sets to Chris. Two tired, smiling faces, then Emma, making a goofy face as Chris raised an eyebrow. The last one showed both of them cracking up. "See? Now was that so hard?" she jokingly asked as they walked out of the theater.

"Suppose not," he replied with a shrug, as the two started making their way back to the apartment. Down the street, past the pizza place locking up, and across the road from the park. The two were walking up to the apartment when Chris felt his phone go off. Please no... He answered it all the same. "Tundra, what's up?"

"We got a lead," she answered, her frown evident through the phone. "HQ wants us at the barracks ASAP to leave first thing in the morning."

"Fuck," he groaned in annoyance. "Well, it's a good thing I didn't unpack."

"Sorry about that, Cap. See you soon," she said before hanging up.

"Work?" Emma asked with a sympathetic attempt at a smile while waiting for him by the door of the building.

"Yeah, we're heading out first thing in the morning," he said with a scowl.

"Well... we gave it a good try," she said as they walked into the building and up the stairs to the second floor. "I'll get your bag," she offered and unlocked her door, heading into her apartment before returning with the large olive drab bag. "It was good to see you."

Chris nodded before looking into the apartment and seeing the flowers and the card on the island.

"Yeah... Good to see you too," he replied as he shouldered the bag. Her life would keep going on without him. "See you around," he added before heading back to the main door of the building.

A sad frown crossed Emma's face as she watched him leave, waiting for the main door of the complex to close before heading back into her own apartment and shut the door behind her. She walked over to the island, took out a tiny scrap of paper, wrote on it, and put it in the house before watching it burn.

I don't know if he'll be okay.

"Come on, Duke... bedtime," she said once the embers cooled. The dog followed her, and she turned out the lights.

Chapter Text

If the last six weeks had been hell, this was one of hell's deeper rings. Three weeks of a touch-and-go game of cat and mouse. It was March now... Probably? If they were being completely honest, this had all started back in December. They'd been civilian side for maybe eight days and a handful of hours over the last three or four months.

Now, Chris and the rest of the team sat silently as Lobo flew the chopper to the latest location.

"All right, we're going dark in five," Lobo announced while flipping a few switches.

"Why bother?" Canine pointed out with a tired frown. "They're not going to be here either. They weren't at the last site, or the one before that... or the one before that." He leaned back in his seat and crossed his arms to get comfortable.

"Fucking encrypted data bullshit," Night Howl muttered under his breath, too tired to be upset.

"How many VPNs did this guy use?" Chris grumbled the rhetorical question.

"As a rough estimate?" Tundra replied anyway. "Potentially infinite. VPNs can be harder to trace than bank accounts."

"Fuck this shit, man... We're just chasing our tails," Canine said with a tired sigh.

"Yeah, well. With any luck, this will be the last stop," Umber Eyes suggested, his optimistic words betrayed by the defeated tone of his voice.

They were tired. All of them were.

"Going dark," Lobo announced and flipped a switch. The group sat in silence and thought back on their last trip home.

'*'*'*'*'

"Hound Wolf Squad," said a commanding officer as they walked into the room where the team was waiting to hear their mission objective. "Good to have you back, I know you're all tired, but those samples you spent the last few months gathering gave us just want we needed to get on the right track." The officer picked up a digital tablet from the table at the front of the room and pressed a few buttons, causing images of cellular structures and data to appear on the wall.

"Our lab team was able to isolate the virus strand. We've confirmed that the new stateside strain appears to be a variant of the virus used by Glenn Arias in New York back in 2014," he said before going through a few slides comparing the infected of each incident. Sure enough, they looked similar but not exactly the same.

"After digging through the data from that case a second time, we found that he sent out an encrypted file to an unknown recipient," the man explained and switched to the slide showing the partially decoded message that includes the cellular structure for the 'Glenn Aris Virus.' That would have been nice to know four years ago. "Looks like he had a friend who wanted to get in on the business. We were able to decode the location the files were sent to, but like any good underground business transaction, names were left out."

'*'*'*'*'

If only it ended up being that simple... That location ended up being a server farm. The one they were looking for was transmitting to another server farm, and that one went to a different one. He eventually just stopped counting. People with money didn't like getting caught and didn't play by the rules. Each time felt like they were going in blind. They didn't know when they'd find the end of the trail, and they had to drop in a decent way from the building to avoid hostility. They had to go dark each time to avoid getting picked up on radio scanners, so communication was shot until they landed.

Three weeks of riding around in a cramped six-seater. With this long of a mission phase, they'd normally have a larger helicopter, but stealth was vital for now, which meant a much smaller than usual chopper. Pilot, co-pilot, and four passengers with a small cargo area. That was probably the worst part, having to fly back to HQ to resupply since it couldn't hold more than a few days’ worth of gear for the team of six. Not to mention gassing the thing back up, which happened much more frequently due to a smaller tank. They would wait, hovering above an airport for clearance to land, then wait for the thing to fill up, then wait for clearance to take off again. Rinse and repeat.

Lobo eventually landed and gave the signal that everyone was good to disembark. Slide, click, click, clack click. Arms were readied as the doors opened. They filed out one by one. They grouped up and slowly crept through the dark woodland, traveling a good five miles on foot toward the coordinates HQ had given them in the last transmission.

"Looks promising," Lobo whispered as they peered down at the solid brick of a white concrete building with multiple steam vents and no windows.

"Don't jinx it," Chris quietly warned while looking through his sight. Guards, and lots of them. This probably wasn't just another server farm. Thank God. "Look alive. Umber Eyes, Lobo, take a back seat and provide support. Keep an ear out for the all’s clear to head out from HQ. Canine, Tundra, to the left, Night Howl, you're with me."

"On it, boss."

"Yes, sir."

"Got it, Captain."

"Let's have some fun, people."

"I got your back."

Each person took their position and started making their way inside. As it turned out, rich people didn't like it when you crashed their party either.

"I'm taking heavy fire!" Tundra called on the communication system. Thirty minutes in, and stealth was no longer an option. The only upside was that their radios were fair game again.

"Hold your position. We're almost at the signal source," Chris said as he worked with Night Howl to clear a room, finding a lab inside. Bingo. Chris guarded the door as Night Howl got to work with the computer, plugging in a USB to try and transmit the data to HQ for decryption and confirmation that they found what they’d been looking for.

"Fuck!" Canine shouted.

"Man down. Man down," Tundra called.

"I need five more minutes, Cap," Night Howl said with a worried tone.

"I can hold out for three. I'm out of med injectors. Hurry it the hell up," Tundra snapped in response.

"Lobo, Umber Eyes, fall in and provide support," Chris shouted while taking down a guard that rounded the corner. "Get Canine and Tundra back to the landing site. We'll meet you there."

"On it," Umber Eyes replied, though the cries of pain from Canine could still be heard on the open line.

Five minutes felt like five hours as the loading bar crawled across the screen. Whatever they did to these stupid zombies, it made them much more resilient. What should have taken four shots was taking closer to seven, and every bullet counted when supplies were limited.

"Made it to cover," Lobo announced. "Closing in on the target now." The building shook as the sound and shockwave of an explosion moved through it. "Someone asked for an exit?"

"Took you long enough," Tundra said, her labored breathing audible.

"On our way to the landing site now. Looks like five hostiles on the second floor are on their way up boss. Watch the western side." Umber Eyes warned.

"Shit..." Chris whispered then looked at Night Howl. "Tell me that thing is done transmitting."

"Almost. They're trying to dump the files," Night Howl replied as he instinctively punched the side of the monitor for manual recalibration.

Seeing the hostiles on the far end of the hallway, Chris pulled the pin on a grenade and threw it. The building was going down anyway, thanks to Lobo's handy work.

Another concussive force of sound and energy later, and two remained still standing with serious injuries.

"Cap, you're not gonna like this," Night Howl said with a frown.

"Make my day," Chris barked back.

"There's another signal with the files," Night Howl reluctantly admitted before he pulled out the USB.

"For fuck's sake," Chris shouted, sneering as he shot down the remaining two zombies, then reloaded.

"Hound Wolf Squad, this is HQ. You're clear to evacuate. Data has been received," a calm voice said on the radio before cutting out.

"I'm on your six," Night Howl said, and the two started making their way back toward the cover of the forest.

They eventually made it the five miles back to the chopper. "GO GO GO," Chris called upon seeing the blades were not active. "Take off," Chris ordered as they ran towards the open door.

"Taking off," Lobo replied as he started flipping switches to get the machine running. The blades started spinning as Chris and Night Howl hurried in. As they shut the door, they heard metal pings.

"We're taking fire," Lobo said as he tried to take off.

"Get us off the ground!" Chris barked.

"I’m working on it!" Lobo shouted back. The chopper dropped a few times, but eventually, it managed to get off the ground and into the air for the team to leave the area.

The group flew in silence for a good thirty minutes, aside from the pained groans of Canine. The youngest squad member had shrapnel shards embedded in his right arm and chest. Using a med injector would just kill him faster at this point by healing the debris inside of him.

Once they were a safe distance away, Lobo let out a sigh. "This is Lobo calling in for HQ. HQ, do you copy?"

"Copy Lobo," the same voice from before replied.

"Heading to coordinates 3 miles west, 20 miles south from current position for refueling. One injured onboard, with multiple puncture and shrapnel wounds to the right side and second-degree burns around entry points. Send Medics ahead, over," he said while adjusting a few settings on the dash.

"Rodger that. Medic in route for pick up," the voice stated after a long pause. "Fuel up and continue to HQ to receive further mission directives. Over."

"With all due respect, which is none at this point, we're fucking tired," Lobo argued.

Another pause.

"Understood," the voice replied. "Continue to HQ to receive further mission directives," the voice repeated, which caused Chris to slam his fist into the wall of the chopper.

"Instructions received under duress," Umber Eyes replied with a scoff.

Another pause. "Over and out," the voice replied.

"Over and out," the team answered in unison.

'*'*'*'*'

Canine was promptly rushed off to a hospital for surgery to try and save his arm after landing at the airfield. The rest of the team fueled up from there and made their way back to HQ. Three days of quarantine were mandated due to virus exposure. Great… The team rested in solitude while waiting to hear back about what would happen next.

On the fourth day, there was a knock at Chris's barracks door. He put down the book he was afforded and opened the door.

"The director wants to speak with you," a secretary-looking individual stated, motioning for him to follow.

"And the rest of my team?" Chris asked, unmoving.

"He wishes to speak with you personally for now," she replied before walking away. Chris frowned at this but ultimately followed, ending up in the office of the director of the BSAA.

"Christopher Redfield, the legend himself," the leader greeted, rising when Chris walked into the room. He offered Chris his hand for a handshake, which was begrudgingly accepted. "Good to see you. Your team has done some fine work these last few months." The man took his seat and motioned for Chris to do the same.

"Mr. Dion Wilson or Canine, as your group calls him, is recovering nicely and should be ready to go back to fieldwork in another day or two." The man pushed a file over for Chris to look over. "Those files you picked up had the answers we were looking for and a few new questions as well," the director admitted, scratching his face. "That new signal was aimed off to the deserts of Europe."

Fuck.

"And we have further leads within the states for the producers of the mutated virus. Based on the file your team got us, it's a local pharmaceutical company doing the gene editing. We just need to narrow down which location is their virus lab..." Chris took a breath to try to keep his sanity. "To top that off, we have more movement on the Louisiana front, and the Winters’ case requires attention."

This is never going to end.

"Which is why, effective immediately…" the man started.

Here it comes, Chris thought, expecting to hear that the team would be continuing their sprint.

"…Hound Wolf Squad will be officially disbanded."

"What?!" Chris demanded, shocked at the one piece of news he was not expecting.

"You've done a remarkable job leading your team. Truly a mark above and one we can always count on for results." The man picked up a new file. "But it can't be ignored that resources are spread thin... And I quote from the transcript of a recent call. 'With all due respect, which is none at this point, we’re fucking tired... Instructions received under duress'," the man recited, causing Chris to lean forward and drop his head slightly.

Fucking Hell.

"Hound Wolf Squad will be reallocated into two smaller assault squads. Hound Squad will consist of Ronaldo Elva, AKA Umber Eyes, as team lead, John Perlman, AKA Lobo as pilot, and heavy arms specialist, with Emily Berkhoff or Tundra, as the lead recon and communications specialist. Taking the lead in Europe and Louisiana-based missions," the man listed off in a monotone voice. "Wolf Squad will consist of yourself as the team lead and pilot, Dion Wilson AKA Canine as K-9 Specialist and interim ground support." He finally noticed the twitching sneer on Chris's face as he looked up from the page, causing him to pause a moment before finishing his sentence. "And Charlie Graham AKA Night Howl, as recon and communications specialist. Your team will specialize on the stateside Glenn Aris virus and the Winters’ case."

"You're going to get us killed," Chris accused, trying to keep an even tone. "We're a team of six for a reason."

"You're going to get yourself killed trying to juggle too many mission locations," the man countered with a minor hint of sympathy in his tone as he put down the file.

"Then why split the missions like that, huh?" Chris accused in frustration. "If it was about that, then why not have us in the same area? The European Desert mission with the Winters mission for one team and stateside work for the other."

"Trust me; we'd love nothing more than to do that. It would save us tens of thousands on overhead costs to simply relocate a team to the European branch, but this is how it fits best," the man replied in a tone that irritated Chris further. "Ethan Winters requested you specifically for his case, Mia as well, and we need their cooperation. We also need our best on this stateside case since it's the more prominent threat to the citizens of this fine country. Your team admittedly drew the short stick, but I'm sure you'll be able to make do with your Swiss army knife variety of expertise."

"Make due?!" Chris parroted back, no longer hiding the anger in his tone.

"Look, I get it," the man said as he leaned forward and rested his hands together. "These are stressful times, and the... bond between brothers and sisters in arms is a difficult one to sever. It's not going to be easy," he said, annoying Chris even more. "Once we get these cases more under control, Hound Wolf Squad will be reinstated in full. I promise. And you'll still be working together since the missions overlap. You'll also have more time in the office, where you'll see each other plenty," he explained.

Chris stood up. "That's bullshit, and you know it. You know the statistics as well as I do for smaller teams," Chris accused. "I've led much larger teams than Hound Wolf Squad for the BSAA and still been the only survivor!"

The man leaned back to relax in his chair. "I suppose everyone makes mistakes. However, I'm afraid the decision is final. I just thought you should be the first to know," he said, still as calm as ever. "Have a good day, Mr. Redfield. You'll have your next mission briefing in three days as the leader of Wolf Squad. I look forward to seeing you there."

Every fiber of Chris’s being screamed for him to punch this asshat in the face. Forcing a none-too-convincing neutral expression, he pointed at the man. "Our blood is on your hands," he warned and stormed out.

Whether he liked it or not, three days passed, and the team was split up. Hound Squad went overseas to continue chasing the signal, while Wolf squad spent a week and a half checking on the Winters family in Romania before continuing recon missions into the stateside producer of the modified Glen Aris virus. Time continued to pass as the now smaller Wolf team sat comfortably in the six-person helicopter with Chris as the pilot.

"Come in, Alpha. You've been cleared to land," said an air controller.

"About time..." Chris muttered as he landed the craft and shut down the engine. He waited for it to come to a full stop before getting out to plug in the fueling nozzle and fill out the landing report. Date. 3/27/18. "Huh..."

"Something the matter, Captain?" Night Howl asked over the radio.

"Nah. I just noticed the date is all. Guess I'm forty-five now," he said with a disinterested tone as he finished filling out the paperwork. Forty-five years old, and man, did he feel every year of it.

"Huh. Well, happy birthday," Canine said, still just as tired as before.

Chapter Text

Emma walked around her apartment while brushing her teeth. It was a lazy Thursday, and she was up earlier than intended, considering she didn't have to be at the office for another hour and a half. 

[Emma] Hey, are we still heading to the roller rink later?

[Tanner] Yeah, you bet. 8:30 pm?

[Emma] What happened to 7:30 pm?

[Tanner] Sorry, I have some meetings that I expect to run late.

[Emma] Mmk... I'm eating all the nachos then.

[Tanner] Okay, but if you end up sick while practicing our routine, that's on you.

[Emma] Mmmm, pretty sure it would be on you; I have pretty good aim.

[Tanner] Lol! Ya nasty, don't you dare. See you at 8:30 pm

Emma shook her head and smiled before heading back to the bathroom and finishing up her morning preparations. "Okay, Duke, I'm heading out. Be a good boy while I'm gone and watch after the house," she said as she walked past the island and paused upon seeing the tiny hut. After staring at it for a second, she took out her phone once more to check the clock. April 5th, 7:52 AM. She had time. With that, she grabbed a piece of paper and quickly wrote a message on it, then placed it into the hut and set it on fire.

Please let him be safe.

After letting it burn out and confirming the embers were cold, she left for work.

'*'*'*'*'

It took longer than they would have liked, but by early April they finally had an answer. The end was in sight for this hellish nightmare. The pharmaceutical company that was manufacturing the modified virus had been under their nose pretty much the whole time. About forty minutes from the BSAA HQ.

"Fuckin’ bastards were basically flippin' us off the whole time. How cocky do you have to be to set up shop right next to the agency trying to shut you down?" Canine asked with disbelief as they started packing up the SUV.

"They're getting bolder," Night Howl agreed.

"They can throw a gauntlet all they want," Chris said as he lit a cigarette. "We'll take them down each time... Let's go."

The three got inside and started the drive. It was weird fighting so close to home. He knew this highway well enough and which exit to take to get where they need to. They parked at a nature trail about a mile and a half out from the lab. "What did you find out while spec-ing the place out?" Chris asked, keeping his eyes on the road.

"Not a lot. Basic security on the outside. The usual guard station with an ID check and standard magnetic readers for the main set of doors, but the deeper sections of the lab are locked behind security access levels," Night Howl replied while reading off his notes from a tablet. "It's an open-air building aside from that. Getting in unseen isn't going to happen until sunset, which should be in... Roughly an hour. 7:30 pm," he explained. "We'll need that cover if we're going to stay under the radar and not cause a scene. These urban raids are always tricky... Too many reporters ready to jump at a story."

"They are a bit twitchy about that," Canine agreed.

The group parked in a secluded section of the park. They waited a good twenty minutes in silence before Chris spoke.

"All right, Night Howl, give us an EMP blast to knock out any cameras in the area," Chris requested, and the squad member nodded.

"Now remember, this is going to knock out our gear too for the next thirty minutes. I won't be able to communicate with you guys from here during that time, and you won't have your goggles or digital sights. Once the system is back online, I'll send out a ping until I get your response. From there, we can start the mission at exactly 7:45," Night Howl warned.

"Let's get the party started then," Canine replied, which earned him a few stares. "Sorry... It just felt like something Lobo would say..."

They frowned at that for another silent moment. "Yeah," Chris agreed eventually. "All right, let's go."

Night Howl nodded and flipped a switch, causing the car to completely shut down along with all lights in the area. Chris and Canine exited the vehicle and started making their way through the flat park and towards the building in the distance. Once it got too dark to see properly, the two laid down on the ground a good quarter mile from the three-story building. The plan was pretty simple. Get in, get the data, plant the explosives, get out, set off the explosives. Destroy everything. A tried-and-true plan that... honestly never worked since there was always someone else working on a new strand.

"Copy Alpha, Canine. This is Night Howl do you read me?" said a voice from their earpiece as their goggles powered up.

"Loud and clear," Chris said quietly.

There were a few armed guards on patrol, but the pattern was easy enough to get around. It took maybe five minutes to get in.

"Remember, these people have been slipping out of our fingers for months now and stayed under the radar for three years. We need to be careful," Night Howl reminded the two through the communication device. "Just shooting everything could cause an internal data dump or worse, their own self-destruct protocol. It's hard to tell what these newer digital systems are connected to. When you get to a door, let me know, and I'll update your watch to send out a signal to open the door without triggering an alarm."

"Got it," Canine whispered as the two slowly crept into the dark building. Down hallways, past meeting rooms, and into an oddly well-lit lab room which forced them to remove the night vision goggles.

"We found the lab. We'll plug you in, so you can get a look around," Chris announced as he went over to a computer and plugged in the all-powerful USB stick. While Chris did this, Canine walked around to see if he could find anything before walking past some large windows.

"Uh-oh..." Canine muttered quietly.

"I don't like the sound of that," Chris replied though he didn't seem too alarmed. It felt like this happened every time...

"You're gonna like it less when you see it... We might have an issue..." Canine warned, taking a few steps back as Chris walked over.

"Oh, that's not good..." Chris looked down to see what could only be described as incubation chambers. A good hundred of them. Now he was concerned.

"We need to get these explosives planted..." Canine said, his voice low and urgent.

"Yeah," Chris agreed. "All right, Night Howl. Where are we heading?" he asked quietly as he looked around a corner to make sure no one was there.

"Find a door with a red light for the ID pad. That should let you into the testing bay," Night Howl instructed, and the two started looking through the various hallways of the lab. "I'm still digging through the files that you sent. We need to figure out how they're modifying the virus... If we can get a record of that, we're golden."

The two looked around the lab as instructed. There were a few doors, so they wanted to check all of them before saying they found the right one.

That went on for a minute or two before Night Howl spoke up once more. "Hey boss, I got some kind of bad news and some worse news... which do you want first?" Night Howl’s tone was pensive.

"Oh wow, I get to pick?" he said sarcastically. "Let's go with worse."

"This isn't the only lab. There are three. One on each floor, and based on the map, they each have an area for mass incubation. We'll need the data from each of them. The first floor seems to be the larger incubation area, with smaller ones on the second and third floors. This system blocks data off by floor, so I only have the data for the virus strain on this floor..."

"Of course, there are three variants. Why wouldn't there be?" Chris grumbled while continuing to search.

"Potentially," Night Howl clarified.

"So, what's the not-as-bad news?" Chris asked as he and Canine approached a door with a keypad illuminated with a warm orangish-red light.

"I have a confirmed civilian body count. There are still people in here that aren't security guards... Janitors, interns, scientists, a few executives..." he said, reading through a list of clocked in and clocked out employees.

"That's nothing new. We stick to the mission," Chris replied before looking from the door to Canine. "That one?"

"Looks red to me," Canine agreed.

"If that's your final answer, your watch is ready to go," Night Howl confirmed while typing away at his computer. Chris tapped his watch against the pad. Nothing happened at first. Then suddenly, the lights all turned red, and an alarm sounded. Looking into the center observation bay they were trying to get into, the capsules were releasing steam, and the bodies inside the pods started twitching.

"Change of plans. We're going with the guns blazing strategy and blowing this joint sky high," Chris announced as they immediately turned around. "Night Howl, I could really use some good news right about now!" Chris shouted as they made their way back to the first room.

It took a minute, but by the time they made it back to the main lab, they got their good news. "I got the data I need from this floor. Drop the charge in the lab and take the USB so you can start making your way to the second floor," Night Howl replied as Chris planted a satchel charge into the wall of the lab while Canine got the USB Stick.

"Third Floor. We're going top-down. If we have to jump through a window, I want at least a few unbroken ribs after this," Chris snarkily countered, making his way up the stairs with Canine.

"Got it, boss," Night Howl replied and adjusted a few bits of code. "Okay, your watch is ready. It should just fry the lock. Stealth is shot at this point."

"You don't say," Chris quipped, as they made their way into the third-floor lab. Canine placed the USB in a computer while Chris planted another charge before focusing on taking out any zombies that made their way out of the connected incubation area.

"What the HELL are you doing!" a voice demanded as a scientist walked in from the door they used to get in, holding his arm to nurse a fresh bleeding bite wound. "Wait a second..." he said as Chris and Canine turned to face him. "You! I know you."

"Oh no," Canine muttered in a tired tone. It was the guy from the ice rink.

"What? So it's not bad enough that you fucked up my personal life. You had to break into my office and destroy my life's work too?" Tanner accused with his eyes locked on Chris as his breathing became heavier. "Shit, this stuff kicks in quick..." he quietly muttered.

Canine kept his own gun trained on Tanner while Chris focused on the incoming zombies. "Make a call, boss," Canine said since this was a gray area. Tanner was still a civilian, but he was turning.

"Shit..." Chris breathed, looking around for a solution. The med injector. Granted, he was already infected, but the old vaccine from Rebecca still worked on this strain, and it was able to bring her back after being infected. "Watch my back," Chris called as he and Canine swapped targets. Chris kept his gun aimed at Tanner while digging through a pouch for the injector.

"So what? You're going to shoot me?" Tanner taunted as he continued to stare down Chris.

"I'm trying to help you," Chris argued as he took out the device, dropped it, and kicked it over to Tanner. "Use it. It has the vaccine."

"Vaccine?" he asked through laughter as his mind started to slip. "You think I need a vaccine? This is the cure!" he insisted with a demented smile. "I've created a way to increase cellular regeneration of a human host permanently, and it only took feeding what you call a virus a few stem cells. This could revolutionize what we know about medication. We can cure death," as he continued to rant, his breathing became heavier and raspier.

"Captain, he's gone," Canine said, shaking his head.

"I got the data for the third floor; we just need the second floor. Get a move on," Night Howl instructed from the safety of the SUV. 

"Just use the damn vaccine!" Chris barked as he attempted to take a few steps forward, only to be knocked down by an explosion. It took a moment for the ringing in his ears to die down and his vision to clear up. He pushed himself to get back up despite the pain and looked around. Tanner was out cold, and Canine was struggling to rise. Chris picked up the injector, pocketing it once more before hurrying over with a slight limp to help Canine up before collecting the USB. "Canine, fall back and start making your way to the car. I'll take care of the second floor."

"Alpha…"

"That's an order," Chris snapped, and Canine nodded.

"Sir, yes sir," he replied as they left the lab and made their way down to the second floor. Canine kept going down as Chris took a left.

"Your watch is ready for a second-floor breach," Night Howl stated, resulting in Chris slamming the watch against the keypad before kicking in the door, only for smoke to pour out. Once inside, he placed the USB and got to work finding a place for the final satchel where it wouldn't pre-emptively explode. He juggled that and fighting off zombies, only to find nothing that would work as an ideal satchel charge point. Then he heard the final call. "That's it. Get the USB and head out. I'll set the charges to detonate in five minutes."

Five…

"On it," Chris said as he made his way back to the second-floor lab.

Four…

He grabbed the USB and looked around for somewhere to place the final satchel. If he didn't ditch it, he was a dead man. If it went off early, he'd be buried alive...

Three…

…Buried alive it is! He slammed it into a wall and started running for the door…

Two…

…Down the stairs and through the main foyer…

One…

He made it out the door, but he was too close. Shit. He ran as fast as he could on his bad leg.

Zero…

The building exploded in a fiery inferno, throwing him a good 30 feet forward and knocking him over.

God, that hurts. He slowly pushed himself up and limped the mile and a half back to the car, finding Night Howl and Canine waiting for him. Night Howl took the driver's position as Canine and Chris sat in the back of the car. "HQ... this is Wolf Squad... we're coming home," Chris declared as he rested his eyes.

"Is the mission objective complete?" a voice asked in response.

"Yeah... the place is a crater," Chris replied after a few seconds.

'*'*'*'*'

Emma waited at the roller rink with a bored expression, sitting at a table next to an empty plate and looking at the rink, unamused. She pulled out her phone to check the time. 9:30 pm. Seeing this, her expression soured before she gave a tired and annoyed sigh. He could have at least sent her a text that he couldn't make it. Dang it all, she was really looking forward to this too. She was hoping to relax from the stress of the merger going on at work. After deciding to give up, she returned her rental skates and packed up to walk home.

"Duke. Puppo, I'm home," she announced as she walked into the apartment, closing the door behind her. Her fluffy friend hurried over to greet her. "See, you know how to show up when expected," she grumbled before heading to the fridge to get a small quart of ice cream. She then made her way to the couch. Duke joined her and curled up next to her as she turned the TV on and started channel surfing. What is even on at this time of ni—

She stopped clicking the remote as the sight of an exploding building caused her heart to drop.

"This just in. Local pharmaceutical lab goes up in flames. Authorities believe a gas leak may be the culprit of this deadly explosion. The fire departments of all three neighboring boroughs are working to contain the flames. So far, no one has left the building since the explosion," the reporter announced. "The owner of the firm says that very few staff members should have been on sight, so while casualties are expected, they should be minimal."

Emma quickly pulled out her phone.

[Emma] Tanner, you text me this instant.

[Emma] Tanner. This isn't funny.

[Emma] Please let me know you're okay.

He's just driving is all. He's on the road right now, and he'll text you as soon as he stops, she thought. He said he was going to be there by 8:30... Emma put the container of ice cream down on the coffee table before curling up. Why couldn't he just be on time for once?

'*'*'*'*'

Three days after the explosion, a list of casualties was provided. Emma cried the whole day for the loss of her friend and spent the next few days working from home. She was a mess and didn't want to be around people... but eventually, the day of the funeral arrived.

She took a deep breath, faced her door, and opened it. Walking out in full black attire, the more she thought about where she was going, the more her eyes stung. She locked up her apartment before hearing the main door of the building open and close. Footsteps on the stairs led to Emma seeing Chris, who had just made it home.

"Oh thank god, you're okay," she greeted with an attempt at a smile.

"What's wrong?" he asked as he walked over. He knew what was wrong, but he couldn't let her know that.

"I—" she tried, only to have her words catch in her throat and tears start to form. "Sorry... I can't cook for you this time... I have a funeral to attend," she explained, and the words hurt.

"Do you want someone to go with you?" he asked quietly, and she shook her head.

"No... Yes? Maybe. I don't know," she attempted to reply, confused by the question. She didn't know what she wanted. "I can't do this right now. I'm going to be late for the wake," Saying that caused her to laugh. "Though I guess that's only fair. He never could figure out how to show up anywhere on time," she added, trying to make a joke to feel better. She didn't.

"I'll be right out," he insisted and went inside, changing in a matter of minutes. He would be lying if he said his guilt didn't force him to make the effort to get released early because of this. He had gotten home when the sun was up for once.

He walked back out to find she hadn't moved and was focused on drying her eyes. "I'll drive," he offered and walked with her down to the street level and to the parking garage. He got the address from her even though he already knew it and the two made their way there in silence. The usually talkative woman could think of nothing to say. There was no welcome back ritual or running from stress. The only option was to face reality head-on, and she hated it.

The two went into the funeral home and paid their respects before taking a seat. Emma held herself together long enough to sit down before the tears leaked freely from her eyes. She leaned forward, holding her face and resting her elbows on her knees. Meanwhile, Chris simply sat there watching her shaking figure from the corner of his eye, hearing an occasional hiccup and whimper. This whole funeral really held no meaning to him. He didn't know the guy in the slightest, but she did. She was in pain and that was hard to watch, knowing he couldn't fix it. There was nothing to be done in this case except let time run its course.

Emma eventually calmed down and was able to sit back up and look at the casket. Her friend was in there. She'd never see him again. She took a deep breath. "Hey Chris," she said quietly, so she didn't disturb any of the other visitors.

"Hm?"

"I think I wanna go now," she tried to remain composed. "I don't think I can follow to watch them. You know—" She made a lowering motion with her hands.

He gave a short nod and got up before offering her a hand to help her up as well. Together, they walked out of the funeral home to the car. The ride back was just as quiet. She was exhausted, but about halfway home, she spoke.

"This sucks..." she said quietly.

"Yeah," he agreed in response, focusing on the road.

"You don't seem bothered by all this, though... Have you been to many funerals before?" she asked, trying to understand.

He paused. "Yes."

"...Does it ever get easier?" she asked hesitantly.

"Eventually," he replied with a nod.

"...How many does that take?" she asked as she curled up again.

Again, he paused. "Too many," he replied and Emma nodded.

Silence returned until they made it back.

"Chris?" she asked after he turned off the car.

"Hm,"

"Thank you... for going with me... I don't think I could have done that alone," she hesitantly admitted, which made him mentally scream more.

On one hand, sure. Screw that Tanner guy for making strands of the virus and supercharging them. Dick move. But on the other, Chris felt like he was the reason someone close to her was dead, and he couldn't even tell her. He had tried to save Tanner but failed. There were a dozen scenarios in his head where this wouldn't have happened. If he had just made one choice over another. If he picked the right door and the alarms didn’t go off. If he had given the guy the vaccine and carried him out. But hindsight was 20-20.

"No problem," he replied and walked with Emma back into the apartment building where they went their separate ways.

Chapter Text

Time seemed to crawl by slowly after the funeral. Chris picked up his roughly four months’ worth of mail from the main office and found out that Summer had been leaving him a collection of drawings, which the Postman would pick up and bring with him back to the office when dropping off everyone else's mail. She was figuring out spelling as well it seemed since her S was no longer backwards. The only other event of note from the prior month happened shortly after receiving a notification on his phone.

[Security system: Attention required - low memory]

Right. He had to clean that out... How long had it been since he had last done that?

He opened the folder labeled 'Priority Clips' that saved smaller sections of footage based on the proximity of movement to the camera and started skimming through that to make sure he didn't miss anything important while he was gone. Mailman. Summer. Mailman. Mailman. Summer. Pizza guy that went to the wrong door. Mailman. Yeah, this was taking too long. He clicked back to the folder and set it to show thumbnails so he could get an even more condensed overview. As he scrolled down, it mostly seemed the same. Lots of the mailman. He kind of had to show up every day. The camera occasionally picked up a neighbor walking to the shared laundry room on the floor, but other than that it was the tiny tot setting off the device. April, March, February, Janua— he paused as an unexpected face was added to the list of visitors.

January 1st, 9:58 PM

"Fuckin' hell, that's what he meant..." Chris muttered as he saw a clip with Tanner in the thumbnail. Morbid curiosity got the better of him as he opened the file to watch it and confirmed his suspicion. He did forget something that day. He forgot to close his door. The clip showed a worry-faced Tanner approaching Emma's door before it was replaced with an expression of confusion. It showed him walking over to Chris’s open door and staring with a frown before reaching in to quietly close it and walk away, running his hands through his hair in frustration, while heading out of the building once more.

That was why Tanner accused him so adamantly back in the burning lab... that very well could be why he refused Chris's help... So. Do I tell her about all this and make her feel worse, ooor, take this all to my grave? he thought while watching the clip repeat.

Delete.

A loading bar showed up and slowly eked across the screen... 5%...20%...45%...72%...89%...DING

[Storage availability 1TB/1TB]

To the grave. He already had plenty of secrets that were getting buried with him, so what was one more.

'*'*'*'*'

Before long, it was the first of May. The weather was getting warmer, and the sun shined as bright as any other day. Emma rolled out of bed and looked at her calendar. It was Tuesday. It had been almost three weeks since the funeral. It still hurt, but she was starting to feel better. Even though she hadn't really been practicing with Chris anymore, she still stopped by on Sundays with the usual lunch packs. It wasn't his fault that she was feeling blue.

She picked up her phone and sent a quick message.

[Emma] Hey Chris, if you don't have plans. Can we practice on Thursday?

It took a moment, but she got a reply.

[Chris] Yeah, might be late getting home, but I'll text you.

[Emma] Thanks, ttyl.

She went back to her usual routine, getting ready for the day, until she heard a knock on the door. Weird. She walked over and opened it. "Mr. Jacobs," Emma greeted with a surprised expression.

"Morning Emma, I was hoping I'd catch you before you head out for the day," the man said warmly before handing her an envelope. "Here's your last rent bill."

"Oh," Emma replied, trying to process that as she accepted it. Gracious, time moved so quickly, it had been almost a year.

"Normally, I need renewals the month before the final bill but, well... you've had a pretty rough go these last few weeks, and I didn't want to add to the stress," the elderly landlord admitted as the creaking sound of a door opening was heard. "Just let me know what you're planning on doing renewal-wise by the 15th. Otherwise, I'll keep the 31st marked as your move-out day."

"Of course. Thank you, Mr. Jacobs," Emma said as Chris walked past. "Oh, hey Chris. Good morning," she offered as a casual greeting.

"Same to you," he replied with a wave and went down the stairs. He'd almost forgotten that leases eventually run down. He'd been here long enough that he had a long-term agreement that still had… what? Three more years on it? The standard for an apartment was twelve months.

Emma went back inside her apartment and closed the door after saying her goodbyes to the landlord, then walked over to the couch to take a seat and look over the bill. "Well... guess I have some thinking to do, huh Duke?" she said, glancing at the dog who was happily sleeping on the couch after a long walk. He gave a quiet huff and rolled over. Emma glanced to the corner of her living room at a small duffle bag that was starting to collect dust. She shook her head, put the bill down on the coffee table and got up to head to work.

The bill sat there for the next few days as Emma thought over what to do about her living situation. Before long, Thursday night had arrived.

[Chris] I'm home, stop by whenever.

Emma looked at her phone and, after reading the message, got up to head over. The routine started as usual upon arriving. She moved the furniture, and he got the mat set up.

"Ready?" he asked.

"Yep, let's get started," she said with a smile, which was genuine, despite being tired.

"You know the drill then," he said as he held up a hand.

She hit the target. It was a weaker strike, but not as bad as he thought it would be after not really being able to practice together since January. She must have kept practicing on her own. He had her go for a kick next. Those would probably be fine...

It was significantly weaker. That was the one thing he didn't think would change. She walked practically everywhere in town, went skating multiple times a we— "Try that one again," he requested as he kept his hand in place and got the same result...

"Go get your coat. We're going for a jog," he instructed as he walked over to the door to get his windbreaker, then put his wallet and keys in his pockets. "Around the neighborhood and back."

Emma gave a quiet defeated sigh. She couldn't say she hadn’t expected this. She hadn't been skating in almost a month now, and she barely left the house... She was actually hoping to just practice like normal, but jogging worked too. "Okay," she reluctantly agreed and followed him after stopping by her apartment to get a light jacket.

"Make sure you keep up with me, okay?" he insisted, and she nodded before following him.

Down six blocks, hang a right past the park. Four more blocks and another right at the edge of the park. They made it another three blocks before passing the penny arcade which caused her to frown and run faster. Before she could get too far, she felt a strong grip on her arm, a tug, and a pressure in her stomach as she was hoisted into the air and over Chris’s shoulder. Once her confusion passed, she noticed he was walking back the way they came.

"What are you doing?" she asked, annoyed and resisting the urge to kick him. He remained silent and carried her into the penny arcade, earning them a few confused and concerned stares from other patrons before Chris eventually put her down. She looked around, and sure enough, she was standing next to the one place she was avoiding. The skating rink.

"Chris, I don't want to be here," she stated, hoping for empathy. "This isn't fair."

"Life isn't fair," he countered with a stern frown. "The lessons were to teach you to get back up when you're knocked down... So, get back up. Running away isn't going to work this time."

Her frown remained as his words stung. He was right, and she kind of hated it. It wasn't fair. "...Fine," she begrudgingly replied. "What's your shoe size? I'll get the rentals," she offered while crossing her arms. Chris was about to object, but she cut him off, "If you're going to push me straight into my own personal hell, you're damn well coming with me... because I can't do it alone..."

Well great. When you put it that way… "Fair enough," he agreed, and provided the requested information.

Emma walked off, and surprisingly; she came back rather than running for it. She took a seat and started switching out her sneakers for the rental skates. With that taken care of, she stood up without much fuss. Maybe this won't be too difficult after all.

That thought was cut short as Chris tried to figure out how to stand up, only for the pressure to cause his feet to move forward before he had risen all the way up. Thud, and he was already on his rear... He would say he stood corrected, but he couldn't figure out how to stand.

Emma wanted to leave him there, since he’d made her come here. Instead, she took a deep breath before moving over to offer him a hand. "It's hard to get up sometimes, huh?" she said in an even tone, though there was a jab in her words. "If you're already down, roll over so you can stand on your knees, then get up one foot at a time using the stopper at the front of the skate," she explained.

Point received loud and clear, he thought, shaking his head. With the instructions given, he followed them and accepted the offered hand to get back on his feet. Okay. New challenge. How do I walk? Somehow leaning forward was making him slowly eek backwards.

Emma hooked his arm with hers. "I'll get you to the rink. Use the stopper to push your opposite foot forward," she tersely explained as she slowly made her way over to the rink with him. There were a few other regulars on the floor. "You'll need to go to the middle to practice, so you don't get hit."

The middle looked far away, considering he could barely stand, but he nodded. "I can handle that. You go ahead." Okay, stopper on left, push right. Stopper on right, push left.

"Okay," she said, though her snide tone implied, If you're sure.

She did as he suggested and started making laps. It felt bittersweet. Skating was something she had loved since she was a kid. She always enjoyed the feeling of the air moving around her. She imagined it's what flying would feel like, and as she grew up it always helped her clear her thoughts... but it became a routine with a friend that suddenly she couldn't continue. It felt weird being here without him.

THUD.

The loud noise broke her thoughts as she looked over to find that Chris had barely made it to the middle before falling again. He was going to hurt himself... but he was trying. One more lap and a deep breath later, she adjusted her path to stop in front of the struggling military man, who was wobbling like a newborn deer.

"Do you need some help getting the hang of it?" she asked, her tone more genuine as she once more offered Chris a hand. He was trying this because of her.

"Just until I feel confident enough to do it on my own," he replied and accepted the offered hand.

Emma took his other hand. He was significantly bigger than Summer and heavier, but hopefully this would still work. "All right, let me lead, keep your feet still and work on getting used to the feeling of moving," she instructed as she started skating backwards slowly towards the edge of the rink and pulling him around for a few laps.

It was kind of embarrassing. He was a grown-ass adult being treated like a child but, he didn't know what he was doing. This was her domain, not his, and she needed to be here.

"The hardest part is getting used to the feeling of the skates moving under your feet," she admitted while watching behind her. "It tends to cause first-time skaters to overreact, and then they end up on their face... If you find yourself falling, don't catch yourself. You're more likely to break your wrist," she continued to explain while making the laps. "I'm going to bring us back to the center and let go. Try and keep moving without falling," she stated as she adjusted course and slowed down.

"I'll give it a try," Chris hesitantly agreed, though there was doubt in his tone.

"Don't worry, I'll be right in front of you," she said and got a nod in return. Upon seeing that, she made the next turn tighter, so they could head back to the middle and give him the full length of the rink to practice. As she said she would, she let go, and he was able to keep the momentum while standing. However, he didn't really move his legs. Emma grabbed his hand again to redirect him back into a lap, so he didn't run straight into a wall. It took a few tries, but eventually, he was able to get the process of moving forward.

"Okay, I think I got this," he cautiously admitted, which caused Emma to smile.

"Okay, do you want to try a lap on your own then?" she offered, and he nodded.

They finished the turn, and she let go to turn around and go on ahead, only to hear a thud again as Chris kept moving forward... into the wall. Emma eventually made her way back around and took his hands to keep him from getting hit by another skater.

"How do you turn in these things?" he grumbled as they made another lap.

"You lean," she started.

"You said not to lean," Chris cut her off with an annoyed frown.

That caused Emma to laugh. "That's true, I did say that," she agreed before continuing. "You were leaning too much. You just lean while adjusting where your toe is pointed. The direction your toe is pointed, is the direction you go," she offered as further explanation. "Sorry, the only way to learn that one is to run into a wall a couple of dozen times... I could try skating next to you to pull you if you're not redirecting?" She got a nod in return.

She led him, and again, it took a while but eventually, he got it and was able to skate on his own.

"You're picking this up pretty quickly. I'm impressed," she said with a smile. This... really was what she needed wasn't it? Between the stress of the merger at work and everything else that had happened last month she needed this. Dang it all, and she was being a jerk earlier...

"Well, it helps that you were pretty much carrying me for the first half of that," he admitted with a chuckle.

"Still..." she said while in thought. "So, do you want to try a skating game? I promise it's easy."

Chris’ legs felt like they were on fire from falling and landing on them for the last two hours. "I'm listening."

"All you have to do is catch up and slap my hand," she explained before skating ahead and turning around to skate backwards with an outstretched hand.

She was a good eight feet ahead of him already. That's the game? How har— Nope, he’d learned his lesson with that phrase while standing on these stupid things. All the same, he gave it his best attempt. Eight feet, nine feet… twelve feet, and she was getting further away.

Emma laughed. "Keep that up, and I'm going to lap you," she teased, which gave him an idea.

Work smarter, not harder, as they say. With that, Chris allowed himself to smack into a corner wall instead of turning properly. He waited there until Emma came back around. As she was about to pass him, he reached out to grab onto her. Emma started cracking up at first, but he ended up bumping her skate, which threw both of them off balance and sent them tumbling along the hardwood floor with a solid thud.

The two stared at each other for a moment before Emma cracked a smile and started laughing again, which caused Chris to laugh as well before reaching to smack her hand. "There, that means I win."

"You cheated," she countered, still chuckling as they worked together to get untangled from each other and stand up.

"Says the card counter," he rebutted earning a stare of mock shock.

"That was one time," she jokingly protested, giving him a gentle nudge before an announcement came over the loudspeaker.

"It's currently 10 pm. The penny arcade will be closing in one hour," the announcer said, causing Emma to wince. It was getting late.

"We should probably head back. You're going to feel the bruises in the morning," she warned, feeling some sympathy.

"I'm pretty sure I can already feel them," Chris admitted with a wince as they made their way off the rink.

"Yeah, maybe," she replied yet her tone had a different message. No, you're probably not. It's going to get worse. The two eventually got to seats and took off their skates to put on their sneakers and return the rentals.

"Does walking usually feel this foreign afterwards?" he asked, slightly concerned.

"It goes away in a few minutes," Emma replied as they put their jackets back on. "I don't recommend jogging the rest of the way back though," she added with a smirk.

"Absolutely not," he agreed as they walked out of the building. The two made their way through the park rather than walking around it. The last time they were here it was covered in snow. Now the trees were in full bloom and Spring was well underway. The two enjoyed the cool night air in silence, making it about halfway through the park before Emma spoke up.

"Hey Chris," she said quietly.

"Hm?" he replied, as usual, to let her know he was listening.

"...Sorry about earlier..." Emma meekly apologized as they walked. "I was, kind of being a jerk for a while back at the arcade."

"That tends to happen when you're forced to think about unpleasant things," Chris replied with some level of understanding. "But apology accepted." He looked over to see her smiling. "Now, that being said, I'm probably never doing that again... pretty sure that's your thing."

"Come on, you were getting the hang of it by the end there," Emma teased with a laugh.

"Oh, so you want to go to a shooting range then?" he suggested in return with a short chuckle as her expression quickly switched to horror.

"Not a chance," she said and dropped the subject. They didn't have to do everything together. That was kind of nice in its own way.

The two eventually made their way back home. Emma stopped at her own door before speaking. "Thanks again, Chris. That was fun," she sheepishly admitted as she unlocked and opened her door.

"Not a problem," he said. "Have a good night.” He gave her a wave.

"Good night," she replied and closed the door as Chris went to his own apartment.

'*'*'*'*'

It was the 11th now and Emma sat on her couch after a long day of work. She glanced at the bill that had been sitting on her coffee table in her attempt to ignore it. She picked it up to study it. She needed to make her choice now. She had looked at a few other apartments. Part of why she was interested in this apartment was because it was closer to work and the rink that she'd meet Tanner at to practice. That bit was not really a draw anymore. It was nice to be close to a rink, but she could be near a different one while still being close to work and in a less crowded area.

She considered the break-in, having to constantly go up and down stairs, and the lack of air conditioning. It was about to be summer again... Then she thought about Mrs. Russo giving her the recipe for tomato sauce, and Bastion giving her 'New Year's luck' and hugging her when she was scared. She remembered running around town with Chris and their recent trip to the rink. How Summer would constantly ask about 'her friends' at the apartment.

As her mind wandered over the more pleasant memories, she smiled to herself. The thought of New Year's Day came to mind, and the message that she wrote to be burnt. She shook her head as her cheeks stained a light pink. She marked down her decision on the bill, wrote a check, and made her way down to Mr. Jacobs' office to drop off the bill.

Four days later, the landlord was at her door once more. She opened the door with a smile. "Good morning, Mr. Jacobs."

"Morning, Emma. Here's the renewal papers for the lease." He offered her a small packet of papers. The sound of a door opening then closing could be heard once more. "Now remember, I'll need your next renewal decision by next April. In the meantime, try to get that signed and back to me by the end of the day if you can," the landlord requested as Chris walked past.

"Morning, Chris," Emma greeted, accepting the papers before looking back to Mr. Jacobs. "Of course, I'll have these to you before I head to work," she agreed.

Chapter Text

June took the place of May. The second full week was almost at a close, and it had officially been one year since Emma moved into the apartment complex. She thought about this as she did laps around the roller rink. It was still a little weird to be here alone, but she was starting to get better now. At least it was something to do that wasn't, eat, sleep, and work, since Chris had been away for a mission for the last three weeks or so. Not to mention the drama from the merger had finally calmed down. It was weird to be a branch of a major label now. They probably just wanted a location in the city that was pre-staffed and didn't want to deal with the work to build it. Emma couldn't complain though, the pay raise was nice. She took a deep breath and enjoyed the feeling of the air moving around her.

Little did she know, Chris was in the middle of wrapping up the mission process. The agent was currently sitting in the break room of the BSAA with Night Howl and Canine.

"The coffee here is crap," Canine complained with a tired sigh.

"Yep," Night Howl agreed but took a sip from his paper cup all the same.

"We're debriefing tomorrow afternoon. We should be home after that," Chris informed them while looking at his own cup. One solid mission for three weeks was much better than a gauntlet of back-to-back smaller ones, so he'd count it as a blessing.

"Yeah," Night Howl agreed once more as the three waited and relaxed in peace for a while before the soft 'Ding' of the elevator across from the break room caught their attention.

Through the glass walls of the break room, they saw a very unusual sight. A young woman with silky straight blond hair and vibrant blue eyes exited the elevator. Her eye color was offset by the bold pink hue of her short, sleeveless dress, and perfectly matched trendy pink makeup. An excessively fluffy cropped jacket covered her arms and practically hid the gold chain resting over her shoulder connected to a small designer clutch that rested at her side. The black choker around her neck matched her black velvet, thigh-high stiletto boots, which clicked against the tile floor as she strode out of the elevator with two large men in suits behind her.

"I'm pretty sure none of that is standard issue," Canine muttered as he watched the woman and the two men walk down the hall with purpose.

"Put your jaw back in place. You never know who's connected to who with Umbrella in the mix," Chris pointed out, and the two nodded.

"I mean fair, but a sore thumb is a sore thumb... Are we sure she's supposed to be here?" Night Howl replied.

"She went towards the director's office..." Canine said with a frown before an idea came to mind. "Hey Alpha, maybe you should confirm our debrief time?"

Chris gave a tired sigh, but got up, knowing they wouldn't let it go until someone checked. "I'll be right back. If this ends up being nothing, you're doing reps," he stated, and the others nodded. With that, he went to see what the unusual guests were up to, and make sure they weren't trying anything.

As he walked down the hall, his expression shifted to one of confusion. The woman and the two men were nowhere to be seen.

"You guys have some nerve, you know that?!" said a muffled woman's voice from the director's office. All right. Color me curious. Chris leaned against the wall outside of the director's office to listen in for now.

"Must be fun being Umbrella's dogs now, huh?" the voice accused. "Did you think I wouldn't find out who blew up my lab?"

"Your lab?" the director asked, shocked that anyone would just waltz into his office and admit that.

"Yeah, my lab. I have my rights. That was private research that you were tampering with," she further accused.

"There are exceptions to those rights when you're making Bioweapons that can result in mass destruction—" the director started with his usual calm even tone only to be cut off.

"Oh, so just kicking down doors and blowing up buildings isn't domestic terrorism?” she countered as the shuffling of cloth suggested she’d folded her arms. "Just because Umbrella thought to buy out a bunch of mercenaries before I did, doesn't mean I'm going to lay down and take it. Tell them to keep their nose in their own business," she said with an air of confidence.

"What makes you think you can just make demands? I should have you arrested," the director pointedly remarked.

The sound of a few clicking steps and creaking wood suggested the woman had moved to sit on the director's desk. "Oh, I'm sure you'd like that. Thing is, I'm not some faceless, nameless guy in a white coat," she said, clearly not taking the threat seriously. "While I'm sure my scientists made for some fun target practice for your meatheads, the difference is, the world knows who I am. If something happens to me, they're going to want answers." Her tone was condescending, as if she were trying to explain something simple to a small child. "And if they want answers, where will that lead them back to? Oh sure, my own labs will be exposed, but what more would that cost you? All of your itsy-bitsy secrets you've been burying for years and years and yeaaars," she taunted with a laugh.

"I'd end up in a cutesy rehab center and get bailed out in a few years. You, though? How many war crimes have you committed? You might be UN sanctioned, but you work with a competitor of mine," she pointed out while the director remained silent. "And it's going to be hard to keep people from panicking if they find out about why you exist now, wouldn't it? How many more strands and variants will go on the market once more people find out it's possible? Goodness, whatever would the UN think if they found out you're taking bribes from another company that does the exact same FUCKING thing," she threatened, her sweet tone gradually replaced with a harsher, aggressive one. Another creak of wood suggested she got up as she cleared her throat.

Again, the director was silent.

"That's what I was hoping to hear," she said in a saccharine tone as she snapped her fingers. "Charles, James, we're leaving. I think we've reached an understanding."

Chris’ frown remained as he listened to all of these accusations, and upon hearing the woman snap, he shifted to get up and walk away, so he didn't get caught listening to the conversation. That was a lot to consider. How much of what she was saying was true? She certainly got the director to shut up, which was not an easy task. As he rounded the corner of the hallway back towards the break room, he heard the clicking of heels against the tile floor behind him. He was a safe enough distance away at this point, so he slowed down to see if she was who he thought she was.

The steps moved with purpose until they came to a stop. "Ew. A meathead," the voice said with disgust. Hearing it caused Chris to turn and look. Sure enough, it was the blond woman from the elevator. "Both of you. Do your jobs please," she ordered giving her palm a small golf clap like pat. The two guards walked forward.

"Fifty-foot distance. Now," the one warned, clearly just wanting to get this over with.

Chris put up his hands and backed off. Based on the threats he heard, he'd listen. The last thing he needed was to be the reason that the BSAA became public knowledge. He made his way back to the break room and only then did the woman walk past and re-enter the elevator.

"Soooo," Night Howl said quietly. The team lead waited until the elevator doors closed all the way and the lights above it signaled that it was moving.

"We might have a problem," Chris admitted in a quiet whisper.

"Great, what else is new..." Canine replied with a sigh.

'*'*'*'*'

The debrief period went by pretty quickly. The Romanian missions usually went smoothly, which resulted in quicker release periods. He looked at the clock that read 5:30 pm. The sun was still up as well. This was a rare treat but even then, he didn't feel like he could enjoy it fully as the woman's words replayed in his head. He knew it was weird that the BSAA suddenly started working with Umbrella... What were they up to...? The worst part of it was, if he was going to find out, he'd have to keep following orders and snoop around in the background.

He thought about this as he breathed out a cloud of smoke, then tossed the dead filter of a cigarette out the window onto the highway. This habit of his was getting worse.

Before long he made it back to the garage, parked, and found himself in front of a familiar door. It was earlier than normal, but he was still hungry. After adjusting the bag on his shoulder, he knocked. The usual response could be heard, Duke barking and Emma telling him his silent command with chatter in the background... Wait, chatter in the background?

Emma opened the door and smiled. "Oh, hey Chris. Come on in." She stepped aside so he could enter, only to find Chelsea, Jack, and their three kids sitting at a neatly set table.

"Ah, it looks like now is a bad time," Chris replied, which Chelsea waved off.

"Nonsense. Come on in, we're just about to have a meal and catch up," she insisted with a somewhat mischievous smile. I'm getting to the bottom of this, the motherly woman thought with some level of annoyance. She had not forgotten her conversation with Emma back in December, and to say she was curious would be an understatement.

"My friend!" Summer exclaimed, getting up from her seat and running over to the door. She took Chris's hand and gave it a slight tug to try and coax him to enter the apartment. "Come on, you can sit next to me," she offered, as personable as always.

Well, this was probably unavoidable. He usually got in late, so he failed to consider that she might already have plans.

"It's okay. You don't have to if you don't want to," Emma affirmed as she took Summer's hand to keep her in the apartment.

Chris thought it over for a second. "I have a few minutes," he replied.

"Yay!" Summer cheered and hurried back to her seat then patted the one next to her to signal for Chris to sit there. Chris placed his bag down by the door and walked over to take the seat to the right of Summer. Meanwhile, Emma closed the door and went to the kitchen to get an extra plate, glass of water, and a set of silverware. She placed it in front of Chris before taking her seat at the head of the table, to his right. On the table was a classic Sunday dinner of a roast, mashed potatoes, peas, and gravy.

"How was your trip?" Emma asked with a sheepish smile.

Chris smiled back at that and chuckled as he started to relax thanks to the continued routine. "It was work." His tone added the extra context that it was probably pretty stressful.

"I feel that," Jack replied with a laugh. "So, what do you do?" he asked as he started serving up Summer's plate while Emma helped Maurie with hers since Chelsea had her hands full with Annie.

Chris paused at the question. How did he even answer that without getting into trouble...? "I'm afraid that's classified."

The answer got Jack and Chelsea's attention pretty quickly. "Oh, so secret agent sorta stuff. Cool, cool," Jack said to move on, though he already knew that this topic wouldn’t be dropped so easily.

"Uh huh... and how long have you been doing that?" Chelsea asked, then cast a quick 'you're kidding me right' look at Emma.

"... It's classified," Chris said again before taking a sip of water. Please stop asking.

"Right," Chelsea replied in an unamused tone. So far, she was not impressed. "Then what can you tell us about yourself?" she asked as Emma served herself now that everyone else had filled their plates.

The question caused Chris to falter slightly. That was broad. What did she want to know?

"Well, he's decent at poker," Emma said with a snicker to try to cover for him.

"And you cheat," he pointed out in return with an amused smirk.

"It was one time, and I didn't know," Emma replied, pouting slightly.

"So, which is it? Was it one time or did you not know? Because you had clearly played before then," Chris teased, accepting the new topic. Thank you, Emma. 

Oh crap. "Slip of the tongue," she answered then took a sip of her drink.

"You play?" Jack asked with a smile and Chris nodded.

"Every once in a while, with a few friends," Chris confirmed. This Jack guy didn't seem so bad, but Chelsea was starting to seem intimidating.

"Maybe I can get you at my table some time. We could use some new blood," Jack suggested with a grin. "It's the one time I'm not outnumbered by the ladies of the house.”

Chris gave a short chuckle of sympathy at the joke. All the same, that did seem rough. Jack went on for a good while on different tips and tricks, as Emma quietly listened and nodded. Chelsea gave Emma a look in a silent attempt to say 'That won't work forever,' but after that, the dinner went along without a hiccup. They all talked, told jokes, and laughed until their plates were empty, and their stomachs were full.

'*'*'*'*'

Time continued to pass, and the weeks flew by. Chris’s home routine went on as always. Sunday would arrive and Emma would drop off lunches. He'd work during the day, sleep at night, and on Thursdays after work, Emma would stop by for self-defense training. Before long, Saturday was quickly approaching and the final day of the month tolled.

Emma smiled while packing a backpack with plates, glasses, silverware and a large tablecloth to keep the more delicate items safely packed and secure. "There we go. That should be enough," she quietly mused to herself before shouldering the bag and putting Duke on his leash.

Once that was taken care of, she opened the door to find the others waiting for her in the hallway.

"Ah, Emma dear, good to see you," Mrs. Russo greeted with an excited smile. She and Marco were both carrying decent size picnic baskets.

"You have the plates and blanket right?" Bastion asked as he adjusted his hold on a cooler.

"Yep, I packed enough for the five of us," Emma confirmed as she closed the door behind her. Duke patiently sat and waited for permission to go down the stairs.

"Excellent," Marco said with a nod. "Though, speaking of five, where is Chris?" he asked, confused, before looking at Bastion. "You remembered to let him know about the picnic, yes?"

"Me?" Bastion asked with matching confusion. "Uh. No, I thought Emma was going to tell him, since she sees him more often than I do."

"Oh dear..." Emma said with a frown. "Nope. Sorry, I figured the Russos told him since it was their idea."

"I suppose we should have mentioned it," Mrs. Russo agreed with a nod. "One second," she added before heading over to Chris's door and knocking on it.

Before long Chris answered. "Mrs. Russo, what can I do for you?" he asked before noticing everyone in the hallway. "Is something wrong?" Apartment meetings were rare now that the whole break-in issue had been resolved.

"We were all just about to go on a picnic and realized we didn't really communicate properly on who was going to make sure you received the invitation to go with us," the woman explained apologetically. "Would you like to come with? We were just about to head out."

"Oh," he replied with a conflicted expression. Well, at least nothing was wrong. He had kind of hoped to work on some catch-up paperwork. He was still behind from those mini mission sprints a few months ago... "Sure, let me get my shoes," he said in response. A bit of fresh air never hurt. He walked over to where he left his sneakers and put them on before heading back to the door.

"Did you need me to bring anything?" he asked since everyone seemed to be carrying something.

"Could you carry Anna's basket? It's too heavy for her," Marco requested and Mrs. Russo waved him off.

"I'll be fine my love. You worry too much," she said in return, but all the same, she allowed Chris to take the basket as her husband requested.

"I don't mind," Chris confirmed as he adjusted his hold. "So where are we heading?"

"Just down the street to the park," Bastion answered as the group went down the stairs and out to the sidewalk.

It was a perfect early summer day. A few sparse fluffy white clouds dotted the bright blue sky, and a cool breeze kept the warmth of the sun from being too overbearing, yet was gentle enough not to be a future nuisance for the picnic blanket.

"So, what has everyone been up to?" Bastion asked as they walked down the street. "It's been a while since we all got together, and last time it was a pretty short gathering since we all wanted to get some rest."

"Work," Chris and Emma said at the same time, which caused the two to look at each other before snickering.

"Well, okay then. Hello stereo," Bastion said, amused. "So, the right side of the hall houses the workaholics.”

"Bastion, you work weekends. You're the biggest workaholic of us all," Emma pointed out with continued amusement.

"Tips are good on the weekend, though, and my wardrobe doesn't pay rent," Bastion jokingly remarked.

"That is unfortunate," Emma replied, shaking her head and smiling.

"Truly," Bastion agreed. "What about you, guys?" he asked while looking at the Russos.

"Oh, not much. Mostly just relaxing and enjoying retirement. Spending time with the grand babies and such," the woman replied fondly.

"Plenty of reading and football when it's on," Marco chimed in.

"You mean soccer?" the nail tech teased, earning him a hard stare.

"Football," Marco corrected. "Even the British who speak English know it's football. It's football."

"Okay," Bastion relented with a chuckle. Easy entertainment.

Chris smiled as he listened to everyone talk. He was kind of glad that he agreed to come. He hadn't realized it at the time, but he needed the break. The group continued to chat as they made their way into the park and walked around looking for a place to set up. The park was rather busy thanks to the pristine weather, so this was a task in and of itself. Eventually, they were successful in finding a place to settle in.

"This looks like a nice spot. A bit of shade next to the sunshine," Mrs. Russo determined as she stood by a large oak tree and motioned for Emma to come over. "Here, Emma, I'll help with setting up the blanket."

"All right," Emma agreed and put her backpack down by the base of the tree, then put down Duke's leash as well. The well-trained dog contently laid down and waited.

"Thank you dear," Mrs. Russo said, accepting the large tablecloth. The women each held two corners and fluffed out the cloth, so they could lay it down. "And there we go. We're ready to unpack the food. I hope everyone is hungry," Mrs. Russo added, clearly excited to have everyone together for a meal.

"Starved," her husband replied as he put down the basket on one corner of the large cloth. Chris saw this and did the same with the basket he'd been tasked with carrying and put it down on a different corner.

"I figured it's too early for alcohol, so I packed some soda instead. I hope that's all right," Bastion mentioned as he set the small cooler on a third corner.

"Not a problem at all," Mrs. Russo confirmed and got to work setting out the food, while Emma put out plates, silverware, and glasses for everyone. The blanket was covered with dishes containing farro salad, a mixture of pears and cheese, piadina with lettuce, tomato, ham, and mozzarella to put inside, and at the center of the picnic was a neatly prepared layered torta.

Everyone took a seat once everything was set up and Duke crawled forward to eye the pile of thinly sliced ham with great interest.

"This all looks amazing. Thanks so much for putting this together," Bastion sincerely praised as he looked over the selection of food.

Chris nodded in agreement. "Thanks for inviting me."

Mrs. Russo was the first to serve herself. "It's my pleasure. Honestly, I've been wanting to go on a picnic like this for some time, and food tastes better when shared with good company," she said before a thought came to mind. "Oh! Before we get too comfortable, we should take a picture," she suggested, putting down her plate so she could get up. "We hardly ever get to spend time together as a group during the day. It would be nice to have a picture of everyone."

"I don't see why not," Chris agreed with a shrug.

"That sounds great, I'd love a copy if you can send it to me," Bastion replied.

"Same, I can put it on my fridge," Emma said with a smile.

"My love, how are you going to be in the picture?" Marco pointed out, which caused the woman to frown.

"Oh..." She hadn't thought of that. "I'll just ask someone else to take the picture. Hold on a second." She hurried off to find someone, which took a few minutes, but she eventually returned with a kind stranger who agreed to help.

"All right everyone, sit close together," the stranger instructed while adjusting the phone so everyone would fit in the frame. "Smile, and... there," they said before walking over to offer the phone back to Mrs. Russo. "Here you go."

"Thanks so much," she said as she accepted her phone back. The stranger gave a parting wave and went back to what they were doing.

"He's drooling," Mr. Russo pointed out to the group while gesturing to the dog, who was making a rather effective begging face. "The poor pup. We might as well give him a little bit," he suggested and looked to Emma for permission.

"Well. Hm. I don't know. Ham usually has a lot of salt in it... It's not good for dogs," Emma said, thinking it over... "He could maybe have some mozzarella, if you want to give him something."

"Fair enough," the man replied while putting together a sandwich with the piadina and prepared ingredients. As he did so, he broke off some mozzarella from a slice and tossed it over to Duke, who happily ate the treat. "That's a good boy," Mr. Russo said with a laugh before looking at his wife. "We should get a dog."

"No," Anna quickly cut that idea off. "I've raised how many children with you? I know well enough who will be taking care of training the dog."

Marco shrugged in response. Oh well. He tried.

Emma tried not to laugh at that and focused on serving herself from the collection of food. "Well, if you want to play with Duke after this, I'm sure he'd appreciate the time to run around," she offered as a consolation.

"Sure, why not," Marco agreed with a nod before taking a bite of his sandwich.

The group enjoyed some peaceful time outside as they ate their meals. Birds chirping, the soft rustling of leaves in the trees as they swayed in the warm summer air. Even though the park was in the middle of a very full and busy city it always managed to maintain that sense of peace that came with being in nature. Well, most of it.

"Bee," Emma said, terrified, quickly moving away from the blanket. "Nope, nope no, no no no," she cried, dodging around the bug with a yelp.

Chris managed to keep any chuckling to himself, while Bastion openly laughed at the display. "Emma, relax. It's more afraid of you than you are of it," the nail tech said with a smirk.

"I've made it this far in my life without being stung by a bee, and I'd like to continue that streak, thank you very much," Emma said, frowning while looking around. Where did it go...

Duke saw his human hurrying around and quickly made his way over and play bowed to show he was ready to run.

"Looks like he wants to run around too," Marco said while shifting to get up. "Come on, it will be a good distraction from the bugs."

Emma nodded, embarrassed at that point, but went with it. "That should be okay so long as he keeps his leash on," she agreed, looking at the dog. "Zoomies?" she asked, which caused the dog to run around even more excitedly before hurrying out to the field. Zoomies was his favorite game!

Emma and Marco hurried after the dog, who happily ran around the field, dodging between them, getting close, but not too close, so he didn't get caught. While they played with the pup, Mrs. Russo packed away the remaining food with Bastion while Chris stacked the dishes off to the side of the large cloth.

"That was good. I could use a nap," Bastion admitted with a content chuckle.

"Go ahead then, dear. I don't think any of us are in a rush," Ms. Russo said in return.

The nail tech thought it over for a second before shifting to lay down on the cleared space and rested his eyes. Chris smiled to himself as he looked around at the group, then leaned back to relax against the base of the tree and rest his eyes as well. A few minutes wouldn't hurt.

Those few minutes passed, and the thundering sound of paws coming into ear shot caused Chris to open his eyes and find Duke was now sitting next to him, still very ready to take off if need be. Emma was on her way over as well and she stopped in front of the two, while Mr. Russo returned to sit next to his wife.

"Well, looks like you've been marked as base," Emma announced with a laugh.

"Pardon?" Chris asked with amused confusion.

"Duke usually does this when he wants to stop playing. He finds a spot he thinks is safe then just kind of stops and assumes this ready position in case he changes his mind," Emma explained while looking at Duke, who had moved from a ready position to a more relaxed one. "I don't think I've ever seen him pick a person for that."

"Well, that's pretty high praise then," Bastion said with a smirk while continuing to relax with his eyes shut.

"Yeah, suppose there's a first time for everything," Emma confirmed as she sat and pet the tired dog. "Maybe it's because we're outside."

"Maybe," Chris agreed with a shrug.

The second-floor residents continued to enjoy their restful time together. Occasionally someone brought up small talk, but it always returned to a calm and comfortable silence as everyone simply enjoyed each other's company and the time away from the stress of their usual daily lives.

Chapter Text

July was a restful blur as routine returned. On Sundays, Emma would stop by to drop off the usual set of Tupperware that held Chris's lunches for the week. Chris would go to work, do paperwork, drills, and occasionally look for clues to prove or disprove the claims of the woman who had stormed the building alone. Thursday would come along, and the two would practice Emma's self-defense drills. It was simple and good, but like all things with the BSAA, good things can't last forever, and fieldwork was once more required. The timing of it made Chris suspicious as he felt like he was getting close to a lead, only to be sent to Romania for another three weeks. More than enough time to re-bury anything he was close to digging up.

August had just about passed because of this, as he walked up the stairs at 7 pm on the 29th, a Wednesday night, only to notice something strange.

"What the hell?" he said quietly. More than half of the second floor was blocked off by caution tape, making it so he couldn't get to his apartment. With a concerned expression plastered to his face, he stopped at Emma's door and knocked. To his relief, she answered.

"Chris! You're home. Um. Okay so…" she started, clearly not sure how to address the bright yellow elephant in the room as she looked at the caution tape. "There was a slight problem while you were gone, and there's not an easy way to explain it, but, well, your apartment got flooded..."

"What?" he replied with a stunned expression.

"We tried calling, but we couldn't reach you. It kept saying your number wasn't available..." Emma offered as further explanation while shaking her head. "Mr. Jacobs really should be the one telling you this... but please come in. I'll make you something to eat." She moved out of the way, and Chris walked in, leaving the bag by the door, then taking a seat at the island.

"When did this happen? What happened?" he asked, still trying to process what he had been told.

"It was about two weeks ago. There was a pretty bad leak from the laundry room. It ended up spreading into your apartment and the Russo’s," Emma said with a sympathetic tone. "It managed to spread from the living room into the bedroom and bathroom of both apartments before they were able to get the water to stop and control the spread," she added before walking away to the back of her apartment. When she returned, she carried a decent size cardboard box with her, which she placed on the island. "I hope it's okay, but I used the emergency key for your apartment to try and get some of your stuff out of the flooded area. It's not much but—" she shrugged. "The kitchen and study were apparently untouched, but Mr. Jacobs had to cut off that half of the hall while repairs are going on..."

Chris’ shoulders dropped slightly upon hearing this. That cheapskate. He’d brought up the laundry room with Mr. Jacobs over a year ago. The landlord knew this would happen eventually and just wanted to put off paying for it. Served him right that he had to pay for the repairs... but dang it all, his stuff. "How far are they into repairs?"

"Last I heard, it's going to take another week at least," Emma admitted with a slight frown. "They had to dry it out for five days before construction started, and it's seven rooms’ worth of damage. Not including the hallways, and the apartments below us, so…"

"Right," Chris said with a frustrated sigh, his scowl deepening as he ran a hand through his hair.

"I know it's not ideal, but if you need a place to stay, I have a couch?" Emma offered with a hesitant smile.

Chris thought it over. It was late already. Finding a hotel would be expensive, and he doubted the landlord would reimburse that long of a stay. "That would actually be great. If you don't mind."

"It's not a problem. In the morning, I can try and pick up an air mattress or something more comfortable?" Emma offered in an attempt to be accommodating to Chris’s situation, but Chris shook his head.

"The couch is fine," he confirmed. He would definitely owe her one for this. "I'm not really a great cook, but do you want a slice of pizza?" he offered since he didn't feel right asking Emma to cook when he was going to be couch-surfing at her place for the next while. The question caused her to chuckle.

"Sure, I'd like that," she replied with a smile.

"Pizza it is then. I'll see if that one place from before delivers. What kind do you usually get?" Chris replied, taking out his phone to call in an order for a pizza.

"Just cheese is fine," Emma replied as she walked back towards her room to get a few spare supplies from her closet to set up the couch.

Chris nodded to show he heard even if she couldn't see it and placed an order for a half cheese and half ultimate pizza. Pizza was supposed to have toppings, but she could be wrong if she wanted to. "The pizza should be here in thirty," he said before getting out of his seat. "You said my study was safe, right?" the agent asked, hoping he didn't mishear that part. It was unnerving to know people had been in his apartment without him supervising, considering all the sensitive documents and equipment he kept at home...

"Yeah, I didn't really check though," she admitted as she walked back into the main living area with some blankets, a pillow, and a fitted sheet. "I mostly just moved things out of the way of the puddle and picked up anything that looked important, like electronics, to keep it safe."

"Thanks again," he said with a grateful expression. "I think I might see if I can salvage anything else while we wait..."

"Go for it. You can use my study to store as much as you can fit," Emma offered as she walked over to the longer of the two couches and started placing the fitted sheet over the cushions, so it would seem more mattress-like.

Oh, thank heavens. He'd be able to get all those documents moved in that case. That would be much-appreciated peace of mind. He'd have to do a full inventory to make sure nothing was missing too... This might take a while.

With that thought, Chris walked out, past the tape, and into his apartment to look around. The place was an absolute mess. All of his furniture had been shoved over into the kitchen, which was completely inaccessible now. The area was deafeningly loud thanks to the many industrial fans left running to keep the place dry in case of any further leaks during the repairs. He silently made a note to be ready to argue with the landlord over his electric bill because he was not paying for this. A tired sigh was muted by the loud equipment, but all the same, he made his way to his study and started collecting books and boxes to carry over to Emma's apartment for storage. It took several trips, but by the time the pizza had arrived, he'd moved over most of it, and Emma had set up a place for him to rest.

"Thanks for the meal," Emma said as she took a slice from the box.

"I'm pretty sure I owe you more than a few slices of pizza at this point," he replied while taking his own slice from the box. "You saved me from a three-way argument with Mr. Jacobs and the insurance company over who's paying for a hotel."

"That would be entertaining to watch," Emma joked, snickering. "Who would win, the insurance adjuster, the landlord, or the living tank?"

Chris gave her a gentle nudge in response, which caused her to laugh. The two ate their junk food meal and chatted before a question came to Emma’s mind.

"Not to pry but a week was an optimistic guess on my part," Emma started while trying to gently approach the subject, "what do you think you're going to want to do about your clothes? Considering your room was affected, any clothes still in there might not be clean..."

"Ah...um," Chris frowned. He hadn't considered that. "Hm. And the laundry room is out of the question."

"Yeaah," Emma confirmed with a nod as he seemed to start to understand the problem. "There's the laundry room on the third floor, but that's been crowded since it's the only access left for all twelve apartments... well, I guess it's more like nine since I think some of the downstairs neighbors left for the time being, and so did the Russos, but still."

Well shit... "I'll just sleep in this for now and see if I can figure something out after work. Maybe there's a laundry mat I can go to," he offered as a potential solution.

"That's kind of where I was going with this. I found a laundry mat a few blocks down, but you know how parking is around here," Emma replied and he nodded.

"Nonexistent, so you're better off walking," he replied, as this was just getting more and more complicated.

"Yep," Emma confirmed with a slight smile. "I've found it's better to go during the week. Weekends are always packed. So, if you want, I can help with shuttling things around tomorrow to get them washed up and stored away."

Chris bobbed his head while thinking it over. "I might take you up on that.” He was going to have to wash everything, so having an extra set of hands would be helpful.

"'Kay, I'll wait to head out until you get back then," Emma replied before moving to walk away. "For now, I'm going to call it a night." She stretched. "Make sure to lock up once you're done moving things around?"

"Can do," he agreed with a nod as he took another slice of pizza.

"See ya in the morning," she added, giving a short whistle to signal for Duke to follow her into her room before she closed the door.

"See ya," he said with a short wave.

The agent did as she requested. Once he was finished moving around everything from his apartment, which included a pile of damp-smelling clothing, he locked up and put away the leftover pizza before heading over to the couch to settle in for the night as well.

Be-be-be-beep be-be-be-beep... be-be-be-beep be-be-be-beep... Chris lazily rolled over.

Emma's voice could be heard in the distance. "Your alarm is going off."

"I hear it," he replied sleepily and yawned.

"Mmkay," she replied simply.

As the smell of eggs finally registered, he picked up his phone and turned off the alarm. After a minute, he finally rolled off the couch to get up.

"Morning," Emma greeted as she poked at the contents of a frying pan with a spatula. She was already awake and ready for the day. She gave the contents a small flip before sliding them onto a plate next to her, making a neatly folded omelet. It looked like it was a simple spinach and cheese one. "Do you want one?" she offered, holding up the pan. Chris thought about it, debating between greasy leftover cold pizza and a warm breakfast.

"Sure," he confirmed as he shuffled over to check the coffee maker. Yep, there was a pot already brewed. She didn't seem like it, but he guessed she was a morning person during the week.

Emma nodded and walked over to the fridge. "Let's see, I have some leftover Fajita chicken and some hamburger. I could probably break either of those up. There are some diced red and green peppers in the freezer, onion, spinach, oregano, parsley… um right, leftover pork roast— hmm, no actually, I'm going to save that for dinner. I can make burritos with that..." She listed off ingredients she had that could be included.

"Chicken with red and green peppers sounds good," Chris replied.

With that, she got to work on the omelet. "Can do," she said, and before long, the small, folded circle was plated and placed on the island. It was similar to their dinner routine, but this time she put a plate next to his. She grabbed a bottle of ketchup from the fridge, then took the seat next to him.

"Ketchup on eggs?" he asked as she made a little squiggle down the omelet.

"Ketchup on omelets is normal, don't even," she replied with a shocked expression. "Would you rather that I put buffalo sauce on it?" Emma teased before shaking her head at the ridiculous idea.

"Actually," he said with a smile, getting up to go check the fridge for hot sauce.

"Christopher Redfield, you are not ruining the perfectly good food I just made you," Emma demanded in mock protest.

He turned around with a confused, but ultimately amused, expression. "Did you just mom voice me?" he asked, causing them both to start laughing.

"I will mom voice the heck out of you if you're going to disrespect my food like that," she half-heartedly threatened. In the meantime, Chris found what he was looking for and took his seat once more before making a similar squiggle on his own omelet. "Fine, see if I make you breakfast again," she said with a playful pout.

He ended up cutting off a piece of the thin egg loaf and offered her his fork. "Try a bite," he gently insisted as Emma shook her head no. "Seriously, it's good," he added with a laugh.

Emma thought it over. She really didn't want to eat that. "Okay fine, but only if you try a bite with ketchup since you mocked my omelet too."

"Deal," he replied.

Crap, I thought that would work... All the same, she cut off a piece of omelet with ketchup for him, and handed it over in exchange for the fork he offered her. She stared at it for a moment before taking the bite and making a face. "UH-UH," she said with her mouth closed, shaking her head as she forced herself to finish it. A similarly less-than-happy coughing came from Chris after he choked down the bite.

"Why is it sweet?" he asked, confused.

"Why is it so spicy? It's breakfast," she rebutted, and the two continued to laugh before returning to their own dishes. 

I think I have feelings for her. The pesky thought returned. He could have sworn he had burned that one away. He tried to ignore it nonetheless, and before long, the two had finished their meals. Chris got ready for work and opened the door to leave.

"I'm heading out," he called to make sure Emma knew to lock up.

"Oh! Wait a moment!" Emma shouted as she hurried back into the kitchen. Some rustling could be heard as she put something together before walking over to Chris to offer him a small padded lunch sack. "Have a good day at work," she said with a smile.

 I think  I have feelings for her.

Oh God Damn Bitch Ass Hell Fucking Shit...The first two words of the original thought fell away, the two words protecting him from having to really think about it. This was nice... all of this. Having someone to greet him when he left. Having someone to come back to. Having someone that would hear what he was saying even when he wasn't actually saying anything at all. Someone that made him want to be better. Someone to argue with, then laugh about it with after. Hell, someone to joke around with about eggs in the morning. Just. All of it.

He took a breath. "Yeah. Thanks. You too," he replied and accepted the offered lunch while he continued to process that thought. It kind of—

"And they were roommates," Bastion said quietly from the other side of the hallway while sipping at his morning tea.

"Bastion, good morning," Emma greeted, still smiling, though now pink in the cheeks. "Yeah, I guess we are roommates for now," she agreed with a chuckle before looking back to Chris. "Anyway, I should head out too. They're getting stricter about clocking in on time," Emma added before going back to the kitchen to get her own lunch. "See you later."

"Right, yeah. See you later," he agreed, then left for work. This was a cigarette moment... Unfortunately. Okay... So. The thought wasn't going away. He was going to have to do something about it. He could already feel the thought eating away at him. He should probably set up some personal ground rules for discussing this. Maybe that would help...

Ground rule number one. Not while he was staying with her. That's an absolute no. How would that even sound? 'Hey, I spent one night on your couch, and now I think I love you.' See?! Look at how irrationally that escalated. Absolutely not allowed.

Okay. Ground rule number two. It can't be during training... That one should be obvious. Training like that was an act of trust. She was willingly putting herself in a vulnerable position specifically because she trusted him not to take advantage of her.

Last one. Ground rule number three. He probably shouldn't bring this up while she's cooking. She'll just take it as a joke.

He nodded at this and then ended up frustrated. They didn't really spend any time together aside from that. Smoke left his mouth as he exhaled. This... was going to be more troublesome than he thought.

Even with the ground rules set, the thought was rather distracting throughout work. Not so much from excitement or jitters as much as annoyance with the timing. Of course, he had to have this lovely epiphany when he was going to be living with her for the next week or so. Now he'd have to try and pretend that everything was normal. It kind of was normal. It just wasn't, at the same time, which made it all the more frustrating.

Thoughts like this would continue to distract him as he finished his day at work and made his way back to Emma's apartment. He found himself staring at the door. Should he knock? He was staying here at this point. Did that mean it was okay to just walk in? In the end, he decided to be safe rather than sorry and knocked on the door.

Emma opened the door with a confused expression that turned to surprise. "Hm? Oh, hey Chris," she said in greeting and opened the door the rest of the way. "You don't need to knock while you're staying here. Do you still have the key for my place from the key share?"

He nodded as he walked into the apartment. "Yeah, I have it still. I just figured I shouldn't assume, is all."

"Not a problem. Thanks for checking," she said in return. "For now, my home is your home, so you don't need to worry about that."

"All right," he replied.

Well, that's odd... He's being really quiet, Emma thought with a concerned frown. Maybe he had a rough day at work? "Did you still want to head over to the laundry mat?" she asked, figuring if he had a rough day, he might want to just wash a few things upstairs and call that good enough.

Crap right. "Yeah, I'm still all right to do that if you are," the agent confirmed.

"All right, I'll grab a basket then. Did you get your clothes moved to the study, or did you leave them in your room?" Emma asked as she went back to her own room to get a large plastic laundry basket.

Chris followed, but stayed in the small hallway for the back rooms. "I moved everything to the study. Hopefully, that's okay."

"Yeah, that's fine," Emma affirmed as she returned with the basket. "Let's see if we can get this taken care of."

Inside of the study, the large mound of clothes lay waiting next to a basket that was already full. Between the two of them, they managed to carry most of it and walked out to make their way down the street.

"I can head back to the apartment and pick up the rest of it if you're okay with watching the machines," Chris offered.

Emma nodded. "Sure, I can do that.”

He opened the door to the laundry mat. Emma smiled at the gesture and went inside to find that the place was empty. Not too surprising for a Thursday night. "Oh my gosh, it's Thursday," she realized with a slight frown as she walked over to one of the tables to put down the basket she'd been carrying. "Darn, sorry, I completely blanked on that," she admitted. "I guess this means no training for today."

Oh, thank god. "It's not going to hurt to miss a week," he said in response with a shrug, blessing his luck for that one. He did not need to deal with close proximity while trying to figure out what was going on with his brain.

"I suppose," she agreed half-heartedly.

"You sound disappointed," he pointed out with mild amusement as he walked over to one of the machines to check the cost and make sure it was empty. He had definitely learned his lesson.

"I dunno, I guess I've started to look forward to it is all. I like getting to spend time with you," Emma contently admitted.

Was she trying to make this more difficult? Did she know? Was she just messing with him? "Isn't that what we're already doing?" he asked instead.

"Oh..." He had a point. Emma thought about it for a second. "Well yeah, that's true. I guess I—" She stopped as she noticed him just throwing everything in at once. "What are you doing?" she asked with concerned amusement.

The question left him confused. "Washing my clothes?"

"You don't sort them out first?" Emma asked, chuckling.

"Are you judging me?" he asked with a slight smirk while getting the machine set up with soap.

"A bit, yeah," Emma teased in response. "That's such a typical bachelor move."

He closed the machine and paid for the cycle to start. "Who said I was one?" he asked with a shrug as he moved to stand next to her and lean against the table bolted into the floor.

Emma's expression quickly switched to one of embarrassment. "Oh gosh, sorry. I did kind of just assume that. My bad."

Well, that backfired. "That's… I'm not... I was joking," he offered as clarification as he covered his eyes with a hand in an attempt to hide his reddening face. Smooth move dumbass. What happened to not talking about this while staying with her? Huh?

"Oh," Emma replied, sounding relieved. That could have been awkward. "Well, it was a convincing joke. You had me fooled."

He rolled his eyes at that and gave her a slight nudge. "Sure," he replied as he relaxed once more. "I'll be right back. I should get the rest of the pile."

"’Kay, see you in a bit," she said, taking a seat.

The evening went on rather uneventfully for some time after that. Chris returned with the clothes. More of the washers were filled to try to save time, and before long, the dryers were chiming to alert them that the clothes were clean and dry.

The two each checked a different dryer. While Chris simply gathered armfuls of the clothes to toss into the basket, Emma took each piece out one at a time, folding them before gently putting them into the basket.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"Folding them. Don't tell me you're planning on leaving them in a pile in the middle of the study," she replied with a playful smile.

He rolled his eyes and picked up a stray sock from the dryer to toss at her in retaliation.

Emma laughed while making a face but picked up the abandoned sock and threw it back at him. "Don't pick a fight unless you want a war. They’re your clothes, not mine," she pointed out.

Yeah, he did not need his underwear flying through the air. Those were in there somewhere, sooo... "I surrender," he quickly replied. "I'm just planning on folding them back at the apartment is all," he offered as further explanation. "It's getting late, and you probably should be getting back to take care of Duke, right?"

"True," Emma agreed, shrugging and following his lead to empty out the dryer. "I can at least help carry this back in the meantime."

"Thanks again for the help. This was probably kind of boring for you," he said as he picked up his basket and the two left.

"Not at all. Like I said. I like spending time with you," she replied as they made their way down the sidewalk.

Chris smiled. "I like spending time with you too."

Chapter Text

The weekend finally arrived, and with it, the first day of September. The last four days had been interesting. Chris quietly enjoyed his time with Emma while mentally panicking over what to do with his newfound revelation.

He tapped his thumb against the binding of the book he was reading before closing it and putting it down. "I'm going to go for a run," Chris announced, getting up, then walking out of the living room and back to the study, which Emma had graciously allowed him to use for the storage of anything he could salvage from his apartment.

"’Kay," she said while sitting cross-legged on the other couch and typing away at her laptop. "I'll lock the door after you head out." The incident from last year still had her shaken up about leaving the door unlocked at any time.

Chris nodded and went to get some gym clothes from the cluster of items in the study-turned storage room before heading to the bathroom to change. He eventually walked back out to find that Emma was still furiously clicking away at her keyboard.

"Still working on that report?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah, I need to send in the results of the last marketing campaign by Monday," she explained with a tired sigh. "This got a lot more difficult now that the new parent company gave us so many more contracts to manage. It feels like they're launching a new EP each week." As she explained, she took a loose hairband from her wrist to pull back her hair enough to keep it out of her face.

Chris chuckled and nodded. "You got this. Kick its ass," he offered as a vote of confidence while walking to the door.

"Hell yeah," Emma cheered with a laugh, then got back to work before remembering something. "OH! Don't forget your keys," she called, which caused him to stop, pat his pockets then turn around to get them.

"Thank you... Trying this again. See you in a bit," he said and walked out, locking the door behind him before exiting the building to the street to start his run.

Okay, some time alone to sort out my thoughts, he thought as he made his way down the sidewalk. Where to start. He had five more days until he could go back to his apartment. Which meant five days to figure out what to do... Maybe he could just put this off longer. He struggled with this whole emotions thing. He knew that, but what was he supposed to do? How exactly did he go about explaining his change in intentions towards her when, in all honesty, it... It kind of scared him.

That thought got him to run faster. He could spend weeks on end fighting bioweapons and horrors. Things that would go bump in the night that would make anyone else run in fear. Yet, something so human made him want to turn tail and run or just ignore it. It was better that way. It was easier that way. It didn't hurt that way. For most of his career, he had spent his days watching the people he grew to know and care about get killed. 'Kill or be killed.' Accept that anyone you meet, know, or care about could be your next target. Friends. Family. Anytime he got close to someone, they'd end up at death's door. That was what happened to Cathy and her son, Sheva and Rebecca, and Piers and Jill, multiple times. Hell, even his own sister gave him a few scares. That's not even accounting for every time he went on a mission and came back as the only survivor, having been forced to watch his squad-mates die and then kill them again if they got infected. Too many times, he’d go to a funeral, look at a casket, and know that the bullet holes in their body were there because of him. Because he chose kill, instead of be killed. Each and every time. Without hesitation.

He ran faster. How could he tell her that he was afraid of letting her get closer to him even if it's what he wanted; every time even when someone survived, they'd usually leave in the end only to speak with him when the next infection was starting to spread. That it felt like a curse; no matter where he went, death and isolation followed. How could he explain that by letting him into her life in the first place, she’d put herself in more danger than it ever could have been in before? And yet, he wanted her to stay because she was willing to share the burden, so maybe the plague that followed him would lessen slightly? That she somehow made it go away for just a minute and let him breathe.

How could he ask for that much when he was lying to her? Thoughts of the recent lab incident came to his mind. He might not be lying in the traditional sense, but withholding information was a lie in its own right. He was lying to himself by saying he couldn't tell her because it was to protect her. That it was because of work. A convenient truth that allowed him to hide that he felt that if she knew, she'd at the very least resent him. If he was going to do anything. He'd have to tell her the truth first...

He ran faster. If he just stayed quiet about all of this, everything could keep going as it was. Continue saying 'it was work' and laugh. Stay neighbors, just be friends, eventually grow apart, and send a postcard every once in a while for the holidays.

He stopped to catch his breath. He'd been running for the last thirty minutes and sprinting the last few blocks. He moved to the side of the walkway to lean against the nearest wall and rest his hands on his knees as he hung his head and breathed.

And that's when he saw it, out of the corner of his eye. Two men, looking away, wearing black sunglasses, hats, and windbreakers with familiar bold white letters on them. "You've got to be kidding me..." he said quietly while avoiding turning his head, so they wouldn't see that he’d noticed them.

For now, his thoughts would have to wait. He continued his run as if nothing had happened, made a turn here and there, and stopped every so often. Yeah. They were tailing him. Keeping a little more than a block and a half of distance, roughly 400 ft... "Not again," he growled and started making his way back to the apartment. He dashed up the stairs to unlock the door and closed it behind him before locking it again.

"Hey, how was your r—" Emma started only to get cut off.

"If anyone asks, I'm not here," Chris insisted, immediately heading back to the cluttered study and closing the door behind him.

"Okay?" Emma replied with a confused tone and expression as she glanced from the study to the front door. What on earth happened? Not long after that, a knock sounded on the door.

Ring: [Alert - Motion Detected]

She opened the app to find two men in black hats and sunglasses, wearing black windbreakers that boldly proclaimed 'CIA.' What. The. Hell? Emma cautiously put her laptop down on the coffee table and walked over to the door to open it slightly. "Hi, can I help you?" she asked with a quizzical expression.

"Good afternoon, ma'am. We're looking for a Christopher Redfield. Is he around?" the man on the left asked as the one on the right adjusted his hold on a manila envelope with a classic red 'CONFIDENTIAL' stamp marked on it.

"I'm afraid I haven't seen him in some time," she hesitantly replied as she thought over Chris’s hurried request.

"We saw him enter the building, ma'am," the man on the right replied.

Shoot. "Good for you," she said in response. "Pardon my curiosity. Did he do something wrong?"

"No ma'am. Quite the opposite actually," the one on the left stated. "We're with the recruitment division of the CIA. It's a matter of national security, and we really need to speak with him," he explained, clearly not believing Emma in the slightest.

Curse my bad poker face, Emma thought as she stared at the men, bewildered. Chris, what did you get into now? "Last I heard, he is some form of military. You should know how to reach him at work then," she pointed out with a frown, but her statement caused the men to shift in place while giving a low, short chuckle. "What's so funny?"

"I'm not sure who told you that, but he's not one of ours. Chris Redfield was dishonorably discharged from the Air Force back in '96 for insubordination, and his current company doesn't like day visitors. At least not the recruitment kind," the man on the right answered, hoping that would be enough to get into the door and check the place.

I'm sorry, what? "I see. Well. You learn something new every day. I'll leave you to your search," she said, then closed the door and locked it again before they could get in another word edgewise. Once it was safely locked, she leaned against the door and allowed herself to slide down it to sit on the floor. That was stressful...

Ring: [Alert - Motion Detected]

She gave a tired sigh and opened the app to see the two men were still there and were placing what looked like earbuds into their ears. Son of a— Are those eavesdropping devices? For the love of all that is holy. Go away! She got it. She couldn't tell a lie to save her life. An annoyed expression replaced Emma's tired one as she got up to go to her laptop, and clicked away at it before picking it up. She walked to the island to get a bar chair, then back to the door where she put down the chair and placed the laptop on it. Once she was set up Emma pulled up the app again to see if the agents were still there. Yep.

Click.

DISRESPECT YOUR SURROUNDINGS!

The sound clip looped as she watched the agents quickly yank the devices out of their ears and throw them to the ground in pain.

With that, Emma unlocked the door and looked at them disapprovingly.

"Gentleman, you're still here?" she asked, clearly displeased. "I hope you don't mind the noise; this always gets me amped up for my daily smoothie and workout of vacuum aerobics," she said as a threat of more noise to come if they stayed.

Upon hearing that, they picked up the devices from the ground and grumpily walked away. Once she was sure they’d left, she locked up the apartment again and turned the music off. She left the chair and laptop by the door, but set her Ring camera alerts to priority before heading over to the study door and knocking on it.

"The big, bad, scary recruiters are gone," she said, still frowning slightly as Chris opened the door. "So, are you going to tell me what that was about, or was it 'work'?" Emma asked in an annoyed tone.

Chris gave a tired sigh. This was bound to happen eventually. "All right... let's talk," he agreed and motioned that they should head back to the living room. The two walked over to the couch, Emma took a seat, and Chris sat next to her.

"So, dishonorably discharged... You couldn't have corrected me when I said you were military over a year ago?" Emma started off. That would have been such a simple thing to correct.

"That's—" He paused and rested his elbows on his legs. "Yeah. I was twenty-three and a hothead."

"Still are," Emma corrected, and he shook his head.

"My commanding officer gave some orders I didn't agree with. I'm not one for blind loyalty. I refused, and the rest is history," he hesitantly explained.

"Okay... So, what are you doing then? I mean, I met your team. Hound Wolf Squad. That sounds military to me... Mercenaries?" she asked, trying to understand. He was gone all the time for work. She never really had an issue with it. She just kind of always assumed it was the 'fight for the forces of good and justice' kind of work, not the 'highest bidder' kind.

"That's—" he started and was once more cut off.

"Classified... right?" Emma said with a sigh. "You said you're not one for blind loyalty, but you're asking for a lot of it from me," she pointed out.

She was right. "It's... I work outside of the government for an international security agency under the approval of the UN," he answered, hoping that would work for now as he held his fist and tapped his thumb against it. "Look, if I could, I would tell you more, but there's only so much I can say."

That was actually comforting. He wasn't just a gun for hire, at least. The recruiters did say Chris didn't do anything wrong, so he was probably telling the truth. "International, huh?" she asked as her annoyed tone relaxed to a weary one. "That explains all the travel books."

Chris nodded. "It's not exactly a vacation."

"No, I can imagine not. You look like a zombie every time you get back," she replied, not realizing there was some truth in what she said.

You need to tell her, his subconscious rang in his ear. "There's something else I want to tell you but... I don't know if I should," Chris hesitantly admitted.

"Will you get into trouble if you tell me?" she asked in return.

"If I word it right, and you don't go sharing what I say, no," Chris further admitted guiltily. He was terrified, but he couldn't turn back at this point.

"Okay," she said, taking a breath in an attempt to restore her patience. "What do you want to tell me?"

Chris paused to think over how to explain this. "It wasn't a gas leak... the lab incident."

"What?" Emma asked with a mix of shock and horror.

"I was there. We tried to help, but your friend—" He felt a soft impact as Emma picked up a pillow and smacked him with it before getting up to try to walk away. Chris rose as well and reached out to grab her arm, only for her to use what he'd taught her to get out of his grasp.

"DON'T touch me," she said, clearly trying to keep her anger in check. "You. You were there the WHOLE time. You knew!" she declared in an accusatory tone, though she didn't move to leave.

"He was already gone... I'm sorry," Chris said quietly.

Tears formed in the corners of Emma's eyes. She hated this. She hated how much she cried. She hated how weak she felt. She hated how mad she felt. He was trying to be more open with her, but why did it have to be that? She was mad that he hadn't told her, but she also was mad that he did. He said he tried, but why didn't that make her feel any better? It hurt losing Tanner but finding out she could have lost more to that stupid explosion made the memory of the event sting that much worse.

Strong gentle arms moved to hold her. She didn't push away this time. Instead, she stayed still, eventually raising a fist and gently hitting it against his chest a few times. It wasn't fair. Finally, her mouth went dry as she became dehydrated.

"I'll find somewhere else to stay," Chris offered quietly, causing Emma to look up at him.

"I lost Tanner to that stupid fire. I am not losing you too," she said with determination, despite her voice cracking from her parched throat. "So don't you dare run away and hide like that... I'm mad at you, livid frankly, but... I don't hate you." It hurt that he hadn't told her, but given how upset she'd been about it, it made sense that he'd hesitate. Even if that made her mad all the same.

Hearing that she didn't hate him made Chris feel lighter from the guilt he'd been holding. He gave her another gentle squeeze.

"...Hey Chris?" she quietly asked.

"Hm?" he replied.

"You're kind of really sweaty and gross," she said and he remembered he had just been running for the last hour before all this, causing him to let go of her. “Go wash up," she instructed, gesturing to the bathroom. "But leave some hot water, okay?"

"Right," he said and walked off to do that, giving Emma some time to sit on the couch and process her thoughts on her own.

She was mad at him, but she had two options. Be mad and never talk to him again, which she was well in her right to do, or consider that he did end up telling her, accept the apology and allow them both to move on. If she was just going to hold this over his head and resent him, they were both better off going their separate ways... She didn't want to resent him. It would take more than a few days for her to completely cool off, but in the end, she was just glad she didn't lose him too.

Chris eventually finished his shower, and Emma took one as well. Once her hair was dry, she walked out of the bathroom and over to the door to put on her flip-flops.

"Are you heading out?" Chris asked with a hint of concern.

"Yep, and you are too," she answered as she walked over to the kitchen to get her purse. "This place needs some time to air out, and after covering for you with the CIA recruiters, I think you owe me ice cream."

Chris hesitated slightly but got up. “Do you have a place in mind?” he asked with mild curiosity as he put his shoes on.

“Yeah, there’s a place down the road that I’ve been meaning to try that looked pretty good,” Emma explained as she waited for Chris to get ready. “It’s over by the park, but I think they’re seasonal. I’ve only seen them open during the summer.”

“I’ll have to take your word for it,” Chris replied as he made his way over to the door. It was strange, he’d lived in the area for a long time, much longer than Emma, but he never really went out except on rare occasions to a few places, so he didn’t know the area particularly well.

Emma led the way this time while silently debating what she should say if anything. If she was going to forgive him, she’d have to figure out how to move on… “So, what kind of ice cream do you like?”

Chris shrugged. “I don’t really have a preferred flavor. I don’t eat it that often.”

“Oh,” Emma said, unsure what else to say. That didn’t work…

Chris mentally kicked himself as the awkward silence returned. Come on. She is trying. Put in some effort. “What about you?” he asked in an attempt to revive the conversation.

Emma thought about it with a quiet hum before speaking. “Chocolate is a solid classic, but sometimes I like getting graham cracker ice cream if it’s available.”

“That’s a thing?” Chris asked with a raised eyebrow. He wasn’t going to judge, but that sounded pretty strange to him.

“Yeah, it’s surprisingly really good,” Emma confirmed while they walked through the blistering late summer heat. Ice cream was sounding better and better, making the sight of the small seasonal store that much more welcomed.

Chris opened the door for the two of them and, upon entering the store, they realized it was packed.

“Oh boy…” Emma winced as she looked at the line.

“At least the air conditioning works?” Chris offered as a bright side while the two got in line.

“True,” she agreed. At least it was better than the little window unit she had back at the apartment.

 A large chalkboard on the wall behind the counter listed different flavors written in a neat, scripted style. Let’s see, what do they have? Cherry. Chocolate. Coconut? Interesting. Chris read down the alphabetized list as they slowly made progress in line. “Huh, look at that. They have graham cracker.”

“Really?” Emma asked, standing on the tips of her toes to try to see the board over the crowd of people. She was able to see the top half of it, but the bottom half was obscured.

Right, she’s basically a foot shorter than me, and this place is packed. “Yeah, one second,” he said and shifted to take his phone out of his pocket. He took a picture of the menu, then offered the phone to Emma, so she could see.

“Thanks,” Emma replied as she accepted the offered device and looked over the options. They had chocolate marshmallow swirl too. “Well, now I’m torn…”

“Hm?” Chris replied as they took another step forward in line.

“I’m not sure if I want chocolate marshmallow swirl or graham cracker,” Emma admitted, offering Chris his phone back.

He chuckled at this and accepted his phone, then pocketed it. “Just get both then. I don’t mind.”

“Are you sure?” Emma asked with a hint of concern in her tone. He wasn’t just saying that because she was mad at him, right? While she had said 'he owed her' in the moment because she was still upset, she didn't want him to think that he had to buy her forgiveness.

“Yeah, I do owe you one on the assist with scaring off those recruiters,” Chris confirmed. “How did you manage that anyway? I heard some music playing. I’m not sure what happened…”

“Ah. Um. Well,” Emma looked away, feeling embarrassment creep in. “I tried telling them that I didn’t know where you were, but they didn’t buy it. I saw them put in some sort of eavesdropping devices through my camera… so I turned on loud music and threatened to turn on the blender and start doing vacuum aerobics.”

“What on earth is vacuum aerobics?” Chris asked, trying to stifle his laughter, which was not an easy task as he tried to imagine what that would even look like.

“I dunno. I was just trying to make it up as I went along,” Emma admitted with a defeated expression as a twitch of a smile started to form for the first time since they had left the apartment. Having some time to herself and showering after their fight had helped a little, but this was helping more than she expected.

The awkward air of tension slowly started to lift as they talked and made their way through the line.

“Hi, what can I get for you?” the worker behind the counter asked once they finally made it to the front of the line.

“Two scoops of raspberry swirl for me,” Chris replied.

“Two scoops for me too. Chocolate marshmallow then graham cracker,” Emma added to the order.

“Cups or cones?” the worker asked as they made their way over to a cooler with a glass display that showed the various tubs of ice cream.

“Cones?” Chris asked, looking at Emma, who nodded in agreement. “Cones,” he confirmed to the worker.

The worker nodded and started preparing the requested treats. He handed Emma her ice cream first, then scooped up Chris’. Raspberry jam was lightly mixed in with vanilla ice cream in a way that almost resembled a bloodshot eye. The comparison caused him to wince slightly, but it was too late now.

“Here you go, your total is $9.98,” the worker said as Chris accepted his ice cream. It took a moment to get his wallet and shuffle his card out with one hand, but he managed and paid for the treat. “Thank you, come again.”

“Thanks,” Emma said, looking around for a place to sit. The store was still just as packed, if not worse. “I’m kind of glad we got here when we did. I think the line got longer…”

“Yeah,” Chris agreed, trying to figure out what to do. “We could try sitting at the park?”

“That could work,” Emma agreed. It would be warm, but the ice cream would hopefully help them stay cool.

The two left the comfort of the air-conditioned building and made their way across the street to the park to try to find a place to sit. They eventually settled on an empty park bench nestled in the shade of a nearby tree.

Any remaining tension was swept away with the summer breeze as the two peacefully enjoyed the calm air of nature and wordlessly relished their treat for a few minutes.

Emma was the first to break the silence with a short chuckle. “Sorry I’m not talking. I can’t keep up with the rate the ice cream is melting,” she admitted before going back to the cone that was starting to drip again.

“Same. It’s okay though,” Chris said, almost grateful that it was melting since it managed to get rid of the creepy appearance he noticed before. “At least it tastes good.”

“Yeah,” Emma agreed before a thought came to her mind. “You haven't had this flavor before, right? Did you want to try?” she held the cone out to show she meant it.

It still seemed strange to him, but he did like s'mores, so it seemed like it was at least worth a try. “Sure,” he accepted and leaned to try some of the offered treat. It was actually pretty good. “Not bad. The texture is weird.”

“Yeah, it takes some getting used to, but it has a nice subtle flavor,” Emma admitted as she went back to controlling the messy melting treat.

Chris smiled at that while thinking it over. Emma seemed to enjoy sharing food for some reason. That was how she had introduced herself to the floor. When she checked on him, she brought food. When she led him on that adventure, she made sure to share then too… maybe that was just her way of showing she cared? “Did you want to try some of mine?” Chris asked hesitantly.

“Hm? Are you sure?”

“Well, I figured I’d get ahead of the curve this time, vulture,” Chris teased as he continued to think back on their little adventure fondly. Maybe communicating in a similar manner to how she did would show he was genuinely sorry about all of this…

“Stingy,” Emma replied, seeming to understand the joke. “Sure, I’ll try some.” She waited for him to offer the treat before taking a small bite. “Tasty,” she said with a smile. “I’m surprised you picked this over one of the bitter flavors. I thought you didn’t like sweet food.”

“I don’t mind it, just not for breakfast. Breakfast is too early to be eating anything sweet,” Chris replied, then returned his attention to his snack. “And I was just running for an hour in this heat, so ice cream sounded pretty good.”

“Fair enough,” Emma smiled to herself. This was nice.

Chapter Text

The last few weeks of September fell back into the usual rhythm. Chris moved back into his newly renovated apartment, Emma would drop off lunches on Sundays, and they'd practice on Thursdays. Summer gave way to Fall as October began. Chris closed the door behind him as he made it home from work, kicking off his shoes to shuffle over to the couch and take a seat.

Well. Now what? He thought with a tired sigh as he stared at the wall across from him. He eventually shifted to get his phone out of his pocket.

[Chris] Hey, Are you busy?

...

[Bastion] Not really. What's up?

[Chris] Mind if I stop by for a bit? I think I need some help.

[Bastion] Well color me surprised. Sure.

Chris eventually got up; he looked at his shoes and shook his head before walking over to the other door across the hall from his to knock on it.

Bastion opened it and leaned in the doorway. "I've been expecting you."

"Bastion," Chris said with an amused expression while raising an eyebrow to say 'seriously'.

"You're no fun," Bastion remarked with a defeated sigh while getting up and out of the way so Chris could walk into the very nicely decorated apartment. "It's early to be talking about Halloween costumes, but I can appreciate the initiative since you were late last year," he said as he closed the door behind the agent.

"Actually, it's not about that." Chris walked into the living room to take a seat.

"Oh?" Bastion asked, surprised. He took a seat in the chair next to the sofa. "Well, this really is a surprise then. What can I help you with?"

"You're more in-tune with your emotions and such," Chris began, earning an unamused stare from Bastion.

"Choose your next words carefully," the nail tech warned.

"...It's come to my attention that I might have developed feelings for Emma, and I don't know what to do about that," Chris admitted, taking the warning seriously.

"Oh, that's where we're going with this? Thank the stars, you finally figured it out," Bastion replied, clearly relieved and not surprised in the slightest, which confused Chris.

"You knew?" he asked as his eyebrows knit together.

"I've known since Halloween," Bastion said as if this should be obvious.

"Since three weeks from now?" Chris pointed out, further confused. Halloween hadn't happened yet, and he had only just figured this out at the end of August.

"It's been a year, Chris. A. Year." Bastion gave a small clap between each of the last two words.

"Oh," Chris replied quietly, frowning. How?

"You definitely need more help than you can get from me if you're asking a gay man how to get a woman," Bastion pointed out before shifting to stand back up and head over to the kitchen. "This seems like it might take a while. Do you want some tea?"

"Coffee if you have it," Chris replied, still mulling this over.

"Fine." Bastion brewed the two drinks and eventually returned, offering a cup to Chris before taking his seat again. "Okay, so you've opened your metaphorical Pandora's box." He crossed his legs. "Now the question really is: What do you want to do about it?"

Chris sipped his drink, then put it down on the coffee table in front of him. "That's where I'm stuck at the moment," he hesitantly admitted. "I want to tell her but..."

"Then tell her," Bastion said, shaking his head before taking a sip of his tea.

"It's not that simple," Chris replied as he moved to his usual thinking stance, leaning forward to rest his elbows on his legs and hold his fist.

"It is though," Bastion replied with an amused yet befuddled expression.

"It's not for me," Chris countered, turning his head to frown at Bastion. "There's not much that scares me, but this does," he openly admitted, which caused Bastion to pause as a more sympathetic expression crossed his face.

"All right," Bastion said before getting up to sit next to Chris. Taking the conversation more seriously, he placed a gentle hand on Chris’s back. "What's scaring you?" he asked, figuring that was the first thing they'd need to tackle.

Memories of each time he held a dead or dying partner came to mind in a mental collage. That was classified. "I'm afraid of losing her," he said, after thinking of a way to explain it without going into detail.

"Hm," Bastion nodded. It was a pretty normal fear. "So, you're worried if you tell her, then she might leave?" Bastion pressed to make sure he understood.

That wasn't exactly what he meant but— "That's part of it, yeah," Chris admitted.

Once more, the nail tech nodded before patting Chris and getting up again. "Okay well, Uncle Bastion is going to help you out. Luckily, I know a few dating tricks." He walked over to his fridge, took a flyer out from under a magnet, and then walked back to take his seat. "You know the 90-10 rule, right?" Bastion asked, causing Chris to raise an eyebrow.

"Can't say I do," Chris admitted, confused.

Lord, he really does need help. "Okay. So, crash course. 90-10 rule is for if you want to kiss someone that you haven't before, so you don't want to force yourself on them," Bastion explained. "You lean in 90% of the way and if they are interested, they move the last 10%." With that, he handed Chris the flyer.

Haunted Fair Ground!

Open from Oct 15th to Nov 3rd

Enjoy our amazing, haunted attractions - Fit for the whole family.

For the brave of heart, check out our haunted house full of ghouls and frights.

No costumes, face paint, or masks allowed on the fairgrounds.

"So, here's what we're going to do. We are going to go over there and tell Emma that we're going to the fairgrounds and see if she wants to go with us on the 16th. Oh, what a miraculous turn of events. I already have a date that day to go to that exact place," Bastion explained with a slight smirk as he sat back down next to Chris. "You two split off. Have a good time. Go through the haunted house. She screams and clings to your arm. It's cute, laugh about it. Get home, then invite her over for coffee," he continued. Chris nodded as he looked at the flyer. "This is where the 90-10 comes in. Sit on the couch, lean over to go for the 90% and if she doesn't move, grab something from the table next to her and move on with the night."

That... was actually crazy enough that it just might work. "Huh... that could work," Chris admitted. He'd be able to see if she felt the same way, with a way to backpedal if she didn't.

"Thank you, thank you. I have my brilliant moments," Bastion said with a confident smile. "Now, let's finish up our drinks and talk about something lighter in the meantime," he suggested. This wouldn't go well if Chris was nervous right off the bat.

'*'*'*'*'

Emma sat on her couch with her laptop on her crossed legs, and Duke curled up next to her. She plugged in her earbuds and got to work. It was frustrating, but she was late to the game for this round of EP selections. The senior marketing managers usually got the first pick and had regular agreements to work with the chart-toppers. Mostly the pop and electronic/techno artists. After that, the scraps of newly picked up talent were left for the junior marketers to pick through to see which one they wanted to work with for the month. It wasn't the best way to do it, but it made sure that people were passionate about what they were working on, so Emma respected the chaos it brought all the same.

"Let's see what we have this month," she mumbled, then started opening sound files. She slowly bobbed her head to the sound before eventually shaking it. Nah, that one wasn't going to catch on. It was absolutely all over the place. She closed the file and started up another one.

Okay. Not bad, that has a good bass line to it— her expression switched to one of confusion. "Is that Christian rock?" she asked herself with a confused expression. The melody and instrumental worked really well, but the lyrics were so niche that it would likely never make it in the mainstream. Dang, it all. If only she hadn't been late...

A tired grumble escaped her lips which Duke mimicked back, causing her to laugh. "Are you talking to me, bud?" she asked with an amused smile before she went back to sorting through sound files. She gave each one a fair try. It had been about an hour, and she made it about halfway through the files. The options were starting to dwindle as others took on their projects for the month. She needed to pick and fast.

*Click.* She nodded along to the music. Okay. All right...Hey, hold on. She smiled widely as she put a leg down and tapped it to the drumbeat and made a drumming motion with her fingers. This is actually really good! Holy he—How did no one pick up this EP yet?

Emma quickly dragged the folder into her stash as she continued to listen to the other songs for the set of four. Mouthed a silent 'Yas,' she continued to smile and jam along to the music. It was more punk/alt-rock, which wasn't what she usually worked with, but this… It was a sleeper track, and she was certain that it could make it on the charts if she tried hard enough. She had yet to pull that off, but if she ever was going to, then this was the track to do it.

'*'*'*'*'

Bastion collected the cups and glanced at Chris. "As much as I appreciate how comfortable you are in my home, you should probably head back to yours and put your shoes on before we head over to Emma's," the nail tech pointed out, causing Chris’s shoulder to drop.

"Probably a good idea," he agreed, rising and heading over to the door, then making his way back to his apartment. As he put his shoes on, a shrill sound caught his attention. He looked over to the kitchen wall with a confused expression. That was definitely some sort of timer or ringtone going off at Emma's place. He gave it a while, but it wasn't turning off. Concern started to wash over him as he dug through his pockets to get his keys and walked over to her door. That concern was only compounded when he knocked on the door and received no response.

He frowned at this and used his key to unlock the door. Upon entering, he found Emma sitting on her couch, drumming at the air while bobbing her head with a wide grin. Her earbuds were plugged in, and her phone sat on the kitchen island. Whatever she was listening to, it was too loud for her to hear her phone going off. Chris let out a sigh of relief and walked over, figuring he should get her attention.

"Never seems to be enough for me. We're forever! You and me together," she happily sang along with the chorus only to feel a tap on her shoulder which caused her to yelp as she closed her laptop and held it to her chest, standing up. "Chris?" She spoke louder than intended because of the music in her ear and removed the earbuds before continuing to talk. "What the heck? You scared the crap out of m—" She stopped as she realized her phone was going off. "Oh my gosh, my alarm." She hurried over to it and turned it off. "I am so sorry that must have gotten pretty loud," she apologized as Chris laughed.

"What on earth were you listening to that made it so you couldn't hear that?" he asked, amused. Emma smiled and put down the laptop on the counter.

"Okay, I'll show you, but you can't tell anyone that I did," she offered since she was excited about this. She pressed play and a loud guitar cried out along with the thumping beat of a drum.

"Is this punk rock?" he asked with a chuckle.

"It's good," she countered with a smile as she bobbed her head with the music again. "I'm going to get this one to the top of the chart even if it kills me."

"Emma," Chris replied with a disapproving tone.

"What? You joke about that all the time. Don't go all hypocritical on me," she declared as Bastion walked through the open door.

"Wow, you couldn't even wait for me?" he teased, giving Chris an amused smile before starting to bob his head as well. "Hold up, what's this?"

"Right?" Emma smiled at Bastion. "Keep an ear out for it. It's going to get on the radio if I have anything to say about it," she declared with excited determination.

Bastion nodded. "Anyway, Chris and I were just talking about something and wanted to see if you wanted in.” He looked at Chris, who was still holding the flyer.

"Yeah, Bastion found out about some Halloween set-up," Chris mentioned and offered Emma the flyer, which she accepted.

"Oh, this looks fun," she said as she looked over the flyer. "When are you guys going?"

"The 16th," Bastion replied, feeling quite content that his plan was working.

"Yeah, I can make that," she said and offered the flyer back to Chris. "That sounds awesome. Are the Russo's going too?" she curiously asked, though it seemed unlikely.

"Pretty sure it opens after their bedtime," Bastion replied with a wink.

Emma chuckled. "Right, fair enough. So, we're meeting in the hallway?" she asked to confirm the plan.

"6 pm, so we can be there by 7," Bastion confirmed before patting Chris on the back. "See you guys then!"

"See you around then," she said with a wave as Chris and Bastion left.

'*'*'*'*'

The 16th eventually came along. Emma had been working her tail off the whole time, and she was excited about the break. "What do you mean the cover is blue?" she asked as she dug through her purse to make sure she had everything she needed. "No, I saw the proofs. They all looked soft and half-baked. Send them back to the graphics team. Please redo them. I want this next batch to have an edge to it, or I'm going down there and doing it myself," Emma grumbled, holding her phone to her ear with her shoulder so her hands were free to finish putting on her coat. She usually tried not to be so harsh spoken with her coworkers, but it felt like no one else was taking this launch seriously.

"Okay, glad we're on the same page now. I look forward to having the results on my desk by the end of tomorrow. I need to get these printed. Okay. Okay, bye." With that, she turned off the screen and put her phone in her purse. She looked over her outfit in the mirror one more time. I look cute, she thought with a nod before heading out to the hallway to find Chris… and no Bastion. She checked her clock. 6:01 pm.

"Hey, have you seen Bastion yet?" Emma asked as she locked up her apartment.

"He went ahead. Something about having a date waiting for him," Chris replied with a shrug, which mildly surprised Emma.

"Wha—? But he suggested the carpool." Emma frowned, shaking her head. "Oh well, good for him," she added and looked at Chris. "Rock, paper, scissors for who drives?"

"I'm driving," he countered and started walking down the stairs, causing Emma to give a short laugh.

"You are convinced I'm a horrid driver, aren't you?" she teased.

Chris grinned. "The worst," he replied, earning a nudge.

All the same, Chris drove the two a good forty-five minutes out of town to the haunted fairground. The parking lot was packed, even for a Friday night. It took them a moment before they made it through the ticket booth. Eventually, they found Bastion talking to a cute young man and smiling. Upon spotting them, he gave them a thumbs up and walked off.

"Hm, well, I guess we're solo then," Emma said in an amused tone. It was good to see that the New Year’s luck was at least working for him. She looked back at Chris. "So, what should we do first?"

Chris remembered the plan that Bastion mentioned. "Wanna try out the haunted house?" he suggested. The fairground did look pretty family-friendly, like the flyer said it would be. The haunted house couldn't be too bad.

The suggestion made Emma chuckle. "Fine, fine. We might as well get the bravery test out of the way," she agreed and walked with him to the line to get into the building. The 'house' was more of a mansion. It was huge! "Oh wow, they really went all out on this place." Emma was amazed as they walked past several signs. '18+ only,' 'be prepared to provide ID,' 'consent form required.'

Oh boy... Chris thought with an internal wince. Hopefully, this wouldn't scare her too badly.

A demented clown waited for them at a desk with clipboards and pens. "IDs," he asked as he handed them each a clipboard. Both handed over their driver's licenses, which the man shined a blue light at before handing them back. "Those are the consent forms for your safety and the safety of our actors. They may reach out and grab you, redirect you down secret passages, and so on. However, do not touch the actors, punch, kick, push, or shove them. No running in the halls. No pushing or shoving other guests outside of your own party. In the event of an injury while walking through, the staff will escort you out using an emergency exit. This haunted house takes about forty-five minutes to walk through."

Wow, that is a lot of information, Emma thought as she read over the form. "Good to know. The building is gorgeous, by the way. Are you guys renting it?" she asked, curious about the logistics of running this place since her good old marketing brain was not completely shut off yet.

The clown gave a short laugh. "Yeah, I think the event planner rented it out from the state. It's some old asylum. Supposed to already be haunted too," he added with a smirk.

"That's a great selling point. They should have had that on the flyer," Emma declared in a surprised tone, while Chris frowned.

She didn't seem worried in the slightest. Maybe this is a bad idea, he thought. All the same, he handed back the filled-out consent form. The two were escorted into a dark, abandoned lobby. Chris looked around the poorly lit area. A cool breeze could be felt despite the place being locked up. He took a deep breath and walked with Emma down the hall. To Chris's horror, he watched as a zombie walked into view as they crossed the hallway. Flashbacks flooded his mind. Anxious, he walked alongside Emma.

Five minutes. For five minutes, actors dressed as zombies rattled barred doors and reached out to try to grab at them, causing Chris's breathing to quicken and eyes to dilate, but he pushed back his urge to run. One of the actors, who appeared to be another door shaker, opened the door and ran at the two, causing Chris to grab Emma by her waist with one arm and pull her back with him as the other clambered to grab a pistol that wasn't there. Emma gave a frightened yelp as she was pulled back. The 'zombie' reached the end of its chain leash as it reached out to try and grab the two. Emma eventually relaxed and started to laugh. This was fake, after all.

It took her a moment, but she noticed the arm holding her was shaking. She looked up to find Chris staring at the zombie. That wasn't 'ha ha funny good times' fear. That was genuine terror... He wasn't having fun. There were another forty minutes of this, and they hadn't even gotten to the parts where the actors would grab them and try to separate them and send them down hidden pathways... Emma took his arm and made sure she was between him and the zombie. She wasn't sure what had set him off, but she needed to think of a plan to get them out.

Blood, gore, death, and memories of pain from being bitten and scratched at by the living dead flooded Chris’s mind. How did he get out of here? He flinched slightly as he felt something take his hand, only to wake up from his thoughts as Emma led the way forward. Each sound he heard caused his eyes to dart in the direction it came from.

It took her a few minutes, but Emma eventually saw her opening. A wire ran across the hallway, and it hadn't been secured down properly. Bingo. She let go of Chris’s hand for a second, so she wouldn't bring him down with her. She wasn't the best actress, but she caught her foot on the wire and 'fell' landing on her knee. The lights turned on as she held her knee.

"Emma?" Chris asked with a concerned expression. As he moved to help her get up again, one of the zombie actors walked over to check on her. "Stay away," Chris ordered with a sneer, causing the actor to raise his hands to signal surrender as he walked back.

"Sorry, is it okay if we go? I don't think I can walk on this for another thirty-five minutes,” Emma requested as she looked at the retreating actor, who nodded.

"Yeah, the emergency exit is that way," he explained, pointing his thumb over his back towards a brightly lit red sign that read 'Exit'. The behind-the-scenes set-up looked like a more normal building.

"Thanks," she replied as she held on to Chris and walked with an exaggerated limp.

This didn't make sense; he'd seen her take much worse tumbles before. Did she hit her knee at a bad angle? Chris wondered while trying to fix his breathing with little success.

Emma waited until they were a good 30 feet away from the haunted house as she started to walk normally again. "There we go, much better," she said with a smile. "It's a miracle.” She winked and chuckled as she shifted to stop clinging to him, taking his arm instead. "Let's find a place where we can sit. How are you holding up? That place was pretty intense," she asked with a concerned expression.

"Yeah," he muttered as he tried to shake the feeling of embarrassment that started to build as the adrenaline died down. She noticed.

That isn't an answer... Emma frowned slightly as her worrying compounded, but ultimately, they found a seating area surrounded by various 'spooky' themed food vendors. "Here we go. This looks like a good place to rest," she said, walking with him over to a table, "I'm going to get water. Do you want anything?"

"I'm fine," he replied.

Well, that was better. He at least answered the question. Emma nodded. "Kay, I'll be right over there," she explained, pointing to the vendor she was going to.

It took her a good ten minutes because nothing could ever be set up efficiently, but she returned with two bottles of water. "Much better," she said as she took a seat next to Chris. She shifted to put one of the bottles into her purse for later, only to notice her phone going off.

[INCOMING CALL - WORK]

She stared at it for a second but dismissed the call before putting the bottle away. The two sat in silence as Emma took a drink from the bottle and offered it to Chris, who took a swig before giving the bottle back. It helped. It took a minute, but he finally spoke. "Well, that sucked. Sorry about that..." he apologized as he finally recovered from the adrenaline burst.

"No problem, I'm not sure what they were thinking putting that next to a family-friendly location," Emma said sympathetically. She hadn't found it scary at all, but maybe that was because she had a stronger grasp on the fact that what she was seeing was fake from being in the entertainment business.

"So, what should we do instead?" she asked, looking around for ideas. There was the usual assortment of carnival games. "Oh hey, I think they have darts." She smiled as she pointed out the booth.

Chris smiled back. "Sure, let's check that out," he agreed, pushing himself to get up.

The two played a few games and walked around the fair as they chatted about just about everything. Plans for Halloween, the best books and movies to enjoy during the spooky season, and favorite treats to eat. As the latter subject came up Emma could feel her stomach complaining.

"Actually, I think I could go for a bite to eat. Hmm let's see if we can find anything else ridiculous for you to put hot sauce on," she joked before noticing a stand selling fried octopus tentacles on a stick. "Oh, there you go," she said, gesturing to it.

"Are you still on about that?" Chris asked with a laugh. Emma giggled and stuck her tongue out at him in response. To her dismay, he hooked her shoulder with his arm and started walking over to the stall. "Well, since you suggested it."

"Chris no, I was joking," she said with an expression of dismay and regret. "Okay. You win. I'll drop it," she added with a laugh, but they ended up staying in line. "Just don't make me eat that. It looks gross."

"I'm not going to make you. I'm curious though," he responded, which caused Emma to relax. Luckily, the stall sold normal food too. Emma got two chicken skewers, while Chris got two chicken and one octopus. The two eventually got back to a sitting area and Emma watched with concern as he actually picked it up and looked it over.

"You're not actually going to eat that, right?" she asked with a nervous expression. "I'm pretty sure I just saw it move," she added, which caused him to laugh.

"When in Rome," he stated with a shrug, taking a bite out of it. Emma looked away, sticking out her tongue even though she was still smiling.

"I don't think they ate fried octopus in Rome," she pointed out with a chuckle.

Chris chewed at it a moment and shrugged. "It's not bad," he admitted, taking another bite.

"Wait really?" Emma asked baffled.

"Really. It has an odd texture, but it's not bad," he said and finished it off.

"You're definitely better traveled than I am. I'll stick to chicken," she laughed as she picked up her own meal and took the bottle from her bag.

[INCOMING CALL - WORK]

Ignore.

The two finished up their meals and walked around the fair more, playing a few more games before heading back to the car and riding home. Forty-five minutes later, the two chuckled about a shared joke as they headed up the stairs at their building.

"That was fun," Emma said as she stopped by her door.

He knew what he was supposed to say, but he hesitated as he remembered his earlier episode at the haunted house. "Yeah, I had a good time," he said with a nod.

Do you want to come over for a cup of coffee? "Have a good night," he said instead, as he gave a short wave and went back to his door.

"Good night," Emma said with a small smile and went inside.

Chapter Text

Chris looked at his watch as he walked into work. Thursday, November 1st and he was just barely on time. As he walked to the break room to drop off his lunch, thoughts of past conversations came to mind.

Once we get these cases more under control, Hound Wolf Squad will be reinstated in full.

"Bunch of bullshit," Chris muttered under his breath. While he had been promised that the two smaller teams would likely be able to see each other at the office, their mission and home times rarely, if ever, overlapped, making it near impossible to see or talk to each other. They were being punished for talking back about their orders.

"'Ey yo, Alpha," a familiar voice called as he was putting away his lunch. That got Chris’s attention as he turned to see Umber Eye, Tundra, and Lobo walk in. Each of them was sporting a very nice new tan. "Thought we'd catch you here this time of day. Did you put on a few pounds?" he joked with a laugh.

"You wanna put your money where your mouth is and try sparring later?" he asked in response, which caused the others to laugh as Lobo quickly nope-ed out of that one.

"Nah-ah, I like my neck unbroken you suplexing maniac," Lobo quickly answered then shook his head before taking a more serious tone. "It's good to see you."

"Good to see you too, all of you," Chris replied, then sent Night Howl and Canine a quick text to let them know that the other half of the team was around. "How have you guys been?"

"Uuugh, don't even get me started on it. We've been hopping all around Europe and the Middle East for the last few months. They keep moving," Tundra complained with a tired frown. "We're going to be heading out again in two weeks for Louisiana, so we get to go from hot and dry to hot and muggy. It's been great," she went on, clearly being sarcastic.

"Don't let the director hear you say that," Umber Eye warned quietly. It seemed he’d picked up on the punishment as well.

"We're going to be heading out in three weeks," Chris admitted, which caused a collective sigh as Night Howl and Canine joined them. Seemed they weren't too far behind the rest of the group.

"Well, look what the cat dragged in," Canine remarked with a smile as he walked over and gave Lobo a solid hug, and Night Howl did the same with Umber Eye and Tundra.

"Good to see you guys again," Night Howl greeted, beyond excited to see his friends. "So, are we training together till you guys have to head out?"

"I'm afraid we're scheduled for the gym at different times," Umber Eye explained with a frown.

"Jerks," Canine muttered quietly.

"Careful," Chris warned.

"Right," Canine acknowledged with a frown. "So, we're at least going to meet up during the downtime before you guys have to head out, right?"

"Abso-fawking-lutely," Lobo said with an ear-to-ear grin. "All in favor of crashing Alpha's place after work, say aye."

"Ha! No." Chris quickly cut down that idea. "The place only just got renovated. The last thing I need is you guys trashing it."

"Ooh, very fancy," Tundra said with a slight smirk. "What's the occasion?"

"Water damage during a mission," Chris grumbled with a scowl.

"Ye-ouch. Rough luck." Lobo winced at the thought of how much that would suck.

"I dunno. Cap seemed pretty happy about it," Canine said with a snicker, which earned him a glare.

Lobo pointed at Canine. "We're going to catch up later, for sure."

Hearing this caused Umber Eye to shake his head. "All right, we need to get to work before we get into trouble. If anyone has an idea about what we should do, use the group chat. We're all stateside, and on desk duty, so it should work now."

Everyone nodded before dispersing. As good as it was that everyone was back, the limited interactions were pretty annoying, if not even more frustrating, than not being able to talk to each other at all. Chris went through the motions of the day and finished up his work. Once that was done, he made his way back home, where he ate a quick dinner before taking his phone out.

[Chris] Hey I'm home when you're ready.

[Emma] KK I'll be over in a bit.

Emma put her phone down as she looked at her computer screen. This was it. All of her work for the last month had led up to this. Late nights, long hours. She really believed in this one, which made it all the harder to press the final button. This would send out the EP to all the contacts she had worked so hard to curate for this release. The favors she called in and meetings she attended to make sure that the email wouldn't be ignored. In all honesty, it still could end up being disregarded. She shook her head. She couldn't think like that. She had done everything she could. Chris was waiting for her.

Send.

She closed the laptop after making sure that the email safely made it to her outbox, then got up. "I'll be back in an hour or so, Duke," she said to the dog, who gave a quiet huff in response as if he was trying to say, 'Yeah right.' Emma shook her head and headed out, locking the door as always before knocking on Chris’s door.

"Door's unlocked," he called, and Emma let herself in to see him finishing up his dinner.

"Hey, how was your day?" Emma asked, even though she already knew the answer, and closed the door behind her.

"Good," he said, which surprised her. "I got to talk with Hound Wolf squad as a whole for the first time in"—he paused to do the math—"half a year?" he said as he put down his fork.

Emma stared at him as he headed over to the couch to get the mat. That was not the answer she was expecting. "Who are you and what did you do with Chris? He never has a good day." She chuckled before going back to the routine and moving the table out of the way for him.

Hearing her accusation caused him to give a short laugh. "That's not true. I have good days." As of lately, most of them were days when she was around. All the same, as he put out the mat, she walked over and gently held the back of his neck in one hand while placing the back of her other hand against his forehead.

"Hmm, no fever. I guess you're telling the truth,” she said, chuckling at her own joke and letting him go.

Not during training, rang through Chris's mind.

"You should tell me about your good days more. It's nice to hear that things aren't all bad for you at work," Emma requested with a small smile. What was that? Why was I so comfortable with just reaching out and holding him like that...? To be honest, she hadn't really been great about personal space, had she? Memories of the various times she'd held on to his arm, like when they went through the haunted fair, came to mind. I think I have feelings for him. It wasn't something that mattered. Besides, they were friends. That was enough.

"Fair enough," Chris replied with a chuckle. "Ready?"

"Yeah," Emma replied and got into a ready stance.

Punch, kick, kick, punch, punch, kick. The rhythm began as the two started their training. While it had been over a year at this point and Emma was proficient enough that she'd probably be fine, the lessons continued. Neither one wanted to bring up that the condition for this was that the lessons would end once she was confidently competent. To be fair, even if she was proficient, she'd need to practice, to keep that proficiency, right? That was the story they silently seemed to agree on.

Hold, break, pin, break, hold, break, pin, break, hold, break, pin, break. It had been about forty minutes. The two stood up to go through another drill, going from a standing hold to a floor pin. Thinking proactively, Emma shifted her weight as he went into the pin. To his surprise, she managed to reverse it as she hooked his leg while falling and shifting her weight. He stared up at the ceiling and at Emma, who was smiling down at him.

NOT DURING TRAINING, he had to remind himself more adamantly as he suppressed the urge to reach up and grab the back of her neck to pull her closer to him.

Emma gave his face a gentle pat before getting up. "You're going easy on me today," she accused before getting into a ready stance.

"I'm just distracted is all," he admitted as he got up as well. That got Emma's attention, and she dropped her ready stance.

"Oh? What's on your mind?" she asked, only to get pulled into a hold.

"Stay focused. We're still training," he countered in an attempt to avoid the question.

"That's cheating," she protested but eventually broke the hold. "Seriously, though. If something's bothering you, I'm all ears if you need me."

They continued going through the motions as they talked.

"Nothing's bothering me per se," he said, considering how to proceed. "I'm just trying to think of something the squad could do together while everyone's available.” He had been thinking about that, but it wasn't what had distracted him.

"Oh," Emma replied, breaking the hold to land in a new one. "Well, why don't you guys come with Chel, Jack, and me to the orchards next weekend? We could use the extra hands," Emma offered as a potential solution. "It's only fair. I crashed your parties twice now, so you can crash one of mine. I organized it, so I get to say who goes.”

Hold. Break. Pin.

"That could work," Chris agreed, thinking it over. "I'll run it by them."

"Sounds good. They're nice. It would be fun to see them again," Emma said with a chuckle.

Break. Hold. Break. Pin. Break.

Another twenty minutes had passed when they eventually got up to get their drinks. As of late, Emma had switched to water after training instead of coffee. Something about needing to cut back on caffeine before bed. As they relaxed and chatted, Chris sent a text to the group.

[Alpha] Hound Wolf Squad, we got an invite to go to the orchards next weekend with Emma.

[Lobo] I'm down.

[Tundra] Aw I miss her. Sure, that sounds fun.

[Umber Eye] I think I can make that work.

[Night Howl] Sure.

[Canine] You're certain she's not just trying to invite you, Alpha?

[Lobo] LMFAO. He speaks the truth. 6_6 Do you really want us crashing your date?

[Alpha] Hey if you have any better ideas, I'm all ears, but you guys haven't sent shit.

[Canine] Fine, fair. Just thought I'd check.

[Umber Eye] He kind of has a point. It's fair enough to check.

[Alpha] Et tu brute?

[Umber Eye]🤷

Chris tried not to laugh as he read the messages. "They're in. What time?"

Emma smiled upon hearing that. It would be nice to see them all again. "I'll text you the address. We're meeting there at 1 pm," she said, quickly sending over the address before switching to a different contact.

[Emma] Hey, I'm bringing some friends too.

[Chel] Sounds like a plan. Hope they don't mind kids because mine will be all over them lmao.

[Emma] Something tells me they're used to it.

'*'*'*'*'

The weekend of the orchard trip eventually arrived, and Chris waited at the entryway for Hound Wolf squad while Emma went ahead with Chel, Jack, and the girls, who were excited to see the fluffy animals in the petting zoo. One by one, the squad eventually started gathering at the meeting point.

"Hey boss," said Night Howl with a wave as he was the last one to make it since he lived the furthest away.

"Do you think they have anything to drink here?" Lobo asked curiously.

"Already checked. It's mostly just fruity shit," Chris replied with a shrug, which caused Lobo to make a face.

"Hm," he hummed through his frown. "Probably should have expected that."

"And it's probably for the best. We're going to have to drive during rush hour on the way back," Umber Eye pointed out.

"Hey, I'll take traffic over another flight back to Europe. That shit messes up my ears every time," Tundra remarked as the group started walking into the main outdoor section of the orchard.

"We'll have to talk later when we're out of the office. Something weird is going on," Chris explained. Night Howl and Canine nodded in agreement since they already knew what he meant.

Before long, Emma could be seen with a small group of people. The oldest of the kids standing next to her was reaching her hand through to the petting zoo to try to befriend a sheep. Emma was the first to notice the large group walking toward her. She turned to look at them and smiled as she gave a short wave. "Hey guys! Good to see you again."

Hearing this caused Summer to look over and see Chris with his group. Summer's eyes went wide as she beamed. Lots of friends. The sheep was no longer interesting as she hurried over and introduced herself with a big ole smile that showed a missing front tooth. "Hi. I'm Summer," said the now six-year-old child. Maurie followed her big sister and tried copying her as usual.

"Hyi 'm marree," said the toddler who had picked up how to introduce herself properly. They grew up so fast.

"What's your names?" Summer asked curiously. There was some hesitation, but the squad answered with their usual nicknames.

"Night Howl."

 "Canine."

"Umber Eye."

"Lobo."

"Tundra."

"You know this kid, Alpha?" Tundra asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Silly. His name's Chris, not Alpha," Summer said with a nod. She was so smart. "Chris is my friend," she explained with a big smile as she reached up to get his hand and tug on it. "Come on, Auntie Emmy 'n mama are this way."

Maurie walked over to Umber Eye and jumped a few times to try and get his hand. "Dis way, Dis way."

Umber Eye watched her try a few times before leaning down enough for her to get a good hold and just carrying her along with him by the hand as he walked to avoid breaking his back while trying to appease the child.

"So, when'd you take up babysitting?" Lobo asked with a teasing smirk, causing Summer to turn and look at him.

"I'm NOT a baby. I'm six," she corrected in an indignant tone, turning her nose up at him before going back to leading the group.

Lobo held up his hands with an 'oh shit' expression while the others laughed.

"You got told," Canine said.

"I like this kid," Tundra added with a chuckle.

The two groups met up as Jack joined in with a few empty bushels to hold whatever they could pick. Chel did not seem impressed when she saw that the 'friends' Emma mentioned turned out to be Emma's neighbor and other strangers. She still wasn't super thrilled after finding out how little Chris was willing to share about himself. In her mind, the guy might have saved her kids, but he was a walking talking red flag that was way too close to her friend, who she treated like a sister. The introduction of the rest of his team, who used their code names for the sake of ease, did not make her feel any better.

Hound Wolf squad got their own bushels and before long, the large group of twelve people boarded the train-like cart that carried visitors out into the fields for picking. They were dropped off at an intersection between two kinds of apples, pumpkins, and fall raspberries. Every so often, a much smaller cart would drive by offering hot cider, coffee, and tea along with various baked goods to help keep people warm as they picked their fill.

After a good two and a half hours of running around in the fields, looking for tasty morsels, Emma got a coffee and a pack of a dozen doughnuts from the snack cart to share with the group. They walked back to the picnic bench that they claimed for ditching their bags. Chris was already there sipping his coffee, while Tundra and Lobo were sitting on the other side of the table. The group had taken to sitting on the benches backwards, to rest their backs against the table.

"Doughnuts if you want one. They're apparently apple cider-flavored," Emma said as she put down the box on the table and grabbed one before sitting next to Chris in a similar fashion with her back against the table.

"Tired?" Chris asked, causing Emma to chuckle.

"Exhausted," Emma replied with a weary smile. "There's only so many times I can play 'fire rescue' and save Summer from a tree that she's absolutely able to get out of on her own," she admitted, but her tone was amused all the same. "But this has been fun. Thanks for coming with us."

"Not a problem. It's probably not the first thing I would have thought to do on a weekend, but it's been fun," he agreed with a chuckle as he watched the rest of Hound Wolf running around trying to see who could find the biggest pumpkin to smash later.

"They can look all they want, but no one is gonna take down Bertha," Lobo said, resting his feet on an admittedly large pumpkin.

"You know you're going to have to pay an arm and a leg for taking that, right?" Tundra pointed out and Lobo shrugged.

"Worth it for the win," he said with a nod before sipping at his coffee.

[INCOMING CALL - WORK]

Emma frowned and ignored the call.

[INCOMING CALL - WORK]

She gave an exasperated sigh. "Sorry, I have to take this," she said, rising to pace around as she talked. "Emma Swanson, how can I—"

She stopped short.

"Shut up," she said as a smile spread across her face and she started to chuckle. "You're joking... Really? Oh. Oh my gosh, that's… YEAH! Of course, I… That would be great," she stammered as only half the conversation could be heard. This got Tundra and Lobo to turn and join Chris in watching her pace around. Whatever this was about, it sounded good? Maybe?

"Yes sir. I'll talk to you then. Bye." She hung up and beamed at the phone before jumping and dancing around and giving a cheer. "YES! Ohhh my gosh, ahahahaha." She turned and noticed the others staring, so she held up her index finger. "The results are in for the week. Number one on the rock charts. 20th overall..." Emma exclaimed with a proud grin. Lobo and Tundra had no idea what she was talking about, but Chris did.

"That's awesome," he replied as she nodded.

"And to top it off, guess who got a promotion to Senior Marketing Manager?" she proudly added. "It apparently outranked the pop album from one of our main idols. She practically owns the label as it is, and it released at the same time," Emma further explained, clearly over the moon about all of this and so in her own world that she didn't notice Chris had gotten up and walked over to her.

The agent hooked one arm behind her upper thighs as his other supported her back, so he could pick her and gave a small spin. The motion caused her to laugh and lean forward, putting her arms around his neck and resting her forehead against his to try and keep from falling backward.

It took them a moment to realize how close they'd gotten. This keeps happening, doesn't it? Emma thought. This was comfortable, being close to him.

I think  I have feelings for him.

Her eyes almost drifted shut as the thought to lean forward crossed her mind, but a voice pulled her back to reality. "EM! I heard shouting. Are you okay?" Chelsea called from a distance, causing Emma to look over to the woman, now pink in the face.

"Y-yeah, everything's fine! I'll be right there," she called back before looking at Chris again. "Sorry, I think I made her worry. Can you put me down?" she requested and Chris complied.

"Yeah," he said, trying to keep a neutral expression. "You should tell her the good news too."

"Thanks," she said before giving him a quick hug and running off to join Chelsea, who had been staring down Chris the whole time.

"That's rough, buddy," Lobo said as Chris took his seat once more. "Wasn't there a Spice Girls song about this sort of scenario?"

"Can it," Chris growled before sipping his drink. Tundra chuckled, but she didn't comment, which was worse in its own way.

Another hour or two later, the two groups finally made their way back to the main entrance of the orchard, where they said their goodbyes. Traffic was as awful as Umber Eye predicted it would be, but another hour later, it was roughly 7 pm, and two vehicles pulled into the parking garage. Out walked Chris and Emma, the latter of whom was holding a half-full bushel of apples.

Do you want to stop by for a cup of coffee?

He knew what he had to say. He thought the words over and over as they walked up the stairs. As they made it to Emma's door, he spoke up. "Do you want to stop by for a cup of coffee?" he offered cautiously.

Emma smiled at this. "Don't you think you've had enough coffee today? I think we both had like four cups at the orchard," Emma pointed out with a chuckle. He was being such a goofball today, but the joke was appreciated.

Right, that offer really only works if you didn't just drink a half-gallon of the stuff. "Fair enough. Another time then. Have a good night," he replied in an attempt to save his bruised ego.

"Thanks, you too," she said, smiling as she headed into her apartment. He was really sweet.

Chapter Text

Emma hurried into the apartment building, closing the door behind her before tapping her shoes on the floor to knock the snow off and shaking her head to try to toss off any snow she could. It was getting cold again and early snow had started to fall. Emma went through her usual routine. She took Duke out for a walk, fed him, and made and ate her own dinner before getting something to drink and sitting down on the couch with her laptop.

Maybe I could put on a movie in the background... she thought as she scrolled through emails. "Hmm?"

Your Attendance is Requested: Company Winter Gala

"Oh, huh. That's right," Emma said as she clicked into the email and read it over. December 21st at 7 pm. RSVP required by the 12th. She looked at the calendar to check. It was Monday the 3rd. She scrolled down the email to read more. The invitation includes a plus one. Please include plus one's name in RSVP for seating card.

"Seating cards? Gracious, how fancy is this thing going to be?" Emma whispered and checked the email list. Well, that made some sense. It was senior staff only. If it hadn't been for her recent success and promotion, she probably wouldn't have even been invited. The woman looked over to the kitchen wall with a slight frown and shook her head. It's not like he’s home anyway. He’s on a mission, she thought as she sipped at her drink as her past words came to mind.

If a special occasion arises, you'll be the person I go to.

Well, if there was ever such an occasion, this is probably it, she thought as she clicked print to get a paper copy of the email to take with her. Once that was in hand, Emma walked across the hall to knock on Bastion's door.

"Emma? What a pleasant surprise. What can I do for you?" Bastion asked with a gentle smile.

"Hey Bastion, I was wondering what your work schedule was like and if you have room for an appointment?" Emma admitted sheepishly and offered him the paper copy of the email. "I know I should probably wait and call you at work, but figured it was worth a t—"

"Oh, don't even. Of course you can ask me whenever," Bastion said with a nod. "Okay, so where's the dress? I'm going to need some inspiration to come up with a design to match it."

"Right, dress. Um. I was just going to wear one of my office dresses?" Emma replied, which earned her a hard stare from the nail tech. "I only just got the promotion that got me invited, so I want to make sure I look professional."

"You're going to a Gala, not a board of investors meeting. A fancy dress is professional. You have something, right?" Bastion asked and frowned as Emma looked away with a wince. He rolled up the email and swatted Emma's shoulder with it. "That's it, I'm declaring a fashion emergency. Go get your coat and purse. We're going shopping. If you're lucky, the stores aren't already picked clean."

"You're the best," Emma said with a grateful smile, turning around to head back to her apartment to get her coat and purse as she'd been instructed. Shopping was always so much easier with friends, and she trusted Bastion's taste.

"I know, now get going and meet me at the parking garage," Bastion replied as he grabbed his own coat and keys before making a call. Before long, the two were in Emma's car and had made their way to the parking lot of the local mall.

"So, how goes the life of Emma Swanson. You said you got a promotion?" Bastion asked curiously as he got out of the car.

"Yeah," Emma said, her proud smile returning. "I got a first-time EP to the top of the rock charts and in the top twenty overall on its first week. So, I was promoted from a junior marketing manager to a senior one. I kind of skipped the middle there," she explained as they walked into the spacious building.

"That's right! I heard that song you played for me before on the radio back in November," Bastion said as if he was just putting the dots together. "That was your doing?"

Emma nodded. "Kind of. I just took care of getting it to the right people and managed the release," she explained, becoming more sheepish. “In all honesty, any praise should really go to the band for making an easy-to-market song."

"That's still quite a feat. Say think you can introduce me to your producer friends?" Bastion requested with a chuckle as he nudged Emma. "Just kidding, I can't sing to save my life," he added as they walked into one of the higher-end stores.

Bastion waved to a young man that Emma vaguely remembered. Where had she seen him befo—

"The haunted fair," Emma said aloud as she remembered, causing Bastion to chuckle.

"Emma, meet my boyfriend, Travis. Travis, this is Emma," Bastion introduced with a happy smile.

"It's nice to meet you," Emma said with a wave.

"Nice to meet you as well. This is the one you called about earlier, right?" he asked as he walked over to join them.

"Yep, were you able to find anything?" Bastion asked in return, receiving a nod in response.

"I did a bit of digging around ahead of time. She is definitely on the slender side, so I think I got the right sizes based on your description," Travis confirm before motioning for them to follow him. "Hey, Tracy! I'm tending to a customer. Can you watch the register?" Travis called to the other side of the store.

"Got you!" a woman's voice called back as she hurried over to watch the storefront.

"Okay. Try these on for now and let me know what you think," Travis said, handing her a few dresses to try on. The first was a soft pink and yellow one that she clearly wasn't comfortable in.

"Oh gracious, she looks like a tulip... Hmm, no. Next," Bastion said, shaking his head.

A very long loose white one came next, which was not any better.

"Lord no. We're trying to show her off. She'll be mistaken for a tablecloth," Bastion declared, rejecting the other dresses as well, though his comments were more based on her expressions when she walked out. The more uncomfortable she looked, the more adamantly he rejected the dress and insisted that it was to be put away. It took a while, but eventually, the three went out to wander the store floor.

"Oh. I like that one," Travis complimented as Emma picked up a dark blue dress.

"Let's go try that one on. I have a good feeling about it," Bastion suggested, walking with Emma back to the changing room.

Once more, she undressed, put on the selected garment and walked out. It was beautiful, sleeveless, with a high neckline and an open back. The fabric held to her form just right, and the silver glitter-like accents gave it a subtle shimmer that looked like freshly fallen snow against the dark blue of the fabric.

Emma smiled as she walked out, and Bastion happily clapped. "That's your dress," he said with a chuckle, and Travis nodded in agreement.

"She looks like a snow queen. Very regal," Travis commented with a smile.

"You know, that makes sense. She ice skates," Bastion replied while Emma checked a mirror. It was a rather nice dress, but maybe it was too showy for her... She wasn't really used to this.

"And you didn't tell me? I would have picked that out much sooner," Travis said with a laugh. "One second, I think I know just the accessories for this one."

"Talk to me. What's on your mind?" Bastion asked as he noticed the shift in her expression.

"It's gorgeous, but... Don't you think it's a bit much?" Emma voiced her concern. "I'm not one of the performers. Shouldn't I be more subtle?"

"Nope. No. Absolutely not," Bastion disagreed as he got up from his seat to walk over and stand next to her. "See, you're thinking about yourself as if you're different from them. You're not," he plainly stated as he gently placed a hand on her upper back to make sure she was standing properly. Slouching would make her feel worse. "You are an extension of them. You do what they can't as part of a team. So, if anything, you need to make sure that you're just as loud as they are. You're not going to hide. You are Emma mother-trucking Swanson, and you're going to take the world by storm."

Emma giggled at the pep talk, but her smile returned. "I hadn't thought of it like that before..." she admitted as she looked back at herself with more confidence. She could do this. She had worked hard to be where she was.

"Here we are," Travis said as he returned, holding a cluster of thin silver chains attached to an ornate silver choker. "This is a body chain. It’s very trendy. You put it over the dress. It will look great with the little bits of silver already worked into the fabric," he explained as he helped Emma put the thin chain accessory on over the dress. "And with a high neckline, you're going to want to have your hair up.” He went over a few options for what she could do quickly and easily at home. Emma followed along with the instructions she was given, using the spare hair tie from her wrist to put her hair up in a messy bun. "Perfect," he said with a smile.

"Tell me you're not going to a party looking this pretty by yourself." Bastion chuckled. "You get a plus one, right?"

"I do get a plus one," she replied with a nod. "Did you want to go?" she asked in response since Bastion had mentioned waiting to be put into contact with a producer before, even if he was joking.

"No, you beautiful, dense woman whom I adore." Bastion sighed while pinching his brow. "Chris. Ask Chris."

Hearing that caused her face to flush again. "I mean, sure I'd ask, but..." Her mind wandered slightly to recent events.

'*'*'*'*'

Emma hurried past the trees of the orchard over to Chelsea. "Sorry about the shouting. I got some good news."

"That's great," she said with a smile. "Quick pause on that for a second. What was that?"

"What was what?" Emma asked, confused.

"You, making googly eyes at your neighbor, that's what," Chelsea pointed out with a concerned frown.

"I wasn't," she started but stopped as Chelsea gave her a familiar stare of 'don't even try that.' "It was nothing," Emma corrected as she rubbed at the back of her neck.

"Good, because I was worried that you decided to leave your mind at home for the day. We went over this. He's a walking-talking Red Flag. It's one thing to have secrets, but the guy's an excessive question mark," Chelsea said with a concerned tone as she voiced her disapproval. "I can appreciate that he helped keep you and the girls safe before, but that doesn't mean he's a good person overall. Relationships require communication, and that's not going to happen if everything is 'Confidential' and 'Classified'," Chelsea added before her expression softened to one of genuine concern. "I just don't want you to get hurt... Being friends is well and fine enough, but danger is best kept at a distance..."

'*'*'*'*'

As her wandering thoughts returned, she bobbed her head. "I'd ask, but Chel had a point about the fact that he gives off some pretty bad red flags... He's very secretive," Emma reluctantly admitted. She felt like she knew him well enough at this point, but at the same time, did she? "And besides, he's away for work, so it's not like I can ask."

Bastion winced at that. Yikes. Sorry Chris, you have an uphill battle here if her friend is already trash-talking you. "Emma, you don't seriously believe that, do you?" Bastion asked with a concerned expression.

"Not really?" she hesitantly said, though it sounded more like a question.

The nail tech gave a quiet sigh. "Okay. For a second, forget what I said. Forget what Chelsea said. Heck, forget what anyone else said. What does Emma want?" Bastion asked to see if that would help.

Emma paused once more to think. What did she want...? Thoughts of earlier came to mind. When she first read the email, her initial instinct was to look at the kitchen wall. "I think"—she nodded—"if I could, I would ask Chris to go with me. Even if I don't completely understand why, being around him makes me feel stronger... more confident? As I've gotten to know him, when I can't do something alone, he's been there. He has secrets and maybe isn't the greatest with communication, but he's kind and always tries his best."

Bastion smiled and nodded. "Okay. So, let's do this then. Hold off on RSVPing. Just for now. See if he makes it back in time, and if he doesn't, then I'll go with you." He gently offered Emma a hand, which she accepted. "Luckily for you, I'm not the jealous type," he added with a chuckle, which caused Emma to chuckle as well. "Okay, now go change back to your street clothes so we can go check out, then get you some make-up. You are going to be a showstopper, I guarantee it."

Some make-up, a few silver bracelets, and earrings later, the two had their haul for the night. Bastion had been helpful with the whole process as he helped her pick out a lip tint instead of lipstick and explained that it was better because it wouldn't smudge if she got nervous and rubbed her face and that it wouldn't leave marks against any of the glasses she drank from.

'*'*'*'*'

Chris reached into the back of his car to get his bag with a tired sigh. Three weeks of running around the states again in a chopper. He could have sworn he was done with the mini-mission spurts, but HQ had been pretty clear that they wanted Hound squad to stay over in Europe while Wolf followed the server trail that went back to the States until it inevitably jumped back to Europe. It took a while, but they finally found the end of the trail as far as the States went and handed off the next European location to the Hound Squad. "Sorry about that, guys," Chris said quietly. They'd probably be working through the holidays because of it. He shook his head as he took out his phone from his bag while walking back to the apartment.

December 11th 8:49 pm

"Sounds about right. They never can let us get home at a decent time," Chris grumbled as he headed into the building, up the stairs, and over to the first door on the right. Knock, knock, knock.

The door opened. "Chris! Hey, you're back. Er, welcome back," Emma said with a chuckle. "Come on in," she said, getting out of the way.

"Hey to you too. You seem surprised," Chris pointed out as he put his bag down by the door and headed over to his usual seat at the kitchen island.

"A bit, yeah. Last year you weren't back until, I think it was the last week of the month," she pointed out.

"I'd be more surprised if anything ended up consistent with my schedule," Chris said with a tired sigh.

"Fair enough," Emma replied as she went to get him a glass of water and set it down in front of him. "How was your trip?"

Hearing the question caused him to smile as well. "It was work."

"I see," Emma answered as she headed to the fridge. "So, a quick meal or a tasty one?"

"How much time do you have?" Chris asked. It was getting late.

"I have time," she said with a shrug. "See, I can do the vague answer thing too.”

"Suppose you can. Let's go with tasty," he answered. This was nice.

"Can do," she said as she started up the stove top. Some chili will do nicely. It's cold out, and he seems to like spicy food. It should only take 30 or 40 minutes, so not too long. "Do you like chili plain or over rice?" she asked as she got the beef browning in a pan.

"Plain is fine," he said. "How have you been?"

"I've been well," she replied as she cooked. "Same old, same old, really. Busy at work, trying to keep work at work and rest at home. Oh, the rink is open again, so I've been visiting there every so often," she listed off as she thought over what she'd been up to since they last talked. She eventually got to a point in the cooking where it was just a matter of waiting. "Ah, I almost forgot—" No, I didn't. "I was wondering if I could ask you for a favor since you're back."

"Sure," Chris replied with a nod and a curious expression.

Emma walked away, eventually returning with the printed-out email for the Gala. "I got invited to the corporate holiday party, but I'm nervous about going alone," she explained, which was partially true, but she more so felt like she needed an excuse to ask. "Would you be willing to go with me? I know it's probably not really something you're interested in."

"I'll go," he said with a shrug, surprising Emma.

"Really?"

"Did you want me to say no?" Chris asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Huh? Oh! No, no, no. That's not it. I just… I thought you'd be against the idea is all," she admitted.

"It's a favor, right?" Chris asked and Emma nodded. "Then I don't mind. Besides, it's just a few hours."

"I appreciate it, thanks a bunch," she replied.

"Not a problem." Chris tapped the paper on the counter. "Mind if I keep this, so I can put it on my calendar?"

"Go for it." Emma walked back to her laptop and clicked away to send a quick email confirming that she was going and would have a plus one before heading back to check on the chili.

"The place they're hosting the gala at is actually pretty close to my office. Is it okay if we meet there?" she requested.

"Sure, would make it easier to head straight there and avoid traffic," Chris agreed with a nod since that also worked well for him.

Emma smiled as she cooked. She was excited about this now that she knew who she'd be going with. The two continued to talk about pretty much everything while the food was prepared and served. Before long, Chris washed up his bowl, put it in the drying rack, and went back to his bag.

"Thanks for the meal as always," he said as he picked it up. "See you around."

"See you," Emma replied, making sure to lock the door after he left.

Chris walked to his own apartment and took out his phone.

[Chris] This was your doing, wasn't it?

[Bastion] Oh you're home!

[Bastion] As much as I would love to take full credit, I can only take partial. I will accept the 'thank you' in advance for the part I am responsible for though.

'*'*'*'*'

The 21st eventually rolled around and pretty much no one in the office was paying attention to work. Emma chuckled as she noticed this. Even if she wanted to pay attention, she would have had trouble typing, since she already had her nails done. Bastion kept them short enough to look natural but applied enough acrylic to give her a cute ballerina-style nail that was a similar dark blue to her dress at the tip and faded to her natural nude tone, with a few silver details on it. She had to admit they were beautiful, but she was going to have to stop by Bastion's salon to have the acrylic removed come Sunday, or they would drive her insane.

Around 4 pm, an email was sent to the senior staff members stating that they were allowed to clock out, so they could go and start preparing for the Gala, which would start at 7. Emma smiled at the email and went to her car, heading to the event location and one of the rooms rented ahead of time for visitors to change in. A lot of the women ended up sharing rooms and helping each other get ready. It took a while, but finally, she felt she was as ready as she was going to get.

Meanwhile, Chris had to wait until his usual clock out time. The BSAA didn't really care much for the holidays, and he had more than enough work to finish, but 5 o'clock eventually came around. He used the gym showers to wash up ahead of time, dry off, and change into the suit he'd packed. Bastion was pretty insistent on the vest and tie being dark blue. Not that he really minded, but it was odd. He made his way to the venue and walked inside. The place was decked out in holly, silk, and lights, leading into a large grand room full of neatly decorated tables topped with fine china, silver, and crystal ware. To the far end of the room was a stage set up for various performances. Oh lord, this really was some fancy gathering. Maybe Emma was right to be surprised that he agreed to go with her...

"Chris?" The familiar voice caught his attention as he turned to face it, only to end up staring in shock as he found Emma all dolled up.

"There you are, I was wondering how I was going to find you," Emma admitted with a smile before noticing that he was staring. "Is everything okay?"

Thank you, Bastion. "Yeah... Yeah, everything's fine. Just taking in the setting. This place is gorgeous." Dang it all. Compliment her, not the room! he mentally shouted at himself.

"Yeah, the new parent company really went all out," Emma agreed as she looked around. "I wasn't sure what to expect, but it wasn't this. Hopefully it's not too stuffy," she said with a chuckle that caused her jewelry to create a small jingling sound.

"Emma!" rang a chorus of deeper male voices as a group of four scruffy-looking guys walked over. 

Emma looked over to see them. "Well, if it isn't the kings of punk rock," she said as she walked over, not noticing that Chris, was still staring. "You clean up nicely. One second."—she fixed up the bow tie of one, adjusted the jacket of another, and moved some hair out of the face of another—"There, all spiffy. You're going to do amazing. Now, go have fun."

They nodded and laughed. Each gave her a quick hug and a thank you before going on their way.

"They seem nice," Chris replied with a slight smile as he walked over and gently rested a hand on her lower back, which she barely noticed as it felt familiar.

"They're sweethearts. You'd never guess they were rockers," she agreed with a chuckle that was cut short by a shrill voice.

"Emmy!" cried a blue-eyed blond woman wearing a sheer nude and rhinestone dress who hurried over and clung to Emma.

"Veronica. Hi," Emma said with a forced smile. Oh gosh...

Oh shit, Chris thought. He instantly recognized the woman as the one from the director's office.

"So, when are you going to work on the promo for my next album?" she asked with a smile.

"It would be an honor to work with you," Emma started with a polite smile. "I'm already assigned to work on the full album release for the Kings though."

Veronica frowned at that. "Yeah, an album you already gave the best possible start by knocking mine out of the sky. Come on, you clearly know what you're doing. My team could use some fresh blood."

Hearing that caused Chris to tense up as he continued to stare at her, wondering if he was seeing things. What was she doing here?

The difference is the world knows who I am. If something happens to me, they're going to want answers.

Fuck. This wasn't good...

"That's very kind of you," Emma said while trying to continue to be polite. "But I'm sure your team has this covered. They're all putting in a lot of hard work, and it will show in their success."

Veronica gave a quiet, unimpressed hum as she let go of Emma and noticed Chris. It took her a second, but recognition crossed her face. "Emmy, why haven't you introduced me to your cute friend?"

Emma looked over to find Chris staring at Veronica. It made her heart feel like it was sinking... Veronica was rather pretty.

"R-right um, Veronica, meet Chris. Chris, this is Veronica. She's one of our best pop performers as well as the controlling owner of the label that is acting as our new parent company thanks to the merger back in April."

"It's a pleasure to meet you," she said with a snakish smile as she held out her hand for Chris to take.

"Pleasure's mine," he replied quietly. This was bad.

"What is it that you do if I may ask?" she said, despite knowing well enough.

"I'm a contractor," he replied shortly.

"Interesting, well, I'll have to look you up sometime," she said before giving a short wave. "Have a nice night you two, and don't you worry, Emmy. I'll make sure to talk to the CMO about getting you on my team next. It's a great opportunity for your career, I promise," Veronica added before walking away. "Toodles."

"She's certainly an interesting CEO to work for," Emma admitted quietly.

"Yeah, seems like it," Chris replied while watching to make sure this Veronica person got a good distance away from them and stayed there.

Emma’s heart sank further as she noticed Chris watching Veronica leave rather than looking at her when she spoke. Maybe this was a mistake...

"Hey everyone! Are you ready to have a good time?" Veronica asked, having made her way onto the stage. "Make your way to your assigned tables, please. We'll be starting dinner with live performances from some of our best throughout the year as we celebrate another successful year of creating what moves this planet."

This bitch, Chris thought as he gave a quiet sigh. "Do you know where our table is?" he asked Emma quietly.

"Yeah, it's this way," she said, walking away from him to lead the way.

"After our live performers are all wrapped up, we're lucky to be hosting a selection from the local orchestra, which will play through the night. We'll be opening up space for dancing in roughly two hours. So please take your time and enjoy your meals." She got applause in response to her speech. Then the music cued up. She performed first, and bands from various genres followed. It was far too loud to hear anything else, which made talking a moot option. This wasn't their usual comfortable silence.

All the same, Emma quietly focused on her food and ate her meal. She was overthinking this. She already knew he didn't feel the same way about her. He's doing this because she asked for a favor. It wasn't a date.

Chris caught himself staring at Emma a few times throughout the dinner. It wasn’t that she wasn't usually beautiful. This was just, different. Like seeing a garden from a different angle and finding a new appreciation for it. He'd tried to speak only for his voice to be swallowed by the sound of the music. It was frustrating.

Before long, two hours had passed, and much softer orchestral music replaced the cries of guitars and rhythmic thumping of drums. That was much better. As tables were cleared away, Chris and Emma stood up.

"Did you want to dance?" Chris asked curiously, which surprised Emma.

"Oh um, su—" she started to reply when a familiar shrill voice returned.

"Emmy! Emmy, I couldn't find a date. Can I borrow yours for the first dance, please? Just one?" Veronica asked as she grabbed onto Chris’s arm, causing Emma to look away. He did seemed interested in her before.

Emma, please don't leave me with the witch, Chris thought with a panicked expression that she couldn't see.

"Sure," Emma said with a nod. "I was thinking I might get a drink instead anyway."

Emma no.

"You're just the best," Veronica said as she started leading Chris away while Emma walked in the other direction.

The two danced in silence for some time. She was toying with him, and it pissed him off. Chris spoke through a frown, "What do you want?"

"Did the BSAA really think I wouldn't notice them sending a meathead to crash my party?" she hissed. "I'm pretty sure I explicitly stated that I was to be left alone."

"I'm not here because of that," Chris replied quietly.

"I. Don't. Care," she said with a smile before bopping Chris on the nose with her index finger. "But I think you'll find I'm very forgiving," she said as her smile became more venomous. "Since you're here, why don't you send a message back for me? It would save me the trip," she requested as the song started coming to a close. "Tell them, 'Strike one.’ You're not going to like what happens if you get to three."

Chris remained silent until the song ended and Veronica let go of him.

"Well, I'm bored of you now. Goodbye, Chris. If you know what's good for you, I'll never see you again," she said with a smile as she gave him a gentle pat to the chest over his heart and walked away.

Shit... He needed to find Emma. Now. He quickly moved around the large, crowded room but had little luck in locating her. It took him a good 20 minutes, but he eventually found her standing by a wall, holding a half-empty glass. The four bandmates from before were exaggeratedly dancing around her to the music as she laughed into her hand to try and hide her smile.

"You guys are ridiculous. I'm fine. I promise," she said through her laughter. As Chris approached the group, he finally could hear her speaking. "You should be out there and enjoying the party."

Why wasn't she, then? "Hey," Chris said as he walked over to get her attention.

She turned to look at him. "Oh, there you are," she said with a sheepish smile. "I was wondering where you went. I tried going back, but I couldn't find you." I figured you left...

Chris stared for a moment before giving a short laugh. "I was looking for you. You ditched me," he pointed out, which surprised Emma.

She kind of did do that, didn't she? Oh gosh... "I'm so sorry."

"It's fine, I'm just glad you're okay," he admitted, shaking his head. He had been starting to worry that something had happened to her when he couldn't find her. "I don't think you got to answer me before we were interrupted," he pointed out. "Did you want to dance?"

Emma nodded. "Yeah, I'd like that.”

Chris offered her a hand and took her back to the more spacious dancing area since not many seemed to actually be as interested in dancing as they were watching others and trying to decide if they wanted to or not. He held her hand in one while the other rested on her lower back, and she gently placed her free hand on his chest. They did their best to follow along with what everyone else was doing as they stayed at the edge of the dancing area.

This was nice. He is a good friend, Emma thought with a bittersweet smile.

Chris found himself staring once more as she looked away, making it easier for him to notice the hint of sadness in her smile. He knew well enough when she was putting on a front. He shook his head at this before pulling her arm up to try and get her to spin.

"What are you doing?" Emma asked, amused, as she spun a few times before he stopped and stepped forward to hold her again.

"I have no idea," he admitted, smiling back at her, which caused her to laugh.

"I think you stole my line," she said as her laugh quieted to a small chuckle to avoid drawing attention.

"Temporarily borrowed it," Chris replied quietly as they both chuckled. He reached down and picked her up like he had back at the orchard and spun again, causing Emma to relax and laugh more openly. He put her back on her feet after the single spin and returned his hand to her back. They continued along with the others before giving Emma another quick single grounded spin and pulling her into a hold halfway through so her back was against his chest. Emma smiled, knowing what to do as she broke the hold, finishing the spin with a hand held out to take the one that she knew would be waiting for her. It was different than what everyone else was doing, but it was their song and dance, their own rhythm that only they knew.

I have feelings for him.

I have feelings for her.

"I didn't know you knew how to dance," Emma said, amused.

"I don't," he admitted with a laugh. "I am completely making this up."

"It's fun," she replied with a grin.

Not now, Chris’s subconscious shouted to hold him back. They were still being watched. She was already in enough danger because of him...

The two eventually stopped dancing as their feet quickly grew tired since they weren't used to it. It was a little after 10.

"It's starting to get late," Emma said as she considered that there was still another hour-long ride home.

"A bit, yeah..." he agreed. "Did you want a ride back to the apartment?" Chris offered out of habit.

She had driven here, but she answered, "Sure, that would be great," with a smile. She'd just get an uber back tomorrow and go to the grocery store on the way home. She wanted to spend time with him.

It was probably a good thing that she went with him in the end as it started snowing, and he had an SUV that was better suited for this than her smaller sedan. The two quickly hurried from the parking garage into the apartment building and quietly spoke as they made their way up the stairs. It was past 11 now, and neither wanted to end up earning the wrath of their neighbors by waking them up. Emma opened her mouth to say goodnight but stopped short.

"I know it's late, but do you have a minute?" she requested with a shy smile.

It wasn't coffee, but he could make this work. "Sure," he agreed with a nod. Emma turned to unlock her apartment and left the door open for him to follow her as Duke sleepily and silently greeted the two, seeing no reason to bark since he knew them both well enough.

Chris closed the door behind them and watched Emma walk to the far end of her living room, over to a neatly decorated tree. He followed part of the way and moved to sit on the couch he'd spent a week sleeping on a few months before.

"Here, it's not much, but…" she said as she took a seat next to him and offered him an oddly wrapped package. "Your schedule is a bit finicky. So, I figured I might as well give this to you early."

He looked it over and cautiously opened the gift to find a few different-sized books. "Books?" he asked as he looked them over.

"I noticed your collection shrank after the water damage. I'm not sure which were lost, but I thought maybe a few travel books would be nice?" she explained as he read the back of one. "That one is pretty unique. It’s more of a checklist than a book. It lists different places around the world and things to do before leaving."

He smiled at that. She really didn't get what he did at all, but all the same, she tried. "Thanks," he replied and she nodded.

"Right." Oh gosh, that's not how you reply to a thank you. Now she was being awkward. "It's late though. So, I won't keep you too much longer." She got up to walk to the door. Damage control, damage control.

No, dang it. Not again. He got up as well and reached out for her arm. It was a simple hold she knew well enough how to get out of, but instead of breaking it and pushing him away, she stayed and looked at him with curiosity. To hell with plans and ground rules. He gently held the side of her face with his free hand as he rested his forehead against her. 90%. He could do this. He wouldn't be able to backpedal from this, but he had to try.

Eyes drifted shut as the gap was closed, and hesitant lips brushed. For at least this one moment, red flags, insecurity, past pain, future threats, none of that mattered. It was patient, it was gentle, and understanding as he moved to let go of her arm so they could hold each other close.

I have feelings for him.

I have feelings for her.

Chapter Text

Another year was about to come to a close. Once more, the floor decided to celebrate the start of a new year together. Similar to the year prior, the Russo's put out a record player that played a tired tune. The effect of the passing year was clear enough to see. The Russos were starting to feel their age as they gently swayed compared to their livelier dancing of the year prior. Bastion was happily held in Travis' arms as they leaned against his open doorway while waiting for the count-down. In the background on Bastion's dining room table sat a vase of flowers with a card that read From: Chris & Emma.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the Hallway, Chris and Emma stood side by side, leaning against the wall space between the two small shelves by their doors rather than standing in either doorway. Emma gently nodded her head to the quiet, older music as Chris sipped at a drink.

Eventually, the countdown began. Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one. "Happy New Year!" the radio announced as the Russos gave each other a peck and nuzzled their faces against each other's while Bastion and Travis kissed. Emma stood on her toes to give Chris a peck on the cheek, which caused his face to flush as he was still not quite used to public displays of affection.

Mrs. Russo walked back into the apartment only to return with a plate of Pizzelle. While Bastion grabbed a bottle of wine to share from his apartment, Emma gathered six glasses from her apartment.

Once everyone had their glass in hand, Mr. Russo stepped forward. "Well, it's been a year since we last gathered here. A lot has happened," he said as he shifted his weight to be more comfortable. "We have new additions to our community," he said, gesturing to Travis. "Growing relations between those of us who were already here," he added making a similar motion over to Emma and Chris, who chuckled in response. "And some that were always here to begin with." Mrs. Russo walked over to place a gentle hand on his shoulder as they smiled at each other. "Despite some rough patches throughout the year, in the end, I think we're all stronger for it," he said with a nod. "So, I hope you'll join me once more in raising a toast. Since it did us so much good in the past year, let it carry us again into the new year." He coughed slightly but raised his glass. "Cheers, to a year of good health and prosperity."

"Chee—" the group started as they raised their glasses, only for Chris's cellphone to cut them off.

[INCOMING CALL - DIRECTOR]

"Sorry, I need to take this," Chris said as he put the glass down on his door side shelf and headed back into his apartment before answering the call. "Hello?"

"Redfield, pack your things. Wolf Squad will be heading out in the next three hours," the director plainly stated, causing Chris to frown. "You'll be heading to the deserts of Europe; Hound Squad is in over their heads and could use a few extra hands."

Chris bit his tongue to keep from pointing out that he had warned the director this would happen. "I'll be right there." Hearing that they were in trouble caused him to worry and his thoughts raced a mile a minute.

"Excellent, we'll have the chopper ready for your squad to make the red-eye," the director said before hanging up.

Great... Chris gave a tired sigh and put his phone away after locking the screen. He packed up his usual olive drab bag, then put on his coat and scarf before heading back out.

"You have to go, dear?" Mrs. Russo asked with a disappointed frown.

"Afraid so. It sounds serious," Chris replied with a nod. "I'll be flying out as soon as possible."

"Well, hopefully it's nothing too dire," Bastion said, concerned.

"It will probably be a couple of weeks as usual." Chris sighed as he adjusted his bag to rest over his shoulder.

"Stay safe man," Travis replied with a nod.

"Have a nice trip," Emma said with an attempt at a smile. This seemed to happen to him a lot. Chris nodded at that, unsure how to reply. He walked over and gave Emma a quick peck on the forehead before going on his way down the stairs, hearing a distant cooing sound from Mrs. Russo in response to seeing the returned affection.

He didn't have time to be distracted like this. My team needs me, he thought as he headed to the parking garage. He made his way to the BSAA and went to the lockers to change into his armored uniform before joining Canine and Night Howl.

"Heya, Boss," Canine said with a tired sigh. "Ready for the new year?"

"Ready as I can be," Chris admitted with a frown. Despite being on time, it took the director an additional hour to show up and provide the mission details. Hound squad had set up a research outpost in the deserts of Europe and got pinned down inside of it by a group of mercenaries. They'd been bunkered in place for the last two days since hostile forces took over the research outpost. The goal was to get inside, reclaim the post and fortify it, so it wouldn't be so easy to ambush in the future.

Despite leaving at two in the morning, thanks to time zones, it was 11 pm by the time Wolf Squad landed their helicopter. Another fifteen hours that Hound Squad had to hold out without support, and it was going to take longer still. They ended up landing a good 40 miles out at an allied airfield. Who needed sleep anyway? Their training had prepared them for how to handle work without sleep for a few days. As tired as the three were, they geared up and started making their way to the outpost, using the cover of night to stay hidden.

3 AM. January 2nd.

"Night Howl, what do we have?" Chris asked quietly as the man in question looked between night vision goggles and paper where he was mapping out what he could see of the outpost.

"It's not looking great," he admitted quietly. "Gotta be at least twenty of them, mostly Bioweapons with a few handlers, and those are just the ones I can see. Looks like someone went and recruited Glenn Aris’ men. Based on the patches, these are his guys. That or they didn't bother rebranding and went solo."

"Not our worst odds," Chris replied as he checked his equipment. "Canine, stay with Night Howl, provide support from here, and see if you can find their radio frequency and tune us in, so we can regroup."

"On it, Alpha," Canine replied as he readied his weapon to provide covering fire while Night Howl handed over the map to Chris and got to work on finding any sort of chatter.

Chris slowly made his way down. Any other time he'd use a grenade and start clearing them in groups but doing that would put the outpost and the squad at risk. It felt like it was going to take ages, but by sunrise, the sound of radio static in his headset got his attention.

"Calling all units. Repeat calling all units. Distress signal hour... 71. If you can hear us, please respond," said Umber Eye's weary voice.

"Distress signal, this is Alpha of Wolf Squad calling in. We hear you loud and clear," Chris said as he heard cheers from Lobo and Tundra through the radio.

"Took your damn time getting here," Umber Eye said with a tired laugh as Chris took out another zombie.

"How are you guys holding up?" Night Howl asked.

"On your six, Alpha," Canine said before taking a shot, hoping to either neutralize the threat or at least let Chris know where to look.

"Like shit," Lobo said with a laugh. "Out of ammo, no food, and we're down to our last canteen of water. The assholes were waiting for us to get back. All we had were leftovers from our quick away mission."

"No injuries?" Chris asked as he continued making his way in. For now, extraction was his first priority. They'd focus on retaking the base in full once they regrouped, resupplied, and rested.

"Minimal," Tundra replied. "A couple of scrapes and bruises. The doors have seen better days, but luckily they don't seem interested in using explosives either, or we'd be telling a very different story."

"Explosives attract attention," Night Howl pointed out.

"That's probably it," Umber Eye agreed. "It's good to hear from you guys."

"Let's hold off on that until you're safe and back at the airfield," Chris suggested while making his way through the maze of the building that Night Howl couldn't map out. "Where are you guys?"

"Third door on the right, from the western entryway. Green metal door with a blue paint strip," Tundra replied.

"You could try knocking," Lobo joked with a half-hearted laugh. Even he was tired.

"Yeah, sure, I'll try and make some inaudible grunts while I'm at it, so you think I'm one of them," Chris said back. "Wipe the computer systems and pack up. I'm on my way."

8 AM, January 2nd.

"Hound Squad prepare for extraction," Chris said as he slammed his fist into the specified door a few times.

Lobo opened the door with a beat-up grin. "Look at that. You knocked."

Chris rolled his eyes. "Canine, we're on our way back. Continue providing covering support."

"Easier said than done, Cap. We've lost cloaking from having the sun down, and it looks like reinforcements are on the way. Get moving," Night Howl replied.

"Keep the engine warm," Chris said into the communication device as he slowly made his way back with the three following behind him.

Getting out of the overrun building was not a walk in the park. It took longer to get out than it did to get in, thanks to the additional Bioweapons sent in by whoever was attacking the outpost. Umber Eye, Tundra, and Lobo were basically sitting ducks following behind Chris since they were down to their last bullets. However, by 10 AM, the extraction effort was successful, despite the fact that the place was now crawling in Bioweapons. They'd have to clear it out eventually, but for now, they focused on getting back to the allied airfield. The three tired Hound Squad members were quick to fall asleep to the hum of the Jeep’s engine as the tires picked up loose sand, making the ride back a quiet one. 

Once they were safely back in the airfield barracks, the group of six was able to rest more properly. On missions like these, cots suddenly felt like the most comfortable luxury in the world. Even then, that luxury was limited to a four-hour nap, though. By 6 pm, everyone was gathered back together for a much-appreciated warm meal. 

Chris was sitting on a bench at a long cafeteria table with the others as Lobo made his way over with his second tray of food and took a seat.

"Where in the world are they coming from?" Chris asked with a concerned frown as he looked over a recent intel report. Another team went to the effort to keep an eye on the overrun outpost and had been sending back frequent updates on its status. Overall, it wasn't looking good, and they had their work cut out for them.

"My guess is the new lab is sending out test vials," Tundra suggested before shoveling another healthy-sized bite of food into her mouth. Seventy-plus hours of little to no food made even the most basic of cafeteria dishes seem like a gourmet experience.

"New lab?" Canine asked with a raised eyebrow. "You think they still have supplies from the lab we just shut down?"

Hearing that caused Tundra to bob her head from side to side before downing some water to clear her throat so she could speak again. "We picked up some chatter a few days back. The target here is the same as the one in the states. They have a group of scientists in the states for developments, but by the sounds of it, they export testing to Europe and move it around to make it harder to trace it back to one source."

Umber Eye nodded. "Yeah, something set them off, and they've been increasingly active as of late," he said with a tired sigh as he picked at his food.

A sinking feeling of dread filled Chris's stomach. "When did that start..."

"A little over a week ago, close to the holidays," Lobo confirmed, which caused Chris to mentally curse as he started putting two and two together... "You'd think with the holidays, they'd figure out how to take a break, but nope. We can't have nice things around here," Lobo grumbled before he started munching away at his second dinner.

"They mentioned setting up a new lab stateside. I got the coordinates during our run last week," Tundra added, causing Chris, Canine, and Night Howl to stare at her with concerned confusion. It didn't take her long to notice. "Did the Director not mention this?" she asked with a confused expression. 

"No... No, he didn't," Chris replied with an irritated frown. Start reporting back to me with your findings as well during downtime... On either front, the mold or the virus. Something isn't right."

'*'*'*'*'

Chris walked through the halls of the BSAA headquarters with a clear scowl on his face. Three weeks. Three weeks he had spent over in the European deserts, one clearing out the waves of Bioweapons sent to specifically attack that one base. Another was spent guarding it while the BSAA sent in a team to repair the current installment, and the last was spent guarding it as another team made additions to the outpost to prevent this from happening again.

Strike one. You're not going to like what happens if you get to three.

He was pissed. The coordinates that Tundra provided showed the new shipments and signals were coming from a recently built high-rise on the outskirts of the inner city where he lived. This was right under their nose, and it was being ignored. Chris aggressively opened the door to the director's office and slammed it shut behind him.

"Redfield," the director said with a tired expression that read 'oh lord, here we go.' As if he was a parent about to deal with an upset child. "Always a pleasure to see you."

"The hell is this?" Chris asked as he slapped the coordinates onto the director's desk with the flick of his wrist.

"It appears to be an address," the director said as if he was playing along with a game.

"For a stateside lab you've known about since December," Chris added, anger still evident in his tone. "Why was my team not mobilized? It’s a ticking time bomb to have a lab like that in such a populated area."

"The risk was assessed and deemed insufficient. As such, the investigation for that location was closed and set to a reactive only protocol," the director replied, which just pissed Chris off more.

"Insufficient? They're testing the virus on cadavers just 30 miles down the highway in an area that's highly populated with civilians. This is going to be New York all over again. How much more of a risk does there need to be?" Chris rebutted.

"Sometimes in a game of cat and mouse, you’ve got to let the mouse think it's the cat. Let them think that they're not being watched," the director explained. "For this mission, as far as stateside is concerned, we're sticking to reactive protocol. We'll send troops if an incident occurs and take action from there." The director moved to stand up and look Chris in the eyes. "You'd do well to keep your temper in check. Am I making myself clear enough this time?"

He was about to mention the warning from Veronica and his belief that the attack against the outpost was related to it, but he held his tongue. It wouldn't make a difference even if he did tell the director. He had no intention of doing anything about this.

"Crystal," Chris replied, still frowning. He would be taking those words to heart. Something was wrong inside the BSAA. He knew it the second Umbrella showed up in their ranks. He'd stay put and follow orders if only to keep an eye on this and continue to do what he knew was right.

"Good. Now, get out of my office, and try not to slam the door on your way out," the director said as he sat down once more, took the paper with the address on it and put it into the shredder next to his desk.

Chris walked out and did as he was told. He hated this. His debrief with the director, Night Howl, and Canine occurred the next day, and by nightfall, they were released to go home.

'*'*'*'*'

Emma quietly hummed as she sat in her usual place on the couch and clicked away at her computer to try and finish up an extra assignment. The parent company wanted to hire up it seemed, and needed new 'we're hiring' ads for some sort of new cosmetics division. Something about having an easy time cross-promoting, yadda yadda. That was research and development's job to worry about. She just had to make sure it would appeal to the target audience when they saw it on a poster and make sure people found the ads in the first place. From the looks of it, they were thinking about renting out some space in that high rise at the edge of the city. Seemed like overkill, but they were on this 'best of the best' kick with Veronica at the helm. So at the same time, it was not a surprise that they wanted space in the newest inner-city building while the label was still located in the outer city. Maybe they'd end up moving everyone over. "The commute would be nicer..." she said to herself with a sigh. She was tired... Emma closed her laptop with that thought. She'd work on this in the morning.

Knock knock knock.

RING: [Alert - Motion Detected]

Suddenly she wasn't so tired. She quickly put her laptop down on the coffee table and got up to head over to the door to see a very tired face looking back at her.

"Chris, welcome home," she said with a smile, moving to let him in. He walked forward and pulled her into an embrace, which she returned. He smelled like smoke. Gracious, it was that bad?

"Good to be back," he replied, then let her go so he could put his bag down and close the door properly. Emma finally got a good look at his face.

"How did you manage to get a tan in the middle of winter?" she asked with an amused smile as she walked with him to the kitchen.

"It was work," he replied as he took a seat at the island.

"That doesn't even make sense as an answer for that question," Emma replied, amused, unaware that it actually did make some sense.

"I know," he said in return with a short chuckle.

He looked ready to pass out... "You know, you don't have to sit at the island. If you want you can sit on the couch, it's more comfortable. I'll bring the food over," Emma suggested as her concern remained. "Something quick this time so you can go get some rest," she added.

Chris nodded in agreement before getting up to get a glass of water then made his way to the couch, while Emma worked on cooking. It took about 10 minutes since the stove had to heat up, but she fried up a quesadilla on the stove top using leftover ingredients and walked over to find that Chris had already fallen asleep. "Oh dear..."

Duke watched with very acute attention as Emma placed the food down on the coffee table. Maybe for dog? He certainly was willing to wait and see as he crawled under the table, hoping something would fall. Meanwhile, Emma sat down next to Chris and supported his head with one hand while gently nudging his shoulder with the other.

"Hm?" he replied as he slowly roused and blinked a few times while trying to process being awake again.

"Chris, if you're this tired, you should go to bed," Emma said with a concerned expression.

"I wanted to see you first," he said with a shrug.

Emma chuckled at this. He didn't seem hungry at all. She reached down to grab the quesadilla from the plate and ripped it apart, offering half to him. "Well, it's going to be hard for you to see me with your eyes shut," she pointed out as he accepted the portion of quesadilla.

"Close enough," he replied with a yawn before taking a bite of the warm food and putting his free arm over the back of the couch. The two sat in silence and enjoyed each other's company while they shared their small late-night snack.

Chapter Text

Winter continued on as February's cold days passed one by one. The calendar on the fridge read February 15th. Next to it was a small, handwritten note that read 'Dear Auntie Emmy + Chris, Will you pleese come to my 7th birfhday party on March 9th? -Summer.' On the island counter next to the tiny worry hut, which had been mostly unused for some time, was a vase holding a small bouquet of daisies and a tag that read Emma, Happy Valentine's Day -Chris. 

As for the occupants of the apartment, Chris was lying on the couch opposite to the TV. His head was propped up by a pillow, so he could read a book, while Emma rested on top of him, using his chest as a pillow as she watched a movie about some Kung Fu guy on the TV. Occasionally, one or the other would grab a few pieces of popcorn from a bag on the coffee table to munch on as they relaxed in their own way together. Frozen winds could be heard rattling against the windows of Emma's apartment, but they stayed comfortable and warm nestled together.

"Did the kid do the illegal move at the tournament yet?" Chris asked while turning the page.

"Not yet," Emma replied, and shortly after, a scream was heard. "There it is." The show continued as the man went on about using some sort of glass cup and fire.

"That is not how that works," Chris said while still reading.

"You are the worst to watch movies with, you know that?" Emma asked in an amused tone.

"That why I'm reading a book," Chris replied with a teasing smile.

"Stay in the book then. I can't hear," Emma chided through a chuckle.

Chris reached over for another cluster of popcorn, only for a piece to fall loose and land on the side of Emma's face. She closed her eye as it was hit by the stray kernel. "Are you trying to pick a fight?" she joked as she reached up to grab the piece from its resting place and pop it into her mouth.

"Maybe," he replies with a smirk.

Upon hearing that, Emma carefully propped herself up enough that she was in the way of Chris's book and she could look him in the eyes. In the background, steps could be heard going up the stairs. It was probably just Bastion or Travis. Emma's phone went off, and shortly after, Chris's sent out an alert before a knocking could be heard down the hall at his door. This caused any snickers and chuckles to stop as they each reached out to get their phone off the table.

RING: [Alert - Motion Detected]

[Security System: Motion Detected]

"Were you expecting anyone?" Emma asked with a note of concern.

"No..." he replied with a frown.

Well, time to get up, Emma thought as she got off Chris so he could stand up. Once both were up, Chris opened his security system's app and stared for a moment, then seemed to relax. "It's safe," he said as he walked over to the door and opened it.

Standing outside was a woman, roughly around Emma's age, with reddish-brown hair neatly pulled back into a ponytail. She tried dusting off the snow that had collected on her red leather jacket before noticing that the wrong door had opened after her knock.

"Hey," Chris replied with a confused expression. What was his sister doing here? Part of him hoped this was good news and that she was ready to talk to him again. However, part of him was ready to accept the more likely answer of 'Hey, I need you to beat up this thing for me.'

"Chris?" she asked, confused. "Oh, um. I could have sworn this was your apartment... it has been a while."

Okay, how to explain this... "No, that's the right door."

"Who is it?" Emma asked as she peeked out from behind him.

"Oh," Claire replied as she started processing the situation. "Is now a bad time?"

"No, it’s fine." Not really, but hey, he could be flexible. "Emma, this is Claire, my younger sister. Claire, Emma," Chris said, internally screaming. He was not ready for family introductions yet. 

"It's nice to meet you," Emma replied. She hadn't realized Chris had a sister. "Do you want to come in?"

Claire nodded. "Sure," she agreed, still taken aback. She entered the apartment all the same, and the three congregated near the island.

"What have you been up to?" Chris asked, trying to start up a conversation.

"You know, just surviving," Claire said, looking around and eventually spotting the flowers and the tag attached to them. "You?" she asked as a gentle smile formed. Good for him.

"Pretty much the same," he replied with a nod.

Claire chuckled and shook her head. Same old Chris. "So, Emma. Which unit are you in?" Claire asked with a smile.

"Unit?" Emma asked in return. Um, this one? Why was she asking about the apartment?

"Oh, um. Organization, then?" Claire clarified, figuring maybe Emma wasn't BSAA but was in an organization like TerraSave.

"I, um—" Emma tried to figure out how to reply while looking between the two for some sort of clue. Maybe Claire was asking about her job? "GridWire Music Productions?" Emma answered, still not convinced that was the information Claire was looking for. 

"She's a civilian?" Claire gasped, looking at Chris with a stunned expression. Not upset— just surprised. "Does she know?" she asked, though her tone was more asking, 'Can I speak freely?'

"This can't be why you came to visit... What's going on?" Chris replied, frowning and trying to change the subject.

Oh joy, UN secrets run in the family, Emma thought while trying to keep a straight face. "I think I'm going to take Duke for a walk. Text me?" Emma requested as she walked over to put on her coat then gave a short whistle to get Duke to join her by the door. It was getting increasingly uncomfortable to be a part of the conversation, so she was completely content with her excuse to abort and leave. 

"Can do," Chris agreed while Emma leashed up the dog.

"’Kay, see you in a bit," she replied, heading out. Once the door was closed, Chris looked back at Claire.

"So, what world-ending catastrophe is going on now?" Chris asked as he moved to lean against the island.

"None, at the moment," Claire replied with a forced smile. He’s trying to make a joke, right? "I was hoping we could talk? Without shouting at each other this time..."

Chris nodded. "All right, what do you want to talk about?" he asked to show he was still engaged in the conversation and not leaving Claire to do all the talking. 

Claire avoided his stare before giving a quiet sigh. "Look... I am still kind of mad at you, but we already lost mom and dad, and maybe it's my fault for staying mad for so long," she said quietly.

"Claire," Chris started, feeling a pang of guilt. It wasn’t exactly like he'd reached out since then, either.

"It just felt like... When I heard you might be in trouble, I went to Raccoon City, Rockfort. Hell, I ended up in Antarctica before you showed up. I dropped everything to find you... but when I needed you, you just let someone else worry about it. Some random BSAA chopper showed up, and you were nowhere to be seen," she explained, which caused Chris to frown and look away.

It hurt, but it was true. He didn't have a choice, though; he had been in the Mojave. "What was I supposed to do?" Chris asked, trying to bury his frustration.

"You were supposed to care enough to help me," Claire said with a frustrated frown. "Have the team you sent to find me take over what you were working on. Stop working for five minutes and make sure I was okay."

"That's not how that works," Chris replied with a frown.

"why does that have to be how it works for you to put in the effort to see me?" Claire pointed out in return. "I mean, look at us. It's been five years, and you didn't even try to come and see me to patch this up! I had to go find you. Again.” Frustration continued to build in her tone.

The accusations stung more and more as Chris listened to her speak. "I just... wanted to respect your space," he replied before giving a quiet sigh while looking at the floor. Talking, not shouting this time. I can do this. "You're not wrong to be mad at me," he admitted in an attempt to be the mature older sibling at this moment. "When I got your call about the Sonido de Tortuga incident, I couldn't bring myself to go. I was afraid that I would get there just to fail for the hundredth time and watch you die. I couldn't—" He paused as he looked at her. "I'm sorry, Claire. Even then, I still failed you."

Claire pressed her lips together to force a frown before stepping forward to hold her brother and starting to cry. "I don't want to lose you too because of a grudge."

"Don't start that, or you'll get me going too," Chris warned with a short chuckle as he held his sister. "You're not going to lose me... I'm right here," he said quietly. It took a good fifteen minutes or so, but the siblings eventually cleared their waterworks and felt lighter from letting go of the anger and frustration that had built up over the years. They might still disagree about what was the 'right' thing to do, but they had both said their piece and chosen to move on. 

Chris walked over to a cupboard to get two glasses and fill each with water before giving one to Claire.

"Do you have a place to stay while you're here?" Chris asked, patiently waiting for Claire to finish drinking and answer.

"Not, exactly," Claire admitted.

"Maybe we can talk to Emma about having you stay here then once she gets back," he replied as he sent a quick text.

[Chris] All Clear

[Emma] Rodger that

Claire seemed confused by that suggestion. Usually, when she visited, he'd let her stay with him... Was he still mad at her? "Oh, um, sure. What happened to the pull-out bed? Did you replace the couch?" Claire asked curiously. Sure, it had been five years since she last visited, but he was hardly ever home.

"No, I still have it... it's just the mattress has seen better days, and—" Chris started to explain, only to get cut off.

"I don't want to know," Claire said as she held her forehead. That was way too much information and produced mental images she didn't need.

"It's not—" he paused and heaved a defeated sigh. "That's beside the point."

Claire chuckled. It was nice to get to talk to him. "So... Emma?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yep," he nodded, giving no further details before taking a sip of water from his cup. "Leon?" he asked in return.

"On again, off again," she said with a shrug.

"You can do better anyway," Chris replied, shaking his head. "Last I saw him, he was half a bottle deep in Jack Daniel's, feeling sorry for himself until he finally got off his ass and helped me."

"The New York mission, right?" Claire asked in response, which noticeably surprised Chris. "What? You didn't think I stopped keeping tabs on you, did you?"

Chris chuckled. "Well, I can't say I'm completely surprised," he said. Then, mimicking her voice, "My big brother's in S.T.A.R.S... Wait until I tell my big brother,” he teased, only to get a partial shove in response.

"I do not sound like that," Claire remarked, shaking her head.

"You did as a teenager," he said with a smile.

It really had been so long since they just talked... Claire chuckled, then her expression fell. "There was something else I wanted to talk about..." she admitted, which caused Chris’s frown to become a neutral expression as well. "TerraSave has been picking up a lot of activity in this area. What is going on? Does the BSAA not know about this?"

"I'm not completely sure what's going on..." Chris reluctantly conceded. "The Director of the BSAA knows there’s an active lab in the area. He's set it to 'reactive protocol.'" Chris sneered. "I know we haven't talked in a while, but if you hear anything else... Can you let me know? It feels like I'm getting cut off."

"That's not good," Claire said with concern in her tone. "Chris, we need to report this."

"I don't have enough evidence yet," he replied with a tired sigh. "Once I do, I'll confront them. I want to get to the bottom of this first. To find the real source and cut it off at its root, not just trim the top."

Claire nodded. "All right, I'll do what I can," she agreed. "Just be careful, okay?"

A few moments later, Emma walked back into the apartment with Duke and let him off his leash. Once freed, the pooch immediately went to check out Claire by sniffing at her leg.

"Duke heel," Emma said. The dog gave a huff in response but did as it was told and returned to Emma's side. "Sorry about that."

"Not a problem," Claire replied with a partial smile.

"I know it's short notice, but could Claire stay with you for the night?" Chris asked hesitantly; it was kind of asking for a lot.

He wanted her to host his sister, who she didn't know existed until now... "Sure, that's fine," Emma replied with a nod. She didn't want to make a bad first impression, even if it was a sudden request. "I suppose it's a good thing I repurposed the study into a guest room," Emma added with a short nervous chuckle. She had honestly been meaning to do that for a while since she ended up watching Chelsea's kids roughly once a month, but bed frames and mattresses were expensive. She had started on that project in October, but thanks to the raise from her promotion, she was able to finish the gradual renovation by December. It meant having to sit in the living room while working from home, but it was worth it to be able to sleep in her own bed when she had guests.

"Thanks, I'd have her say with me, but the spare mattress is kind of—" He bobbed his head.

"Oh god no, she's not staying on that. It's flat as anything by now," Emma agreed adamantly. After over a year of using that thing during training, she kind of owed him a new one at this point. Emma looked at Claire after that. "Hopefully, you didn't have to travel too far. Can I get you anything?" she asked, realizing that Claire's eyes were slightly swollen. Had she been crying recently?

"I'm fine. It was a four-hour flight. I've had worse," Claire replied with a shrug. "I'm just going to catch the first flight back in the morning."

"I'll head out then, so you can get some rest," Chris replied with a nod. "See you around," he added as he made his way to the door. He really wasn't good with emotions, and the last 30 minutes had been chock-full of them. Even with their heart-to-heart, he still felt awkward around Claire.

Well, that was a brisk exit. Emma thought with a confused and concerned expression. "Sorry, he can be a little—"

"I know," Claire said, pressing her lips together once more.

Oh dear... "I'll show you the guest room then," Emma offered and gestured for Claire to follow her.

"So, how do you know my brother?" Claire asked as they walked back to the spare room. It was cramped, but it had recently been repainted and had two single beds in it with a dresser in between. A few picture frames hung on the walls to make it feel more put together.

"Let's see, I moved in almost two years ago?" Emma replied with a nod. "There were a few attempted break-ins after that. At the time, I thought Chris was some member of the military. So, I had asked him to help teach me some self-defense options until I got the hang of it." She turned on the lights, and they walked into the room.

Claire chuckled at that. "Well, you found a good teacher for that. He taught me back when I was a teenager."

"Ah, so you two are close?" Emma asked with a smile. How cute.

"Kind of," Claire admitted with a sad smile as she sat on the closest bed and put her book bag down next to her. "He didn't really have much of a choice. We lost mom and dad so suddenly, and I wasn't old enough to take care of myself yet."

Oh my heart. How the heck had Chris never mentioned any of this? "I'm so sorry," Emma replied, only for Claire to wave it off.

"It's fine. It was a long time ago," she replied to try to avoid any further sympathy. "Anyway, thanks for the room.”

"Not a problem. You're welcome to anything in the apartment. If you can't find something you need, just ask," Emma offered.

She walked out and headed back into the main living area, cleaning up around the house until she heard the door to the spare room close. After that, she walked quietly to the main entrance, headed over to Chris's place, and knocked on the door.

"Emma," Chris said in greeting. "Is something wrong?"

"I think I need an explanation." Emma was still trying to mentally process what she had just learned in the last hour. Chris motioned her inside, then closed the door behind her. Emma turned to face him again. "Are you okay?" she asked, concerned. "Your sister came to visit, and you were very quick to leave after only seeing her for thirty minutes.”

"I'm fine," Chris affirmed before thinking over how to continue. "We had a falling out around five years ago." He frowned as he crossed his arms. As much as he wanted to be able to plead his side of the case, that would mean potentially sharing more than he should...

"So, she came out here to try and patch things up?" Emma asked, and he nodded in return. "Are you guys good now?" She received another nod.

"I still feel guilty, but yeah... We're good," Chris replied, his frown lessening slightly.

"I'm glad to hear that." Emma smiled. Okay, ease into this as gently as possible, she thought, choosing her words carefully. "Look, maybe in the morning, you could offer to have her stay longer and spend some time with her? I don't mind lending out the spare room while she's here."

To Emma's disappointment, he shook his head 'no.' "She's an adult. She doesn't ne—" Emma cut him off at that.

"Chris, she flew all this way to see you. Of course, she wants to spend time with you," Emma interjected with a frown, a sympathetic one but a frown nonetheless. "At the very least, offer?" Emma requested. "Flying out here was her olive branch for whatever you guys were fighting about. You should try and offer one back," she coached. Yes, she was being nosy, but the disappointment in Claire's voice when she said 'I know' before still rang in Emma's ears.

"So, you're suddenly an expert on siblings then?" Chris asked, annoyed.

"I have an older brother and a younger sister. So yeah, I guess I am," Emma replied as she crossed her arms now. She did not appreciate his tone.

"That's the first I'm hearing about them," Chris pointed out.

"Well, this is the first I've heard of Claire," Emma rebutted with an expression that read 'your move.'

They were both getting irritable, and it wasn't going to get better unless one of them decided to de-escalate. It took Chris a moment, but he let out a short breath and put his arms down. Taking a step forward, he put an arm around her waist. "You know, before when I said I was maybe trying to pick a fight, this wasn't what I meant."

Emma's expression weakened to a more neutral one as she dropped her arms as well. Only to hold up a hand and gently press a knuckle into Chris’s side with no effect. "Pretty sure that's not an apology..."

"I’m sorry," Chris said quietly.

It took another moment, but Emma admitted, "I'm sorry too. Can we have a do-over on this conversation? That didn't go so well the first time." She shifted to hold him in return.

"All right," he agreed and gave her a peck on the top of the head.

"I talked to Claire after you left. You ran off so quickly and she seemed disappointed." Emma explained what she saw that Chris did not. "I think she was hoping you'd reach out and ask her to stay."

Chris listened as she spoke and nodded. "We have been in this argument of ours for five years now. It's not something that's just going to go away overnight because she came to visit."

She hadn't really taken that into consideration. "That's more than fair. I'm sorry, I should have stayed out of it," Emma conceded, feeling a pang of guilt.

"I did kind of spring this on you by asking for her to stay with you," Chris admitted to his own fault in this. "For now, I think it's for the best that she heads home as she intended. The argument between my sister and I was my fault, and I still feel pretty guilty about it. I don't think I'm ready to move on and pretend it didn't happen."

"All right," Emma agreed.

While he wasn't quite ready to bury the hatchet with Claire, he was fine with burying the butter knife of an argument he’d just had with Emma. "Come here," he said as he picked her up and carried her over to the couch, so he could sit down and hold her. It wasn't the first time they’d argued, but it was more or less the first one she had instigated. "Hey. I was a little mad, but I don't hate you, okay?" he said, remembering the words that helped him feel better after admitting his guilt to her in the past.

"’Kay," Emma replied, giving a sigh of relief as they both relaxed. She looked up to give him a peck, which he returned.

Meanwhile, Claire leaned back from the kitchen wall of Emma's apartment, having pressed her ear to it to hear. A hint of a smile was on her face, but it was a more genuine one compared to the sad smile from before. He ran because he needed time to process feeling guilt from their conversation. She could respect that for now, so long as he tried eventually.

She looked over at the side of the fridge to see the letter from a soon-to-be seven-year-old named Summer, who was inviting the couple to their birthday, and a small stripe of photos. One of Emma and Chris with a tired smile, another with Emma making a silly face and Chris staring in confusion, and the last was both of them laughing. Claire chuckled at that. 

Chapter Text

Emma parked her car outside of a small suburban home decorated in streamers and balloons. While it was sunny outside, the last remaining chill of winter could still be felt in the air as she and Chris got out of the car. He had to work the last two weeks of February and most of the first week of March, but he made it back just in time. "So, am I a bad driver?" Emma asked teasingly as she got a gift wrapped in colorful paper out of the back seat.

"Had me clutching my pearls a few times, but I suppose we made it here in one piece," Chris replied with a smirk.

Emma laughed. "You're full of it," she replied.

"Fine, you're not that bad," he admitted as he walked over to her side of the car while she closed the car door. He waited until she had adjusted her hold on the present before putting an arm over her shoulders. It was important to stay warm after all.

"Thank you. I take that as high praise," she replied with another chuckle as they walked up to the house. "I think Summer is going to love this," Emma said, glancing down at the gift. "You know she's going to torment you with it, though, right? Are you sure you're okay with this?"

Chris shrugged. It was too late now. "It can't be that bad," he replied as they stopped in front of the door.

"All right then," Emma said before knocking on the door. Chelsea opened the door with a smile, though it faded slightly upon noticing Chris’s arm over Emma's shoulders.

"Hey, you guys made it. Good to see you both," Chelsea said all the same, though it sounded forced. "Come on in. Summer's excited to see you," she added, looking mostly at Emma.

The two walked into the house and were led to the basement, where a cacophony of screaming could be heard from the children running around. They were likely the only two adults to receive an invitation, as the others were parents of the munchkins playing various home party games. It was honestly awkward since most of the parents that approached them to try and have some form of conversation would start off by asking, 'So which one is yours?' That would lead to repeated explanations that Emma was Summer's aunt and they didn't have children.

Before long, mercy was offered, at least in part, as Jack walked over to the two. "Hey Chris, do you mind helping me out with something in the kitchen?" he requested.

Christ gave a short nod. "Sure."

The two walked back up the stairs to the main floor of the house and entered the much quieter kitchen.

"That's much better..." Jack said with a sigh. "Do you wanna beer?"

"Did you need my help?" Chris asked, confused.

"Yep," he said with a nod as he got two beers out of the fridge. "I needed your help with an excuse to get out of the scream box for a few minutes." He shook his head and smiled.

Chris laughed. "Fair enough," he replied and accepted the offered drink.

"Thanks again. The kids are great when there are just three of them. Not twenty that are full of sugar." Jack clinked his can against Chris’s before drinking.

"Here's to that," Chris agreed, shaking his head. It was really loud down there.

"So, how have you been lately?" Jack asked to continue the small talk.

"It's been a bit hectic this year, but I can't complain," Chris replied before taking another sip from his drink. "How about you?"

The man grinned widely, seemingly waiting for the question to be returned. "Doing well. I'm going to be meeting up with my poker buddies next weekend," Jack answered, more than happy to direct the conversation. "Those friends of yours from the orchard seemed pretty cool. Maybe you guys can join us?"

The offer was rather confusing in contrast to the hard stare he'd received from Chelsea earlier. "You don't mind? I didn't think I'd be welcomed here on my own." 

"Ah, that. I usually meet up with my poker friends at the bar," Jack offered for peace of mind before answering Chris’s question. "And I probably don't mind as much since I've known Emma longer."

"Really?" Chris asked, surprised. He figured it would have been the other way around.

"Yeah, only by a few months. Em's the reason I met Chelsea in the first place. It’s kind of a funny story, actually," he admitted with a laugh. "I was at some graduation party for high school that got a little out of hand. I tried to do a keg stand and ended up falling on my shoulder and dislocated it," he explained, giving his right shoulder a pat with his free hand. "I was terrified about going to an ER. I figured they'd be able to tell I was drinking, and I'd lose my college acceptance. Emma happened to be there too, though, and she was able to get my shoulder back in place." Jack grinned. "Turns out we were going to the same college, so we stayed in touch. She introduced me to her roommate, and the next thing you know, we're married, and kids are on the way."

"I see," Chris said, trying to keep a straight face. Jack hardly seemed like the type to do anything like that.

"Try not to think too poorly of her for that if you can. She's just protective," Jack offered in his wife's defense. 

"I'll keep that in mind," Chris agreed with a nod. "As for poker, I might have to play that by ear, but I'll let you know as soon as I can."

"Not a problem. Do you have my number?" Jack asked as he moved to dig his phone out of his pocket, so they could exchange numbers. 

The two enjoyed a good fifteen-minute break from the chaos before bringing the Piñata back down with them. That was promptly destroyed by the sugar-high tiny tots. Cake and soda later, and they were on to gifts. Dolls, action figures, movies, trading cards, and plush toys later, Chel finally put the gift from Emma and Chris in front of the small child. "Can you read the tag?" Chel asked, and Summer nodded.

"From Chris and Auntie Emmy," she read proudly before opening it. "It's a plastic box?" Summer asked with a confused and disappointed expression, causing Emma and Chelsea to chuckle. A bit annoyed by their reaction, she opened the box and gasped before jumping around excitedly. Inside was an oversize children's sketchbook and an assortment of drawing supplies. They had looked at the sets that came in those fancy-looking wooden briefcases, but the actual supplies looked cheap and frustrating to use. So instead, they went with a cheaper case and hand-selected some nicer supplies to put inside with the help of an employee at the craft store. Nothing excessive, but it was a tiny step up from Crayola crayons and scrap paper.

Summer quickly ran over and gave each of them a hug. "You guys are the best," she said with an ear-to-ear grin before hurrying back over to pick up the box, reverently close it, and put it aside before continuing to open her gifts. By the end of the day, she was already hard at work trying to fill every page of the book.

Emma watched Summer as she drew and chuckled to herself. "Birthdays are fun."

Chris nodded in partial agreement. "For kids, yeah."

That got Emma's attention. "Too macho for birthdays?" she joked.

"Eh. After a while, they're not that important. There's not much of a difference between 83 and 84," Chris explained with a shrug.

Emma shook her head at that, but the conversation got a few gears turning. His birthday was coming up, wasn't it?

'*'*'*'*'

A few weeks had passed and another quick mission came up, but it was only a few days in Romania over a false alarm and things were back to normal within a week. Chris looked at his phone to check the time. Friday, March 22nd 7 pm. He gave a quiet sigh as he looked over at the stack of paperwork from the false alert. Time to call it a day. It would be there Monday. With that, he got up and walked out to the elevator, went down to the main floor, and stared outside where it was pouring rain. Great... A streak of lightning crossed the sky, followed by a crashing boom of thunder. It was cold out, but not cold enough for snow. He pulled up the collar of his coat and hurried over to his car to try and make his way home.

Meanwhile, Emma had quietly been scheming. Chris had been sent away for a week on another mission, so she was worried this wasn't going to work out. She looked over at the calendar on the fridge. March 22nd, a Friday but luckily for her, she usually got home before Chris. She looked over at the island that had a small cake with a single candle ready to be lit, a brown paper gift box tied shut with colorful string, and an envelope sitting next to plate settings for two. He said birthdays weren't important, so she didn't want to make a big deal about it, but she at least wanted to show she remembered. It was simple, and it was small, but it seemed just about right. She smiled as she cooked and before long, she heard footsteps in the stairwell that walked past her door, followed by the opening and closing of a door. She'd give it a few more minutes.

A rain-soaked Chris had just, in fact, entered his apartment. The stupid thunderstorm followed him the whole way home. He grumbled at that as he hung up his coat, flicked off his shoes, and went to the bathroom to get a towel to try and soak up some of the water that got caught in his hair. With that taken care of, he went over to the fridge to see what he could whip up for dinner, only to hear a knocking at the door. Hmm. Three guesses who that was. He chuckled at that thought and shook his head but went over to open the door all the same. "Hey Emma," he said in greeting with the beginnings of a smile on his face.

"Hey, I was trying out another one of Mrs. Russo's recipes, and it made a fair bit more than I was expecting," Emma explained with a nervous chuckle. "Have you had dinner?" She returned the smile.

She really needed to work on quartering the recipe instead of halving it. "Sure, I could eat." It had been a while since she invited him over to eat instead of him just showing up at her door after a mission. This was kind of nice.

The two went back over to Emma's apartment. Right as he walked in, lightning flashed and thunder crashed as the power went out. Emma drops her head. "And of course..." She gives a tired sigh but looks back up at Chris with a sheepish smile. "Surprise," she adds with a partially defeated tone while gesturing to the kitchen island. At least the food was already cooked?

It took a second for his eyes to adjust, but the light of the single tiny candle was enough for him to see the small cake, card, and box. "Really?" he asked with an amused tone.

"Happy birthday?" Emma said with a grin. "In the dark..." she added with a defeated sigh.

He shook his head, but closed the door and walked over to the island to take a seat. "You really didn't have to do anything."

"I know," she replied with a shrug. "That's why I wanted to." She turned on her phone. 20% battery life. Dang it. All the same, she used her phone as a flashlight to make her way into the kitchen to move the food over to the island.

"Well, you went excessive on the mood lighting.”

"Ha. Ha. Very funny," Emma replied with a smirk as she put a serving bowl of pasta carbonara on the counter. "There we go, dig in," she said before heading to the sink to turn it on. "Right... no power... no water," she said, shaking her head before opening the fridge while Chris served his plate. "Do you want anything before it gets warm?" she asks curiously. "Because I might have maybe failed to fill the glasses before the power went out..."

Chris tried not to laugh, but a few chuckles escaped. "I'll take whatever you have," he said, still amused by their crap luck as of late. Still, this was kind of nice. Emma put a can of beer by each plate before closing the fridge and taking a seat.

"Just don't tell Mrs. Russo on me for not having a pairing for this," she said as she turned off her phone's flashlight to save the battery life for now, then served herself. The two chatted as the candle started to slowly melt away.

"Looks like we're about to lose the flame," Chris commented.

"If you want to save your phone in case you get a call from work, I have a larger candle in the living room I haven't used before," Emma offered. That is probably because candles are technically against the rules because they’re a fire hazard. Hopefully, there's an exception for when the power is out, she thought with a wince. "I was kind of hoping we'd have the power back by now," she admitted with a brief frown.

"Yeah, must be a pretty bad outage," Chris replied with a nod. "Might as well," he agreed with a shrug as Emma got up to go and get the jarred candle from the living room while using her phone as a flashlight again. 15%. Come on... Once she was seated again, she turned off the flashlight and placed the candle on the island between them. Chris then plucked the remaining tiny candle from the cake and used that to light the jarred candle before blowing out the nub of a birthday candle. The jarred candle was a fair bit brighter than the valiant attempts of the birthday candle and made it easier for the two to see, though not by that grand of a margin.

"Well, at least you'll probably be able to see the card now," Emma said with a wincing smile. What a mess.

Chris took the hint and picked the card up. It felt unusually thick, which was curious. Upon opening it, he found a folded piece of paper and two cards. One in the shape of a 4 and the other in the shape of a 6.

"The cards are from Summer. She was insistent that number cards are the best, and that was her solution since there wasn't a card with a 46 on it," Emma explained, recalling the rather amusing trip to the grocery store with Chel and the kids.

Chris glossed over reading the cards since they were meant for a four-year-old and a 6-year-old respectively, before unfolding the paper to find it was a page from the sketchbook Summer had gotten for her birthday. On the page was a familiar red stick figure with a black shirt and blue pants. There were a bunch of other stick figures around it this time, along with a few trees and pumpkins and what he assumed was an attempt at a cake – though all the lines coming out of the top made it look more like an upside-down centipede. Notably, though, this time the red stick figure was drawn with a smile instead of a frown. On the back of the page, it read 'Happy Birfthday Chris - Summer p.s. thanks again for the markers. There really really really cool.'

The message made him smile. ‘They're’ was misspelled, but close enough. "And the box?" he asked as he kept the picture unfolded and gently placed it on the island away from the flames.

"That one's from me," Emma admitted. "Just, don't expect anything amazing. It's honestly nothing special." She gave him a weak smile.

He curiously untied the string and opened the box, only to pinch the bridge of his nose while struggling not to laugh. "All right, I'll bite," he said with a short chuckle as he took the tiny remote-control helicopter out of the box. "Why is there a tiny helicopter in a box?"

"You mentioned a while ago that you're a pilot. I thought you could use a way to practice flying at home," she explained with a smirking grin before shaking her head. "It's nothing serious. I honestly just didn't know what to get you at this point, so..." She shrugged, also trying not to laugh, so she could take another sip of her drink.

This Goddamn woman. Chris reached over to grab her chair and pull it closer to him, so he could kiss her, only for the attempt to end with both of them laughing.

"It's not even that funny." Emma tried really hard to keep a straight face. Okay, she could do this. With one more quick chuckle, she moved to hold the sides of Chris’s face and attempted to give him a kiss, only to end up snickering again. "Oh gosh. Dang it all..."

Then an idea came to mind that might help. She just needed to get him to stop, so she could stop. One last try. She pressed her lips against his and gently bit his lower lip before moving away. That seemed to work, as he almost instantly went silent, which allowed her own chuckling to subside. One kiss led to another and another as each one became more passionate than the last before the two broke away. They both looked at each other for a moment, then at the jarred candle before blowing it out.

Chapter Text

March came to a close and led into April. Cold rain became warmer as spring was in full swing. Emma made her way from the parking garage toward the apartment complex. "No mama, that’s not it." She stopped as the woman on the other end of the line talked. "Of course! I'd love to see you guys; I know it's been a while. It’s just things are really busy right now."

She remained silent as she listened to her phone, walked up to the main door of the building, entered, and made her way up the stairs. "I mean, yeah, June is a few months out. I suppose I can talk to my boss about it if it's just a Friday and Monday off..." she agreed as she headed into her apartment, pacing while she continued talking on the phone.

"What?" Emma asked, surprised, then stopped pacing and held her face. "Gosh dang it, Chel," she whispered away from the phone. "Nothing! Nothing, yeah. I'll ask him, but no promises. Besides, don't you think this is kind of much? Like. I dunno, maybe a face time would—" Emma tried to suggest but stopped speaking and started pacing again. "No, I'm not hiding things from you."… "Mom." … "Okay. You're right. I'll try and call more often."

"Congrats again on retirement," Emma said with a slight smile. Even if the conversation took a stressful turn, it was still good to talk to her mother. "Love you too. Talk to you again soon," Emma said as she walked over to her couch. "’Kay. Bye." With that, she hung up and flopped onto the couch to bury her face in a pillow. It took her a moment, but she eventually rolled to face the ceiling and held up her phone, so she could tap at the screen

[Emma] You told my mother. Really? Are we twelve now?

[Chelsea] Hey, it came up on its own. How was I supposed to know you weren't telling your parents? OH WAIT! You didn't even tell me. 😠 I found out when you showed up for Summer's birthday, and he had an arm around you.

[Emma] Look. Fair enough but come on. Did you have to tell mom?

[Chelsea] Karma's a hoe.

[Emma] Yeah it is, cause apparently now mom wants him to come with for the family beach trip she invited you, Jack, and the kids to.

[Chelsea] Well... shit.

[Emma] Enjoy your karma. I have a very awkward conversation ahead of me.

[Emma] If he does go, could you at least try to get along? I get that you don't like him, but I do.

[Chelsea] -No talk me im angy cat gif-

[Chelsea] Fine... but I don't want to hear it if I end up being right about him.

[Emma] Deal

She shook her head and put her phone down on the coffee table, so she could grab the pillow behind her and press her face into it. Good god, this was just a mess. Okay, take a breath. I can do this. It's not that bad. She was extremely irritable right now, but an agreement had been reached. Just don't send messages for a bit to avoid being snarky, Emma thought while trying to figure out how she was going to bring up that her parents wanted Chris to fly down with her so they could meet him. It was a wee bit soon, in her opinion. Sure, they were more or less comfortable with private displays of affection now, but they weren't really publicly affectionate. Maybe that would change by June, but most likely not.

Emma eventually put the pillow back and got up to look over to the kitchen, staring at the calendar on the fridge. April 4th, a Thursday, but Chris was away on a mission again and only just left a few days ago. "Well, at least I scheduled tomorrow off..." Emma said with a slight frown. It had been a year, and she hadn't been able to get herself to visit since then... She gave a tired sigh and started her afternoon routine – make food, feed Duke, take Duke for a walk, relax with a movie in the background while sorting through emails. One more quick walk, then bed.

Despite taking the day off, Emma woke up at her usual time, walked Duke, took a shower, made breakfast, and fed Duke. The cycle broke as she started packing up a small backpack with a tablecloth, some snacks, and a sandwich, among other things. "Okay Duke, I'll be back in a bit. Be a good boy while I'm gone, all right?" she requested as Duke walked over to the couch and climbed up to take a nap. Emma chuckled at this. "Good boy," she said before heading out and locking up behind her.

"Emma dear, are you not going to work today?" asked Mrs. Russo as she and her husband walked over.

"Mr. and Mrs. Russo. It's good to see you," Emma said with a smile. "Yeah, I'm taking the day off to visit a friend and have a picnic," she replied with a nod.

"How lovely. It's beautiful outside, for once," Mrs. Russo commented. "Marco, perhaps we should do the same and go on a picnic after we get back."

The man chuckled at that. "My love, you would have had to start packing yesterday," he teased before coughing.

"Are you feeling all right?" Emma asked, concerned, but he waved it off.

"Just a cough," he said after catching his breath.

"We're getting it looked at today. You've had that cough all winter..." Mrs. Russo said with a worried expression.

"I see. Well, I hope all goes well, and you get a clean bill of health," Emma said with a sympathetic smile. "Next time I plan on going for a picnic, I'll let you guys know, so we can go together," Emma offered, which caused Mrs. Russo to smile.

"That would be lovely. I did enjoy getting to go to the park with everyone last summer. We'll have to do that again," Mrs. Russo replied with an excited grin. "I'll try not to hold you up too much longer. We both have places to be. Have a good day, dear."

"Of course! Have a good day," Emma replied, patiently walking behind the couple as they slowly made their way down to the first floor and out to the sidewalk. Emma headed to the garage and got into her car to drive out of town and down the highway a few exits. She made a stop at a grocery store to pick up a few things before pulling into the parking lot of a cemetery. It took her a while, but eventually, she found the place, or rather person, she was looking for. A grave marker with the name Tanner Penmark etched into it.

"Hey Tanner," Emma said quietly to the marker as she put down the backpack and took out the tablecloth. Once it was properly spread out, she sat down on it and reached over to get her bag, which she set down next to her. "It's been a while, huh?" she asked while setting out the items she had brought with her – snacks, some lunch, a box of tissues just in case, and a bouquet of flowers. "It's not much, but I brought you something. Sorry, it's taken me this long..." Emma said as she picked up the flowers, then leaned forward to put them down by the marker. As expected, there was no reply. She sat back once the flowers were properly settled and gave a quiet sigh.

Digging into her bag, she pulled out a clipboard of paperwork to go over. While she read it, she continued to talk to the grave marker, telling it all the things that had happened over the last year, venting about frustrations, laughing at silly memories, and just chatting in general. Tanner never replied, but it was cathartic in its own way to just have the time to speak. To have the words go out into the ether and let them go. Occasionally she'd pause to use a tissue to wipe away a stray tear, but overall, the visit was pleasant.

She eventually ran out of snacks as she got to the bottom of her stack of work. The last thing she had to work on was the apartment bill for April.

[Would you like to request a renewal document? Yes [ ] No [ ] ] The bottom of the bill asked among other questions such as 'if yes, then how long would you like to renew for?' and 'if no, what day do you expect to move out?'

Emma smiled and checked yes, requesting another one-year lease. "It's not much, but I'm happy," Emma said with a tired but genuine smile as she looked at Tanner's marker. "I'm not sure if you're a spirit, in heaven, or just gone... Wherever you are, I hope that you know that, and you're happy for me too."

Little did she know, the casket below her was empty.

'*'*'*'*'

Another three weeks passed. Emma had submitted her new lease paperwork, which would allow her to stay for another year. She got a fair bit of work done, and Chris had returned once more.

Chris sighed quietly as he filled out his paperwork. There was another stateside outbreak. A small one, so it didn't catch much attention. It looked like another emergence of the Glenn Aris virus, but they couldn't find the source. Last time it was water and gas, but they had tested that. The water was clean, and there didn't appear to be anything in the area or the victim's hotel room that would release a gas. He grumbled in frustration before checking his phone. Thursday, April 25th, 5:32 pm. He put the phone away and packed up. It was earlier than most days, but he tried to head out at a more decent time on Thursdays.

Once he made it home, he had a quick bite to eat and sent Emma a text.

[Chris] Hey, ready when you are.

[Emma] I'll be right there.

Emma sighed after sending her reply. She had been putting off asking him about the whole family trip thing. Granted, it helped that he hadn't been around to ask, but the longer she waited, the harder it would be for him to actually be able to go if he wanted to. She gave herself a tiny pep talk before patting her face. She could do this. She nodded, then headed over to Chris's place and knocked on the door.

Chris answered it a few moments later and let her in. "Hey."

"Hey," she replied with a chuckle, then gave him a quick kiss. "How was your day?" she asked as she started moving the table out of the way.

"It was work," he replied with a snicker, shaking his head, and then closing the door. "And yours?" he asked before heading over to get the now very worn-out mat, which made a half-hearted flop sound as he put it on the floor. It had given up the ghost long ago.

That poor mattress, Emma thought, trying not to laugh. "It was good. It's Friday eve after all," she said with a smile. Just one more day until the weekend.

"You know, I don't think that's how that works," Chris said with a raised eyebrow and an amused smirk.

"Shh, let me have this one," Emma replied with a chuckle before continuing. "Before we get started"—Emma bobbed her head while trying to think of the right words—"how would you feel about going to the beach in late June?"

The question was surprising. They weren't exactly close to a beach. "I haven't been to the beach in a while," he admitted with a shrug. "Why do you ask?"

Here we go. "I got a call from my mother recently. She and Dad are retiring, so they wanted to get the family together for an extended weekend vacation," Emma explained, hoping to ever so cautiously ease into the subject. "I completely understand if you'd rather not, but she wanted me to extend an invitation for you to come with as well."

"Oh," Chris replied as his shoulders dropped. Well shit. "Where is it?" he asked, not rejecting the idea outright. Emma dug out her phone and looked up the address before offering him the small device. Chris accepted it and scrolled around. It was pretty close to where Claire was staying these days. He could possibly visit her if he went with Emma. It would at least be a decent escape route if he needed it...

"That's pretty close to where my sister lives. I've been meaning to make plans to visit her. Maybe we can figure something out," Chris offered as a middle ground, handing the phone back to Emma. He wasn't sure how comfortable he'd be with staying the whole time, but by late June, they would have been seeing each other for half a year, so a vague introduction and confirmation of his existence seemed fair.

"Sounds like a good idea," Emma agreed with a shy but enamored smile. He was trying and it was appreciated. She put the phone away before joining him on the mat and getting into a ready stance. "Ready?"

Chris nodded and got into his own ready stance. "Let's get started." The routine picked up as they went over punches and kicks and even added in a few kneeing parts to the warm-up routine. They went over disarming as Chris decided to expand her practice since they didn't seem to be stopping. The more scenarios she was ready for, the better off she'd be. Ten minutes of warm-ups, fifteen minutes of disarming, and on to the usual pins and holds.

Hold, break, pin, break, hold, break, pin. They were about fifteen minutes into this portion of practice. Behaving during practice had gotten roughly ten times more difficult thanks to the events of last month, but he did all the same. Most of the time.

He got her leg tangled with his to make it more difficult for her to get out before giving her a peck on the cheek. The wiry stubble tickled, causing her to giggle. "Aren't you usually the one that says, 'don't get distracted during training,’" Emma pointed out with a hint of a smirk. She gave him a peck in return while still trying to think of a way out of the pin with only one leg.

"True," he replied, smiling back. "Suppose we call it in early?" he suggested as he shifted his hold on her.

"I dunno. We still have"—she leaned to try to see the clock from where she was—what is that? Oh no. Nah-uh. Tap out, tap out, tap out. She repeatedly patted his shoulder. "Chris, move. Chris move, please," Emma said as she stared up at the spider that was directly over them, very slowly lowering itself down from the ceiling. Noooooo.

While highly confused by the sudden panicking, Chris quickly got off and looked around for what was freaking her out so bad, only to see the quarter coin-sized spider dangling in the air. "Please tell me that's not why you were panicking..." Chris tried to hide his amusement as he watched Emma speedily move away from the area where the spider was.

"What do you mean? Of course that's why I was panicking. It was going to land on my face," she rebutted with a pouting frown.

Well, there goes that mood. "What happened to the fearless Emma that laughed in the face of zombies back at the haunted house," Chris asked with a laugh as he walked over to the kitchen to get a paper towel.

"Zombies aren't real. Spiders are, and they're demonic spawns of hell," Emma said with a chuckle, moving away from where the spider landed.

The statement made Chris pause, but he eventually walked back over with the paper towel and picked up the spider to crush it in the towel. "There, taken care of," he said as he threw away the crumpled paper towel.

"My hero," Emma jokingly cooed before quietly laughing. "Well, I suppose since we're calling it early for training, I should go," Emma said with a playful smile as she walked to the door. Chris strode over and snaked one arm around her waist as the other reached out to keep the door from opening. He wasn't really sure how to go about this.

"... Stay?" he hesitantly requested, taking his hand off the door to keep from trapping her in case she'd rather leave.

"Okay," Emma replied with a soft smile as she leaned back to gently kiss his neck. Being around him made her heart feel full. It wasn’t much, but she was happy.

Chapter Text

The BSAA Invites you to a company Morale Day

Friday, May 17th from noon to 5 pm on the campus outdoor training grounds

All state-side employees will be allowed to sign up to participate in teams of 6.

While not required, it is recommended to work with your usual squad as a team for this event to build comradery.

Please submit your team roaster by Monday, May 13th at noon.

Prizes will be awarded for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place of each event, with a grand prize of 3 days’ worth of Paid Time Off for each member of the highest-ranking team.

Chris leaned back in his chair as he read over the email. To hell with the BSAA. Morale Day, his ass. He was still mad at them for how shady they were being, and some field day competition wasn't going to fix that... but at the same time, three-days’ worth of paid time off was nothing to sneeze at, and he knew just who to talk to.

[Alpha] Hey, did you guys see the email HR just sent out?

[Night Howl] You mean the excuse to not work for half a day? Yep. I saw it.

[Canine] I could use the vacation.

[Umber Eye] Count me in.

[Lobo] Let’s gooooooo. Those three days are as good as ours.

[Tundra] Guessing HR was hoping one of us would be out for a mission that day. LOL.

[Alpha] Their mistake. All right team, let's do this. I'll get us registered.

Chris smiled at the group text before he corrected his posture and stopped leaning back, so he could send in the email. Hound Wolf Squad reporting in with the following team for the event. Chris filled out the full list of names, tagged each of the Hound Wolf Squad members in the CC section, and sent out the email. "Let the best man win," he said quietly as he got back to work.

While filling out reports, his mind wandered from time to time back to the competition. The email said there were multiple events, but what would they even be? He supposed it was only fair that no one knew so that way people wouldn't be able to practice ahead of time, but it didn't make him any less curious.

'*'*'*'*'

11:58 am rolled around on the 17th of May, and Chris was already on his way to the Campus outdoor training ground. The May rains gave them a break as the day was sunny and held a warm spring breeze scented by the blossoming trees that lined the edge of the field.

"All right," Lobo said while stretching. "You guys ready to tear this shit up?"

"I'm just looking forwards to those three days. I could use them," Tundra said with a smile.

"Same," Chris replied with a nod.

"Really? I didn't think you ever took time off," Canine said with a snicker.

"Yeah well, a few things came up." Chris shrugged, debating saying anything further but deciding against it.

"Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for taking the time to join us for this morale day event," the director said into a microphone with an unimpressed tone as an HR Rep appeared to be giving him a thumbs up from the side. "We'll be hosting one event each hour to allow time for the setup and takedown of additional pieces as needed," he read verbatim from a clipboard. "For our first event, please make your way over to the obstacle course for a relay race. Each team will be required to send in one participant at a time to go through the course before running back and tagging in their next member. Volunteer referees will be counting to make sure each person goes through the full course. Volunteers, we thank you for your time." The director looked over to the HR rep with an expression that said 'really?' They nodded with a smile, then rolled their hand to motion for him to continue. "For the five exercises, first place is worth three points, second is worth two points, and third is worth one. May the games commence."

"You know what? I don't even care if we win now," Night Howl said with a short laugh. "That was worth it in and of itself to see the director under HR's thumb," he added, shaking his head.

"Careful," Chris quietly warned. "But you're not wrong," he muttered shortly after as the team headed over to the obstacle course and lined up. Chris, Umber Eye, Lobo, Night Howl, Canine, and Tundra stood in a line and waited for the signal to begin to be given.

BANG!

A starting pistol was fired, and the race began. Chris took off, over log hurdles, up a flat wall, then back down on the other side, running across a good stretch of tires stuck into the ground, under a series of wire traps, over a few more hurdles then jumping to grab and pull himself over a high bar. It took him a minute and thirty-eight seconds, not his best time, but not his worst. With that, he hurried back to tag in Umber Eye. Minute by minute, time seemed to pass by slowly but surely until Tundra made it back.

"Time!" she shouted, and one of the refs clicked a stopwatch.

"Nine minutes and eighteen seconds." The ref called in the first time. It was a decent indicator that they would win, but there were multiple rounds of the race required to get all the teams to fit.

Thirty minutes passed, and the teams all regrouped at the center field for the initial results. "Congratulations to all of the teams for their impressive displays," the director read from the board. "To start off, in third place is Silver Colt Squad Earning 1 point. Second place goes to Arctic Fox Squad for 2 points. First place, with a time of nine minutes"—the director paused— "and eighteen seconds"—Hound Wolf squad started to cheer upon hearing this—"Is Hound Wolf Squad, taking an early lead with 3 points."

"Hell yeah! and we're keeping that lead too!" Lobo shouted before giving an excited howl that the others joined in on.

"Very nice," the director said, unamused. "The next event will be a blind maze. A rope maze has been set up. You'll need to pick three members of your team to be able to see, while three are blind. Pair up and guide your members through but remember to watch where you're walking. if you step over a rope, you will have to start over again. For the sake of time, multiple mazes have been set up in the main field, one for each team of six. You have one hour to get to your maze and complete this task."

"I call dibs on being a guide," Tundra said with a smile.

"Same," Night Howl added with a nod.

"Okay, we need one more guide then," Chris said as Canine raised a hand.

"Sure, how hard could that be?" He shrugged.

"I'll guide Umber Eye," Tundra said as they walked over to the sign in the ground with their squad’s name on it, next to a roughly 50-foot by 50-foot square maze marked on the ground with rope. 

"I'll feed instructions to Alpha," Night Howl said as Lobo put an arm over Canine's shoulders.

"I guess that leaves just you and me, pal," Lobo said with a grin.

"Joy," Canine replied, laughing.

Upon arriving at their maze, a referee hands each of the three walkers a blindfold and a headset, while the guides are given radios. "Guides, please make your way to the other side of the maze. You'll be providing directions from there. Once you guys are ready, have your squad leader announce 'start', and I'll start the timer."

About thirty minutes later, Umber Eye and Chris were through the maze, with only Lobo left.

"Okay, now take three steps left," Canine said, and Lobo took three steps. "YOUR OTHER LEFT!" as Lobo stepped over the rope, the ref blew a whistle.

"Reset," the ref stated as Lobo pulled up his blindfold to see he was almost at the end.

"Oh, for fuck’s sake," he grumpily complained before walking back over to the beginning. "Hey Canine! We're facing opposite directions, ya shit!"

"I KNOW," Canine shouted back as the other four dropped their shoulders. At least it looked like the other teams were struggling too. Some only had one person through; others had none. Before long, Lobo finally reached the end.

"TIME," Chris shouted, and the ref stopped the clock.

"Thirty-nine minutes and twenty-two seconds," the ref said while recording the information. "You're free to head back to the main stage and wait for the results."

The team grumbled but did so and awaited the results announcement.

An hour passed, and the director walked back onto the stage. "Another excellent display of comradery," the director said in his usual tired tone. "And now for the results. In third place, earning one point, is Hound Wolf Squad. In second place for two points is Canary Lynx squad. And finally, for first place with a total time of twenty-four minutes and forty-three seconds"—the director paused—"Is the Arctic Fox squad, putting them in the lead with a total of five points."

"Bull shit... There's no way. They had to have cheated..." Tundra grumbled under her breath.

"Hey, Hound Wolf!" called a member of the Arctic Fox squad. "I thought you were going to keep the lead, not give it up," they taunt, causing the other members of their team to snicker before they all howled to mock the group.

"We'll catch up next round," Umber Eye said quietly to the rest of Hound Wolf.

"For our next competition, head to the outdoor range for a relay with a kick." The director looked irritated that he had to follow a script. "We'll be competing in a revolver relay. Similar to the first event, each team will line up behind their booth. One participant will go up to the range, fire, then put down their gun to walk back and tag in the next person. For safety, please do not run during this event or throw the gun on the table. Teams who do this will be disqualified and put through firearm handling and safety training," the director openly threatened. "The catch is that it's not just about speed. Accuracy will also play a part in the ranking, so you'll need to have a plan. Again, for the sake of safety, each team will have a scheduled time to make their run at the range alone. Rather than having multiple teams run all at once," the director explained. "That about wraps up the explanation. Everyone, get to your station."

"Okay, so shoot fast and accurate. We got this," Lobo said with a smile.

"Don't you usually have the worst accuracy?" Night Howl pointed out.

"Yeah, pretty sure you need a locator beacon to hit the broadside of a barn," Tundra teased with a chuckle.

"Hey, hey, hey, the peanut gallery is getting pretty loud there. Aren't you two usually on the recon, not shooting stuff side of a mission." Lobo frowned.

"This might be more difficult than I initially thought..." Canine admitted quietly.

"Relax, we got this," Chris replied with more confidence in his tone than he had in his mind. 

"Just leave it to me," Umber Eye said with a smile.

The group waited until their squad was called to approach the range. They kept the same order as the last relay and rather efficiently went through, allowing each team member to take one shot at the target. As far as the accuracy department went, Chris and Umber Eye carried the team.

"Remind me to have everyone do range drills," Chris said with a slight frown.

"No can do, Cap. You're technically not the captain anymore. Remember?" Lobo pointed out.

Right... this was only for today.

"I'll get on that," Umber Eye agreed, causing Lobo to frown.

"Do you think we placed?" Canine asked as the group walked back.

"Maybe," Tundra replied, seemingly unconvinced. "It's hard to tell since we were separated from the other teams like that."

Once again, the director waited on stage until he was given the signal by HR to speak. "A fine show of marksmanship, to be sure," the director read from the board. "And now for the results. In third place yet again is Hound Wolf squad gathering one more point for a total of five," the man reads off. "In second place is Artic Fox squad gaining two more points for a total of seven, and finally, in first place is the Eagle Talon squad earning a total of three points. We're officially entering the last half of the event with Artic Fox holding their lead."

"Oh god damn it," Canine grumbled as he heard more cheering from the aforementioned squad.

"So, range practice... Got it," Lobo said with a now determined nod. This was frustrating, but it drove him to want to work harder. Heck, the whole squad was starting to feel the same itch. They wanted to do well with this, even if it was just some silly HR-mandated event.

"For the next event, an old-fashioned contest of power," the director said before gesturing to the field. The mazes had been cleared away and replaced with long lengths of rope. "Tug of War will be available for all teams to compete in. Please make your way to your team's sign. This event will be a bracketed tournament, so make sure to follow the directions of your assigned referee."

Upon being dismissed, each team made their way to their sign. It looked like half the refs were here for directing teams, and the others were busy at the other end of the field setting up for the next event.

"Okay, new strategy for the lineup," Chris said as the group huddled up. They quietly discussed the plan and nodded. "Break," they shouted as they left the huddle. Chris took the front, followed by Night Howl, then Lobo, then Tundra, followed by Canine and Umber Eye.

For the more part, this plan worked. Victory after victory, the group made their way through the tournament brackets up to the semi-finals.

"Come on! Pull!" Chris shouted as the team struggled against the Canary Lynx team.

"I got your back, Alpha!" Umber called from the back, and Chris nodded. He loosened his grip, so he could shift his stance to steady his footing, and after adjusting his grip on the rope, he gave it a solid yank, which caused the other team to fly forward.

"Point to Hound Wolf squad," the ref stated, holding up a flag for their side.

"Hell yeah, boulder man!" Lobo shouted with an ear-to-ear grin. They were sweating, they were tired, but best of all, they’d made it further than that gosh darn Arctic Fox team, it seemed, as six very burly-looking people walked over.

"The final match will be between Silver Colt and Hound Wolf. Combatants take your positions," the referee announced. Each team lined up, took hold of the rope, and the war began.

It took a solid five minutes, but eventually, Silver Colt took the lead and knocked Hound Wolf Squad off balance to win.

"Point to Silver Colt Squad," the ref announced and held up a flag to their operates’ side of the field. There were a few grumbles, but Hound Wolf ultimately got up and shook hands with the other team, they didn't really have any problem with Silver Colt at this point, so there was no reason to be curt. "When you're ready, please make your way back to the main gathering area," the ref said and started walking there as well. Because it took so long, the announcements had already begun by the time they arrived.

"Tug of war represents strength in unity and trust," the director read, but rolled his eyes. God-damn HR bullshit. "So, it's my great pleasure to award third place, to Canary Lynx Squad, giving them one more point for a total of three. Second place, to Hound Wolf Squad, upping their total to seven points. And finally, first place"—the director checked his notes—"To the Silver Colt squad for a total of four points," he announced. “With that, we'll be entering our final game. The current standing shows Hound Wolf and Arctic Fox Squad currently tied for first place with a total of seven points each."

"We can still win this," Canine said with a smile.

"That depends on what the last event is and if we can end up one rank higher than Arctic Fox. If Silver Colt gets first place again and neither of the leading teams place, then it will be a 3-way tie," Umber Eye pointed out.

"What even happens in that case? Each team of people gets one day of PTO?" Night Howl asked, confused. "I don't think they really prepared a sudden death game."

"Hey, I'd take that offer," Lobo said with a laugh. "PTO is PTO at the end of the day."

"And now for our grand finale, an event that encompasses the essence of a team within the BSAA and everything that comes with it," the director read with a wide smile. "Your team of six will be working together to compete in an open battle royale." The director, for once, actually seemed amused. "The far end of the field has been set up with rugged terrain and obstacles to be used as cover," the man stated as the groups looked over to find that the director was telling the truth. "Each of you will be fitted with a specialized tracker and multiple target points, which will be attached to your uniform," he further explained. "The tracker and target are fitted with an electronic coding system to alert a referee to escort a player off the field if an enemy is able to properly mark the player's target with their tracker."

"Wait, is this…?" Tundra started to ask with an amused smile.

"Laser tag," Lobo said with an ear-to-ear grin. "Aw hell yeah."

"In that case, we're in trouble. Lobo's gonna get us banned from the field," Umber Eye said with a snicker, causing the others to laugh as well.

"If your squad is ready, please make your way to the field where your team's sign is set up. Your gear will be waiting for you there. The event will start in ten minutes, whether you're ready or not. Please note that you are allowed to move around ahead of time and find a favorable position but trying to mark a player early will result in the offender’s whole team being disqualified. The winning results will be based on who's left standing at the end. Last standing gets first, and so one," the director read from the board for a moment while rolling his hand. "Get going."

With that, each squad quickly made their way over to the field to get suited up. They hadn't really had a chance to 'fight' other squads in this sense, so everyone was pretty excited to see who would end up on top. Hound Wolf was a little rusty, but they ultimately worked to their strengths and used that first ten minutes to come up with a plan.

A plan that pretty quickly fell apart. The battle royale was ultimately chaos. There was no way to perfectly account for the strategies of roughly twenty different teams of six.

"I'm out," Tundra said in a frustrated tone into her communication device.

"Shit!" Lobo exclaimed shortly after.

"Sorry guys," Night Howl groaned with a disappointed frown.

"And that’s me too," Canine grumbled, annoyed.

Within fifteen minutes, the field went from one hundred and twenty to twenty. But what else could be expected when you tell a bunch of highly trained spec-ops soldiers shooting each other?

"I'm hit. You're on your own, Alpha," Umber Eye said as the numbers continued to dwindle from twenty to ten to five.

Chris looked around before eventually spotting a member of Silver Colt and tagging them.

"Three combatants are left," one of the refs announced.

"Two combatants are left," they said shortly after.

"Shit, where are they?" Chris muttered, looking around and eventually spotting the leader of Arctic Fox at the same time as they saw him. Fire!

Bzzt. Bzzt!

Both of their targets seemed to alert at the same time.

"...Zero combatants are left," the Ref announces. "The results will be announced after consulting the target data."

"What happened?” Canine asked as Chris jogged over to rejoin the group.

"Did you get him?" Tundra asked, confused,

Chris shook his head. "I can't tell," he admitted. "I think he got me first."

"Well, shit," Lobo said with a slight frown. "Hey man, we did our best. What else can we say? Maybe they'll give us two days for second place?" he offered in an attempt to cheer up the group, but this had stopped being about the PTO very early into the day, and they all knew it.

All the same, they made their way back to hear the announcements and prepared to hear the gloating of the other team.

"At the end of the day, we're all brothers and sisters in arms. Our ability to perform under pressure in combat is what defines us as a unit." The director read the sappy sentiment. "The results of the battle royale are as follows. In third place, earning one point, is Panther Hog Squad. In second place, for a total of nine points”—both teams wait as the director seemed to be enjoying the pause—"Is Arctic Fox squad." Hound Wolf cheered immediately with excitement. "Leaving Hound Wolf squad in first place with a total of ten points by a margin of one half of one second."

"HOLY HELL, that was close!" Night Howl said through laughs of relief.

"Nice shootin', boss," Tundra exclaimed with an excited smile.

"You always did like to show off by cutting it close to the wire," Umber Eye said with a hint of amusement in his voice as he nudged Chris, who laughed.

"Hound Wolf into formation," Chris said, and the team lined up. "Follow me," he instructed, and they walked over to a very, very salty Arctic Fox squad.

"Hey," Chris called as they approached, which earned a good cluster of complaints, but the competing squad lines up. Once Chris made it over to the leader, he offered a hand. "You guys gave us a good run for our money," he offers with a slight smile. "We'll have to train together sometime," he added in an offering of good sportsmanship.

The leader of Arctic Fox hesitated for a moment but ultimately accepted the offered hand. "Yeah, you too. You kept on our ass the whole time," he admitted. "If they do this again in the future, we'll be giving you guys hell. You're not going to be winning on a lucky shot again, that's for sure."

"I'll hold you to that then," Chris replied with a short laugh.

The other squadmates of both teams followed suit and shook hands, idly to chatting about the different events. The day was long and frustrating. The whole team was tired from basically working out for five hours straight, but in the end, it proved to be worth the effort.

Chapter Text

Before long May passed by and the weeks of June counted down to the final Friday of the month. Chris was able to put that paid time off he earned from Morale Day to use, making the trip that much easier since it was one less thing to worry about. The night before, Emma took Duke to a dog sitter, and on Friday, Chris and Emma woke up early to catch their flight to the coast. As they flew, Emma gave Chris a quick rundown on who was who within her family. Her father, Edward, was the Head Chef for a hotel back home and her mother was the hotel event planner, which was why they tended to take vacations anywhere else. Her older brother, Eric, was a stockbroker, while her younger sister, Elena, was a graphic designer.

Claire walked over to the airport terminal exit for arrivals and checked her watch. Noon. The flight should be landing soon. She was nervous; this was the first time in a while that her brother had come to visit – no world-ending threats, no Bioweapons, or bad guys to chase down. It was actually kind of amusing to hear him nervous for once. He had explained the situation with his visit and, in a way, she was happy for it since there was a chance she could get to know this new person in her brother’s life better too.

As she waited, a man in his early forties, maybe a year or two younger than Chris, walked over to a couple that appeared to be in their mid-to-late sixties and gave them hugs. Shortly after, a woman probably only a few years younger than herself joined the three and more hugs were exchanged, and chattering began. Cute, Claire thought with a smile while waiting and watching. Before long, she noticed two familiar faces walking towards the door as it occasionally opened for those who walked through.

“There she is,” she heard the older woman say happily.

“Holy hell, she’s dating the hulk,” the man said quietly to the woman next to him, who slapped his arm.

“Eric, behave,” the younger woman warned as she gave Eric a swat to the arm.

“Elena, don’t hit your brother,” the mother of the group said in a warning tone.

The elder brother had a smug smile as Elena frowned. “Yes, mother.”

Claire chuckled at this but waved to get Chris’s attention.

Chris raised a hand in greeting but was ultimately swarmed as the family hurried over to greet them. “Sorry, one moment please,” he said, then walked over to Claire with a smile.

She thought about it a moment before giving Chris a hug which he returned. “Good to see you,” she said after letting go and taking a step back.

“Yeah, good to see you too,” Chris said, smiling. The small family went through their own hugging routine with Emma before walking over to join Chris and Claire.

“Well then, I think some introductions are in order,” the father figure said with a friendly smile.

Chris nodded. “Right, my name is Christopher Redfield. Chris for short. It’s good to meet you”, Chris said, offering a hand to the father, which was accepted and given a good firm shake.

“And this is my younger sister, Claire. I’ll be staying with her during the visit,” Chris explained and got a few nods in response.

“I see. Well, if you're available, you should join us tomorrow as well," Emma's father said, still wearing a gentle, friendly smile as he looked at Claire. "Family is family, after all, and we'd be happy to have you at our table," he added before giving a short chuckle. “Not to toot my own horn, but I am a professional, so there's sure to be good food for the day.” Pride for his work showed in his smile.

"Oh, um"—she looked at Chris, who shrugged—"sure, actually that sounds lovely," Claire agreed, which caused Chris to internally relax. It would be nice not to be alone.

"It's settled then," Emma’s father said with a nod before realizing he’d cut off the introductions. “Ah, forgive my manners. My name is Edward Swanson. It's a pleasure to meet you both." He gestured to himself, then to the woman next to him. "And this is my beautiful wife, Emily," he said, causing the woman to blush and wave him off. "My eldest son Eric, and my youngest daughter Elena," he introduced the others.

"Hey," Eric said with a short wave.

"Nice to meet you both," Elena added after.

"And, of course, you already know our little Emmy," Emily said, then chuckled into her hand

"If we knew she was going to end up in the music industry, we would have named her Grammy," her dad said with a snicker at his own bad joke.

"Dad, no," Emma said, holding her face.

"Where are Chelsea, Jack, and the babies?" Emma's mother asked in an attempt to change the subject.

"Ah, I think they had to stop for a bathroom break. They should be out in a moment," Emma replied, looking back to the door.

"I see. Well, we won't hold you two up while we wait. I'm sure you have plenty to do," Emily said, looking at Chris and Claire.

"It was nice to meet you all," Claire replied with a nod. "See you tomorrow," she added, receiving a couple of 'You too's’ in response before heading out to retrieve Chris's luggage from the pickup carousel.

"They seem friendly," Claire said with a smile as they got his bag.

'*'*'*'*'

After spending what remained of the day catching up, Chris and Claire got some rest and slept in. They packed up their swimsuits and made their way to the address that Emma had texted Chris the night before. Claire drove them, and at 11 am, they ended up in front of a large beachfront house that the family rented out that was maybe half a mile from the local lighthouse. "Wow... fancy," Claire said, looking at the place before getting out of the car.

"Yeah," Chris said, as his nervousness returned.

Claire gave him a gentle nudge. "Relax, you already did the hard part," she said as they walked up to the front door and knocked.

Emma's mother answered the door. “Ah, there you two are. We were wondering when you'd be arriving," she said with a warm smile, motioning for them to follow her. "Come in, come in," she said, and they did so, casually glancing around at the nicely furnished rental house. "Do you two have your Swimsuits on already, or do you need a place to change?"

"Is there a bathroom we could borrow?" Claire requested with a sheepish smile.

"Of course, follow me," Emma's mom said and led the two up the stairs, pausing by a closed door for a moment. "Emma dear, your boyfriend is here." She then moved along to an open door that revealed a spacious bathroom. "Here you two go. Just head down to the kitchen and use the back door to go out to the patio. There's access to the beach from there," she explained.

"Thanks," Chris replied with a nod though his face was now pink from the announcement to the closed door.

"Not a problem, see you at the beach," the mother said with a wave, then walked back down the stairs to the first floor.

"Go ahead," Chris said, gesturing for Claire to go ahead and go first.

"Okay," she replied and headed inside the bathroom, closing the door behind her. It took a few minutes, but she eventually walked back out wearing a sporty pinkish-red zip-front one-piece swimsuit with a decorative sarong tied around her waist and black flip-flops. "You're up," she said, giving him a pat on the shoulder and then leaned against the wall to wait for him.

"I'll be right out," he said and headed in to get changed. After changing into a solid black pair of swim trunks, he removed his watch. The thing would break if it went into the ocean. Taking it off caused past injuries to become apparent. Dipping his hand in liquid nitrogen had its consequences. The chemical burns healed for the more part but the area where metal was in contact with his flesh left scars. More noticeable were two horizontal scars wrapped around his wrist where the bomb once was. He gently held and rubbed the area with his other hand to remind himself it wasn't there anymore, before looking over to a full-body mirror set up in the corner of the room. Impaled, bitten, scratched, shrapnel, glass shards, burns, bullet holes, surgical scars from resetting broken bones.

A knocking at the door could be heard. "Chris?" asked a quiet voice from the other side of the door, which woke him from his stupor.

"On my way," he replied before taking a breath. How long had he been staring into that mirror? Maybe this was why he hadn't gone to the beach in so long. He looked back at the mirror, this time noticing the beginnings of wrinkles at the corners of his eyes, between his eyebrows and the corners of his lips... he was getting older. "How long am I going to be able to keep this up?" he whispered to himself before shaking his head and packing his day clothes back into his bag to head out.

'*'*'*'*'

Emma slipped a sheer white lace cover-up on over her warm pinkish peach-colored two-piece swimsuit and put on a floppy wide-brimmed braided straw sun hat before slipping on flip flops. Once properly dressed, she walked out of 'her room' to see Claire waiting by the bathroom. "Hey, good to see you again," Emma said with a wave as she walked over.

"Hey, good to see you too." Claire got up from leaning against the wall. "Sorry seems like we might be a few more minutes. Chris is really taking his time," Claire said with a slight frown. "He's been in there for seven minutes already."

"And men say it takes women forever to get ready," Emma joked with a short chuckle, which caused Claire to smile.

"Right?" Claire said in agreement. The two waited, making casual small talk to pass the time, but the longer they waited, the more worried both of them became.

"He's been in there a while now..." Emma said with a slight frown before walking over to the door and knocking on it. "Chris?" Emma called to see if he'd reply.

"On my way," he answered shortly after.

"Maybe he fell asleep," Claire said with a hesitant smile, which caused Emma to smile in turn.

"Maybe," Emma agreed before hearing footsteps make their way to the stairs.

"Emmy, could you come down and help me with the tablecloths?" her mother called up the stairs.

"Be right there!" she called back. "Sorry, I'll see you guys out there," Emma said, giving a partial wave before heading down the stairs to join her family outside.

It took another few minutes, but eventually, Chris walked out.

"Hey," Claire said in greeting, though with notable concern. "Are you doing okay? If you're not feeling well, I can drive you back to my place," she offered.

Chris shook his head. "Nah, I'm fine... Just got lost in my own thoughts for a bit," he admitted as he left his bag in the hall by the bathroom.

"If you're sure," Claire replied, clearly not quite buying that he was okay. But she wasn't going to push. Claire left her bag by Chris's before the two headed down the stairs, through the house to the kitchen, and out the back door onto a spacious wooden patio. Chelsea and Jack were making sure the babies all had a healthy amount of sunscreen, Eric and Elena were in the middle of a game of volleyball down by the water, while Emma was helping her mother set up two large wooden picnic tables and pin down tablecloths with clips to keep them from blowing away. Chris found himself staring at the scene. It was peaceful. Comfortable? He couldn't really explain the feeling to himself. It was foreign, but good. He knew that much.

"Hey, there you two are," Emma's dad said from his place by a grill. "You prefer Chris, right?" Chris nodded. "Well, Chris, why don't you give me a hand here," he suggested as he stepped to the side so Chris could join him.

Upon hearing this, Jack gave Chelsea a peck on the cheek then got up and walked over. "Mind if I jump in too? Wouldn't mind watching a professional work a grill," he said with a smile.

"Of course! Mind you, this isn't exactly what I'm used to working with at the restaurant but, eh. Grab a beer from the cooler and let's get cooking," Edward said, offering the tongs to Chris.

Oh boy. "I've never used a grill," he admitted. He'd had an apartment for most of his adult life, so there was never really the space to have one or a reason to learn to use one.

"You don't say. Your parents never taught you?" Edward asked, confused.

Chris attempted to keep a neutral face on that one. "Didn't really have the chance. Lost them both pretty suddenly at an early age."

This caused Edward to frown, but he nodded as a decision was made. "Well then, you're gonna learn today," Edward said as he clapped a hand on Chris’s back and made sure he was in front of the grill. Even with the risk of being potentially insensitive, he was more than happy to adopt the two into the family, relations or otherwise. While they were here, they were family.

Jack leaned against the railing of the patio by the grill and idly chatted with the two as Chris got his impromptu cooking lesson from the family chef. He knew the struggle of meeting the family for the first time and wanted to be there as a buffer just in case.

"Watch the flames. There you go. You're going to want to flip that one. That one is cooking slow, you can tell by the dripping there. See how it's still red? You're gonna want to move that one back further." Chris followed along with the instructions and even started making a few decisions on his own. "Now you got it," Edward coached with a smile.

"I see where Emma gets her love of cooking from," Chris said in an attempt to compliment the two, which caused Edward to laugh.

"Yeah maybe," he agreed with a thoughtful smile. "When she was really little, once she figured out what my job meant, she thought it meant she could just ask for whatever she wanted as far as food went." He chuckled. "I still remember her little tantrums as a 6-year-old when I'd tell her if she wanted something, she'd have to make it with me."

"That's hard to imagine," Chris admitted with a slight smile.

"Every word of it is the truth," Edward said, making a crossing motion over his heart. "Never could get Elena to join us but Eric and Emma were usually my little helpers," he explained. "All right then son let's get these plated and carry them over to the tables, we got a hungry family to feed," Edward said, which caused Jack to clear his throat. "Oh uh, sorry. Do you mind if I call you that sometimes?" the man corrected, and Jack gives a single nod before sipping at his beer.

It was surprising, but Chris nodded. "Sure, that's fine if you want."

"All right, well, all the same, we should get the food moving. Jack, can you round up Eric and the girls?" Edward requested.

"On it," Jack replied, standing up from his leaning perch to gather everyone at the table. Before long, the food was placed on the table, and everyone hovered around. The table was well covered in plates of hot dogs, burgers, and ribs along with a collection of sides that were made well in advance. Jack and Chelsea sat with one of their girls on either side of each of them, with Summer on the left of Chelsea sitting next to Elena. The seven-year-old was happily drawing and showing the graphic designer each time she made the slightest addition to the drawing to get Elena's praise. Claire sat on Chris’s left while Emma sat on his right side. Edward and Emily sat in the middle of the table so they could see everyone.

"Summer put the book down and focus on your lunch, please," Chelsea said as she put a cheeseburger on Summer's previously empty plate. The girl grumbled but obeyed and started to eat.

"Eric, how are the wife and kid doing?" Edward asked as he served himself alongside everyone else as they all filled their plates.

"Doing good. Milena wasn't able to get the time off, though, so she stayed home with Jax," Eric explained with a shrug. The lead couple at the table nodded in response.

"It's a shame but understandable," Emily said with a slight frown before looking at Claire. "And you live in the area?" she asked, wanting to ensure she included Claire in the conversation, though she seemed to occasionally glance at Chris. She was curious but didn't want to just pounce on the guy with 100 questions off the bat.

"Sorta. It's about an hour and a half drive from here, but it's pretty close," Claire replied. "Thanks again for inviting us."

"Of course, dear, it's been a pleasure to have you with us," Emily said as her usual smile returned. "Now then, Christopher."

"Chris," Emma's father corrected.

"Oh right, Chris. How did you meet our Emma?" she asked, indulging her curiosity.

"She moved into the apartment next door to mine a couple of years ago." How do I explain this without saying she was worried she was going to get attacked because of break-in attempts and asked me for help? "I have to travel for work a lot and usually don't get home until late. With that, it makes it difficult to keep a full fridge without the food going bad. I'm not really sure how she found that out, but she offered to help and make sure I had something to eat when I got back and we got to know each other that way."

"It wasn't hard to figure out," Emma said, shaking her head. "You were slamming your cabinets, so I figured I'd be nosy and drop off a plate of food as an excuse to figure out what you were doing."

"Is that why you stopped by?" Chris asked as this was the first he’d heard of this.

"Yeah, you were making such a ruckus," Emma replied with a short laugh. "It took me a minute to decide if I wanted to be that nosy or not, but curiosity got the better of me."

Chris shrugged at that. "It was work," he replied with a slight smirk, which caused Emma to chuckle at their inside joke.

"So sweet," Emily cooed. "I remember meeting your father. I was an intern for a wedding planner," Emma's mother reminisced. "One of the busboys caught my eye, and I was determined I'd know his name by the end of the night." She snickered.

"You hit on a busboy at a wedding when you were supposed to be working?" Emma asked with a laugh and shake of her head.

"What? He was cute," Emma’s mother said with a smirk as she took a sip of her drink. Her father smiled for a moment before realizing the statement was in past tense.

"Was?" he asked, confused, causing Emma's mother to hide her mouth as she laughed.

"Like you're one to talk anyway, Em. I recall you having a rebel streak," Eric said with a smug smile as he picked at the macaroni salad on his plate. It was his sibling duty to embarrass her, after all.

Eric, no, Emma thought while holding her face.

"Oh yeah, that's right," Emma's mom said with fondness. "My cute little punk."

"Cute?" Emma asked with amused confusion. "I was being a little shit."

"Well sure, but I wasn't worried in the slightest," her mother replied while poking around at her phone. "Okay, maybe a little bit, but you were learning about who you were, and as a parent, that's part of the fun. Seeing who your kids will end up being," Emma's mom explained with a content nod. She put her phone down and slid it across the table for Chris to see. Sure enough, there was a photo of a younger probably 18-year-old Emma, wearing loose baggy jeans supported by a thick belt and a black fishnet shirt over a tube top style bra, a little too much eyeliner, and poofy teased-out hair with exaggerated layers. Emma's mother smiled at the picture before a thought came to mind. "That reminds me, though. Do you still have that piercing on yo—"

"NOPE," Emma very quickly cut her mother off. Nope, nope, nope, nope. "I had that removed ten years ago. That's not a thing anymore, and why do you have that?" Emma asked with an embarrassed tone as she gestured to the picture.

"Eric was a dear and helped me digitize all the old family photos. They're in the cloud now," Emma's mother said with a smile.

"Thanks," she said sarcastically as she looked at her older brother.

"Not a problem," he said, making a slight cheers motion with his plastic cup before sipping from it.

Chris looked from the phone to Emma with confused curiosity. Just... What? This explained why she was able to recognize that punk rock music as a would-be hit, but he couldn't see her as a punk even with the evidence right in front of him.

Emma recognized that an explanation was required at this point. "Okay uh. That's a thing. I might have had a small phase of sorts... Remember that bad habit I mentioned that I used to have in my early college days where I'd fall asleep in my clothes?" Emma said with a nervous smile. "That's because I chose to make sure I had good grades and a social life... As a consequence, I gave up on sleeping most of the time, so I'd just kind of pass out whenever I had a free hour..." she explained. "Soooo, yeah. While you were off being you, fighting for justice and making a difference in the world. I was probably blackout drunk at a dorm party with alcohol of questionably legal origins. After waking up with a piercing I didn't remember getting, I got the wake-up call that my choices were kind of garbage and decided to make better ones."

At this point, Emma's face closely resembled a cherry tomato. This wasn’t something she was expecting to ever have to admit to. It wasn't who she was anymore, and honestly, wasn't who she had been for very long. Maybe two years out of basically forty, at this point, but it had still happened, and she had the literal scars to prove it.

"You mention you travel a lot. What is it that you do exactly?" Edward asked, which caused Chelsea to look over and see if that answer was going to change. Emma internally winced, it was an inevitable question, but one she had hoped they'd avoid all the same.

"Secret agent," Jack chimed in, getting a frown from Chelsea.

"I'm not really at liberty to talk about it," Chris said as he shook his head in amusement at Jack's answer. He did appreciate the help, all the same.

"You don't say, like those James bond movies? Suppose that explains the marks," Edward said with a nod.

Shit, he noticed them. Well, I mean, yeah, of course he did. They were on full display... Maybe he shouldn't have changed into a swimsuit. "Well, saving the world one mission at a time results in a few bumps and bruises."

"I can imagine," Emily said sympathetically. "It's a shame you can't talk about it, though. I'd be willing to bet you have a few crazy stories to share." Again, the woman wanted to make sure the sister was included in the conversation. "What about you, Claire? What do you do for work?"

Oh boy... "It runs in the family," Claire said, using the excuse her brother had already built.

"That's amazing," Elena said with stars in her eyes as illustration ideas of a brother-sister spy duo started building up in her mind. The subject was left with that as the meal continued and the conversation remained jovial.

"You kids go and enjoy the water. Your father and I will worry about bringing the food in," Emma's mother said as she started collecting up plates.

"Are you sure, mom? I can help," Emma offered, but was waved off.

"I'm not going to repeat myself. Now go have fun," Emily said, then walked inside with a stack of plates while Edward picked up a few dishes of food.

"Best not to test your mother. If she sees you here when she gets back, she won't be a happy camper," he said with a chuckle and followed after Emily.

"Bye, Gramma," Summer said as she quickly got up and hurried back to the water, motioning for the others to follow her. "Last one in the water is a Turcufalous."

"A what?" Claire asked, confused.

"I have no idea," Jack said, following after the kid, "but I don't think I want to be one so."

That was enough to get everyone moving. Emma checked her phone. 4 pm. They had started eating a little before 1 and just sat at the table talking for a while after.

Chris and Emma stuck to the back of the group as she checked the time. "So, you're an ex-party girl?" Chris asked with a hint of amusement. And she called him a hothead, though he supposed that explained why she liked stronger beer back at the poker game.

"Ex being a keyword in that question. Those days are well behind me," she said, shaking her head. Oh lord, please just let me hide in the sand. Let me be buried. Please?

"Fair enough." Chris made a vague gesture of surrender. "So... where was it?"

"Mh-m. Nope. I get to have a few secrets too, mister," Emma replied with a chuckle, pretty quickly understanding what the question was about.

"Can't blame me for being curious," he pointed out in return with a slight smirk as he cautiously moved to loosely hold her hand as they walk.

"How about this, you get three guesses, and if you don't get it then you drop it," Emma said, offering the challenge. "If you get it right, I'll admit it. Promise," she said with a nod. "I'll even give you a clue. It left a scar to get it removed."

"All right, deal." He nodded and thought it over. If it left a scar and needed to be removed, then it was probably somewhere unusual. "Thigh?"

"Nope," she replied, "two left. No rush, you have all day. So maybe pay attention," she said as she gave him a slight nudge before stopping by a cluster of laid-out beach towels to ditch her swimsuit cover and hat and join the others in the water.

The group passed around a beach ball, hitting it from one person to another as Summer tried to swim around and catch up to it.

That lasted for about half an hour, then the group eventually grew tired of it and dispersed to various activities. Summer continued to swim around while Eric got out a boogie board. Chelsea sat under the umbrella with Jack and two nappy tots as they kept an eye on Summer. Claire was happily sunning while Elena went to see if she could find any seashells as the tide continued to move away. Emma sat by the water and tried making a sandcastle. After swimming in the deeper water, Chris joined her on the beach and sat down next to her.

"Chest?" he asked, which caused Emma to laugh. Belly was too easy of a guess, and it kind of stuck with him that she had to get it removed. It wasn't just that she stopped wearing it, and that was that. Though he supposed that depending on location... this was more difficult than he thought it would be.

"Well, nice to know where your eyes are going," she said, shaking her head as her laugh turned to a chuckle. "One guess left."

"Hey, Em! I found some sea glass for your castle!" Elena called over.

"Be right there!" Emma called back. "Sorry, I'll be right back," Emma said and got up to walk away.

Chris watched her leave with a slight frown. Last guess, so he'd have to make it count. What is that? he thought as he noticed something new. Two small, slightly darker circles on her lower back. Interesting.

Eventually, Emma returned with a handful of sea glass and moved to sit back down. As she did so, Chris reached out and placed a hand on her lower back to steady her but also pressed the tip of his thumb and ring finger against the marks.

Well, shoot. I mean, it was the goal of the game for him, but I didn't think the scars were still that noticeable, she thought as she started putting the glass into the sandcastle as windows.

"Did I find it?" Chris asked as he moves his hand away to avoid it being seen lingering by anyone watching.

"Final answer?" Emma asked, wondering if she could trip him up, but he nodded.

She hesitated, but nodded in return. "Yep."

"Really?" he asked, surprised and amused. Huh. Lower back. Technically two, in that case.

"Now you're just gloating," Emma said with a half-hearted smirk.

"Not at all, just surprised." He offered a smile in return. The two failed to notice that Emma's mother had rejoined the group and was happily taking pictures of everyone from a distance and fully utilizing the zoom lens attached to the chunky camera.

"Cute," Emma's mother said as she looks at the picture of the two smiling at each other while sitting by the water and recently decorated sandcastle. She continued taking pictures as everyone relaxed.

Once she was content with her building, Emma stood up again and went back to get her cover-up, hat, and flip-flops. "I kind of want to go to the boardwalk to get an ice cream. Anyone want to join me?" Emma asked and got a few ‘Ehs’ in response. Claire looked up from sunning herself and nodded.

"Sure, I wouldn't mind some time to walk around," she said as she got up and put her wrap around her waist once more, putting on her sandals as well.

"Sounds good, we'll be back," Emma said, motioning for Claire to walk with her.

The two stood and Jack got up with the smallest child to carry her inside, likely for a diaper change.

Chris gave a wave as they walked off. This was rather peaceful. A good five or ten minutes after that, a soft voice caught his attention from the ocean.

“Mama!”

Chris and Chelsea noticed the voice at around the same time.

"Summer!" Chelsea called, terrified, as looked over to Summer and noticed that she was now further out, and struggling.

Shit. Chris quickly got up and started running through the water until he could start swimming to make his way over to her. At that point, it didn't take long for him to notice that the tide had moved her out to a current that was making it hard to move any direction other than with it and further out to sea. She had just been by the shore a few minutes ago, how did this happen?

Once he made his way over to the small girl, she clung to him. "I got you," he said, laying back to float so she could rest against him. He continued following the current. If they were lucky, it would bring them back towards shore eventually and he'd be able to keep them above water longer this way.

Back at the shore, the remaining family was panicking regarding what to do. Chris and Summer were getting further and further away and moving down the beach away from the house. "Holy shit! Who do we call for this. The Coast Guard? Is there a number for that?" Eric asked as Emily consoled a sobbing and panicking Chelsea.

"I looked away for a second when Jack left how did she get that far out in such a short period of time?" Chelsea asked through sobs, afraid she was going to lose her child.

"It's okay baby, it's going to be okay," Emily said stroking her back as Elena clicks at her phone to try and find any sort of contact number for this kind of emergency.

"Um, okay. Well, heck, when in doubt use the general emergency service number," Elena said while dialing the three-digit code. "Hi, um, so we have a kid that's stuck in a current we need help. Yeah, we're at the beach. The address? Um. Guys, what's the address!"

In a matter of minutes, the two were pulled and tumbled past the light house's cliff and out of sight of the group. Chris watched as a larger wave started forming. FUCK. "Summer hold your breath, okay?" he said, holding onto her as he took a deep breath.

The two tumbled but eventually contacted sand, ending up on a very narrow strip of beach on the wrong side of the lighthouse that was surrounded by cliffs. Once the tide started moving back in, they were sunk... but for now, he would at least have a minute to catch his breath and rest. He couldn't contact the others to let them know where they ended up.

Summer was coughing and crying as she continued to cling to Chris for dear life. Chris frowned and shifted to sit so his back was resting against the stone cliff. He gave the child a hug to tried and comfort her. It took her about 15 minutes, but she did eventually started calming down. "That was pretty scary. huh?"

Summer nodded.

"You're safe now. I'm going to get you back to your mom. Okay?"

"Okay..." Summer finally spoke before giving another nod.

He needed to come up with a plan... Curse those stupid cigarettes. He was already winded and he had only been out there for what felt like twenty minutes. What time was it? Luckily for Summer, water base training was required in case of emergency landings and various aquatic missions he's had to take on.

'*'*'*'*'

"So how have you been?" Emma asked as she and Claire made their way to the boardwalk.

"Good. Busy working, so the break is nice," Claire answered with a smile. "And you?"

"Same. They rarely mention that raises mean more work too," Emma said with a short chuckle and a shake of her head. "Oh well."

"Yeah, they really don't," Claire agreed with a sympathetic smile. "Do you mind if I ask you a question?"

"Ask away," Emma replied as they made their way down the street.

"Chris really hasn't told you anything about what we do for work, has he?" she asked with a concerned but curious expression.

Emma nodded. "Yeah, I mean he's explained a little bit. Something about international security under the UN?" she answered quietly to avoid being overheard. "But other than that, we tend to just not talk about work."

"And you're okay with that?" Claire asked after.

"Honestly? Yeah. It's selfish, but I feel like if I did completely understand, then I'd worry about him more than I already do," Emma admitted, which caused Claire to crack a smile and laugh. "Hm?"

"Sorry, I guess I'm just trying to figure you out is all," Claire said with a now relaxed smile as her laughter subsided.

"I'm nosy, but I can respect when someone tells me not to dig," Emma replied, shaking her head. "It's his life, he'll let me know when he's ready to talk about it. If he ever is."

"Yet when we first met, you were quick to take my side," Claire pointed out.

"Yeah... I dunno. It just seemed li—wait, how do you know about that?" Emma asked with a raised eyebrow. Did Chris tell her about that?

"I went to get a glass of water from the kitchen and heard some muffled voices from the other side of the wall. Curiosity got the better of me, so I put my ear to the wall to hear," Claire admitted before chuckling for a moment. "I guess we're both curious."

"Yeah, I guess so," Emma said with an amused smile. "Neither of us are perfect. We're both capable of being wrong, and in that situation, I felt like he was wrong. Granted, I didn't go about that in the best way, but"—she bobbed her head—"I guess it was kind of weird to me that the guy that carried my moping self down the street to push me to get over it, was suddenly running away from conflict."

"He what?" Claire asked, amused.

"Oh god, that. Um, okay, so…" Emma said while holding her face as they made it to the boardwalk. "I enjoy skating in my free time, roller, inline, ice you name it. However"—Emma moved her hand away from her face and her smile became more neutral—"I rather suddenly lost a friend of mine who I'd skate with, so I just stopped all together."

"I'm sorry for your loss," Claire said sympathetically as they walked past the various lined-up stores.

"It's fine," Emma replied as her smile returned in part. "Chris noticed that I had stopped going and had me go for a run with him. The second we passed the building he threw me over his shoulder and carried me in."

Claire chuckled at this. "I mean I guess that works?"

"I certainly would have appreciated not having my ass in the air. I'm a regular there so that was something I had to explain a few times," Emma replied with a laugh. "Eh, I got him back for it by making him try skating while we were there, so we're even."

"So, you two push each other. In a good way that is," Claire said with a smile.

"I guess so, hadn't really thought about it much," Emma admitted as she thought it over. They kind of did, within reason. They'd give an initial nudge and maybe a shove if the situation called for it, but if the other insisted on needing space the request was more often than not catered to.

"I'm glad," Claire said contently. In her opinion, her brother needed someone that would ground him but not someone that would just roll over and say he was always right. Emma seemed to at least be willing to push back sometimes.

Before long Claire and Emma had reached the front of the line for the ice cream stand and started slowly making their way back. Emma had an orange and vanilla swirled ice cream while Claire had chocolate and vanilla.

"Do you mind if I ask you a question?" Emma asked as they walked.

"Sure, seems fair," Claire admitted before taking a bite of the soft serve.

Emma paused to try and think about how to word the question. "What were your parents like?" Emma asked, fully prepared to apologize if the question ended up offending her.

"Hmm," Claire hummed while thinking about it. "It's kind of hard to explain." She bobbed her head. "They were, parents," she said with a short laugh. "I was eleven when I lost them, so I didn't really pay much attention to them, I figured they’d always be there," Claire admitted with a slight hint of guilt in her tone. "They cared about us, worked long shifts but we'd go on vacation every other year or so. We'd argue sometimes but we'd hug and make up after."

Emma nodded and quietly listened as Claire attempted to explain and seemed to understand where she was coming from. When it was your normal you didn't really pay attention to what was going on around you. It was just how things were supposed to be.

"You know... I think this is the first time Chris and I have been on a vacation together in twenty years," Claire realized quietly. "Thanks, for letting me tag along," she said as they left the boardwalk.

"Of course, it's been fun to get to spend time with you," Emma said with a smile.

"Yeah, it has been fun," Claire agreed. When was the last time she relaxed and just went to get ice cream because she wanted to? She needed to make some changes, it seemed.

"And now if you need me, you have someone who will team up with you to gang up on your brother," Emma offered with a cheeky grin.

"Thank you, I might take you up on that," Claire replied with an amused laugh.

"Oh! I should give you my number," Emma realized as she dug through her purse with her free hand to try to find her phone.

"Good idea. You tell me if he's being a pain too," Claire joked as they swapped numbers. Once the digits were exchanged, she shook her head. "Joking aside, if it's not too much to ask, can you just let me know everyone in a while that he's okay?" Claire requested. "I know he's my older brother, but I worry about him..."

"Sure, I can do that," Emma agreed as they made their way into the house, through it, and out to the patio.

"What's going on?" Claire asked quietly as they noticed the family huddled together on the beach.

"No idea. Let's go check it out," Emma suggested as she dropped her purse on the patio and abandoned the remainder of her ice cream cone to the trash so she could hurry over. Whatever was going on was much more important.

"How did I not remember the ocean has tides and currents?" Chelsea could be heard sobbing. "My baby...my little baby."

"It's going to be okay," Jack said, trying to comfort his wife.

"Where is Chris?" Claire asked as she was the first to notice he was gone.

Eric shook his head. "Summer got pulled out by the tide, and Chris went to get her, but they couldn't get back... we lost sight of them after they went past the ledge..."

"What?" Emma asked, shocked.

"It's been an hour. They could be anywhere," Chelsea spoke through sobs once more. Elena was still on the phone and providing information to the dispatchers as needed.

'*'*'*'*'

Chris tapped his thumb against his knee to try and keep track of the time. Thirty minutes. He had caught his breath and had been glancing around to try and think of how to get out. There was one ledge that was maybe a 50-foot climb, but it was directly over the sand if they fell that would really hurt. There was another point, maybe 75-feet tall, but it was over the water. If they landed there, it would still hurt like hell, and there was no guarantee they'd end up at this strip of beach again. He could try to coast further down to see if he could find a better way up, but who knew what they'd find. They could wait until they saw a boat and try swimming out to it but, that was a good 200-feet through a current to reach a depth that a boat would be able to comfortably be controlled in. Guess we're climbing...

"Hey, Uncle Chris?" Summer asked quietly. This got his attention. He wasn't really sure how to respond to the change in title.

"What is it, Summer?" Chris replied while trying to figure out how he was going to get them both up the cliff.

"... Can I call you Uncle Chris?" This caused a small smile to form on his face. She had already done that.

"Sure..." He heard a tiny 'woot' in response, which made him chuckle. Okay. Time to try. "Ready to get out of here?" he asked.

Summer nodded, and he moved to stand up. She continued to cling to him as if it was the only reason she was still alive. In a way, he was. He walked over to the short section of the cliff. "Keep holding on, okay? Try not to move." If he lost his balance that could end up being a broken spine, or at least a broken rib, thanks to the extra weight that would be landing on top of him.

"Okay," she agreed and adjusted her hold before nodding. "Ready."

With that, Chris started climbing slowly up the side. It was difficult with the extra weight and having to arc his back. The rocks were sharp, and a loose foothold caused him to scrape a few bare toes. "Fuck," he shouted as a reaction to the pain. "Don't repeat that," he said through gritted teeth, but he continued climbing. It felt like forever, but he eventually made it to the top, finding that they were surrounded by tall weeds. His foot hurt like crazy. It was bleeding and had sand in it now, but they were out. "I'm going to put you down now, okay?" Chris said as he walks away from the ledge and into the weeds. Summer nodded and finally let go only to take his hand as the two started walking back to the house.

Chelsea’s sobbing could be heard as the family surrounded her. Elena was still on the phone and providing information to the dispatchers as needed.

"MAMA!" Summer called, starting to cry again and running over to the group.

"My baby!" Chelsea cried through sobs as she hurried over to Summer and collapsed in front of the child, swooping her into her arms. The others were not far behind her as they all surround the two.

"He's injured, someone get a med kit," Eric pointed out as he notices Chris was limping slightly due to the now sand and dried blood-covered foot. Upon hearing that, Emma hurried back to the house to try and find one while Elena updated the emergency response line that the two missing individuals had made it back from the water.

"It's not that bad," Chris said. Sure, it hurt, and it was bleeding, but he'd been through worse.

"No need to tough it out. That'll get infected if you don't get it cleaned up, son," Edward said, concerned as Chelsea eventually got up and stood in front of Chris.

She was relieved but still felt heavy with guilt. Summer was her responsibility, her child. She had looked away for a moment and almost lost her forever. Even with how petty she had been to Chris and Emma both, the silent daggered glares, he still hadn't hesitated to run out there and help when she messed up.

"Thank you," Chelsea said through tears, "and I'm sorry. Gods, I am so sorry." She hid her face in the shame. She felt like the worst mother right now. Even though she didn't want this to happen, and she had done everything she could to prevent it, it had still happened. She wasn't used to the ocean. She had been treating this like a trip to a lake with waves. She had completely failed to consider the tides and currents and she almost had to pay the price for it.

A very gentle hand on Chelsea's shoulder woke her up from her thoughts to find Chris reaching out to her. "Hm?" she hummed confused.

"It's okay," he repeated. She'd completely missed the first time he spoke.

After a few more moments, the group of eleven made their way back to the rental home, where Emma was just about to walk out with the med-kit. Chris stayed on the patio to try and wash off as much of the sand from his feet as he could before joining the others inside, taking a seat at the dining room table next to Emma so she could clean and patch up the injury.

"It's getting late," Claire said, rubbing the back of her neck. "I should probably go."

"Hm? Oh it is late, isn't it... If you don't have plans, you should stay with us, both of you," Emily offered to Chris and Claire with a smile.

Edward nodded in agreement with his wife as he put an arm over her shoulder. "It's almost dinner time. You'd be doing a lot of driving, going there and back again," he pointed out. "And we have plenty of space."

Claire glanced at Chris. The two smiled at each other, and Chris nodded. With that, Claire looked back to Emily and Edward. "Sure, I think I'd like that."

Chapter Text

The beach trip came and went and Monday was the first of July. Chris and Emma took a plane back home after another round of hugs from the family, landing around 4 pm. Emma stretched as they walked away from the gate. Commercial flights were always so cramped.

"Hey, do you mind if we stop by the grocery store on the way back?" Emma requested.

Chris shrugged. "Might as well. I could use a few things," he agreed as they walked through the terminal. It would save him some gas to stop along the way rather than go home and turn around.

"Thanks," Emma replied with a grateful smile.

It took a while but eventually, they got their bags from the luggage return and went back to the car. By the time they got out of the parking lot, it was close to 5 pm, and rush hour traffic had begun.

Crawl forward. Stop. Make some progress. Stop. Start and instantly hit the brakes. Chris sneered at the cars ahead of him. Stupid traffic... He gave a tired sigh and looked to the cup holder to find his usual pack of cigarettes waiting for him.

Emma watched with a slight frown as he picked up the box and tried to shake one loose. "That bad?" she asked and he nodded.

"Yeah. It's a shit habit but—" He stopped and shrugged. There wasn't really anything else to add.

"Do you mind if I offer an alternative then?" Emma asked, unsure if he was going to finish his sentence.

He'd just gotten the cigarette free; he frowned slightly but nodded. "I'll hear you out."

"Fair enough.” Okay, how to word this in a way that isn’t dumb and cheesy. “So, how about this. When the cars stop, lean over, and I'll give you a kiss instead as a distraction," she said with a nod. "If it doesn't work that's fine, I won't be offended if you end up going with the cigarette, but figured it's worth an offer since I'm here."

In a way it would kind of work twofold. Keep him busy so he didn't have a smoke and get him more used to a little PDA since they were in the middle of traffic.

"And you say I'm ridiculous," he said, amused, but all the same put the box down, for now, and left the cigarette on the dash… just in case.

Traffic picked up and stopped. Emma leaned over and gave him a peck on the cheek. Start and stop and another peck. Chris rolled his eyes at this, still amused. Start and stop. He glanced at the cigarette but leaned over and gave Emma a kiss, which caused her to smile. Start and stop and a kiss. This repeated a few more times and the militant man found himself grinning as the frustration of traffic had turned into a game. Start and stop. Once the car was safely stationary, he reached a hand over to hold the back of Emma's head as he gave her a deeper kiss than the last.

"Hm! Green light," Emma said, breaking away from the smooch to let him know he needed to focus on driving again.

The car inevitably stopped again. "Red light," he replied with a playful smirk before giving her another short kiss then going back to focusing on the road. He looked at the cigarette once more, picked it up, and put it back in the box. He wasn't sure what witchcraft Emma was using but, it was working.

Before long the two made it off the highway, down the road, and into the grocery store parking lot where their game of red light kisses came to a close. The smiling pair walked into the store and got a cart, then made their way through the different aisles. "Hm. What do you want for lunch this week anyway?" she asked as she looked over a few different peppers to try and find a good one.

"Not sure. Though I think I've had my fill of red meat for the week after that barbecue," he admitted and Emma nodded.

"Yeah, that was a lot of food." She laughed. "Dad never could figure out how to cook in small portions."

"A trait you inherited it seems," Chris joked, giving her a slight nudge since making too much was usually excuse to invite him over.

"I'm not that bad," Emma said, shaking her head before bagging and putting the pepper away. "Okay, let's see then. Two fish dishes and two chicken. That'll still have a good amount of protein in it," she suggested and Chris nodded.

One pack of salmon, a pack of chicken breast, plus some ground beef, and pork chops for her own dinners. Veggies, rice, pasta. Did she still have vinaigrette? Might as well get a bottle of that to be safe. The two walked down each aisle and as they found items they needed, they put them into the cart. Emma would put hers in the bottom basket while Chris used the top basket. Protein bars, a loaf of bread, some fruit to munch on as a snack. Chips and salsa and pre-cooked frozen chicken as well.

Chris was about to add a small frozen lasagna meal to the cart when Emma let out a chuckle. "Don't let the Russos see you with that, they'll give you an ear full for it," she warned.

"Eh I'm used to it," Chris replied, putting it in the cart all the same.

"All right," Emma said in a tone that indicated 'don't say I didn't warn you.' The two continued through the store and by the end, Emma's portion of the cart was stuffed while Chris’s really only had a few necessities. The two waited in line to check out. Chris went first since he had fewer items, followed by Emma, and the bags were inevitably all mixed together by the time they were put into the trunk of Chris's car.

The drive back to the apartment was mostly uneventful as rush hour had passed and the two eventually made it to the parking garage. Chris slung a bag of dog food over his shoulder and carried a few bags on the other arm while Emma grabbed a few – well, more like five – on each arm as well so they wouldn't have to make more than one trip.

"You know we can just take multiple trips," Chris said with a mixture of amusement and concern as he followed behind her. "You're going to hurt yourself."

"Nope, you're supposed to be resting your foot and you just walked around the grocery store," Emma said with a determined expression. It did hurt like crap; her arms were screaming from the weight, but she was stubborn. One trip. He needed to avoid going up and down the stairs as much as possible.

"Emma it's fine, it's a tiny cut," he said, still amused as he tried to push himself to frown at that.

"No, I saw it. It's a good size gash and you need to be careful with it," she rebutted as they made their way up the stairs.

Emma unlocked the door to her apartment and Chris followed after her, sorting out which bag when to which apartment. He'd come back and close the door in a second. "Where does the dog food go?" Chris asked after putting the other bag down on the island next to the ones Emma just put down.

"Do you mind putting that in the storage closet? Bottom shelf." Emma started digging through the bags for items that needed to go into the fridge so they wouldn't go bad.

"Can do," he replied, walking to the back of the apartment.

"Thanks. Love you," Emma said without much thought as she continued organizing the groceries.

"Love you too." Chris stopped in his tracks as he realized what he’d said.

It took Emma a moment to make the same realization and turn to look at him. The second they made eye contact, they smiled and started laughing before going back to what they were doing. It was something they both knew but had never really said before.

Chris opened the closet and put the bag down next to a similar but half-empty bag next to a similar but half-empty bag before closing the door and walking back to the apartment's main room, only to see two obnoxious figures in black hats, black sunglasses, and black windbreakers staring at him from the doorway.

Well shit.

"Christopher Redfield, you're a difficult man to get a hold of," one stated with a frown.

"Yeah, that's on purpose," Chris said, scowling.

"Who is that?" Emma asked as she closes the fridge and walked over. Oh for the love of… Again? She'd thought they'd given up... "Oh." What was the statute of limitation again? Could she get in trouble for this? Hm. Probably not.

"We've gotten word of another incident and we could use your help," the other started as they were about to step into the apartment.

"No," Chris said, his glare causing the man to stop in the doorway. "I'm not interested." He started walking over to the door to close the gap and give them less reason to enter. He should have closed the door before. As he walked over, Emma frowned slightly, noticing that he had started to limp again. His injury was probably starting to get aggravated.

"This isn't a request anymore," one said, holding out a yellow envelope similar to the one they had last time. "We've been monitoring a situation and—"

Chris cut them off. The less Emma knew the better. "Look, if the CIA needs help, they can go through the proper channels with the BSAA," Chris informed them with an annoyed expression.

The BSAA... is that who he works for? Strange. Emma had never heard that particular acronym before. All the same, she remained quiet as she watched Chris put his hand against the door frame as a further deterrent to prevent them from entering.

"We need your expertise on this one," they said, trying to offer him the envelope, which Chris ignored.

The last time he heard that he was the only one that survived. "I'm one person. If you have a full-blown incident on your hands, you need a team. A full team that's properly trained, not a hand full of soldiers with one expert as a bodyguard."

"If we had another option, we'd take it but, right now, we need to move quickly," he insisted, Still trying to give Chris the envelope.

"Do you think I don't know a cover up when I see one? Move quickly... sure. Quickly around all the red tape that would otherwise get the states in a world of trouble. Sweep it under the rug and pretend it didn't happen to save face with the others," Chris pointed out, causing the two to frown. From the look of it, he’d hit the nail on the head.

"Would you just read the damn report?" the one holding the envelope declared, starting to get irritable in response to being called out.

Chris finally took the envelope, which he ripped in half and then handed back. "Go through the proper channels. Then we'll talk."

"You—"

"Go," Chris ordered in a deep authoritative tone that caused the two to step back. They hesitated for a moment, but eventually left. As suspicious as he was about the BSAA that didn't mean he was okay with going around the process. He needed to find out where the snag in communication was. That wasn't going to happen if he started taking outside jobs from other organizations.

"Well, they were pleasant," Emma said, finally speaking as Chris closed and locked the door. He walked back to the island to start looking through bags, still limping.

"Yeah, a real treat," he grumbled causing a partial smile to cross Emma’s face.

"You should sit and rest. I'll be over in a minute if you need help with changing the bandage," Emma said, silently praising her foresight to have Duke stay at the sitters until Tuesday. She was exhausted.

Chris thought it over a moment, weighing if it was worth arguing or not. "Where's your first aid kit?" he asked as he puts down the can he was holding.

"I'll grab it," Emma replied and made a shooing motion with her hand, indicating that he should go sit.

"You're coddling me," he pointed out.

"Yep," Emma admitted with no shame as she stopped what she was doing to head to the bathroom and dig through the cabinet under the sink. "Here we go." She grabbed the small red bag then looked around in the storage space behind the mirror to get a small bottle of acetaminophen. She wasn't sure how bad it hurt Chris, but some medicine might be appreciated. With that, she headed back to the living room and put the two items down on the coffee table.

By the time she got back, Chris had already removed his socks and shoes and begun unwrapping the bandage. The gash wasn't awful, but it was deep and right between two of his toes, making it all the more difficult to tend to. "Thanks," he said as he opened the bottle first and popped two pills in his mouth. With that taken care of, he started digging through the bag to get some cotton pads, gauze, and rubbing alcohol.

"So... BSAA?" Emma asked, which got Chris’s attention.

He’d messed up. "Don't," he said, stopping what he was doing to try to find the words. "Please, just don't." Don't look it up, don't get involved, don't get caught up in his mess. Don't get hurt.

Emma flinched slightly at the initial coarseness of his tone. "Right..." she replied as her smile faded. "I think the bags to the right are yours," Emma added as she went back to putting her groceries away. She didn't want to know; she didn't want to worry more. So why did this suck?

Chapter Text

July went by like a blur. Wolf Squad was sent to a few more stateside outbreaks, but each time they couldn't find what triggered the reaction. There didn't seem to be a pattern in the locations either. They could be in the middle of nowhere one time and a sprawling metropolis the next, and in any state. Before Chris knew it, it was mid-August and he was standing in the director's office once more.

"Director," Chris said in greeting.

"Take a seat," the director replied and Chris did as he was told "You have a new assignment.” He slid over a folder. "Effective immediately you'll be in charge of a combination of Wolf, Silver Colt, and Panther Hog Squad. It seems the lab in the local high rise that we've been keeping an eye on is currently in the middle of an outbreak that needs to be contained," he explained. "You'll be heading out effective immediately using the armored vehicles. We need to be as discrete as possible about this… incident. The outbreak was reported on the thirteenth floor, so the public doesn't know what's going on just yet." He leaned back in his chair. "If we're lucky, the cover story will write itself," the director added, pinching the bridge of his nose.

They wouldn't need a cover-up if they had handled this when they first found out about it... Chris got up. The director waited, fully expecting another outburst.

"Where is the team?" Chris asked instead. Arguing could wait, he needed to get this contained first...

"They're waiting in the debrief room for your orders," the director said and Chris nodded before turning to head out but stopping as the director spoke again. "And Chris, try and keep this one under the radar."

Chris rolled his eyes and stalked out. He'd do what was necessary to keep the virus contained. We don't have the luxury of waiting for nightfall, he thought as he walked past a clock in the hallway. 1 pm. He walked into the room of fellow BSAA Operatives.

"Attention," he called and got a unified answer in response. "We've got an incident report of active Bioweapons. This isn't our usual shut down for a lab. The virus is already active and spreading. If you've received the vaccine for the Glenn Arias strain of the virus in the last three years you should be fine. If you have not, make sure that you get it before we leave. This is a variant so it won't keep them from attacking but it will keep you from turning if you get bit." Chris frowned slightly, They should have reported this variant by now for testing...

"We’ll be dividing into three teams. Ground support will stay by the vehicles, parked three blocks down from the target site to make sure the infection does not spread and civilians do not enter the area," Chris stated. "The next will be the sweeper team, you'll be in charge of going from the ground floor up to make sure we catch anything before it gets out. The report is for the thirteenth floor, but by the time we get there, it may have made its way down," he explained further. "The Striker team will go with me to the thirteenth floor and work up from there to target the problem at its source." With that he paused to look at the group. "Any questions?"

"No sir!" they all answered in unison.

"Then gear up and move out to the armored unit bay. I want to be out of here by 1400 hours if not sooner," Chris said and they all stood.

"Sir, yes sir!" they responded and the process began. Extra armor, helmets, weapons, communication devices, and storage bags with additional bullets and med packs were donned by everyone, including Chris.

By two pm, everyone was packed into their vehicle and hurrying down the highway into the main city, past familiar streets and businesses. This was getting closer and closer to home... Upon arriving for drop off they found a couple of dozen black SUVs surrounded by armored individuals all marked with bold white letters spelling out CIA. Great.

Chris got out of the car. "This area is under BSAA jurisdiction. I'm going to need you to move out," he said as he walked over to the group followed by seven other BSAA agents.

"Bullshit it is," a CIA agent replied, locking eyes with Chris.

"Did I stutter?" Chris asked with a sneer. "Take your men and clear out. You're not supposed to be here." At least, no one told him there would be state operatives.

"Who do you think called in the tip?" the CIA agent said as the stare-down continued.

"Fine, if you called in the tip, then you wanted us to be here. That means you listen to me," Chris said, not breaking eye contact. "Work with the ground team and clear out the area to a three-block perimeter. I want every civilian out of the area."

They glared at each other for a short while longer before Chris spoke again. "Move!" he snapped, annoyed that this guy was wasting valuable time.

Eventually, the CIA agent stood down. "All right men, you heard him. We're on evac duty." He didn't seem thrilled about it, but he cooperated all the same.

Finally, good god. Chris shook his head. "You two, you're with me," Chris said, pointing to two of the silver colt members. "You five, start a full scrub. Nothing in, nothing out. Use your communicators. If anything gets past you, let the ground team know immediately. We'll do the same for you and let you know what we find on our way up."

"Yes sir!" they all shouted and got into formation and started making their way up the stairs.

"First floor is clear, no contact," Chris heard in his communicator as he made his way up the fifth flight of stairs.

"Good, move on to the second," he said in response as he kept moving. Eight flights to go.

"Yes sir," came the response. A groaning could be heard, echoing in the stairwell, and screaming resounded the closer they got to the thirteenth floor.

Before long, they came in contact with their first Bioweapon; what appeared to be an unfortunate scientist whose arm had been bit.

"Made contact with a hostile bioweapon," Chris announced into his communicator before shooting down the scientist and continuing on his way. "Found it on the eighth-floor stairwell. Eighth floor and up are potential hot spots. Control the spread."

"Roger that," said another voice in return.

"Second floor is clear, moving on to the third," another speaker announced shortly after.

"Take your time. New orders are to clear the third floor, then bunker in place at all access points. Keep them from moving dow—" Chris stopped short as he heard metal grinding against metal and a loud booming *thud* below. The elevator. "New plan! Get back to the first floor, make sure nothing got out and bunker in place. Striker team will sweep the building top-down after we cut off the source."

"Understood. Sweeper team out," said another voice.

Each flight of stairs they went up, there were more Bioweapons to be found, and the screaming seemed to lessen.

Eleventh floor, twelfth floor...they slowed their pace as they cautiously made their way up the final set of stairs. Smoke poured through the cracks in the doors.

The group breached the door. Through the smoke, they could see the shadows of shuffling bodies and others slumped over on the ground. The building’s open floor meant it would be difficult to be surprised and ambushed, but there would also be very few places to hide and take cover.

"Stay close. The last thing we need is friendly fire," Chris said, and the other two stayed by his side as they started trying to clear anything that moved. It was unfortunate, but they couldn't take risks. Chris's shoulders dropped as what he thought was a pillar started to move towards them at breakneck speed.

"Move!" Chris shouted as he jumped out of the creature's warpath and it crashed through a support beam.

'*'*'*'*'

Emma stretched as she made her way to the break room. It was almost three, late for lunch, but oh well. Late lunches happened when you were being pulled between two projects. She managed to convince the CMO to let her stay on her album project with the Kings as long as she could keep up with it and Veronica's next release. It was certainly a pain, but it was what she had to do...

Huh? Emma thought, confused to find a crowd had started to gather in the break room. "What's going on?" she asked as she made her way in. Everyone was standing around watching the TV.

"Something about a building fire," one employee said, then sipped at their coffee.

"Breaking news from the AccuNews helicopter. A fire appears to have started in the newly constructed high rise between Ace Avenue and Bravo Boulevard, according to inside reports Locals near the building were being evacuated well before the smoke was seen. It's believed to be the result of faulty electrical work." The TV showed the building in question with smoke pouring out of broken windows as flames licked the outside of the building.

"Oh my gosh..." Emma said quietly as a feeling of dread built up. Thank heavens she wasn't home. She quickly pulled out her phone.

[Emma] Are you watching the news?

[Chelsea] Yeah, that's nuts. This is why you pay up and get a good electrician.

"The building manager has reported that the building should be empty as they had not leased out any of the space just yet," the anchor continued, which caught Emma's attention. But… wait. No? That wasn't right... That was the building that they were leasing the top three... floors… of... The three floors that were on fire.

"Well, thank heavens for small miracles, Jim. If I was that building owner, though, I wouldn't hold my breath on getting a check from the insurance company," said the co-host.

"Haha, you said it, Jackie," Jim replied with a rather staged laugh.

Emma glanced around. The other workers seemed unusually calm about the building fire. Like they were gathering out of morbid curiosity and as an excuse to not work. It took her a moment to realize that there was a good chance that the new lease and project were on a need-to-know basis. Senior employee perks. No need to cause a panic by telling them, but holy hell, that was really unfortunate. Maybe the building owner said it was empty because they hadn't moved in yet?

"Back to the AccuNews helicopter feed. We're receiving reports of movement from inside the building?" the anchor said, clearly confused since that conflicted with what they had just said a few minutes earlier. Sure enough, everyone turned to look at the TV with renewed interest as the feed showed shadows moving in the smoky building. Suddenly, a body was hurled out of a window onto the outdoor deck of the floor. It tumbled and slammed through the glass panel of the railing only to hang on by one hand

"Mama! Mama, Uncle Chris is on the TV!" Summer announced with a confused tone. She didn't realize he was in a movie.

"What?" Chelsea asks as she quickly walks back into the room.

"CHRIS!" Emma shouted, horrified, as the helicopter's feed zoomed in on the dangling figure.

"Wait, you know him?" a co-worker asked, looking between Emma, who was now pale as a ghost, and the TV.

"Someone, get her a chair," said another. The group seemed a bit more worried about the situation now that it was directly affecting one of them.

Chris tossed the gun he was holding to try and get it onto the deck before reaching up to hold on with both hands. Shit, shit, shit, fuck, shit. He could feel the deck shaking as that THING was getting closer.

"What the hell is that?" the reporter asked, dropping their 'radio voice' and speaking with genuine horror. What could only be described as a fleshy version of the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man on steroids was shown walking through the wall, unfazed by the glass and concrete crumbling against it as it made its own path.

"Shut it down... I want a total blackout," the director said with a tired sigh.

"Sir, launching an EMP in this dense of an area would affect the power grid and our own team’s gear. Any electronics within a mile will be fried for at least an hour, and it will blackout every building in a thirty-mile radius until they fix the grid. Hospitals, emergency services."

"Just do it," he said, annoyed, before looking back at the TV as the news showed the Bioweapon making its way onto the deck.

"Yes sir," they replied and walked out.

The director grumbled and turned off the TV. "I told you to be subtle..."

Chris managed to pull himself up from the ledge just in time to duck and roll to the side as the long tendril-like extensions of the BOW’s flesh whipped forward before it snapped its arm to the side in an attempt to keep up with his movement. Instead, it continued past as it impacted the side of the building with a resounding thud and shattering of glass. Groaning could be heard as the building started to give way from the damage it was taking. To Chris’s horror, the walls shifted as the top three floors of the building twisted and broke free, collapsing to the ground below.

"Prepare for impact!" Chris shouted into his communicator as he ran towards the main building and past the BOW. He started feeling the ground shifting under him as the entire building shook. The patio fell away and the floor of the thirteenth level gave way, dropping him, the two other team members, and the large Bioweapon into the twelfth floor before the building finally settled.

He was about to call in for support when a quiet electric hum was heard and everything electronic powered down.

Everyone looked around the break room, bewildered, as the building appeared to lose power. Emma was already in tears, but stopped to look around as the sinking feeling in her chest got worse.

"Hey, is everyone okay?" Veronica asked as she walked into the break room to find the crowd of people.

"We're fine," said one of the workers before gesturing to Emma. "There's a building fire in town, and Emma knows someone in the building."

"Oh Emmy, you poor thing," Veronica said, pulling Emma into a one-sided hug. "Pack up your stuff. Work from home for the next few days, okay sweetie?"

Work? How was she supposed to focus or do anything? How was she going to drive like this? All the same, Emma nodded.

"You know what. Everyone, pack up and head home early. The power is out anyway," Veronica added.

The others glanced between each other before nodding. One of the older ladies in the office walked with Emma to her desk to make sure she didn't collapse, while repeating how it was going to be okay before going on her way to pack up her own things.

Emma packed up her laptop bag. She felt like she was going to puke. Why was this happening again? A few tissues and deep breaths later, she started to make her way out of the office and to her car. She had to pull over multiple times to stop and breathe and clear her eyes, so what was normally a thirty-minute drive took fifty minutes.

When she finally arrived, she parked, dragging her feet as she entered her apartment and closed the door behind her. She looked over to the island counter and the small metal house that had been untouched for the more of the year. After pausing for a moment, she put down her laptop bag by the door and walked over to it, grabbing a slip of paper and a pen to write a short message. Again, she hesitated while writing as tears got in the way. Eventually, the message was written and placed into the metal house with a match.

I think he's dead.

She sat there in silence as she watched the paper burn.

'*'*'*'*'

5 pm. Chris made his way down the last flight of stairs alongside two others. They were tired, they were bleeding, beaten, and bruised, but they were alive, and the building was cleared of Bioweapons. All that was left was for the cleanup squad to clear out the bodies. He reached up to tap at his communicator, only to hear a high pitch whine as it came back online.

"Well, now it works..." he said crankily as he slowly walked over to a group of BSAA vehicles. "Get to your transport," Chris said quietly, and the other two nodded, breaking off to get into the vehicles they’d arrived in. Chris got into the back of the one. Night Howl and Canine were waiting for him.

"Good to see you, Boss. We thought we lost you there for a minute," Canine admitted, getting a tired grunt in response as he closed the door.

"What the hell happened?" Chris asked as he leaned into his seat. Were they always this comfortable? He did not want to move.

"Higher-ups called in an EMP. The news caught wind of the event and started reporting on it..." Night Howl explained. "We didn't know until after the blast went off."

Chris slammed the side of his fist into the metal door. That was a mistake… holy hell, that hurt in more ways than he could count. "How many casualties?" he asked through gritted teeth. He needed to stop punching stuff.

"Three BSAA, two on the sweeper team, and one on the ground team... no civilians, though," Night Howl answered and started driving.

"Alpha, this is HQ. Do you copy?" said a voice through the communicator.

He bit his tongue to keep from saying anything stupid. Last time they ran their mouths to this chick, she reported it to the director. "I copy."

"Good work controlling the outbreak. We've confirmed minimal casualties despite the high property damage. Overall, the mission has been marked as a success," they replied in a congratulatory tone.

It didn't feel like a success.

"Return to HQ for medical attention and quarantine. You'll be released in a week," the voice added.

"... Understood," Chris replied. "Wolf Squad out." He closed his eyes to rest on the way back. This was going to be a mess.

Ten minutes later, the voice returned. "Wolf Squad, confirm your co-ordinance. Your GPS shows you've gone off track."

What? Chris opened his eyes to see Night Howl pulling the vehicle into the parking garage by Chris’s apartment.

"HQ, this is Night Howl," he said into his communicators. "The Navigation system has been acting up ever since the EMP. Same with the communicators..." he said as he parked. "I've pulled into a local parking garage to stay out of sight. Give me ten minutes, and we'll be back online. Until then, we're going dark... awaiting approval."

The voice was silent for a moment. "Blackout approved. Let us know when you're back online."

Night Howl smiled. His plan worked. "Over and out," he said, flipping a few switches to shut down their communication devices, the car, and navigation system.

Once he was sure that the communication system was shut down, Chris took off his helmet and headset. "You know I could report you for insubordination..."

"Yeah, you could," Night Howl replied with a short chuckle. "You get ten minutes... They televised that nonsense. If you disappear for a week after news of a building falling apart gets out, she's going to think you're dead."

"That or she'll kill you when she finds out you're not," Canine added, figuring he'd lighten the mood with a joke. Chris shook his head but chuckled slightly.

He clicked a few buttons on his watch to set a timer. "...Five minutes," he said, and got out of the car.

Was the walk to the apartment always this far? Each step felt heavy, like his feet were made of lead. Four minutes. He made his way up the stairs and knocked at Emma's door. It took a moment, but it eventually opened to show a puffy-eyed Emma.

"Chris?!" she said, stunned and horrified by the battered and bruised, bloody face in front of her. She opened the door the rest of the way and he walked in, closing it behind him.

He’s alive.

Three minutes.

He moved to hold her but put more of his weight on her than he intended, causing her knees to give out. Both of them kneeled, holding each other, and Emma peppered him with kisses before sniffles and hiccups announced the return of her tears, much to Emma's dismay. She hated this.

"I thought I lost you..." she squeaked out as she clung to him. Duke was about to head over to check out what was going on, but upon recognizing the scent of blood, he instead went to hide.

Chris winced slightly as her clinging pressed against an injury but said nothing and instead just continued to hold her. He gave her a kiss on the top of her head. "Everything's going to be okay."

Two minutes.

"No, it's not," Emma replied, shaking her head before looking up. "What the HELL was that thing?" she asked, terrified. This was what he was doing when he was 'working'? Fighting monsters like THAT?

"It was w—"

"Don't tell me it was work, Chris," Emma said, at her wit's end. She was glad he was alive but good god, he just showed up at her door covered in blood, and she needed answers. 'It was work,' wasn't going to cut it anymore...

One minute.

He took a deep breath and thought it over. "That was a B.O.W. A Bioweapon... BSAA stands for Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance. My job is to neutralize threats as they arise."

That was a lot to process in just one sentence. Bioweapon... Bioterrorism? But those were the floors her company rented ou—Oh gosh, she was going to puke. The sound of a timer going off snapped her out of her thoughts.

Chris gave a tired sigh. "I've got to head back... Night Howl was only able to buy me so much time..." he said as he attempted to get back up.

"Like hell you are. I'm not letting you out of my sight," Emma said, though all the same, she helped steady him as he stood and rose with him.

"Emma," he replied in a quiet warning tone, causing her to force a neutral expression and look away.

"Promise me you're coming back?" she requested quietly.

"I promise. It's just a week for quarantine and recovery," he replied.

"No more monsters?" she said to be sure as she slowly allowed herself to look at him again.

"For now..." he agreed quietly. "Emma, you can't tell anyone... Okay?"

It took her a moment, but she nodded. "Okay."

Chris paused once more as he glanced at the door and shook his head. He looked back to Emma and held the side of her face in one hand to give her a kiss. "I love you."

"...I love you too," Emma replied with a weak smile before shaking her head and giving him a half-hearted attempt at a nudge, fearing anything more than that would hurt him. "Now get out of here. You're going to stain the floor." She gave him a flimsy excuse for wanting him to leave when she, in all honesty, wanted him to stay.

He chuckled at that and nodded. "I'll be back soon.” With that, he headed back to the door to leave.

"I'll be here," she said in return as the door closed behind him.

Chris made his way back to the vehicle, took his seat, and closed the door.

"You're late..." Night Howl said. "Just a minute or two, though. I can think of an excuse..."

"Thanks," Chris replied as he put his headset and helmet back on. "Let's get moving."

Chapter Text

Chris sat in his apartment with his right leg propped up and wrapped in a brace and his left arm in a sling. It turned out that getting thrown through drywall and glass, then dangling off the edge of a building, wasn't good for you. Who would have thought? He gave a tired sigh as he used the thumb and pinky of his good hand to manipulate a plastic remote sitting in his lap. A quiet whirring sound was made as a small helicopter flew around the room. He was starting to get pretty decent at piloting this thing... God, he was bored. After his week at the BSAA medical ward, he was put on leave for four weeks since he wouldn't be able to drive with his leg bound up like this. It had barely been a week and he was already getting stir crazy. He never thought he'd miss doing paperwork, yet here he was. He couldn't even go out for a smoke because he was on medications.

"What day is it anyway..." he muttered with a quiet sigh as he gently landed the tiny helicopter on the coffee table so he could check his phone. September 2nd, 4:42 pm. He put the phone down so he could cover his face with his hand and groaned. He wasn't allowed to drive again unless he got a bill of clean health at his next doctor's appointment on the twentieth. He eventually stopped grumbling into his hand and went back to trying to fly the tiny helicopter. Maybe if he kept at it, he'd figure out how to get it to do a loop.

Meanwhile, Emma was sitting at her desk, glaring at her laptop. Where on earth did that file go? She knew she saw the lease for that high rise, she could have sworn she had even saved a copy to her desktop. Yet, all of a sudden, it just didn't exist. She'd spent the last two weeks digging around the different company storage drives and cloud servers, trying to find hide or hair of it, only to come up empty-handed. Something wasn't right and she was going to get to the bottom of it. She crossed her arms as she leaned back in her chair. There was always a chance that there was a paper copy in the file room, but that place was a maze and a half. She thought about it a moment longer before correcting her posture and trying to get more work done. Even then, the missing file was gnawing at the back of her mind. Someone in Research and Development had to be trying to cover this up.

Emma drummed her fingers on her desk before looking at the time. 4:57 pm. She wasn't going to be getting anything done. With that thought, she stood up and packed up her bag.

"Oh, hey Emmy," Veronica said as she walked over.

"Veronica, hey," Emma replied as she froze like a deer in headlights.

"Are you heading home early again?" Veronica asked with a curious tone.

"Oh, yeah. Sorry about that. I'm just babysitting tonight, is all, so I need to get home," Emma explained, though she didn't make any further move to pack up.

"Wow, it must pay well." Veronica smirked.

"It doesn't... It's just something I do to help out a friend of mine," Emma replied while internally wincing. She recognized the threat well enough. "I'll be logging back in once I get home."

"Good.” Veronica nodded. "Toodles."

"Yeah... see ya," Emma said with a slight frown.

It felt like work was just getting worse and worse between the two album releases. Veronica's release wasn't for another six months, and she just barely finished the songs, yet she was chomping at the bit for anything that could be done to be done immediately. The full album for the Kings was going to release on Halloween and that was only eight weeks away. Emma really needed to focus on that, but any time she tried, it was, ‘Veronica this, Veronica that.’ She gave a tired sigh as she packed up her laptop. On top of all that, she was trying to figure out what was going on with that missing high-rise lease.

Emma slung her laptop bag over her shoulder and started making her way home, stopping by the grocery store to pick up a few things first.

"Hey Duke," Emma said as she walked in and got her usual excited greeting. She put the groceries on the island counter then leashed up Duke to take him for a quick walk, and feed him once they got back. With that taken care of, she went over to the oven to start preheating it while she dug out the two frozen pizzas and a bottle of soda from the bags. The girls wouldn't be spending the night since it was a Monday, and she did not have it in her to cook tonight. Pizza party it is. Chelsea, sorry, but you get to deal with the sugar-buzzed babies, she thought as she put the soda in the fridge.

"One thing down, another twenty to go," Emma said quietly as she rested her forehead against the fridge and took a deep breath. The single breath was the only moment of rest she allowed. There was work to be done, so she pushed herself to leave the apartment to head over to Chris's door.

"It's open," she heard from the other side of the door in response to her knocking.

Emma walked in to see Chris resting his head on the back of the couch, looking up at the tiny helicopter flying around above him. Seeing this caused her to crack a smile as she pulled out her phone to take a picture. She snapped one without saying anything first to make sure she at least had that. With that done, she pressed and held the button to record.

"Hey, can you give me a thumbs up?" she asked with a smile, causing Chris to look over with a raised eyebrow. He attempted to give a thumbs up, only to realize that he only had one good hand, and he’d just taken it off the controller. A panicked expression replaced the bored one as he quickly moved to go back to controlling the tiny copter that was inches away from crashing. Emma laughed as she realized she had accidentally been kind of mean.

"I'm sorry, I forgot," she admitted, trying not to smile but failing horribly.

Chris grumbled in response as he landed the little copter.

Emma walked over to give him a peck. "How was your day?" she asked as she walked back to the kitchen to start tapping at her phone.

[Emma] Chris report: Resting but bored.

[Emma] -Video file-

[Claire] Is that a toy helicopter?

[Emma] Long story.

[Claire] LOL kk, thanks for the update.

"Well, I counted dots on the ceiling. Again," Chris replied grumpily.

"Oh? How many were there this time?" she asked as she smiled at the phone before shaking her head and putting the device away.

"Three hundred and forty-seven."

"Fifty more than last time," Emma said, shaking her head as she dug through the fridge for something to make for him. "I can't stick around for long tonight; I'm watching the girls." She added, which caused Chris to frown as he leaned over to grab his crutch. He got up and hobbled over to join Emma in the kitchen.

"Okay... so bring them over here then," he offered sincerely.

"You're joking," Emma said, amused as she closed the fridge and looked over at him.

"I'm really bored. Please. A conversation with a seven-year-old is better than staring at the wall for another five hours."

"Did Mrs. Russo not stop by?" Emma asked, surprised. Last she heard, Mrs. Russo was stopping by around noon to make sure Chris didn't need anything and had been talking his ear off.

"Nah, last she mentioned to me, there were some complications with Marco's surgery because of the power outage. He's been in a home since."

"Why is this the first I'm hearing of this?" Emma asked, concerned. The poor thing!

"Because you are already stressed as it is," Chris said with a frown. "You can't look after everyone."

"You could have at least told me," Emma complained.

"If I did, you'd be worrying and trying to bring meals over," Chris countered.

"What's wrong with that?" Emma asked with a pout.

"The bags under your eyes are getting worse. You're going to run yourself into the ground if you take on anymore," Chris rebutted. "Let me handle this one."

"Fine." Emma relented. "I'll go get dinner and bring it over. If you're okay with watching the girls, I need to get some work done..."

"All right, I can do that," Chris agreed as a smile started to return.

"I'll be right back," Emma said. She walked over to her apartment, turned off the oven, and got the pizza and soda to bring back to Chris’.

"Pizza for dinner, and soda. You were really looking for brownie points with the girls, huh?" Chris said, shaking his head as he moved to sit back down.

"Hey, if they're busy running around and entertaining themselves, then they're hopefully staying out of trouble," Emma said as she turned on the oven. "If anything, you're probably going to get the credit since it's your place."

[Emma] Hey, so I'm babysitting Chris too. Do you mind dropping the girls off at his place for the night?

[Chelsea] Right, he messed up his leg. Sure, if he's okay with it. I can't guarantee they'll leave him alone.

[Emma] And I quote, "A conversation with a seven-year-old is better than staring at the wall for another five hours." He was warned.

[Chelsea] His funeral, then. Good luck.

Emma chuckled at that. By the time she put the pizzas into the oven and threw out the boxes, there was a knock at the door.

"Door's open," Chris called, and the door opened.

Summer, Maurie, and Annie ran in. That caused Emma to do a double-take. That's right, Annie was two-years-old now.

"Oh my gosh, she's running," Emma said, stunned. When? How had it been two years? Her shock grew as the child climbed onto the couch on her own to sit with Summer, Maurie, and Chris. Oh gosh, she was getting old! Noooo. Cue the internal panic.

"I know," Chelsea replied, understanding the shock. "She's been walking for a while now, but lately, it's all running all the time."

"They grow up so fast," Emma said, still internally screaming.

"Yeah, thanks again for watching them so we could go out. You two are the best," Chelsea said with a sheepish smile

"It's fine. We got this." Chris made a shooing motion with his free hand.

"Eee gattis," Annie babbled in an attempt to repeat what Chris said.

"We'll be back by 10," Chelsea said before giving Emma a hug and hurrying out. While the kids were busy sitting on the couch, Emma took out her laptop and sat at the island to get started on work. She was already behind schedule...

Summer sat next to Chris while swinging her legs off the end of the couch and eventually noticed his leg. "Uncle Chris? Did you hurt your leg?" she asked curiously.

Chris nodded. "Yep," he replied.

"Oh..." she said and continued staring before looking at his face. "Can we play a game?"

"I don't have any," he admitted… unless the kid wanted to try messing with a Rubik's cube from ten years ago that he never used.

"That's okay. I know a game," she insisted with a nod. "We can play super spies!"

What the he— "And how do you play that?" Chris asked, concerned.

"You give us missions and then we sneak around and do them," Summer replied with a nod.

... That was a game? "Okay... um... Well, practice sneaking around then," he said, very unsure about this. He was hoping he'd at least get an idea of what exactly they meant.

"Okay," Summer said. She got off the couch, hurried over to a pile of blankets, put one over her and started briskly walking around the apartment with her sisters following behind her.

"Summer, what are you doing?" Emma asked as she saw the trio scurry through the kitchen.

"I'm being sneaky. Shhh," Summer replied and continued leading the tiny brigade.

"Okay," Emma said, shaking her head and getting back to work.

Eventually, Summer walked back over to look over the side of the couch, causing the other two to bump into her as she stopped. "Okay, ready for a mission," she said determinedly.

"You're sure?" Chris asked and Summer nodded enthusiastically. "There's a bottle of soda in the fridge. Get that and a cup and come back." Having a tiny task force could have its perks if this works.

Emma tried to keep a neutral expression to hide her smile. Dang it all, she really was babysitting him too. The soda was way too high up for the girls to reach. She stopped what she was doing to get a cup from the cabinet and walked over to the fridge, moving the soda to a lower shelf and placing the cup next to it.

Before long, the trio 'sneakily' made their way to the fridge. Summer got the bottle of soda, and Maurie grabbed the cup before heading back.

"We did it!" Summer and Maurie exclaimed at the same time.

"Good job. Now to test it for poison," Chris replied, accepting the bottle and leaning forward to put it down on the coffee table after getting it open. He took the cup after that, placing it on the table, and poured a little bit into the cup before closing the bottle.

"I wanna try," Summer said, but Chris shook his head.

"Let's see if it's poison first." He drank the bit of soda he poured before going limp.

Summer gasped. "He's dead!"

"No, he isn't," Emma said calmly from the kitchen.

"Yeah-huh," Summer argued back as she nudged him, only for him to stick out his tongue. "See? He's dead."

"Hmm. Well, that's a shame because dead people can't eat pizza," Emma said without looking over while she continued reading over documents for work.

"I'm up," Chris said, popping up. He did not want to lose dinner over this.

Seeing the sudden change caused the girls to laugh and squeal before running off. He chuckled at this. They were cute.

The night went on in a similar fashion. Summer, Maurie, and Annie would run around being 'sneaky' while Emma worked at the island with a small break in the middle for pizza.

Emma smiled as she quickly snapped a picture of the three girls trying to hound Chris for his slice while he laughed, trying to keep it away from them. She sent it to Claire and Chelsea in their respective chats.

'*'*'*'*'

The next day Emma was back to the grind at the same desk as always, this time drumming a pen between her fingers. Another day of working and digging between meetings and still nothing on the high rise. She was running out of places to look. Again, her mind drifted to looking for a physical copy in the file room. If she went during her lunch break, no one would notice...

As her lunch break grew closer, her stomach became more and more knotted with nervousness. What if she didn't find anything? What if she did? What if someone walked in while she was digging around? How was she going to explain that one?

It's fine. You're fine. Everything will be fine. You work here. It's not that weird to go to the file room, Emma thought, trying to calm her nerves. She eventually got up and headed down two flights of steps from the top floor to the third floor. Okay, she could do this. Emma walked to the file room, entered her ID code to open the door, and walked inside. It was a pretty nice setup; a maze of metal filing cabinets filled the room. Each drawer was outfitted with a keypad requiring ID access.

Emma wandered around, trying to figure out the system was for filing, reading different labels, and mentally cataloging them to find a pattern. Okay, it’s by department, then by year. Where is R&D…After thirty minutes of wandering and checking cabinet labels, she eventually smiled. There it was. Now to just find 2019, and…

“Got it,” Emma said with a smile. She entered the code for the drawer, and it gave a soft chime and a click as it unlocked and partially slid open. The woman gave a sigh of relief. It worked. Thank heavens. It would have been heartbreaking to get this far and not have clearance...

After another ten minutes of looking through file tabs, Emma eventually found what she was looking for. Leases. Yes, okay… um. She pulled out the folder, and sure enough, there was the original copy of the lease. I knew it! I knew I wasn’t crazy. Ace Avenue and Bravo Boulevard, floors thirteen, fourteen, and fifteen. The lease started back in February. She needed to make a copy of this and get it to Chris. He would know what to do.

“Well then, I was wondering how long it would take for someone to show up,” said a calm yet eloquent voice.

Emma yelped in surprise as she turned to face the speaker and hid the file behind her back. Walking towards her was a woman who Emma did not recognize with dark hair, styled in a short bob, wearing a red button-down and a black skirt. Upon realizing this probably wasn’t an employee, Emma quickly shut the file cabinet.

“No need to be a hero. We’re on the same side,” the woman said, maintaining her calm, even tone with a cheeky smile. “Now just open the cabinet and we’ll both be on our way.” She tapped a small piece of metal on her hip.

Oh gosh, a gun again. Nope. Nope, nope. Yeah, she did not want to die on this hill. If the company was up to something, and they were on the same team then... Emma nodded and turned back to the cabinet, entering her pin, which caused it to unlock.

“Glad we could reach an understanding.” The woman dug through the files, opening and closing folders as she stacked up a few and put others back. She picked up her stack of folders before looking back at the cabinet and picking up another and offering it to Emma. “You’re going to want this one. Don’t open it until you get home.”

The file was labeled ‘Invoices.’ Weird, but okay. She already had the files she was looking for. All the same, she hesitantly accepted the offered folder. She hadn’t planned on keeping these. Just scanning them to get a copy and put them back, but after meeting this person, maybe she should keep them...

“See you around,” the woman said before closing the cabinet and walking away.

Emma waited a moment, then walked around the corner to find the woman was gone. She didn’t open the door... where did she go? Emma shook her head; she didn’t have time for this. She hurried back to her desk and put the files into her laptop bag. The next four hours passed slowly. She was anxious that someone might stop by and catch her with the files in her bag.

Relax, no one saw you, Emma thought quietly. She managed to stay until 6:30 pm to avoid leaving ‘early’ again and drawing attention to herself. Since when was on time early, anyway? Emma packed up her laptop and walked out of the building to her car, feeling stiff. She looked at the bag after getting seated but remembered what the woman told her. Wait until you get home to open the files...

When Emma eventually made her way into the apartment building, she looked at her door for a second before heading straight to Chris’s place and knocking on the door.

“Come in,” replied the ever-bored tone of the couch-bound Chris.

Emma walked in, closed the door behind her, and made her way over to Chris to give him a peck on the cheek. Then she went to the dining room table to put down her bag and dig out the files.

“How was your day?” Chris asked before going back to reading.

“Fine,” Emma said as she dug out the two folders. She already knew what was in the Lease folder, so she put that down in favor of opening the Invoices folder. Lots of receipts for equipment, desks, basic office supplies. Nothing really too interesting until she got about five pages in.

Memorial Morgue and Funeral Home

April 10^th, 2018

Sale of 25 Cadavers as follows

Jane Doe, F, 42

Mark Daniels, M, 23

Karen Fletcher, F, 35

Emma read down the list, mortified, as one name caught her eye in particular.

Tanner Penmark, M, 41

The names kept going. As she got to the bottom of the page, Emma started shaking.

Cadavers to be cut into segments at the joints for transport and future use.

The next page showed piles of chopped-up and mangled bodies. Emma dropped the file onto the table and ran to the bathroom. She had finally hit her limit from the stress and lost what was left of her lunch to the porcelain gods.

“Emma?” Chris said, confused and concerned as he tried looking around from his place on the couch and ultimately reached over for his crutch to get up and check on her. When he got to the table, he noticed the scattered papers. A sinking feeling came over him as he changed his path to look at what was dropped.

He dug through the pages of a lease for the building on Ace and Bavo that covered the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth floors. Purchase receipts, including one for cadavers... Oh no. He looked at Emma with a mix of fear and concern as she walked back into the room.

“Where did you get these?” She wasn’t supposed to get involved.

“I found them...” she replied quietly.

“Why were you looking for them?” Chris demanded, starting to get upset.

“I was trying to help,” Emma replied, stunned.

“I don’t need you to help. I need you to not get involved in this! You’re not a mole. You’re out of your depths, and you’re going to get hurt!” Chris countered. He was becoming more and more aggravated. “This is why I didn’t want to tell—"

“This isn’t just about what YOU want anymore!” Emma shouted, cutting him off as the built-up frustration finally got to her. “You keep saying don’t do this, don’t do that. You’re not supposed to be involved. Well, guess what? Whether either of us likes it, I am.” She laughed as her body tried to process the stress. “Because even if you didn’t tell me, I still knew something was wrong! I knew we rented those floors. I made the frickin’ ads the company used to hire whoever it was in that stupid building that made the THING on the TV. I would have gone looking anyway," she countered, causing Chris’s already frustrated frown to deepen. "The company I work for is doing this. I work there Chris. I HELPED these people, and they used my friend for SCRAPS."

Chris remained silent.

Emma's frustrated rage calmed, and her voice grew quiet. "You want me to sit here and smile and pretend none of this is happening so you can feel like you're protecting me, but I can't do that... If I do, I'm no better than the ones causing this. Because I'd be letting it happen..."

Chris gave a quiet sigh, leaving his crutch to rest against the table, and slowly hobbled over to use his good arm to hold her. As much as he hated it, she had made a decent argument. Damn it. "Okay... I'll bring in what you found once I'm allowed to go back. But this is enough. No more, okay?" he requested as he leaned forward in an attempt to give her a kiss.

"I promise," Emma replied with a nod as she returned the hug and kiss.

'*'*'*'*'

Veronica sat alone on a beach chair by a well-lit indoor pool, staring at her phone, which she occasionally tapped in the same place. The buzz of an intercom interrupted her silence. "Enter," she called as a door opened and her bodyguards led a scientist over to her place by the pool. "So?" she asked when nothing was said.

"We're making progress. We moved on from testing on parts to live subjects, but what you're asking for is... difficult," he admitted. "While the product seems to work on the cadavers, the test samples that we've sent out have all resulted in minor outbreaks..."

"You already have what you need. You just need to mutate it so it doesn't make people brain-dead and bite the shit out of anything near them after. How hard can that be?" she asked with a frown.

"Sending out samples to civilians is getting dangerous. If we could just go back to testing on parts," the scientist requested and she rolled her eyes.

"Fine," Veronica said in an incredulous tone. "Fine, just use what we have left from the lab corpses." She frowned. "I'll find you more bodies," she said with a tired sigh as she tapped at her phone again, replaying a clip of security footage from the file room. Emma opening a drawer for an unknown person and the two taking files from it."

"Charles, James, escort Harold out, please. And while you're at it, call Oliver and have him do an audit of the file room. Keep it on the down-low, though... I want to see what our little pest got into first."

She watched the clip once more as they left. “Actually, Harold, while you're at it, have the lab make me a sample, please," Veronica said before closing the footage. "Strike two." She was going to have some fun.

Chapter Text

"Yeah, sorry, I can't come in today." Emma coughed. "I'm not feeling well," she said to her boss on the other end of the phone. She nodded as she listened to voice on the other end. "Yes sir, of course... I understand," she replied before coughing again. "I'll let you know. Thank you." She hung up and smiling.

"It's been a while since I played hooky," Emma said with a short chuckle as she got ready for the day. True to his word, Chris called in that he received an information drop. HQ wasn't thrilled about an anonymous tip and requested that he bring Emma in for questioning on his first day back to have her vouch for the information she found and provide a statement. She'd just finished getting ready when she heard a knock at the door.

Emma walked over and opened it to find Chris. "Ready?" he asked with an attempt at a smile. He was still worried, but at least she had promised that after this she was done with snooping around. She had done her part in getting this shut down and that would be enough.

"Yep," Emma said with a nod as she headed out and locked up behind her. She walked with Chris to his car and the two made their way to the BSAA headquarters. The building was huge, but tucked far back behind so many security gates that it would have been impossible to notice or find without help getting to it. Suddenly she understood why she wasn't allowed to just drive there on her own so she could leave after the interview. She was nervous, but still determined as she looked down at the files on her lap.

Eventually, the car was parked and the two got out. "So, are you excited for your first day back?" Emma asked as they walked towards the building.

"You mean, am I excited to do something other than stare at the ceiling or the back of my eyelids?" Chris asked with a slight smirk, which caused Emma to chuckle. Chris led the way as they chatted. Past the receptionist desk, up the elevator, down the hall, and to the break room so the two could put their lunches away for the day.

"Well, look what the cat dragged in. You brought Emma?" Canine said, surprised, as he walked over with Night Howl and a woman a few years older and a few inches taller than Emma, whose ponytail sported brown hair with the remains of blond dye at the ends.

"Jill?" Chris said with a mixture of happiness and surprise.

"Hey, long time no see," she said in response with a small twinge of a smile.

"Long time?" He jokingly scoffed. "Yeah, try ten years. What are you doing here? I thought you ran off to manage your own squad in South America."

"HQ called me in to cover for you. Something about you getting into a fistfight with a T-Type?" she said, amused, causing Chris to laugh.

"Well, I won.”

Jill just shook her head. "From what I heard, you're lucky," she replied, her amused smile remaining. "Good to see you, though," Jill said before noticing that Emma had stopped alongside him. "Showing around a new recruit?" she asked curiously.

"Ah. No," Chris said as he looked to Emma. "Emma, meet Jill. She's an old partner of mine from my S.T.A.R.S. days. Jill, this is Emma."

"Stars?" Emma asked confused, that was a new one. "I didn't think you were interested in acting..."

Hearing that caused Jill to laugh. "Which squad are you with?"

Oh, this again... great. Luckily, she knew what to say this time. "I'm a civilian." Three. Two. One.

"Really? Huh. And what is a civilian doing here?" Jill asked, looking to Chris for an explanation, though a hint of knowing amusement could be seen in her expression.

"She has some information regarding a recent outbreak," Chris replied as Emma nodded and casually held up the two envelopes.

"Yeah, hopefully, it will help make your lives easier," Emma said as Night Howl and Canine looked at each other, confused.

"Why does she have info on the outbreak?" Night Howl asked, concerned. Last he knew, Emma shouldn't have known anything about… well, any of this.

"...I'm really sorry, but. I think the company I work for is behind it. It's not much but I want to try and make this right," Emma said with a nod, causing Jill's smile to soften.

"Well, we shouldn't keep the two of you then. Sounds important," Jill said before looking to Chris. "By the way, I hope you don't mind but I've been using your office for the last month. No worries though, the director had me move out on Friday to a different one." Jill’s smile regained its playfulness, while Chris tried to keep a neutral expression. Well... shit. Did he remember to lock his de— "Thanks for leaving your desk unlocked, by the way. It was very thoughtful of you."

Fuck. "Not a problem," Chris replied, still trying to maintain his indifferent expression. "How long are you in for?"

"Heading out on November first. Now that you're back, they need me to cover for another squad until they find a replacement. They do take their sweet time when it comes to training up recruits." Jill shrugged.

"Yeah..." Right, they lost three men. Not the worst casualty rate they'd had on a mission, but two were from the same squad, so it was bound to take a while to fill that gap. "Well, see you around until then" Chris replied before motioning for Emma to follow him.

"It was nice to meet you," Emma said quickly before following Chris to the director's office. The meeting went about as well as Chris expected... The director listened, accepted the evidence, and explained there wasn't much they could do with it since it didn't really provide evidence of the actual virus coming from the company. Yes, they rented the space, and yes, they bought cadavers to test on for some makeup division. Two damning pieces of evidence but they were missing the main connecting piece, a physical piece of evidence of the virus strain connected to the company. It mostly just confirmed what they already knew, they were barking up the right tree. If the director would actually let them do that.

"See the virus we're working with requires a liquid and a gas to activate. I don't see that being connected to… what was it you said again?" the director asked while looking over the files.

"Makeup," Emma replied, embarrassed the way he said it, which made the whole thing sound ridiculous.

"I'm sorry to have wasted your time, Miss Swanson, but rest assured though we'll keep this on file in case further evidence shows up to support your claims," the director said in his usual tone, as if he were talking down to a child. It honestly made her feel pretty stupid. Maybe this really was a waste of time...

"Of course. Thank you for your time," Emma said as she got up and offered the director a hand, which he shook before she walked out of the office and closed the door behind her.

"How did it go?" Chris asked and Emma frowned. "That well?" he motioned for her to follow him once more.

"Pretty much," she said with a sigh, following him into his office and taking a seat. "I guess I kind of wasted your time with this... Sorry about that. I really thought I found something useful."

That got Chris's attention as he closed the door and went over to his side of the desk to take a seat. "That was some of the more concrete evidence we've had," he replied before bobbing his head. Aside from that blond chick just waltzing in and admitting that she was doing the testing, but hey, surprise, surprise… that wasn't admissible because it wasn't recorded. The only people who knew about that were the director, Veronica, and Hound Wolf Squad.

"He said it wasn't enough, though. Hopefully, it at least gets you a lead. Maybe try talking to that mortician guy—" Emma started, but stopped as she noticed the look Chris was giving her.

"Let me worry about that," he said.

Emma nodded then took out her phone, poking at it. It was going to be a long eight-plus hours. Meanwhile, Chris bit the bullet and opened up his desk to see if his suspicions were correct. Aaand they were. Jill had been snooping around his stuff.

"Is something wrong?" Emma asked curiously as she noticed Chris staring down at an open draw and not moving to grab anything.

"Yeah, Jill reorganized my desk is all..." Chris grumbled as an excuse as he reached in to move a few things around, in particular a small strip of three photos, which he neatly tucked to the back of the drawer where it was supposed to be.

Meanwhile, Jill was still smiling to herself while training with the Panther Hog squad. Same old Chris.

'*'*'*'*'

Bastion smiled to himself as he waited in the hallway of the apartment building. It was that time of year again and Halloween had arrived once more. The nail tech was currently dressed in a full steampunk set up with a black spade painted over his left eye. He had truly outdone himself this year. Emma walked out first wearing a mostly maroon full-body leotard that had blue and gold steampunk/harlequin style detailing on it, a little red nose and a black heart with a few other details around it painted over her right eye. The nail tech insisted that the costume would be cuter if the bodysuit only had one leg and the other was covered by a long black sock that reached most of the way up her thigh. However, as a compromise, Emma insisted that she be allowed to have a simple cinched waist bag since she wouldn't have pockets. Inside, she had a good ten feet of colorful bandanas tied together to use as a 'magic trick.'

Bastion happily clapped. "Very nice," he said with a nod. It took a few more minutes but Chris eventually walked out with a top hat, dressed as a ringleader in a similar steampunk/harlequin style with a black diamond painted over his left eye.

"And now we're cooking with fire," Bastion said with an ear-to-ear grin. "We're going to win that contest for sure. Remember to meet at the mall by six pm, okay? Travis will be waiting for us there," Bastion reminded the two, clearly excited to win by a landslide. "Both of you stand together. I want to get a picture," he added, and the two did as they were told. Upon seeing them just standing there, he dropped his shoulders. "Act like you like each other, please. You're not fooling anyone anymore."

Emma laughed at that before standing on her toes to give Chris a quick kiss as he put an arm around her waist.

Bastion quickly snapped a picture of this before speaking. "That's better," he said, shaking his head before walking over to the two to get a selfie with them. "Now, on the count of three. One, two, three," he counted and the two smile with him. "Thank you," he said. "See you guys at the mall.”

"See you there" Chris replied.

"See you then," Emma said as well before heading out to go to work.

She was honestly pretty excited to go to work for the day, The release of the Punk Rocker's album was at three pm. She was excited to hear the main song of the album on the radio for the first time. It also meant her workload would be decreasing. Plus, it was Halloween, so she'd get to be of a goof and have fun. It was the perfect day.

Well, it was… until 1 pm.

"Emmy, I need you. Can you join me in my office?" Veronica asked sweetly.

Emma looked over and to her surprise, Veronica was dressed as some kind of succubus chick. The costume design looked vaguely familiar. The chick from the Capcom fighting games?

"Hey Veronica. I didn't realize you played video games," Emma said, surprised.

"I don't," she replied, confused.

Oh... "Never mind." Yeah that tracks. "What did you need?" Emma asked, only for Veronica to motion for Emma to follow her.

"I need your help with a few details on my next release."

Emma's shoulders dropped. The release for the Punk Rockers was in two hours... "Sure, is something wrong?" Emma asked as she follows Veronica to her office where her two bodyguards were waiting, one on either side of her desk. Laid out on the desk were dozens and dozens of different album covers, CDs, promotional pictures, contact lists, and venue contracts. This wasn't a few details; this was well more than half of them. This was weeks’ worth of work. Hopefully, she was just messy and only needed help with something small.

"Take a seat if you'd like. We're probably going to be here a while," Veronica mentioned but continued standing on her side of the desk.

Emma remained standing as well. "I'll help however I can," she agreed and got to work with Veronica, going over different potential options for the release.

Which poster do you think is better? What about this design? Maybe this cover with this CD? What about these venues? Do the contracts look okay? Who have we contacted from these lists, and who have we not? Who can’t be added? The questions came one after another in a constant barrage, giving Emma little time to think of anything else. Before long, an hour and a half had passed.

Thirty minutes to the release...

"Emmy you're just so sweet to help me with all of this. I know how busy you usually are," Veronica said as she opened a drawer to her desk. "So I have just the thing to thank you. Here," she said, placing a small, delicate-looking container on the desk. "Ta-dah," She smiled. "We just got in some samples of that new makeup line we're going to be launching. It's supposed to make you look five years younger. I think I got your color; you should give it a try."

"Oh. Um, thank you. That's very kind of you," Emma said with a confused expression. Here she thought the whole makeup thing was just a front. Though, I guess they would have to actually produce something to keep any research hidden... "I already have a full face at the moment. I'll have to try it another time." It wasn’t like she didn't have face paint and a nose on at the moment.

"You do?" Veronica asked while tilting her head to the side. "Aw, I really want to make sure it's the right color. Are you sure you can’t try it? Please?"

Rude... Emma gave a quiet sigh, but she took off the cap to squirt it out onto the back of her hand. Instead, a soft spray could be heard, and Veronica's smile twisted for a slight second.

"Aerosol?" Emma asked, confused. That was weird for a liquid foundation...

"Yep, we found that an aerosol works much better for getting an even coat," Veronica said as her smile returned to normal.

"Oh." Well, that kind of made sense? "I'm sorry I don't think this is the right shade," Emma said, hoping that would be enough to reject the gift as she put it back down on the desk. She liked the makeup she had already. Not, the clown stuff she was wearing now, of course, but her usual stuff.

"Pity," Veronica said as she happily continued working, occasionally glancing at Emma.

Over time, her expression became sourer and sourer. Fifteen minutes. It had been fifteen minutes since she was infected. Why wasn't she turning? Veronica looked at the bottle and snatched it, looking it over... could it be that they actually got the formula, right? It worked on a living subject? Her soured expression turned to a smile.

"Is everything okay?" Emma asked, looking befuddled.

"Yes, everything's perfect. I think you're right, though. This isn't your shade," Veronica said as she walked over to a mirror attached to the wall of her office and sprays the misty foundation up both of her arms and onto her face and neck.

Emma watched the display, highly concerned. She didn't know a lot of things but she was very sure that was not how you applied foundation. What the heck was wrong with Veronica? She was acting weirder than usual... was she trying to get high on fumes?

Veronica walked back to the desk and got back to work. After five minutes, Emma started noticing a bubbling, blistering rash on Veronica's arm that was spreading at a rapid pace. "Whoa, uh, hey. I think I should call an ambulance. You must have been allergic to that foundat—" She was cut short as Veronica started to jerkily twist and contort while screaming.

To Emma's horror, Veronica's arms seemed to be splitting and multiplying as her face became tight and stiff. Emma slowly walked back to try and get to the door. The two bodyguards were frozen in place, only to be cut down as Veronica used one of her now-three sets of arms as a flail, cutting into their torsos before they dropped to the ground.

"You!" Veronica cried as she used another to reach out and grab Emma's leg, knocking her down and dragging her across the floor.

"STRIKE THREE!" she said with a demented smile as she pulled Emma towards her.

Emma quickly kicked the mutating Veronica in the face before slamming her heel down on the arm that was holding her, causing Veronica to howl in pain and let go. That worked! With that realization, Emma didn't hesitate to escape, scrambling to get up and run out of the office.

Holy shit, Holy shit, Holy shit, Emma thought as she sprinted through the office and her co-workers screamed in horror at the monstrosity chasing after her. She made her way into the stairwell and sat on the banister to slide down. Thank you spandex! After going down two flights of stairs she exited to the third floor and started running, trying to find anywhere to hide, and hoping that the sudden change in direction would be enough to lose Veronica. Quickly she rounded a corner, dodged into a broom closet, closing and locking the door. She heard more screams as Veronica ran past.

What do I do, what do I do, what do I do?

How did this happen? The director said that there had to be a liquid and a…gas. Aerosol... a liquid AND a gas. With that, she quickly looked at her hand. Oh fuck. She leaned back to rest the back of her head against the wall. It didn't seem to be having an effect yet but how long did she have? She took a breath. If she only had a matter of minutes left, she was going to make them count... With that, she dug her phone out of her tiny satchel and tapped at the screen to set it to silent so it wouldn't give away her location.

[System] Emma Swanson is sharing her GPS location

[Emma] SOS Bioweapon.

[Emma] I'm sorry...

[Emma] It's not your fault, okay?

[Emma] I love you.

With that, she put her phone back into her bag and looked around her. That should do. She grabbed a broom with a metal handle and unscrewed the brush from it, then used some of the tied-up bandanas from her bag, tying them to the broomstick so she could carry it over her shoulder.

She was dressed as a clown... and had a broomstick covered in colorful bandanas as a weapon... I look ridiculous, she thought as she ditched the red plastic nose. Not that it mattered if she looked stupid. She was going to die anyway.

Okay, how had the other incidents that she knew about, get noticed? Just in case the texts didn't go through...

Local pharmaceutical lab goes up in flames.

Breaking news from the AccuNews helicopter. A fire appears to have started in the newly constructed high rise.

Fire. Janet always had that wax melter on her desk. If she put some paper between the bowl and the burner that would catch fire... Okay, step one. Check.

She needed proof. The spray can. That might not be enough... if she could manage to keep it together long enough to get back to the lobby, maybe she could download the security footage from Veronica's office. Hell, those bodyguards had actual weapons. If she could just get to the office again, she might stand a chance—again, she looked at her hand—assuming she didn't go insane first.

She looked over at a breaker box in the closet and a few valves. She quickly twisted all the valves to off, flipped the breakers for everything not connected to the first floor, and took a few quick breaths before unlocking the door to look out into the now dark office.

'*'*'*'*'

Chris sat at his desk looking over the usual pile of paperwork. Being gone all of September meant a lovely backlog of work to do since Jill was really only here to fill in on a mission level. He heard his phone buzz once, twice. Five times? What was going on. He dug through his pockets to pull out the device and scroll through the alerts newest to oldest.

I love you. It's not your fault, okay? I'm sorry... SOS Bio—

He stopped reading at that point, ditched the top hat, and jumped up to leave his office. Shit shit shit shit, he repeatedly thought as he hurried through the halls before running into Jill. "There you are," he said with a panicked tone. "Get a team together. There's another outbreak. We have to go now."

"Chris, whoa. Hey—what?" Jill stammered as she started to process what Chris was saying. "Did the director say something."

"I need you. Do you trust me?" he asked, still very much in a state of panic.

Jill slowly nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, I do," she said quietly.

"Then meet me at the coordinates I'm about to text to you with a team. I'm going ahead," Chris said before quickly turning to leave, trusting Jill to do what he asked.

"Okay," Jill said with a nod as she watched him run off to the locker room, likely to change into proper gear instead of his costume. After a moment, she hurried off to get the team of operatives that Chris requested.

'*'*'*'*'

The building was eerily silent now that everyone had, hopefully, gotten out. Emma quietly walked through the room, illuminated only by the sunlight leaking through the windows. There it was. With how slowly she was walking, for fear of making any noise, she wouldn't be surprised if it took her ten minutes just to get to the other side of the office. She breathed a sigh of relief as the battery-operated burner she remembered was still there and turned on. Emma quickly put three pieces of printer paper between the bowl and burner, and gathered more papers around it. Hopefully, this wor—

"Gotcha," said a quiet, demented whisper.

Emma gasped and stumbled back. Veronica gazed down at Emma from her place on the ceiling, using her arms to cling to it like a spider. Shit, shit, shit, Emma thought as she made another break for the stairs, this time to go back up.

"You're not getting away from me that easily!" Veronica said, cackling as she followed close behind.

Get to the office. Get to the gun. Just get to the office. Please be loaded, Emma mentally chanted as she heard thumping, rhythmic patters of arms and legs following her up the stairs. Flashing red lights and the bleating of the fire alarm joined the already terrifying noises screaming around her, vying for her attention. Come on. She was almost the—a sharp pain shot through her back as she was flung into the office. The metal rod had luckily been enough to keep Emma from taking any serious damage to her spine from the slash.

Emma rolled and slammed into the desk before pushing herself up, scrambling to grab the decorative aerosol container and the gun from the downed bodyguard’s belt, which she promptly fired at Veronica. Thin wires sprang forward and burrowed into the now writhing figure.

It’s a taser? Of course, it was a single-use fricking taser.

With little time to really complain about it, she ditched the taser and pushed past the dazed diva, sprinting for her life with the evidence in hand. There was no way she could keep outrunning her like this. Emma was getting tired; she needed a better plan. She checked her hand to see how much time she had left... it looked the same as before.

"What the he—" she was cut short as a tight pain gripped her ankle. The extended arm of Veronica had gotten a hold of her once more and was dragging Emma toward her.

"He-he-Hungry...f-food. EAT!" Her speech had become more erratic, but she certainly got the point across, and this time kicking and flailing was not enough.

Do something! Emma’s subconscious screamed as fear caused her to start to freeze up. She pointed the can at Veronica's face and sprayed, getting it into her eyes and causing her to howl in pain as she threw Emma against a wall before letting go. The thing that had been Veronica held her face and writhed in agony.

Emma shuffled back towards the stairs down to the third floor to the file room. She needed time, and she had an idea of how to get it. Do or die. With this hobble she was not going to get enough of a lead to get out, let alone with the security footage. The third floor was now an open frenzy of smoke and flames as the fire continued to spread upward. Emma coughed into her hand as she punched in the code for the file room and waited for Veronica to catch up, making sure the woman saw her go inside. She hurried to the back before hearing the wall crash and crumble.

"Fiiind you. F-Fiiind food," the voice taunted as it slowly got closer. With that Emma rammed into the cabinet causing it to start leaning. Come on... come on! Once, then twice more, and it finally toppled over, creating a domino effect and eliciting a shrill scream of pain from Veronica. Emma none too gracefully crawled over the metal stacks of cabinets to make her way out of the room and down the stairs to the first-floor security room.

She made it to the door, entered her code, and—

Access denied.

"What?!" Emma shouted in frustration. Her ankle, head, and back were bleeding at this point, and her arm hurt like hell from tumbling and ramming into that cabinet while clinging to this darn thing. She did not go through all this to trip up at the last step.

She put the aerosol container into her satchel before getting the metal broom handle from her back. Grabbing it like a baseball bat, Emma swung it at the large, thick tempered glass window next to the door like her life depended on it. *Crash crack clank.* The metal bar started to bend from the abuse, but the reinforced glass eventually cracked and chunks broke off.

The first floor was starting to get smoky by the time she finally made enough of an entryway to climb into the room. Now, sporting new cuts on her arms and legs from the flying chunks of glass and climbing through a partially broken window, Emma had made her way into the security room. She quickly opened the laptop and started digging around in the files.

Okay. Fifth floor, fifth floor. Where the hell is— there it was... What was her office number again? Emma frantically clicked through the files before giving up and dragging the whole fifth-floor file over to the desktop. She'd take the computer with her it was basically a giant flash drive anyway.

5%, 12%, 14%, 22%

Emma tapped her foot against the floor, coughing as the room filled with smoke. Come on.

50%, 52%... 51%

Why is it going backwards!

63%

She could hear the building groaning from the flames.

75%

Emma picked up the laptop and moved to sit under the desk with it to try and get some less smoky air.

81%, 86%, 92%

"Eeeemmmmaaaaa," growled a deep, warped voice, causing Emma to flinch. Come on, hurry up!

95% 99% ... Download Complete.

Finally!

Emma ditched the broom handle and climbed back through the window, earning a few new cuts and scrapes before making her way to the front door. She wanted to run but her legs were starting to give out, resulting in more of a tired jog between coughs and wheezes. Sunlight eventually came into view as she made her way through the door.

'*'*'*'*'

Chris stopped the car as soon as he saw a large gathering of people standing outside of a burning five-story building. The geared up and armed BSAA operative hurried over to the crowd. "EMMA," he shouted, hoping for any sort of response.

None.

"EMMA," he called again. Maybe she just didn't hear him. The shouting certainly got the attention of the others, just not the face he was hoping to see.

"You're that guy. The one on the news," said the older woman who previously helped Emma to her desk when she was panicking. "I'm sorry but... I haven’t seen her come out of the building yet," she admitted sadly, causing Chris to frown and shake his head before pushing to get through the crowd and towards the building.

Not again. Dear God, please, not again. He couldn't lose anyone else. Not like this.

Chris let out a sigh of relief as he saw a tired, hobbling figure exiting the building. "Chris," Emma murmured happily under her breath as she tried to move faster with no success. She was past her limits, even with the adrenaline urging her on.

Chris hurried over and picked her up to bring her back over to the other civilians.

"What the hell happened?" Chris asked.

"Veronica, she turned. There was this spray an—" She paused as she looked at her hand... still no change. Why?

"Alpha!" called Night Howl as he, Canine, Jill, and the Panther Hog squad hurried over to join him.

"Stay here," he said as he got up and hurried over to the others.

"Let's move," Chris shouted back to the group, somewhat relieved. He wouldn't be going in alone. Bless you, Jill, for working quickly.

"Sorry, this is all I could get short notice," Jill said as she hurried in with him. "Just like old times."

"Just like old times," Chris agreed with a smile. It was good to know she still had his back.

"What the hell is that thing?" one of the panther hog members asked, horrified, as they saw the six-armed, dozen-eyed, seven-foot-tall half-body dragging itself out of the flames.

"Open fire!" Chris ordered the team. He didn't have a choice. They needed to deal with this thing first.

The creature cried out in pain as it was filled with lead. It took a good while, even with eight people shooting, for the engorged half of a Bioweapon to collapse and give up the ghost.

"Captain, the building is going to collapse," Canine cried as the creaking and groaning of the main supports of the building became more and more audible over the sounds of the fire alarms.

Shit... they didn't have time. "Everyone, move out," Chris said, and the team fell back to rejoin the group of civilians outside.

Chris walked back over to find Emma resting in the same place he had left her. He kneeled down next to her at eye level. "Emma?" he asked quietly. She pushed herself to open her eyes. The adrenaline crash was hitting hard. The texts repeated in his mind as he pulled her close. "Don't you ever scare me like that again. What the fuck were those messages?"

"I'm sorry...I'm so sorry," Emma said weakly. "I was afraid. I didn't know what to do. I got infected, and I didn't want to go without a fight… I—"

"What?" he said, horrified.

"She had me use some spray... then used it on herself and turned into that thing. I went back to get it. I'm sorry..." she replied as she gingerly held him with one arm as the other clung to the laptop.

His shoulders dropped as he embraced her a little tighter. She had stayed in that building with a hostile BOW, getting evidence, because she thought she was going to die away. If he had just told her she’d had the vaccine, she might have actually ran away like she should have.

"Would you stop apologizing? You're going to be okay... You would have turned by now. You're going to be okay," Chris coached to try and get her to calm down. It took a few minutes but she eventually started to believe him and relaxed.

"How's she holding up," Jill asked, kneeling down as well. Recognition showed in Emma's eyes.

"Jill, right?" Emma asked, and Jill nodded. She knew the Wolf Squad. "Can you get these to Night Howl..." she asked as she attempted to hand over the laptop, which Jill accepted before Emma fished out the decorative aerosol can and handed it to Jill. If memory served her right, Night Howl said something about being in a similar field of work as Tundra, and she said she did something with information? So that was probably the best person to get them to. "It has the virus and proof."

"You got some guts running around like that for a can and a laptop. Ever consider a career change?" Jill joked as Emma very emphatically shook her head no.

"I think I'm going to be a one-hit-wonder," she said with a soft chuckle. "I don't have it in me to do that again..."

"Good," Chris said with a mix of relief and concern, which earned him a weak chuckle from Emma. It took him a moment, but he eventually loosened his hold enough to be able to give her a quick kiss. He had almost lost her. She was alive. He tried sorting through the range of emotions. He was terrified, worried, kind of mad, but ultimately relieved. "Let’s get you fixed up."

"Yes, please," Emma replied before giving him a peck in return. "Everything hurts..." she admitted with a weak smile. "And if that's not enough evidence... I think I'm just going to look for a different job."

This caused Chris to give a half-hearted chuckle as he picked her up to carry her back to his car.

Chapter Text

Beep ... Beep ... Beep

What is that sound? Emma thought as she inhaled. When did she fall asleep? The soft beeping continued as she tried to will herself to wake up. She was tired... Where was she? This didn't feel like her bed. She winced as she opened her eyes. It was bright, wherever it was. Eventually, her eyes adjusted and she found herself in what appeared to be a patient's room. A hospital?

She felt stiff. How long had she been here? She reached up to rub her face, only to feel a plastic oxygen mask covering her mouth and nose. What the... What. Happened? Slowly as she woke up her memories came back of the aerosol spray that Veronica had her use, how she snatched it back then used it on herself and turned into… whatever that was. Running around the empty office and fire. Right. Right, she set the building on fire. She must have inhaled too much smoke... Great.

She looked down at her hand that had been sprayed with the same chemical as Veronica. Still no change. Chris said she'd be fine, but why didn't it have the same effect on her? It was weird... maybe it wasn't the aerosol can? Wow, that would suck if she spent that long in a burning building just to get the wrong evidence...

Eventually, she shifted to be more comfortable and tried looking around the room to find Chris sitting in an uncomfortable-looking plastic chair, slouched to lean back and rest his head against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest. A weak smile crossed her face. He was asleep. That couldn't be comfortable. How long had he been waiting for her to wake up?

"Chris?" she said, which came out hoarse and scratchy. She needed water. It took another attempt, but he eventually woke and got up to stretch before standing by her bedside.

“Hey, how are you feeling?” he asked with a weary smile.

“Like I got hit by a truck,” Emma said with a tired laugh.

“That might have been gentler,” he joked, shaking his head. A few minor fractures, some stitches, a potential concussion, and pretty severe smoke inhalation. Not a fun combo.

Emma gave a weak chuckle in response as her memory became clearer. “What time is it?” she asked, hoping he’d know. Chris stopped to check his watch before answering.

“It’s Friday, November first, around eight forty-five am,” he replied, which caused Emma’s eyes to widen.

“Duke. Oh gosh. I need to get home,” she said, looking around for her clothes. “I’m supposed to watch the girls for Chelsea toni—" She stopped short and winced. That hurt. Nope. Moving was bad.

Chris placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. “Try not to move too much. I called Bastion. He’s looking after Duke,” Chris said, which made Emma relax again. “I’ll see if I have Chelsea’s number.”

Emma nodded.

“There’s probably something else I should tell you now that you’re safe and calmed down,” he added, which caused Emma to raise an eyebrow.

That was not a good sign. “Okay,” she replied, curiosity mingling with concern. Last time he had ‘something he should tell her,’ it was not great news. Was she missing a toe, a foot... a leg? She wiggled her toes to check. It felt like she had all of them.

“Remember roughly two years ago, back when you hurt your ankle and I gave you that medicine that you said looked like an epi-pen,” Chris asked first.

Oh boy. “I vaguely remember that. Yeah,” Emma replied, still tired and hoarse.

“So, it was medicine for rapid recovery, but it’s meant to be used on short notice when… fighting Bioweapons. So it has the vaccine mixed in with it.”

“Chris,” Emma said in a tone that said, ‘are you kidding me?’

“It slipped my mind to mention it when the BSAA stuff came up. It's been a while since then,” Chris said with a wince.

She gave a tired sigh. “Well, I suppose I should thank you for that. It saved my skin. Literally,” Emma said in a slightly annoyed tone. “I’ll admit I should have asked what it was before I let you stick me with a needle, but I was kind of in the ‘empty skull’ phase of having a crush, so that slipped my mind,” she grumbled, then looked at him, “but dang it all, can we agree that was messed up?”

“Yeah, that was pretty messed up. Sorry.” Chris rubbed the back of his neck and looked away before completely processing what she said. “Wait, what was that last part again?”

“That it was messed up. Which it was,” Emma repeated.

“Yeah, the part before that,” Chris clarified as a twinge of a smile pulled at his lips.

You add one explanation detail and suddenly they think they’re hot shit. “That I should have asked what it was before letting you use it,” Emma replied as she scrunched her mouth, trying not to smile as well. Dang it all.

“The part in between,” Chris pressed, amused.

“No, uh-uh. You’re in trouble, mister. You’re not allowed to get cheeky and be distracted by that,” Emma said, failing to fight back a smile as her cheeks turned a light pink. She tried not to chuckle since it did kind of hurt.

“You had a crush on me back then?” he asked as the smile shifted to a smirk.

“Nope, not in the slightest, I meant someone else. I thought you were the biggest dick,” Emma replied causing Chris to laugh and mumble to himself before leaning over the guard rail of the bed to gently hold the side of Emma’s face. He gave her a peck on the forehead since her mouth was covered.

“I’m just glad you’re going to be okay,” he said with a weak smile.

Emma smiled back, unable to reciprocate the affection. Instead, she leaned forward to gently presses her forehead to his.

The sound of his phone got Chris’s attention, causing him to release her and correct his posture before digging it out of his pocket to check the alert. “I have a meeting in ten minutes. I should go.”

“Don’t be late,” Emma said, her eyelids fluttering. Sleep was starting to sound good again.

Chris nodded and headed out to find Jill waiting outside. “Oh, hey,” he said as he closed the door. Jill smiled.

“I thought I’d find you here,” she said with a short chuckle. “Come on, the director gets cranky if anyone besides him is late.”

The two walked together. “So, when are you heading out?" Chris asked curiously.

"Around noon. One of the BSAA choppers is heading that way anyway. So I figured that would be my best bet," Jill explained with a shrug.

"Try not to wait ten years to stop by again, okay?" Chris said with a smile.

"I sent you a card each year for a while, would it have killed you to write back?" Jill pointed out, shaking her head.

"There just… wasn't much to write about," he admitted. "Wake up, go to work, go home, sleep. Go on the next missions."

Hearing that caused Jill to give a short, tired sigh. "And that's why I gave up..." she said quietly which causes Chris to raise an eyebrow. "We had our moments back in the day, whatever you want to consider them, but nothing came of it because it was always just on to the next mission for you."

Chris frowned but nodded. He wasn't oblivious to what she meant. He'd spent three years trying to find her, knowing with every fiber of his being that she was alive, but even after that he just went on to the next mission and by the time he got back, she was gone.

"I'll send you a card for the holidays. Can you try and write back this time?" Jill asked hesitantly.

Again he nodded. "Yeah, I can do that," he agreed.

"Good," Jill said with a smile before giving him a nudge, and a hesitant smile returns. "She's cute. I like her." Jill chuckled.

Chris shook his head. "So, you did go through my desk."

That caused Jill to laugh. "Well you stopped telling me what was going on in your life, so I had to figure things out on my own since I wasn't sure if we'd actually get to see each other."

Chris gave her a nudge back. "You made your point already. I'll write you back."

Jill chuckled at that.

They were late for the meeting and got chewed out for it by the director, but ultimately, it was good news. They were able to shut down the state-side labs thanks to the final pieces of evidence. It probably helped that the dagger over the director's head was removed. With Veronica gone, so was her threat, and he had no problem approving the raids of the last labs that they knew about. It would probably take another eight months but it was going to be a closed case.

Noon eventually arrived, Chris walked Jill to the airfield gave her a hug before she left, and said goodbye properly this time. He felt lighter, like a weight he forgot he was carrying had been lifted.

As he walked back to his office, he scrolled through his phone to try and find the right set of numbers and dial them.

"Chris? Hey, I'm glad you called. I haven't been able to get ahold of Emma. Do you know where she is? I'm really worried" Chelsea asked quickly upon answering the phone.

Chris winced slightly. "She's not feeling well," Chris said, which caused Chelsea to give a quiet sigh. He wasn't sure how much to say. If he told her about the fire, she'd want to see Emma but he couldn't get away with bringing the whole squad to see Emma. That was out of the question. "It'll probably be a few days..."

"Well, shit... okay, um, maybe I can call in and get my shift moved," Chelsea said clearly torn; she was worried, but this also kind of screwed her over since she relied on Emma during the holidays.

"She mentioned that she was supposed to watch the girls. If you want, I'll fill in," Chris offered. While Chelsea was silent, he could sense her shock over the phone.

"Really? Are you sure? She was going to watch them overnight..." she asked, finally voicing her surprise.

"Emma was pretty upset she wasn't going to be able to. I don't mind," he said in response.

"You're a saint. Thank you," Chelsea said gratefully. "I usually stop by around 6:30. Is that okay?"

"That's fine," he agreed with a nod.

"Thanks again. I'll see you then. Tell Emma I hope she feels better and to check her darn phone," Chelsea said with a laugh.

"I'll pass on the message. Bye," Chris replied, waiting for a 'bye' from Chelsea before hanging up. He didn't really consider himself a babysitter but, eh, last time didn't go so badly when Emma brought them over.

He continued on with his day only to get a few messages.

[Tundra] TGIF

[Lobo] For real, though. Looking forward to drinks later.

Well crap... He forgot about that with the stress of everything that was going on. Hound Squad was out of Quarantine starting today, and they’d agreed to get drinks at seven...

[Alpha] Might have accidentally double-booked.

[Canine] Really?

[Alpha] Sorry. Emma's down and out. I blanked when I offered to watch her nieces for her while she's resting.

[Night Howl] Well shit...

[Umber Eye] That's not so bad. We can probably make that work. We can just go somewhere else instead of the bar?

[Canine] Yeah true.

[Lobo] Dave N Busters? Heard the one down the road just had one of those VR rooms installed where you work in teams.

[Tundra] We'd be able to get a drink that way too, twice the cost, though.

[Canine] You say that like we're ever home long enough to do anything with our paychecks.

[Lobo] Too real, my dude. Too real.

[Alpha] Let me check if that's okay first.

Chris quickly sent a few texts to Chelsea and she ultimately agreed since her options were to not work and be short the money to pay the holiday bills or agree to let Chris watch them and take them to an arcade.

[Alpha] Looks like we're golden. See you guys there.

A wave of excited messages came in after. Chris spent lunch with Emma and gave her an update to let her know he'd be watching the girls for the night. Before long the end of the day arrived and he went back to the apartment, picked up the three tots, and away he went to the Dave N Busters.

"It's my friends!" Summer cried happily and Maurie squealed before running over to Umber Eye.

"I can go up, please?" Maurie asked with a big ear-to-ear grin as she remembered being carried by the hands like a tiny grocery bag.

Umber Eye shook his head. "Nah, I think you're too big for that now. You got taller since last time."

Maurie pouted at that but nodded. She did get taller, and she was happy about that.

"We really need to try and get together more often than once a year," Canine said, shaking his head.

"That would be easier if we weren't still in time-out at work" Night Howl pointed out as he crossed his arms.

"Hopefully that will go back to normal now that we got things squared away with that latest mess," Chris said then shrugged. They couldn't really talk about it since they were in public, but the group nodded.

"Ya'll need to lighten up. We're here now, right? Let's have some fun," Lobo said with a grin. "We should try that VR thing before we get too wasted."

"Can I play too?" Summer asked, starry-eyed as she was getting old enough to understand things like video games.

"We got a tiny boss here. Yeah kid, let's go," Lobo agreed without waiting for Chris to say anything. "Rest of you guys in?"

Lobo got nods and agreements from most of the group.

"Nah, that shit makes me motion sick. Besides, pretty sure it's a max of six players anyway," Tundra said, shaking her head. "I'll hang back and watch Maurie and Annie," she offered, waving the rest of the group off. "You have fun."

Maurie giggled at that. "Shit!" she shouted, causing Tundra's expression to drop. Whoops.

"Maurie, no. That's a dad word. You're not supposed to say that," Summer chided with a knowing nod. She was a big kid now, so she knew the rules.

"Oh..." Maurie replied, confused but nodding all the same.

"We'll be back in fifteen," Chris said as Tundra nodded. How hard could that be?

The group of six eventually made it to the front desk of the VR room and got squared away to play.

"All right, this game is a game of tower defense. You'll be paired up into teams Red, Yellow, and Blue," the guy explained.

Summer raised her hand. "I wanna be on Uncle Chris's team," she announced with a grin.

"Uncle Chris?" Lobo asked with a smirk and Chris shrugged. "How long has that been a thing?"

"Started seeing Emma back in December," Chris admitted.

"It's been almost a year and you didn't say anything?" Lobo said with mock offense. "Here I thought I still had a chance."

"Pay attention," Chris said as they returned their attention to the explanation of the game.

The guy held up a controller shaped vaguely like a gun. “Once you get in there and have your mask on, make sure you don’t actually run around. Stay in place. If you want to move around the room, point where you want to be and use this button on the side here to jump. Hit here to reload and pull the trigger to fire."

Summer nodded while listening to the instructions intently. She wanted to do well.

They were eventually let into the room and hooked up, Night Howl and Lobo as Red team, Umber Eye and Canine as Yellow team, leaving Chris and Summer as Blue team.

The game started up, and they all hurried around. Chris found a hiding place while Summer wandered. This was going to be a pretty bad handicap. Umber Eye went to find a high point to snipe from while Lobo smiled and tried taking the easy shot at Summer, who was still wandering around trying to find someone.

"You shot me?" Summer said sadly. "Why would you do that?" she asked, distracting Lobo.

"Oh uh, sorr—hey!" he started to apologize, only to get KO-ed by Chris, who smiled while Summer giggled at the turn of events. This could work. Sure enough, it did. The easy target was hard to ignore, making it easy for Chris to figure out where the others would most likely be and pick them off as they approached.

"To your right," Chris said, and Summer whipped around with a surprised squeak to see Canine and end up getting a KO.

"I DID IT!" she cheered, jumping around happily and laughing excitedly.

Hearing how excited she was caused Canine to laugh as well. "Not bad, kid," he said as he waited to load back in.

"We got a lil soldier in the making here. We're getting massacred," Lobo added as he looked up at the score, with blue team in the lead by a wide margin. Granted, most of that was Chris picking off the others and the fact no one was willing to really shoot at Summer.

The game eventually came to an end. BLUE TEAM WINS was displayed on the screens.

"Yay!" Summer cheered and waited for an employee to help her get out of the headset. "We kicked their butts," Summer went on through laughs with a smug cheeky smile, knowing that 'butt' was one of the gray area words that wasn't a dad word, but she could still get in trouble for it.

"Pretty sure you're not supposed to say that," Chris pointed out as the group walked out and started heading back.

"Nah-uh, Mama says I can say butts, but I can't say ass," Summer corrected, which caused the group to laugh since she still technically broke the 'rules' anyway.

"Okay, you're the boss," Chris said, shaking his head as they made it back to Tundra.

Tundra handed Annie over to Chris. "Take her. I'm out," she said with a laugh. "She keeps trying to grab everything and put it in her mouth."

Chris took Annie back and nodded. That was probably going to get old quick, but he signed up for this.

The group walked around, occasionally playing games while most of them had drinks. Chris stayed sober since he'd be driving back with three kids in the car. He'd risk his own neck driving buzzed but not someone else's.

"Alpha, let me borrow the baby," Lobo said quickly as he repeatedly patted Chris's arm with the back of his hand.

"What?" Chris asked, surprised.

"Let me borrow the baby," Lobo repeated and motioned for Chris to hand him Annie.

"Why?" he rebutted as his surprise turned to confusion.

"Babies are chick magnets," Lobo said with a cheeky grin. "It makes you look sensitive and emotionally available." He placed a hand over his heart.

Chris rolled his eyes but handed over Annie. It would be nice to have a break to stretch.

Lobo's attempt to go to the bar and flirt went about as well as anyone could expect. Meaning, it didn't really work, but there was an attempt.

Chris ended up having to call it early, around nine, to get back home before ten since Annie and Maurie were starting to get cranky. He walked up to the second floor of the apartment building before looking between the two doors and dug out his keys to unlock Emma's apartment. They were used to sleeping there and Emma had space for them since she had that guest room. Once they were set up, he turned out the light.

“G’night, Uncle Chris," Summer said, which Maurie copied.

"Good night," he replied, closing the door before walking to the couch, nudging Duke to get off, and settling in for the night.

Chapter Text

November turned to December and winter took autumn’s place as the trees became bare of leaves once more and the sun set earlier and earlier each day. Those who walked outside stayed bundled up to stay warm. On this particular night, residents of the all-too-familiar apartment complex stayed inside to avoid the frozen winds behind closed doors. Two held each other close in the dark between shifting fabric while breathing heavily. A whimper, a moan, a grunt, and a groan. Pounding hearts, dilated eyes, and curled toes.

The two eventually lay to rest and Emma nuzzled her face against Chris to get comfortable as he put an arm around her waist. They were quiet for a while before Emma leaned over to kiss Chris's neck. "How was work?" she asked with a hint of a smile as she went back to resting.

"It was work," he replied with a slight smirk, keeping his eyes shut. Emma chuckled at this. The answer had returned, but she didn't mind. It was the same answer as always, yet somehow it was different now that she understood what work was for him. "How goes job hunting?"

Emma grumbled in return. "Nothing yet," she said with a tired sigh.

She had returned home a week after the Halloween incident to find a lovely pile of mail on her counter, including a letter saying the label was shutting down due to lawsuits from the incident and their connection to 'illegal substances' and that she'd get a four-month severance package since she worked there for about eight years, six years prior to the merger and almost two after. But she was out of a job. Not that she was surprised. If anything, she felt lucky the director didn't use her as a cover story for the incident. ‘Crazed employee turns to arson from stress and sets building on fire.’ Instead, they went with another gas leak story to try to explain why the surviving workers were 'seeing things,' claiming it was all in their heads.

"You'll find something," Chris replies with a slight shrug.

"Yeah," Emma replied with a short nod. "Have you heard anything from Mrs. Russo?"

"Mh-mh," he replied as a quiet no.

Emma frowned upon hearing this. "She's been so quiet as of late... I'm worried."

"Hmm," Chris replied in quiet contemplation.

"Maybe I'll stop by tomorrow and see if she wants to bake or something. Just to make sure she doesn't need anything..." Emma said, thinking it over. "It's not much, but it would put my mind at ease."

"Hm." Chris gave a short hum of approval.

At this point, Emma noticed the trend in his answers, and her expression shifted to one of amusement. "After that, I might see if I can visit Chel. She mentioned having a plan for holiday shopping that required putting an elephant on the sun, but we'll see. I'm not sure about how, but it seems interesting," Emma said, seeing if he'd notice the stray detail.

"M-hmm" Chris replied with a slight nod. That would be a solid no to the unasked question, 'are you paying attention?'

“Mmkay, well, I'll be heading out then," Emma said with a chuckle, giving his chest a pat before she moved to get up and crawl out of bed.

"Huh?" Chris said. That got his attention. He stopped her, hooking her waist to keep her from leaving.

"I asked if you were tired, and you said yes," Emma said in response with a smirking smile.

"That's not what you said," Chris replied with a slight frown.

"What did I say?" Emma asked with a smug grin. Checkmate.

Chris remained silent but cleared his throat.

Emma gave him a peck on the nose before getting out of his bed and starting to get dressed. She could shower once she got back to her place. "Get some rest," she said.

Chris got out of bed and pulled her close once more so her back was against his chest. "You could always stay?" Chris offered as a playful smile crossed Emma's face.

"Mh-mh," she replied to poke fun at the man standing behind her.

"It's late. Duke will be fine till the morning," Chris said, kissing her gently.

"Hmmm," she replied, still smiling as she was enjoying her little game.

"You can have the first shower," he offered, which got her attention.

"Hm." Offer accepted. She leaned back and gave him a peck. "Fine," she agreed. "Mind if I borrow a shirt then?"

"Vulture."

"Stingy," she replied and stuck out her tongue. Chris laughed and gave her another peck before letting go and getting her the requested shirt.

"Pretty sure my nickname has always been Alpha," he said with a smirk as he offered the shirt.

"M-hmm," Emma replied with a hint of sarcasm, still smiling playfully as she accepted the shirt and turned to leave. "Yeah, I'm not calling you that."

Chris gave her a gentle swat to the rear in response, causing her to yelp from surprise.

"Chris," she cried, amused, but swatting his arm away in return as he laughed. After more playful banter, the two were finally able to wash up and settle in for the night to sleep. It was a dreamless sleep, but those tend to be the more peaceful nights for the BSAA agent.

Emma eventually woke up as her alarm sounded at 6:30, earning a grumble from Chris, whose alarm wasn't for another forty-five minutes. Emma turned off the alarm and got up with a stretch. Food. She nodded at that thought and put on her jeans to head back to her apartment, feed Duke, and walk back with a few supplies. It was out of order, but she didn't usually spend the night. She dug through a few cabinets to get what she needed and started making breakfast. A few slices of bacon, some eggs, and toast.

Chris' nose twitched slightly as the scent of breakfast made its way to his room. Again, he grumbled and checked his phone. He still had twenty minutes... but he gave a tired sigh and got out of bed. She was going to turn him into a morning person, wasn't she... He stretched, cracking his back, before getting dressed for work and heading out to find Emma sitting at the island, eating breakfast and still wearing his shirt.

"Morning," Chris said groggily as he walked over and placed a hand on her shoulder, leaning forward.

"Morning," Emma replied leaning back to give him a quick kiss.

At this point, he noticed there was only one plate of food. "So, do I get any?" he asked curiously, gesturing to the meal.

Emma chuckled. "I wasn't sure when you were going to wake up. Your plate is in the microwave. It should still be warm."

He nodded at that and walked over to retrieve it along with a fork before walking back to take a seat next to Emma.

[Emma] Chris report: Doing well. Having a real breakfast for once not a meal supplement bar.

[Claire] It's a Christmas miracle lol.

[Emma] Can't guarantee it, but depending on how work goes, he should be in a decent mood when you arrive later. Are you sure I shouldn't tell him you and your BF are stopping by?

[Claire] Positive. He's going to be cranky. It's just a matter of how long he's cranky.

[Emma] Okay, I'll trust your call on that.

[Claire] Thanks.

"Who are you texting?" Chris asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Your sister," Emma said casually and continued to poke at the device.

"When did you get her number?" he asked with a mixture of surprise and confusion.

"Back at the beach," Emma said before taking another bite of food. "She asked me to give her updates on how you're doing every once in a while," she explained, which caused Chris to shake his head before eating his breakfast.

Once he finished his meal, he got up to put his plate in the sink. "I'm heading out."

"'Kay. Oh, try not to work too late?" Emma requested. "I'm gonna put in a roast so I'll need help eating it," she offered as an excuse. Claire owed her one for this.

"I'll see what I can do," Chris agreed with a shrug and headed out. He drove to work with a contemplative expression. Emma had spent the night, made breakfast, and was making dinner later all in the span of twenty-four hours. She was up to something. The question was, what?

Once Chris was gone, Emma smiled and sent another text.

[Emma] Is roast beef okay for dinner?

[Claire] Sound great, Thanks again. We should be there around 6:30/7

[Emma] Not a problem.

With that taken care of Emma cleaned up around Chris's apartment before heading to her own. She took care of Duke before heading back again, washing her hands, and starting up the oven to slow cook the roast. Into a large covered roasting pan went the beef roast with carrots celery, onions, and a modified version of that tomato sauce recipe that Mrs. Russo gave her. It took about an hour to get it all set up, but once she had, she nodded and set a timer. It was 9, so by 2 she'd need to flip it and cook it for another four hours while working on the rest of the meal. From what Claire had said, Chris didn't have the best opinion of this boyfriend of hers, and they only sometimes got along. Hopefully, if they were both busy eating and on semi-neutral grounds, they wouldn't be arguing.

With that thought, Emma cleaned up the kitchen, washed her hands again, and headed out to see if Mrs. Russo was home. It was kind of nice being home during the day. Usually, she'd be working on job applications, but she figured she'd give herself a day off after a month of little to no success. It took a minute, but the door eventually opened, revealing a tired but happily surprised-looking Mrs. Russo.

"Emma, what a surprise," the woman said with a soft smile.

"Hi, Mrs. Russo," Emma said, smiling back. "I was wondering if I could maybe get your help. If you have the time."

"Of course, dear, what can I do for you?" she offered as she opened the door further.

"Well, I'm having guests for dinner tonight. I was trying to think of a dessert to make when I remembered those cookies from the last New Year. The Pizza-lles?" Emma explained, attempting to pronounce the name of the cookie.

"Pizzelle," Mrs. Russo corrected. "They are a classic this time of year," she said with a short chuckle. “They require a special iron and anise to make, though."

"Ah shoot," Emma frowned slightly, but the woman motioned for Emma to enter the apartment.

"Come in. You can borrow mine. I'll show you how it works," she offered, and Emma smiled.

"Thank you, I appreciate it," Emma replied as she walked in. The place looked... honestly like a mess. It only made Emma worry more. Mrs. Russo was usually so tidy.

"What are you serving for dinner?" Mrs. Russo asked curiously.

"A simple slow roast, nothing too exciting," Emma replied with a shrug.

"Hmm. Anise doesn't usually pair well with beef," Mrs. Russo said. "May I suggest something else instead, since you're here?"

"Sure, I'm all ears," Emma said with a nod.

"Semifreddo would taste much better. It's more of a summer dessert since it's served cold, but some still prefer it with winter fruits. The light flavor will help after such a rich meal."

"That sounds perfect." Emma smiled at the adjusted plan. She honestly didn't care what they made, she just wanted to make sure the woman was okay, and by the looks of it, she wasn't.

"Hmm, we’ll need a few things from the store... but you've already started your roast, right?" Mrs. Russo asked.

"It's okay. I can just order what we need and have it delivered," Emma said as she took out her phone. "What do we need?"

"Let's see... some roasted hazelnut halves. Almonds would be fine if the store doesn't have them. Cranberries, some dark chocolate, and some heavy cream. That should make a good winter Semifreddo. I already have honey, rose water, and the other basics."

Emma nodded as she added the items to the shopping cart and ordered the ingredients before switching to send a few messages to Chris.

[Emma] I don't think Mrs. Russo is doing okay. Her place is a mess.

[Chris] I just helped her clean it last week...

[Emma] I'll see what I can figure out.

"There we go. They should be here in about thirty minutes," Emma said as she put her phone back into her pocket.

"Good, just enough time for us to do prep work," Mrs. Russo said while digging out various supplies that they'd need. Emma worked on washing the Sink full of dishes. Mrs. Russo protested at first but thanked Emma after she insisted that it was the least she could do in exchange for the help she was receiving from the woman.

Before long, the kitchen was clean, the groceries arrived, and the two got to work. Thanks to their prep work, it didn't take too long for them to make progress. It would take them an hour tops between making the heavy cream into whipped cream to make the base of the Semifreddo and macerating the cranberries into a sauce.

"How have you been doing, by the way?" Emma asked when they were about halfway done making the base.

"I've been holding on," Mrs. Russo admitted. "It's difficult without Marco, God rest his soul, but each day is a blessing."

Whoa, what? "Is he still not feeling well?" Emma asked, confused.

"Oh. Right," Mrs. Russo said sadly as she stopped working with the mixture. "I'm sorry Emma, but he passed away last month..."

Oh my gosh. "I'm so sorry. I didn't realize," Emma replied, stunned.

"I haven't exactly wanted to talk about it... It would have been difficult for you to know," Mrs. Russo admitted quietly.

"Still," Emma said with a sympathetic frown.

Mrs. Russo made a waving motion at her to tell her to stop. "It was his time," she said, though sorrow was evident in her tone. "It was a nice funeral, though. Marco never was one for theatrics, so just a small gathering of family."

Emma nodded understanding. He had usually kept to himself, so it made sense that it was a more private event.

Mrs. Russo pushed herself to smile as she gave Emma a small side hug. "It's good you stopped by, though. This is nice," she said appreciatively, seeming to want to change the subject.

"Of course, I'm home most days at the moment so if you ever want to talk or need anything, let me know," Emma offered, but Mrs. Russo shook her head.

"I'll be fine, sweetheart. But thank you," Mrs. Russo replied.

The two continued to chat and Emma even stayed an extra hour just to listen to the woman speak about whatever was on her mind. They talked about her plans for the holidays, and how excited she was to see her kids and grandkids. Before long, Mrs. Russo walked over to the fridge, retrieving the berries and the now semi-frozen mixture in a small bread pan.

"There we go. Now, just keep this in the freezer until you're ready to plate and serve it. Put the macerated cranberries and almond halves on top before slicing it up," Mrs. Russo explained.

"Thanks again. I'll make sure to drop off a plate. Seems only fair to share since you did most of the work," Emma replied.

Mrs. Russo chuckled. "You're sweet. I'll look forward to trying it," Mrs. Russo agreed with a nod before sending Emma on her way.

It was almost noon by the time Emma got back to her place. She put away the two containers, one in the fridge the other in the freezer, before texting Chris to let him know what she found out regarding the Russos'. Then she got back to work cleaning up her apartment. At 2, she flipped the roast and put it back into the oven. By 5, she had the table set and the sides started.

6:40 rolled around and Emma started plating the dessert, taking it out of the bread pan and putting it on a serving plate before putting the berries and roasted almond pieces over it. Then she put it back into the fridge. It would keep it well enough until it was time to serve it. She had just started putting together a dinner plate for Mrs. Russo when she heard a knock at the door. Duke started barking in response.

Right, Claire mentioned he was twitchy around dogs. Um... “Duke, bedtime,” Emma said, and the dog gave an indignant huff in response. Someone was at the door. “Duke, bed,” she repeated, and this time the dog grumpily trotted into her room. Emma closed the door behind him before heading over to the main entryway.

Waiting outside were Claire and a man in a leather jacket with what appeared to be an early 2000’s style Emo bangs haircut. It was a choice.

“Claire, good to see you,” Emma said with a smile, welcoming the two into the apartment.

“Good to see you too,” Claire replied as she walked in with the man, and Emma closed the door behind them.

“I was just about to drop off a plate with the neighbor, but feel free to make yourself comfortable,” Emma explained as she went back to serving up the extra plate.

“This is a nice place,” Leon said as he casually glanced around.

“Thanks. Leon, right?” Emma asked as she got a small dessert plate for a slice of the Semifreddo to take over as well.

“Yeah. Emma?” he asked in return.

“Yep. Nice to meet you,” she replied before picking up the plates. “I’ll be right back.”

Leon looked over to Claire after Emma left. “We could have gone anywhere for a vacation, and we’re visiting your brother.”

Claire rolled her eyes at that, but smiled. “It’s the holidays. You’re supposed to visit family.”

Leon just wanted to spend some time alone with Claire, but his last few attempts at a vacation were botched and this looked like it was probably going to join the list. “I’ll behave if he does.”

“It’s one night. You can do it,” Claire said with a chuckle as she took a seat.

“Yeah,” Leon replied, sitting next to Claire.

Eventually, Emma returned and headed to a few empty glasses on the counter. “I’m not sure when Chris will be here. Can I get you anything to drink?” she offered. “I have water and some red wine.”

“Water’s fine,” Leon said.

“I’ll try some wine,” Claire said with a smile.

“Coming right up,” Emma said as she poured two glasses of wine, a glass of water, and a glass with two fingers of bourbon. She picked up the water and liquor first.

“Claire mentioned you prefer heavier drinks. It’s bourbon. Hope that’s okay,” Emma said, putting the glass down next to the cup of water by Leon’s plate.

Huh... maybe this won’t be a complete bust. Leon accepted the peace offering giving a slight cheers motion before drinking from it. Claire smiled at Emma. Operation ‘keep the boys in a good mood’ looked like it was going to work. Claire might get her family photo yet.

Emma walked over with their glasses and put them down before starting to move the main dish and sides onto the table. It was almost seven. Just as she was taking her seat, a click could be heard as the door opened.

“It smells good. What’s the occa—" Chris started as he walked in and closed the door behind him before noticing the additional people in the apartment. “—sion... Kennedy.” So that’s what she was up to.

“Redfield,” Leon replied with a casual nod.

Last names only. Well, this was going great so far... Claire gave her brother a sheepish smile. “Good to see you,” she said, looking at Chris. “We were in the area.”

Chris looked over to Emma with a slightly annoyed expression. He did not believe that they ‘happened to be in the area’ when they were a four-hour flight away. Emma had known.

Emma gave a small smile in return while making a vague gesture to the empty seat next to her before starting to serve herself so the meal could begin. “If you’re not hungry, that’s fine,” she offered as an out for him. She wasn’t going to force him to stay.

Chris thought it over but took the seat. It was only a few hours.

“Can I get you anything to drink?” Emma offered as she watched him serve himself.

“Sure, whatever you have is fine,” Chris replied and Emma got up.

“How was work?” she asked with a smile to get him used to talking.

“It was work,” he said, a grin starting to form. How this had turned into a joke for them was beyond him, but it helped him relax all the same.

“I see,” Emma said as she grabbed a cup of water and a beer from the fridge. “Claire, any plans for the holidays?” she asked as she walked back and placed the drink in front of Chris, then took her seat once more.

Claire smiled at the question. “Just traveling around, though while we’re here, I was thinking maybe we could take a picture together for the holidays?” she requested.

Chris raised an eyebrow. “You flew all the way out here for a picture?” he asked, confused. Why not just use one of the pictures from the beach trip? Emma’s mother had taken plenty of just him and Claire during the visit and had given them both copies.

“Not like you were going to go to her,” Leon mumbled into his drink.

Chris stood up abruptly. Leon did so as well, drawing a pistol out of instinct, while Chris grabbed a knife from the table. Claire rose with her own weapon pointed at Leon.

“WHOA! All of you. Talk about overreacting! Not in my house,” Emma declared, though she remained seated, not wanting to further escalate the situation. Not good. This was bad. “Either you sit and be civil, or you two are kicked out. I’ll have a lovely dinner date with Claire instead, and we’ll take a holiday photo by ourselves,” she offered as an ultimatum.

Claire lowered her weapon first, then Leon, and finally, Chris put the knife down.

“Thank you. I already looked under the beds. There are no bioweapons in the house. Please put the guns on the island counter. Those are not welcome at this table,” Emma said, trying to keep an authoritative tone. She did not spend all day cooking and cleaning for there to be a Texas stand-off before she even took a bite. She looked at Claire with an annoyed ‘what the shit was that’ expression. Emma offered her home as a neutral zone and they both brought pistols to dinner?

“Sorry,” Claire said quietly as she set her gun down. Leon hesitated, but after a glance from Claire, he relented and did so as well, while Chris took his seat again.

Once Claire and Leon were both seated, Emma nodded. “Okay, now, let’s try this again.” Emma’s tone said she was done with any shenanigans. “It’s so nice of you three to join me for dinner. How have you been?”

The meal went much smoother this time, but it barely evolved past small talk. Plans for the holidays, different shows that they were keeping up with, books they were reading, complaining about paperwork, and the like. But they were talking at the least.

Once dessert was served and finished, Emma shifted to get up. “You mentioned wanting a picture with the boys, right? Why don’t you three go stand by the tree real quick. I'll take the picture," she offered and Claire smiled at this.

"Sure, that would be great," Claire agreed, rising. The guys got up shortly after, clearly not thrilled, but willing to go along with the request. "You should be in the picture too, though," Claire said as they walked over to the tree.

"That's sweet of you, but I don't have a tripod to hold up my phone," Emma said with a slight smile. Oh well.

"Ask Bastion?" Chris offered as a solution.

Emma was surprised he'd be willing to wait since he still seemed annoyed about earlier. "Oh. Um, sure. Let me see if he's home." Emma was a little hesitant, but she left the three alone before returning with the nail tech.

"All right, let's take a picture," Bastion said with a smile as he accepted Emma's phone. "Gals to the middle, guys to the side, so you don't block the tree," he instructed. Once everyone was in position, he took the picture. "Hm. You're all stiff-looking..." He frowned.

Emma looked at Chris and made a silly face, which caused him to laugh. His laughter made Claire chuckle and, in turn, got Leon to crack a smile. Click.

"Okay, and one more time, smiling at the cameraman," Bastion requested as everyone looked back at him. Click. "Much better. Okay, you're free to move," Bastion said as he walked over to Emma and handed back her phone.

"Thanks," Emma replied, then forwarded the three pictures to Claire.

"Not a problem. I'll be heading out unless you need anything else," Bastion said.

Emma shakes her head. "That should be it, thanks again for the help. Feel free to steal of dessert on the way out," she offered.

"Not a problem, and oh, don't mind if I do." Bastion got a small plate and fork from the kitchen to serve himself a slice of the mostly frozen whipped treat. "I'll stop by tomorrow with the dish. Thanks, Em."

"Not a problem," she said, waving him off.

"We should probably head out too. It's been great to see you both," Claire said with a smile.

"Yeah, this wasn't so bad," Leon admitted with a chuckle as he offered a hand to Chris, which he accepted and shook.

"Travel safely," Emma said in parting before both of them left, closing the door behind them, and Chris took a seat on the couch.

"You couldn't have told me they were going to visit?" Chris asked as Emma sat next to him on the couch with what was left of her glass of wine.

"Claire told me not to because you'd be cranky," Emma replied with a shrug.

"I'm kind of cranky now," Chris said in turn with a slight frown.

"She mentioned that would happen either way." Emma put the glass down on the coffee table. "It wasn't that bad, right?"

"Yeah, no. I loved the part where I had a gun pointed at me," Chris grumbled, causing Emma to shake her head before getting up and walking around to stand behind where Chris was sitting on the couch.

"It was nice to see Claire again," she offered as she gently rubbed her thumb against the back of his neck to try to relieve some of the tension.

He sighed quietly in response. "Yeah, it’s nice to see she's doing well." Emma smiled, but that faded quickly when Chris went on. "I still think he's an ass though."

"You are determined to be cranky, aren’t you?" Emma asked as she shifted to working a knot out of his shoulder.

"A little bit," he admitted.

"Okay grumpy Gus. How about we make a bet then," Emma offered as she stopped what she was doing to give him a hug from behind, leaning over the back of the couch so her face was next to his.

"I'll hear you out," Chris agreed. He was still miffed that she didn't tell him about the whole dinner plan thing, though.

"I'll bet that I can get you to smile with one word. If I'm wrong, you can be grumpy all you want, and I'll drop it," Emma suggested, feeling rather confident.

"Seems easy enough," Chris agreed with a nod. "I'll accept."

"Alpha," Emma said before giving him a peck on the cheek.

Shit. A small smirk started to form, and the more he tried to suppress it, the worse it got.

"Alpha," she said once more this time in a sing-song tone as he moved to pinch the bridge of his nose.

"That's cheating," he said with a chuckle.

"Should have made that a rule before accepting the bet," Emma chided with a giggle.

"Get over here." Chris reached around and pulled her over the back of the couch to get her to rejoin him on the seat. He gave her a peck on the forehead. "So... about the holiday photos. Do you think you could text them to me?" Chris requested, surprising Emma.

"Oh. Yeah sure," she agreed, though her confusion was evident in her tone.

"Thanks... I promised I'd send out a card," Chris replied, and Emma smiled.

Chapter Text

For a third year, the four doors of the second floor of the apartment building were opened around 11:55 pm. Each door held a single tenant as they stood in silence. Travis was away visiting family for the holidays, and Bastion had elected not to go with him. Normally, the Russos would have set up a record player and an old-fashioned radio for the group to listen to, but Marco's absence became apparent as the holiday gathering started.

The silence is painful, Emma thought as she leaned in her doorway.

Then an idea came to mind. She fished out her phone clicked around before finding what she was looking for. She walked down to the small shelf in front of the laundry room where the record player was usually set up and put her phone down before tapping the screen. The small device began to play a tinny recording of an old record. The audio wasn't the best quality, but it would do. Emma offered a hand to Mrs. Russo. "Would you like to dance? I'm not great at it, but I can try."

Mrs. Russo put a hand over her heart with one hand. She looked ready to tear up, but gingerly accepted the offered hand. Emma took the lead and slowly led a simple box step waltz. Seeing this caused Bastion to smile as he dug out his own phone and pulled up a live feed of the group's usual radio station and walked over to place his phone next to Emma's.

“It's a beautiful clear night tonight. Wouldn't you agree, Jackie?”

“Right you are, Jim.”

Bastion stood next to Chris's doorway to watch as the two women waltzed around while quietly talking and chuckling. Eventually, the countdown began.

“Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one.”

“Happy New Year!" the radio announced.

Bastion clapped as the pair stopped dancing. Emma gave the watery-eyed Mrs. Russo a peck on the forehead to bring her luck in the year to come and Chris walked back into his apartment. He eventually returned with a bottle and bottle opener.

"You got good stuff too, look at you," Bastion said with a smile as he saw the bottle. "One second, this calls for nice crystal." He got his phone put it back into his pocket and walked back to his apartment to gather four flute glasses and place them on the shelf by Chris's door. The glasses were filled and handed out as everyone stood together in the hallway.

Chris cleared his throat "It's not much, but I suppose a few words are in order," the agent said before quickly glancing down and back up. "The last year has been... Hell, for all of us," he admitted and the group solemnly nodded. "And yet, despite the pain and loss. I don't think I'd trade a moment of it away," Chris added, causing a small smile to form on Emma's face. "So, here's to another year. Come what may." Chris paused for a moment to consider his next words. "And in honor of those who we lost. Cheers, to a year of good health and prosperity."

"Cheers," the four said and raised their glasses before taking a drink.

Mrs. Russo gently dabbed the sides of her eyes, where a few tears started to stray.

"That was beautiful, dear," she said as she walked over to give Chris a peck on the cheek. Chris gave Mrs. Russo a kiss on the top of her head before heading over to Emma to give her a kiss which she returned.

"Well, now I feel left out," Bastion joked with a laugh, causing the others to chuckle as well. Chris and Emma looked at each other, smiling, before walking over to Bastion, one standing on either side of the nail tech. Chris gave him a peck on the top of the head while Emma gave him a kiss on the cheek. Bastion chuckled and waved them away.

"There. Now you're double lucky," Emma said with a grin.

"I was joking, ya freaks," he said, cracking up. "God, I have the best neighbors," he added after his laughter had subsided. With a small smile he pointed at everyone. "None of you are allowed to move." Everyone laughed at this before sipping their drinks.

“Oh, you’ll have a few more years of putting up with me, I'm sure," Emma said, shaking her head. Right, she'd need to resign her lease in April again. Hopefully she'd find a job by then...

"When does my lease expire?" Chris muttered. "Signed it so long ago I don't remember," he admitted, then took a sip of his drink.

"Oh dear... well, hopefully you won't think less of me," Mrs. Russo said with a slight frown. "My kids were saying I should move in with one of them once my lease ends."

"Not in the slightest," Bastion said, surprised. "Nah, you go cuddle those grand babies and spoil ‘em rotten, ‘kay?"

Mrs. Russo smiled again and nodded. "That's a guarantee," she said through a laugh.

The four spent the next few minutes idly chatting as a group, as their glasses ran empty, each one placed the glass down on the shelf by their door to be collected in the morning. Eventually, the only ones left were Chris and Emma. Emma walked over to pick up her phone and pocketed it before gathering Bastion's glasses from the shelves. She could wash them now.

"I'm going to wash these up," she said, gesturing to the glasses. "Are you done with yours?"

Chris shrugged. "There's enough for half a glass each if you want to help me polish this off.”

Emma smiled at the suggestion and nodded. "Sure, I can help with that," she agreed and closed up her apartment before walking into his.

Chris closed the door behind her as Emma headed over to the island and put down the glasses... Shoot which one was hers again? As she contemplated this Chris put down the bottle and his glass on the closer counter to free up his hands. He reached for Emma's wrist to gently pull her over to him with a twirl. She yelped in surprise before laughing as she realized what had happened. The two began to sway into a slow dance.

"What was that dance before?" Chris asked quietly.

"The box step?" Emma asked, amusement starting to show in her expression.

"Yeah, that one... How do you do that?" Chris asked.

"It's not too hard. Here," Emma said as she shifted to hold his hand for a proper waltz before noticing writing on his hand. "What's this?" she asked curiously as she stopped moving and studied it.

Here's to another year. Come what may.

"Notes," Chris replied, which caused Emma to smile.

"I see," she said before using her other hand to place his. "Put one hand here. Hold mine in the other”—she took a step back—"step forward. Use the hand on my back to guide where you want to go," Emma explained and went over the steps. One, two, three. One, two, three. Chris was doing decently, but eventually stepped forward with the wrong foot causing them to stumble and laugh as he picked her up and took a few steps forward to avoid falling and knocking her over.

"I think maybe the dance lessons can wait," Emma said with a laugh. Chris nodded before receiving a kiss. "Maybe we can finish the drink off tomorrow night?" she offered.

Chris shook his head. "Can’t, got a mission coming up on the second," he explained while holding her.

"Ah," she replied with a slight frown. Missions had become much more worrisome, but historically he was fine when he came back... Well, he came back in one piece that was. "Suppose tonight it is then," she said, shaking off the thought as he let her go.

"Which one was yours?" Chris asked and Emma shrugged, causing him to shake his head. "Guess we're sharing then." He poured the last of the drink into his glass before sitting with her on the couch.

"Ah, that's right," Emma said, causing Chris to smile.

"Now you remember?" he asked, amused, and Emma shook her head.

"Not that. This is a good time for a Chris report," Emma said as she got her phone from her pocket and turned the camera to selfie mode.

"Chris report?" he asked as confusion joined his amusement.

"The name I gave my updates to Claire." Emma snapped a picture of the them smiling and sent it to Claire.

[Emma] Chris report: Happy New Year!

Chris shook his head and took a sip from the glass before handing it to Emma so he could dig out his phone and sending a few texts as well. "Thanks for the reminder."

Emma accepted the glass and took a drink. "Not a problem."

The two finished off the glass between exchanged affections. Emma eventually got up, collected the glasses, and went back to her own apartment to start washing the flutes. 1 am. She wasn't sure if it was early or late. The thought caused her to chuckle as she finished drying the last glass and placed it down on the counter to look over to the side of her fridge.

Over the last year, more pictures had collected on the refrigerator. A strip of three photos from the movie theater, one of Chris and Emma at last year's Winter Gala, a picture from Summer's birthday party, one of Chris looking at a plate of food by a cake illuminated with a small candle because the power had gone out. There was a picture of the two of them on the beach, one of Chris looking up at a tiny helicopter while his leg was in a brace, one of Chris Emma and Bastion in their Halloween costumes, and the most recent addition was a family photo by the tree with Claire and her boyfriend.

Emma closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and smiled. It made her happy. The year did have its ups and downs, but Chris was right, she wouldn't trade away a second of it. With that thought, she opened her eyes again and tapped at her phone. A moment later, the sound of a printer could be heard in the distance. Emma walked to the printer and returned with a new addition for the collage, placing the picture she had just taken with Chris on the fridge before nodding and heading to bed.

'*'*'*'*'

Chris stepped off the helicopter with Night Howl and Canine not far behind him.

"How long do you think we're going to be on this Romania sprint?" Canine asked curiously as they walked across the airfield.

"Hard to say. Depends on how long it takes Ethan to get his training down," Night Howl admitted with a shrug.

"It's been two years. Pushing three now," Canine pointed out.

"It would help if he actually practiced when we weren't here," Chris grumbled quietly.

Ethan didn’t exactly have a say in receiving military training, and his lack of interest showed in how slowly he retained information. He had more or less gotten a grasp on medical training and resource crafting, but he didn't really practice much else.

Chris gave a tired sigh. It also didn't help that the Winters weren't amazing about keeping a low profile. Several times they had to remind the family not to go to conventional doctors and to go to the BSAA instead. He couldn't say he blamed them for wanting to just be normal again but it wasn't that easy.

Similar thoughts continued to pop up in his mind as they made their way to the Winters’ safe house. Chris knocked on the door and waited for an answer. To his surprise, Ethan answered the door. Weird, usually Mia was the first one to the door.

"Hey, good to see you," Ethan said and motioned for the three to enter. As they walked In, sounds of coughing and gagging could be heard from the upstairs bathroom.

"Mia?" Chris asked, concerned as he looked to Ethan for answers.

Ethan smiled weakly. "Morning sickness," he explained.

 All three agents stared at him in surprise.

"Morning Sickness?" Canine repeated back to make sure he understood that correctly.

"Yeah. She’s about three months along now," Ethan explained. He seemed like he was expecting to have this conversation and offered a small print of a sonogram to Chris.

"You went to an outside doctor? Again?" Chris asked with defeated annoyance. How many times did they have to have this conversation...?

"We were worried, and the BSAA is so far away. It was quicker to just—" Ethan tried to explain but was cut off by an exasperated Chris.

"Ethan, you and Mia are, for all intents and purposes, de—" Chris was cut off in turn by an equally exasperated Ethan.

"Dead, I know. But at the end of the day, we're still alive," Ethan countered, which caused Chris's frown to weaken. "We're people Chris. And we want to be able to move on with our lives."

"Sorry Ethan, I don't make the rules," Chris replied with a sigh. "My job is to protect you, and I can't do that if you keep pulling stunts like this."

Ethan frowned and motioned for the three of them to join him in the living room. "Can we at least wait until Mia is well enough to walk around for the day? I don't want to leave her here like this."

"Fine," Chris agreed and followed Ethan, Canine, and Night Howl. Ethan was a shit operative, but a good husband… he'd give him that. He cared about his family more than anything.

"So, how have you guys been holding up since we last visited?" Night Howl asked as the four men sat down.

"Not bad, it's been stressful but not bad," Ethan admitted with a tired smile.

"Stressful?" Chris asked, looking for more details on that part.

"Yeah. With Mia expecting now, she just can't take a lot of her meds anymore," Ethan explained, his fatigue becoming more evident. "She's worried it will hurt the baby, but it's already getting to be difficult for her."

Canine nodded slowly. "She was on meds for hallucination suppression, right?"

"Among other things, yeah," Ethan confirmed and nodded. "Some nights are better than others. Work has been understanding for the more part."

Night Howl nodded in understanding.

"That's enough about that though. How have you guys been?" Ethan asked to change the subject. Even if he wasn't thrilled about military training, it was nice to get to talk to the squad. In a weird way they had become friends, even if Mia might not completely agree with that.

"Not bad, another year, another holiday season spent alone," Canine said with a sigh. "This job doesn't lend to a good personal life."

"Yeah," Night Howls agreed with a disappointed frown. "Hey Ethan, want to trade places?"

"Not a chance," Ethan replied, shaking his head. “My life is far from perfect but, I’m excited about this next step, and to be a father. Even if it was a surprise," he admitted with a genuine smile. Any fatigue had vanished in place of his contentedness.

"Fine, fine. What about you then Alpha, up for a trade?" Night Howl joked.

"Oh yeah, that’s right. 'Uncle Chris' is still a thing," Canine said, which got Ethan's attention. "I'm surprised she managed to put up with you for a full year." Canine snickered.

"Fuck off," Chris replied, shaking his head.

"You still owe us from the high-rise incident, so I think a bit of ribbing is fair," Night Howl pointed out, shaking his head.

"I owe you, not him," Chris said, causing Night Howl to shrug. "Besides, I thought Lobo was the gossiper of the group."

"Never thought I'd see the day the mighty Alpha settled down," Ethan said with amusement but no ill-intent in his tone.

"I'm not," Chris replied, shaking his head. "I got too much shit to do before retiring. I said I was going to train up a new generation and I have squat to show for it. Especially with you taking your sweet ass time with your training." Not to mention all the garbage going on in the background of the BSAA. He still needed to figure out what was going on there.

"You're going to wait until you're in your grave at this rate," Ethan said.

"Pretty much," Chris agreed with a nod.

Ethan was about to speak when a crashing could be heard from upstairs. "Shit, Mia," Ethan said as he quickly got up to leave and check on her.

Yeah, all of that, the screaming, puking, mental breakdown stuff… that was a solid 'no thank you' in Chris’s mind. While Ethan was away his mind wandered.

'Uncle Chris!'

'I DID IT.'

'You guys are the best.'

'Okay, bye new friend!'

'Let's play super spy!'

'We kicked their butts.' 

'Are you a dad?' 

 Chris sighed. NOPE! Noooope, nope nope nope. Back in the vault. Back into the vault you go.

Chapter Text

Emma stretched as she made her way up the stairs of the apartment complex. "What a bust, the place wasn't even worth getting dressed up for," she said with a tired sigh as she took off the blazer jacket.

Opening the door of her apartment, she said, "Duke, I'm home," in a worn-out tone as the dog pattered over to greet her. "Hi baby," she said, closing the door then kneeling down to give him pets before getting up to get his dinner. With the pooch fed Emma laid her blazer over the back of the couch then walked over to the fridge to mark off another day on the calendar. February 21st. One more week until March.

Emma looked at the date above that on the calendar. The 14th. She frowned slightly and sighed. It was bound to happen eventually that he'd be away for a mission during a holiday. Emma loosened the top few buttons of her blouse before opening the fridge to start gathering ingredients. The fridge was starting to get skimpy. She was running out of time. She gave a quiet hum.

"Fried rice it is," she said as she took out various leftovers to avoid wasting anything, and turned on the oven.

She only had enough of her severance to get through March. I can probably dip into my savings and make it another month. Maybe two if I really pinch pennies... worst-case scenario, there's always the nest egg. She didn't want to do that, but bills didn't really care if you were unemployed.

Emma finished cooking her meal and brought the plate of food over to the island. She leaned against the Island to support herself as she ate. How was she going to sign another one-year renewal in April if she was still unemployed?

'*'*'*'*'

Chris made his way up the stairs of the apartment building to the second floor. Two weeks tying up loose ends around the states, and he was finally back. The timing was kind of unfortunate, but work was work. They actually let him out at a decent time, which was nice. He was able to head to the store to try to pick something up, but naturally pretty much every store he went to was down to scraps since the holidays had well since passed. It wasn't much, but he looked at the small bundle of six roses just barely starting to wilt and turned pink before shaking his head. It was fine. They'd been seeing each other for a little over a year now.

He stopped in front of Emma's door and slung his bag over his shoulder, so he'd have a free hand, and hid the hand holding the flowers behind his back. Chris contemplated knocking. He shook his head, dug out his keys to unlock the door, and quietly walked in to see Emma. She leaned forward against the kitchen island, dressed in a black pencil skirt and a white collared shirt with a sparse thin blue pinstripe design. Duke lazily glanced at Chris before going back to sleep. The soft clinking of silverware against a plate and a light scent in the air told him it was dinner time. Maybe she had started a new job while he was away?

Chris put his bag down by the closed door. Huh. She still hadn't noticed him? She must have been spacing out. He smiled and slipped his shoes off so he could quietly walk over. At this point, he wanted to see how long it would take her to notice. He continued to hold the flowers behind his back with one hand and used the other to hook her waist.

As he did, Emma yelped and flailed, panicking, before eventually grabbing her fork to turn and face him. "Chris?!" she said, surprised and partially mortified as she let go of the fork, which fell to the floor, and moved to hug him instead. Holy heck, he’d been five seconds away from getting four new tiny holes in his chest. "You scared the shit out of me."

"It's a good thing we still train, because that was a horrible reaction," Chris said through his laughter. He felt bad for scaring her, but it was also kind of funny. "What's for dinner by the way? It smells good."

"You…" Emma let go of him and gave him a gentle swat "None for you. You're in trouble," she said, shaking a finger at him even though she stayed in his loose grip.

"I'm in trouble?" he asked, amused.

"Yes," Emma replied, forcing a frown. She was happy to see him, but not thrilled about the scare.

"Even if I say I'm sorry?" he asked, leaning forward to rest his forehead against hers.

"...Maybe." She looked away as her resolve weakened. Dang it.

Chris gave her a quick peck. "Well, I'm sorry. I won't do that on purpose again. Promise," he offered as an apology. It was a difficult promise to make because it was genuinely funny, but he was a man of his word.

Emma hesitated but eventually returned the peck. "Okay fine," she relented before walking over to get a plate and serve up the last of the fried rice. "How was your trip?" she asked as the usual ritual began.

"It was work," he replied as he moved his hand from behind his back to casually bring the small bundle into view, waiting for her to turn back around.

"I see." Emma got a fork from the silverware drawer. Upon turning back around, she noticed the flower. "Oh! You are full of surprises today. What's gotten into you?" Emma said smiling now.

The question, joking or otherwise, surprised him. "Nothing, nothing. Sorry it's late," he said as Emma traded him the plate and fork for the bundle and gave him a kiss.

"Don't worry about it, you don't exactly get to pick when you leave," Emma said, then went to get a vase and filled it with water, placing that on the Island next to the tiny metal hut before putting the flowers into it. "There we go," she added with a smile.

While Emma messed with the flowers, Chris took his usual seat. "How was work?" he asked with hesitant curiosity.

"Interview," Emma said with a sigh.

"Ah. Well, how was the interview then?" Chris pressed before starting to eat.

“I don’t know. I mean, I think I did okay, but"—she bobbed her head—"it's a decent place but I'm not sure I really want to work with book publishing. I'll keep looking. There has to be something in the area."

"Won't be long I'm sure," Chris offered, causing Emma to sigh.

"I wish I had the same confidence," she admitted with a slight frown as she picked up the fork she dropped and brought it to the sink. "But I'm not giving up so there's that going for me," Emma added, getting a glass of water and walking over to put that down by Chris's plate. She would have offered a beer or something, but alcohol was a frivolous expense at the moment.

Emma had just started working on the dishes when she heard movement behind her and the scraping of the wooden table legs against the floor. She turned back to notice Chris moving the table out of the way.

"Come on." He motioned for her to join him. "You're frustrated. Put the dishes down. Let's train for . They'll be there later."

Emma smiled before shaking her hands to get some of the water off, then dried them on a dishtowel. "All right, give me a moment," she agreed, then walked over to her room to change out her skirt for leggings. As she returned, she rolled up the sleeves of her button-down shirt. "Ready," she said as she took her stance.

Right jab, left jab, left jab, kick. Right jab, right jab, kick, left jab, Kick, kick.

"Easy now," Chris said with a chuckle before shaking out his wrist. "At this rate, I might need to look into more proper padding."

"Well, we have been doing this for almost three years now," Emma said, shaking her head.

"Is that right?" Chirs asked, surprised, before thinking it over. "Two years, nice try," he replied as he held his hand up for another kick.

"Two and a half, which is almost three, thank you very much," Emma countered, shaking her head before going for the target. As she did so, Chris grabbed onto her leg and used it to pull her towards him, supporting her back with his other hand.

"Are you sassing me?" he asked with a smirk, causing Emma to laugh.

"No," she said through her laughter, shaking her head.

Chris chuckled. "We're training. Pretty sure that's a no sir," he teased.

"Yeah right," Emma jokingly replied with an amused smile as she half-heartedly pushed at him.

"Mm-hm," he hummed before leaning forward to pick her up over his shoulder.

'*'*'*'*'

A few days had passed since then, and Emma looked over a printed copy of a PDF.

"Auto Beta Publishing is happy to offer the following position for your consideration," Emma read aloud as she plopped onto the couch. It was a less than tempting offer, to say the least. She'd be going back to being a junior manager since she didn't have experience with books, and with that she'd be taking a pay cut. Roughly $6000 off her former salary. The location wasn't horrible, maybe an extra five minutes to her commute, so that was a plus.

"We look forward to hearing your decision within the next two weeks," she read with a slight frown before giving a quiet sigh. She really wasn't in a position to be picky, but man, it sucked that after three months this was all she had to show for it.

Hearing her phone go off, she looked at it confused. She didn't know the number. "Might be a recruiter..." Emma muttered, bobbing her head as she tried to determine if it was worth it to potentially have to listen to a scam call for five seconds.

Ultimately, she answered the phone. "Hello, Emma Swanson speaking. How may I help you?" she asks while waiting for an automated message about her car's extended warranty.

"Emma!" "Emmy!" “Ey yo em!" "Emmaaaaa," called a group of four deeper male voices.

"My Kings! It's good to hear from you. Please tell me you got picked up by a new label," Emma said with a smile. This was a pleasant surprise.

"Yeah, took a while but the last place was able to sell off our contract," one replied with a few “yep,” “yeah,” “uh-huhs,” in the background.

"Good, you guys are going to do amazing," Emma said with a chuckle.

"Hell yeah we are! That's why we need you," another said, and once more the remaining three agreed.

"Yeah, we managed to work in some details for the sale. We want you to stick with us as our marketing manager. Wouldn't agree to it unless they at least made you an offer," said the third.

"Aw, guys," Emma said, very touched by the fact that they went out of their way for her like that. "That's… Thank you."

"You get our vision. I don't wanna work with someone that doesn't," the fourth said and got another chorus of agreements.

"They just signed the paperwork, so you should be getting the offer letter in your inbox soon," the first said.

"They'll need your acceptance letter in two weeks," the second added.

"Yeah, that's—" Emma paused as she held the side of her head, stunned. "I'll definitely look for the email. Thank you guys so much."

"See you there!" they all shouted at the same time before laughing.

"Bye guys," Emma said with a chuckle and got a course of goodbyes before hanging up.

The next morning, Emma checked her inbox, and sure enough, there was the email.

Subject: Hiring Proposal - Senior Marketing Manager

Emma smiled as she read over the email and opened the attached PDF. She'd basically be picking up where she left off, but with better pay and an amazing starting bonus. They were going all out in this. She smiled as she read further, but it slowly faded as she noticed a small but ever-important detail... the address of the office she'd be working at.

"That's on the other side of the country," Emma murmured, covering her mouth in contemplation. No wonder there was such a tempting starting bonus. They were paying her to move...

She looked from the PDF file on her screen to the printed offer next to it. What was she going to do? Whatever it was, she had two weeks to decide. Emma walked over to the tiny metal hut to burn a new thought which she quickly scribbled down before placing it inside of the hut with a match.

What am I doing with my life?

Chapter Text

On Monday, March 9th Emma could be found pacing around her apartment as she thought over the two offers she had received. It was the final day, and she wasn't any closer to making a decision. Eventually, she walked back over to her coffee table and took a seat on the couch to stare down at the two printed copies of the job offers she received.

"Okay. Let's go over this from the top again," Emma said as she picked up the cross-country job offer. "On the one hand, we have the option to continue the job I have with better pay. I get to do a job I know I love with great perks, but I have to leave behind my friends that are practically family and break up with Chris." Emma gave a tired sigh before putting the document back on the coffee table.

"On the other hand," she started as she picked up the other offer packet, "I can keep my social life and happy loving relationship at the expense of having to start my career over and scrape by for two or three years until I can catch back up to where I was. And go to work every day for a job I don't believe in."

What was she doing with her life? Hell, what did she want from her life at this point? She shook her head as she put down the papers in favor of flopping onto the couch and wrapping herself in a throw blanket.

"Gosh darn existential mid-life crisis bullshit," she grumbled as she buried her face in the couch cushion. She did not need this right now, but at this point, it was the time to think about where she wanted to be in the future.

Maybe if she just put it off longer. She could write out drafts for the acceptance and rejection emails for now and place them over the ones she wanted as she was thinking over her options. At the least it would save her time if they were ready and done... She nodded and pushed herself to get up and grab a small notepad and a pen from the kitchen before returning to her seat on the couch.

The acceptance letter was easy enough for her to write. To whom it may concern: It would be my pleasure to accept the offered position. I look forward to receiving further details, please see the signed acceptance letter attached. Yours truly, Emma Swanson. See? Easy enough. She took the page out of the notebook and placed that in between the two offer letters before getting started on the rejection letter.

It's with great regard that I—

No. That's not it. Emma tore the page out of the notebook and crumpled it up before tossing it over the couch towards the kitchen. My apologies, but this will not work. NOPE! Gracious she was writing a job refusal not a breakup letter. She shook her head and crumpled the page to toss it over the couch as well. She'd clean it up later.

This whole page crumpling thing was working wonders for her stress. It took a few more tries, but after a good twenty or so failed drafts joined the first two on the floor between the living room and kitchen, she finally got her start. I regret to inform you… There we go, that was better. Emma nodded as she continued to write on the page.

I regret to inform you that after careful consideration, I've decided to move forward with other options that are more conducive to my current life goals.

It might be forward, but that would work. She took out the page and this time placed it in between the offers with the acceptance draft...Conducive to her life goals. God, what even were those anymore? She twiddled her pen between the fingers of one hand as she used the other to turn on some music. Maybe that would help clear her mind.

After putting her phone on the table, she looked back at the pen in her hand. She vaguely remembered getting this one as a 'gift' at a stress relief conference that the office hosted a few years ago. ‘Choose happiness’ the purple pen declared in bold white font. Yeah, if only it was that easy, she thought with a sigh before lazily flicking her wrist to toss the pen across the room in contempt for the obnoxious message it held. She didn't know which option would be 'choosing happiness.'

She had loved her last job and she'd be happy to continue working with the Kings. They were amazing and she believed she was actually doing something productive with her work. It was fun, even if it was stressful at times, and she was good at it. But she also loved the friends she had made here. Chelsea, Jack, the girls, Bastion and Travis, the Hound Wolf Squad, the other regulars at the rink. Chris. How would she tell him she was leaving for good? She loved him.

What would make her happy? At this point, that wasn't the question as much as which option would make her less miserable. The first option would be heartbreak, the second would be consistent daily monotony.

She had put it off the question as long as she could. "What am I doing with my life...? I'm turning forty, I'm unemployed and living alone in an apartment." Emma groaned as she held her face and thought it over. She had always told herself that she'd get through college and work on her career for a few years and work on the rest later. But when was later and what was 'the rest'? Nah, that was a dumb question she knew the answer to it. She was pretending she didn't.

She'd thought that by this point she'd have a family. She'd talked to Chel in college all the time about how they were both going to find someone, get married, become neighbors, and how their kids would be friends. Sure, they were joking about some things. Like they weren’t serious about the being neighbors thing, that would be ridiculous. And Chel was never really as serious about having a career as Emma had been. But she wasn’t anywhere close to where she thought she’d be at this point.

She had a boyfriend who she adored, but he was gone pretty often. She spent much of her time worrying that she'd get a text from Claire that he didn't make it. And, let's be honest here, he was doing great with the girls lately, but he wasn’t really a kids kind of guy. He made that pretty clear when she first moved in with the glares and cranky grumbles. And that was fine! That was his choice, and it just made her appreciate how much effort he'd been putting into getting along with Summer, Maurie, and Annie all the more.

I used to be mad, but now I know, sometimes it's better to let someone go, it just hadn't hit me yet. the older I get...

"You are not helping right now," Emma said as she shuffled the song.

Okay, so she wasn't where she thought she'd be at this point. Thanks, clear enough brain. But what would get her to where she wanted to be? Going cross-country would mean starting over on all basic relations she had while staying would mean maintaining them. Which would actually help? The song had a point, sometimes progress required change. But would moving so far be change or just scrapping progress for something different? Was staying taking the easy way out? Even if she did accept the job at the publishing company, it didn't mean she had to stay there. She could just work there and keep looking... the gap in her employment would look awful on her resume.

And she was back to square one.

She spent the next few hours going around in the same circles and using every trick she knew for decision-making, wishing a magical third option would appear, but she had three weeks to get a job and she couldn't risk this. Eventually, she stared at her decision. Each offer with its own letter draft sitting neatly on top. Emma opened her laptop and sent the proper emails before quickly shutting it and curling back up in her blanket.

What if she made the wrong choice?

She needed a nap.

'*'*'*'*'

Chris made his way up the stairs to the second floor of the apartment complex carrying a plastic bag in one hand, then started digging out his keys from his pocket. Emma had been pretty out of it for two weeks now, at the least it felt like she had been avoiding eye contact more than usual. She'd been pretty stressed about this whole job-hunting thing, and the lack of offers. It was weird she hadn't gotten any yet. She was a hard worker and she did well. It didn't really make sense to him. He stopped in front of her door to unlock it. Hopefully, some Chinese takeout would help take some stress off her plate. It wasn't much, but the place was pretty good in his opinion. As he walked in, he noticed the flurry of crumpled up pages on the floor.

"What the he—" He stopped short as he looked around. Where was she? With that thought he closed the door behind him and walked to the island counter to put down his bag and look around.

He stooped down to pick up a few of the pages to look at them. It's with great regret that I—My apologies but this would not work. To whom it may concern: no thanks. He picked up each page and opened them as he collected a stack of twenty or so wrinkled pages. Some sort of attempt at a rejection letter from what he could tell. Did she get an offer from that book place? She had been pretty adamantly against it. He didn't realize a rejection letter would cause her this much stress, though. As he picked up the pages, he eventually made his way over to the couch to find Emma sleeping curled up in a blanket.

Chris smiled at this, he'd let her rest for now. He walked to the kitchen and threw away the pages before walking back around into the living room area. Huh, more paper. Why was there a pen by the window? "What got into you?" he whispered to himself as he walked over to pick up the pen then check out the papers on the coffee table.

To whom it may concern: It would be my pleasure to accept the offered position. I look forward to receiving further details, please see the signed acceptance letter attached. Yours truly, Emma Swanson.

He looked over the stack, confused. She was accepting the job with the publishing company? Why? He looked over the letter, and yeah, it was honestly a really bad offer. He picked up the stack next to it and looked it over next. I regret to inform you that after careful consideration, I've decided to move forward with other options that are more conducive to my current life goals. That just confused him more. What company made a worse offer? He looked it over and the confusion mounted. This was an amazing offer. She'd get her job back. Did the notes get mixed up? It would make much more sense if they had gotten messed up somehow. It took him a moment but he did eventually noticed the address for the building she'd be working in if she accepted the job and his heart sank. Why didn't she tell him? Was this why she had been so quiet?

Chris put down the stack before noticing that there was a fair amount of writing on the notebook sitting on her laptop. He picked that up before taking a seat on the other couch and flipping through the pages.

A list labeled 'What makes me happy?' another labeled 'What are my life goals,' with a bunch of question marks, a page labeled Publishing Company Pros and Cons with a Venn diagram followed by another similar Pros and Cons page for the record label. Con: move away from friends? Break up with Chris? :’(

Fuck.

His heart sank into his stomach. He was about to flip back to look at the other pages. She had accepted the offer that was more 'conducive to her current life goals.' So what were they?

"Chris?" Emma asked groggily as she sat up. Panicking he quickly put the book behind his back and sat back to hide that he had it. As Emma woke up more properly, her eyes widened.

Oh, shi— "Chris! Oh my gosh. The apartment is a mess. I am so sorry I didn't know you were coming over today," she said as she quickly got up to go and clean up the papers. While her back was turned, he quickly put the notebook back on the coffee table while mentally bracing himself for what was to come.

"I noticed. Don’t worry about it," he said as he got up to walk over to the other side of the couch with her. At least this way, he'd have a clear exit path if he needed it. It would be less awkward that way.

"You cleaned it up?" Emma asked, surprised.

"Yeah," he replied with a slight nod. Just rip off the band-aid. You can do this. "How goes the hunt?"

"Goes well, just sent out my acceptance letter," Emma admitted with a tired smile.

She already sent it? He didn't even get to make a case? "That's great. I'm sure you'll do really well," he replied, trying to force a smile. Come on it's been what, two ye— ...almost three years that you've known her? It's not that long, you can let go.

"Aw, thanks," Emma said with a smile as he gave her a peck on the top of the head.

"It's been nice. Good luck out there," he added as he turned to make a beeline for the door.

"What are you talking about?" Emma asked as she reached out to grab his arm to stop him. She wasn't really strong enough to hold back his weight, yet he stopped all the same, and turned to face her. It didn't take long for the answer to dawn on her. "Oh lord, you went through my notebook... Well, this is embarrassing. That was kind of private. Um," Emma quietly admitted. Good gracious, if he got to that page, then he saw her life goals list she really wasn't ready for that conversation.

"Embarrassing that I found out that you were going to dump me anyway?" Chris asked with an annoyed expression. He was trying to do this the civil way. What was her problem?

"No! Chris, I didn't accept that job. I'm staying," Emma replied, which caused Chris to pause as the sinking feeling started to lift. "I mean, yeah sure, it wasn't a super easy choice. I loved my job. It was fun and made me happy, but YOU make me happier than any dumb job and... Oh gosh why am I getting teary over this? You're the one that got scared," Emma said with a laugh as she moved to wipe her eyes with her free hand.

Chris finally let himself release the breath he didn't realize he had been holding before moving forward to hold Emma.

"I thought I just accepted the worst job and lost you anyway," Emma said, still laughing from the stress as she rested her head against his chest. She'd been quietly dealing with this on her own to try and avoid this exact scenario, yet here it was all the same. Karma really was a hoe.

Chris wasn't really sure what to say, but eventually, as he held her, words began to form. "I'm not leaving either. I'm sorry. I love you," he said quietly and gave her another tender kiss.

"I love you too," she replied as a genuine smile replaced the stressed one.

He continued to hold her as the two took the time to ground themselves after the rocky moment. 'I love you' were three simple words they'd been saying for maybe half a year now, but what did that actually mean? Not, literally, but what were they really saying when they used that phrase?

After the two felt comfortable again, Chris spoke once more. "I brought Chinese food? It's probably cold by now though."

Emma gave a tiny, contented sigh. "Thank you I am so hungry and I do not have the energy to cook right now," she admitted before giving him another peck. The two filled a paper plate each before moving to the couch and turning on the TV for background noise. Emma sat in Chris's lap and he held her as they ate since both felt a need to be close to one another after the unintended fright. Duke didn't seem to mind this as he snuggled up next to them.

"So, you read my lists?" Emma asked hesitantly.

"Not really, more so flipped through the pages until I noticed the charts," Chris admitted, which caused Emma to give a sigh of relief.

"Oh, thank the heavens you didn't read them," Emma said, chuckling as she further relaxed in his hold.

"Why?" he asked, amused.

"It's embarrassing.” Emma’s face flushed.

"How bad could it be?" Chris asked as he leaned forward to grab the book.

Emma snatched it away. "Nope, if you want to know you can ask.”

He considered it a moment before putting his plate down on the coffee table and leaning back while he continues to hold her. "What are your goals in life?" Chris asked, only for Emma to chuckle.

"Well... What are yours?" Emma prompted in return, which caused him to pause. He wanted to train a new generation of anti-Bioweapon fighters, but that was more of a work goal.

"... Not sure," he admitted.

"Then, for now, it's a secret," Emma said as she relaxed but kept the book safely guarded, while making a mental note to tear up the page and burn the strips in the metal hut later.

Chapter Text

Emma looked over the paperwork on her desk, more contracts for book signings. She gave a tired sigh, but checked the clock. 4 pm. It was the first day of the month and a Thursday. She'd be getting her first paycheck in her account by the morning. It was a relief that she'd have money for rent in time. Emma got up and stretches before heading over to her boss's office and knocking on the door frame, causing the man to look up from his work.

"Hey Mr. Abner. Sorry, is now a bad time?" Emma asked.

"Now's fine, and please, call me Maurice," he said with a smile.

Emma nodded. "Right, Maurice. I just wanted to check in before the end of the day. Is it still okay for me to take the fifth off? I know we discussed it ahead of my starting but—" Emma bobbed her head. It was always better to check when you just started working at a company two weeks ago.

"Sure, not a problem," he replied. "Ah, while you're up, do you mind being a doll and grabbing a coffee for me from the break room?"

"Oh, um sure," Emma replied, surprised by the request. She wasn't exactly heading in that direction but, hey, he must be pretty busy.

"Thanks," he replied before going back to his reading.

Emma headed over to the break room. Naturally, the pot was empty at this time of day. This was intern work but it couldn't hurt to be nice when she was taking a day off so soon. With a fresh pot brewed she poured two paper cups of coffee. Might as well get some for herself while it was fresh. It took of balancing, but she made it back to Mr. Abner's office, and placed both cups on the desk so she could put down two packs of sugar and two creamer cups before picking up her own coffee again.

"There you go, I'll be heading back to my desk," Emma said with a smile. "Anything else?"

"Cream and sugar too? You're a saint," he said, mixing in the ingredients himself. "Hmm I have some files that need to get put into storage if you have the time." Maurice held up a stack of off-white folders.

Oh lord, that was a rhetorical question. Okay. "Sure, I'll get those filed away," Emma agreed as she accepted the files before heading out. She had just started here, so she shouldn't be surprised she was getting the grunt work. Probably wrote down the file names to check them after she left to make sure she put them away right.

She put the files away before heading back to her desk. 4:56 pm. Might as well clock out, she thought as she packed up her bag and left. That was actually rather nice. She hadn't been able to leave an office on time so stress-free since... gracious, it had been years. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad. Emma smiled as she stopped in the grocery store before heading home. 6:03 pm. Emma had just enough time. She had been talking to Claire about this and had been bouncing ideas back and forth since February.

Chris walked up the stairs around seven-thirty as usual before heading to Emma's door and walking in. Huh, something smelled good. Was she baking again? "Hey, I'm home when you're ready," Chris said and Emma gave a lazy wave from the island counter.

"Thanks," she said with a pout in her tone, which caused him to pause.

"Rough day?" he asked as he walked over.

"Nah, work was fine, just disappointed. I think I messed up the recipe I was trying,” Emma got up from her leaning to pick up a small disposable round tin.

"It does look a little deflated," Chris agreed as he looked at what, based on the smell, was an attempt at a banana creme pie. "It probably still tastes fine."

"I dunno it smelled off to me. I think it was too much vanilla that did it in," Emma said, making a face and holding the tin away from her, which confused him. He didn't smell anything bad. He leaned forward only for his vision to go dark.

"April fools," Emma said with a little shit-eating grin at her harmless prank as she put down the tin that had only been filled with whipped cream on the counter in favor of getting a hand towel as a peace offering. Chris wiped the whipped cream away from his face and stared at Emma.

"Get over here," he said as he picked up the abandoned, still mostly filled tin, and walked towards her.

"Oh no, no, no, no," Emma said through laughter as she moved to make sure she was on the opposite side of the island at all times. Chris joined in her laughter as this quickly turned into a game, Emma occasionally flicking the hand towel at Chris in an attempt to keep him at bay. Duke joined in the rotation to occasionally lick up dropped cream, but the agent eventually got the bright idea of placing his free hand on the island and vaulting the narrower section of the counter.

"Oh shi—" Emma started as she turned to try and book it for her room, only to be caught by Chris. He smiled as he plopped the tin against her face and smeared that around for good measure before placing it upside down on top of her head.

"Thought you were going to get away with it, didn't you?" Chris said while still holding her before giving her a peck on the cheek.

Emma attempted at a villainous laugh. "I kind of did."

"Little shit," Chris said, amused, as he leaned slightly to rub the side of his face against her hair to clean his face off. This caused Emma to laugh and gently swat at his arm before shifting to give him a kiss instead, to get him to stop.

"Worth it," Emma said, still content despite the tin’s worth of whipped cream dripping down her hair.

"Where's that towel?" Chris asked as he used his free hand to wipe more cream from his eyes.

"Here," Emma said as she handed over the fluffy cloth. "I'll be over in a bit. I need to wash this out of my hair." She chuckled as she took the pie tin off her head.

"All right, see you then," Chris replied and headed over to the kitchen sink to wash off his own face as well. Ugh, it got up his nose. He made a slight face with that realization, but he eventually was back to being dairy-free, and with that, he went over to his own place and set up for training.

"Knock knock," Emma said as she walked in and closed the door behind her. Chris looked over to find she had changed into a tank top and leggings, and now had her freshly washed hair pulled back in a ponytail.

"Hey," he said with a smile as he adjusted the lightly padded gloves on his hand. "Ready?" Chris walked onto the mostly flat mattress.

"Ready," Emma agreed as she joined him on the mat. Punch, kick, two punches, high kick.

"How was work," Emma asked as they went through their process.

"It was work," Chris replied with a shrug. "I got confirmation that the other half of the squad will be officially stateside and done running around Europe in six months. It's longer than they initially estimated but—" Punch, punch, kick, punch.

"Aw, that's awesome. Let them know I miss them next time you see them," Emma said with a smile. It wasn't much, but it made her happy when he actually shared about his day.

"We'll have to plan something so you can tell them yourself," Chris offered. He knew he wouldn't hear the end of it if he passed on that message. High kick, kick, punch, kick.

"Sounds good. It's been a while since we last got to play cards," Emma offered as a suggestion.

"That could work," he agreed. Punch, punch, kick, high kick. "How was your day?"

"Not bad, still boring and I'm doing intern work, but can't really be avoided at this point," Emma said with a slight frown.

"You'll get there," Chris replied with a nod. Punch, kick, kick, punch.

"Yeah, at least I have a long weekend coming up," Emma admitted as Chris grabbed onto her arm to put her into a hold.

"Long weekend?" he asked curiously. He didn't think there was a holiday coming up.

"Taking Monday off," she replied as she broke the pin.

"Already?" Chris asked in return as he pulled her into a different hold.

"Yeah, I ran it by them when I was getting the paperwork taken care of to start the job," Emma told him. This one took an extra try, but she managed to get out.

"Fair enough." Chris grabbed her again, hooking her leg to lower her into a pin. "Any big plans?"

"Just going over my renewal paperwork for the lease and visiting a friend," Emma said as she worked on adjusting her position to a more favorable one to get out of the pin.

"Right, you renew yearly," Chris remembered as he rolled back over to put her in a different pin.

"Yeah, wait, you don't?" Emma asked, surprised since this wasn't a topic they usually talked about. If they had, then she'd forgotten.

"Nah, I got set up with five-year stints shortly after I started working with the BSAA. It made it easier with how often I travel since I can't guarantee I'll be around for that frequent of paperwork," Chris replied with a shrug.

"Ah, makes sense," Emma said, going back to focusing on getting out of the pin.

"So, what are you and Chelsea up to?" Chris asked as he assumed that was who she'd be visiting.

"Actually, that’s not who I'm visiting," Emma replied as she finally broke free again and waited for the next exercise.

"Oh?" Chris asked in return as he went for a more difficult pin. Wasn't it late in the season to go to the ice rink? Maybe the arcade, then?

“Yeah, I know it’s probably kind of dumb, but—" Emma paused, which caused Chris to loosen his grip. "I was going to visit Tanner for a bit. Pay my respects. I did that last year and it was kind of nice."

"Oh..." Chris said with a slight frown. He wasn't really sure how to respond to that. The guy was dead and even if she visited, the grave was empty. They both knew that now thanks to the receipts that Emma had found last year.

Emma went back to trying to get out of the pin so his grip tightened. A few exercises later, he finally spoke again. "Do you mind if I go with you?" he asked gently. He honestly wouldn't blame her if she said she'd prefer he didn't.

"You want to?" Emma asked, surprised, as she got out of the pin.

Chris held off on further training and sat back so she could sit up. "I wouldn't mind it."

Emma smiled at this. "Sure, I'd like that."

Before long, Monday rolled around. Similar to the year prior, Emma went through her usual morning routine. Once she had finished, she started packing up a backpack with a tablecloth, a clipboard worth of paperwork, and food and snacks for two this time. Once the bag was packed, she put on her jacket and put the bag over her shoulder before heading out to find Chris waiting for her, leaning against the empty wall between their doors.

"Ready?" Chris asked as he got up.

Emma nodded, and the two of them went out to her car. Emma drove to the grocery store near the graveyard, where they picked up a nice bundle of flowers before heading out again and making their way to the cemetery parking lot. Once parked, Chris shouldered the backpack and Emma got the bundle of flowers before making their way to the grave marker.

Emma took a few minutes to clean up around it before placing the flowers while Chris set out the tablecloth for the two to sit on. They talked about the year that passed and everything that happened, reminiscing about the good and the bad as they enjoyed their snacks. Chris would occasionally poke at his phone while Emma was quiet and worked on the office work she brought with her. Before long, she got to her last piece of work. Her renewal form for her lease. Chris watched in silence as she filled it out and requested another year for her unit.

When was his lease expiring anyway? He thought back on that while the two were silent. Let's see. mid-2003, four, five, and six. Another, and yet another after that. He did the math; 2021? That was coming around, wasn’t it?

"And there we go, that should about do it," Emma said with a smile as she signed the paper and packed it all up on the clipboard before putting it back in the backpack. "Ready to head out?" Emma started cleaning up the various wrappers and bags from their picnic.

"Sure," Chris replied with a nod before shifting to help her pack up so the two could head back home.

Emma felt content as she looked at the grave marker once more before they left. He wasn't there; she knew that, but she hoped all the same there was a way for him to know she visited him all the same and that she was happy.

Chapter Text

Emma headed up the stairs of her apartment with Duke at her side as they made their way back from their after-work walk. As she headed up, she noticed Travis and Bastion on their way back to their apartment. "Hey guys," she greeted them with a slight wave.

"Emma, hey," Bastion replied as Travis gave a short wave in return.

"Are we still good for monthly movie night next Friday?" Travis asked curiously, and Emma nodded.

"Yeah, I should be good for that," Emma agreed. "I'll check if Chris can make it this month. You know how his schedule gets."

Bastion snickered at that. "You mean his lack of schedule? Yeah, I know. He's the only one that has been here longer than me." He shook his head.

"Fair enough. I'll check with him and text you in." She gave another wave in parting. "See ya, guys."

"Bye."

"See ya around."

Emma headed back into her apartment and quickly fed Duke before heading over to Chris’.

"Hey, are you home?" Emma called. She opened the door to his apartment to find him sitting on the couch.

"Hey," he replied, sounding congested, which got Emma's attention. She walked over to the couch to give him a peck.

"You're warm," she said, concerned, placing the back of her hand on his forehead before placing it on her own.

"Eh," he replied with a shrug and returned his attention to his book.

"Chris, you have a fever. That's not eh," Emma replied with a slight frown. "Did you take anything for it?"

"Nah, I'll be fine. It's just a cold." Chris coughed into his hand.

Emma shook her head and dropped it, for now. She'd check on him in the morning before heading out for work. "If you say so. Anyway, Bastion and Travis were wondering if you're available for movie night next week."

"Probably not. I haven't heard anything yet, but it's been a minute since I've... been away for a particular set of reasons," Chris replied as he remembered he couldn't tell her where he was going or why.

"Are you sure you’re okay?" Emma asked, her concern renewed; he usually didn't slip up like that about work.

"I'm fine," he replied once more as he waved off the concern. "Are you going to pick something to watch, or are you heading back for the night?"

Hmm, he was sick, whether he wanted to admit it or not. "I think I'm going to head back for the night. Just wanted to check on movie night so I could let them know how much popcorn to make," she replied.

Chris nodded. "See you for training, then.”

"See you around," Emma replied, and went back out to her apartment. If she was a betting woman, and she was, he was going to be feeling whatever he had by the morning. She knew enough guys to know they generally didn't react well to being sick. Was that a stereotype? Yes, but one that had been proven accurate in her own life. Especially when they refused to treat it in the early stages.

With that thought, she headed over to dig through her kitchen cabinets to get the rice cooker out and got that started. She then began boiling of chicken. With that started, she headed over to watch an episode of that new karate spin-off show on Netflix. Once the episode was done, she started working with the chicken, taking some of the water out to it thicken into a gravy while leaving the rest to make a hearty chicken noodle soup.

"There," she said with a nod as she looked at the three containers. one of plain rice, one with the chicken gravy, and the other with the soup. Plain rice if he was really not feeling well, some gravy to mix into it if he was feeling not as bad, but pretty bad, and chicken soup if he was well enough to stomach it. It was at least enough for two meals between the rice and soup. Emma puts those in the fridge. Worst-case scenario, if she was wrong, she had some easy dinner for the week. And with that, she went to bed.

'*'*'*'*'

Beep!Beep!Beep!

Chris groggily reached out to find his phone to turn off his alarm. He had a pounding headache that was making him dizzy in the worst way. His cough had gotten worse as well. He grumbled to himself before flicking through his contacts to call in for the day to rest, then headed out of his room still wrapped up in his comforter. Why did he smell coffee?

Emma sat at the island, sipping at a cup of coffee. "Hmm, oh, you're up," Emma said. "Hope you don't mind. I'm out of grounds."

"Bull," Chris replied, knowing well enough when she was making up an excuse.

Emma chuckled. "Whatever you say," she replied with a shrug. "The fever got worse?" she asked, and Chris nodded as he walked over to get a glass of water.

"Yeah, I'm just gonna sleep it off," he said, walking over to a cabinet to get some medicine. He plopped a pill into his mouth, and then washed it down.

"Okay, I'll leave you to rest then. Text me if you need anything," Emma said as she got up to wash out her mug and put it in the dish rack before giving him a peck on the forehead. He really was burning up.

"’Kay," he agreed before coughing. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight," Emma replied with a short chuckle as she shook her head, then headed back to her apartment to write up a few sticky notes. She waited before heading back over and placing the Tupperware in Chris’s fridge. With that, she headed out to work for the day.

The drive was uneventful, despite the traffic, but she eventually made it into the office. "Em, hey," said Maurice as he caught the elevator.

"Morning, Mr. A" —she noticed her boss make a face— "Maurice, how are you doing?"

"Well enough. I'm running late for a meeting, though," he admitted as he allowed the elevator to close after she walked in.

"It's early. Surely they'll understand traffic happens," Emma offered in return.

"Yeah, do you mind grabbing me a coffee? Just leave it on my desk," he requested.

Emma resisted the urge to give a curt huff in response. It had been over a month and a half, close to two months. Why was he still asking her to get his coffee? It was practically a daily occurrence. "Sure."

"You're a peach, two cream, and a sugar. Thanks," he requested as the elevator opened. "Oh, and there's a stack of files on my desk if you don't mind sorting those if you have the time. I need them for my next meeting."

"Can do," Emma said, then made her way to the break room. She'd already had a cup so she didn't need more caffeine or she'd be bouncing off the walls. All the same, she got a paper cup and filled it before grabbing the two creamer cups and one packet of sugar along with a stirring straw. He can mix his own coffee, she thought in slight defiance. Even then, she brought it to his office and put the cup down with the extras to the side before picking up the stack of papers and folders from the desk and heading back to her own. It honestly was a mess. Some of these didn't even belong in the same folder, yet there they were.

What a slob, she found herself thinking. How was this guy her manager if he couldn't keep his own files straight? Emma frowned at this. She just had to stay for two years then she could look again without it damaging her resume. It wasn't that long. Kind of. Let's see, where was the code for this one. kz-4123, ah, there we go, that goes in this folder then and—"Done," she said as she smiled at her handy work. If file organization could be a masterpiece, this would qualify, she thought with an internal laugh.

Emma picked up the stack to bring back to the office. She was about to put them down when her boss walked in.

"Perfect timing," he said, walking in and over to the now mostly cold coffee that had been sitting there for thirty minutes, quickly putting the cream and sugar in the cup. "And I'll take those," he said, accepting the files from Emma. "Thank you kindly, and Emma; cream and sugar in the cup next time."

Next time? Oh, for the love of all that was holy. This was going to be two years of being a coffee maid, wasn't it? Faaa—"My apologies, must have slipped my mind."

"Maybe you need a cup yourself then," Maurice joked with a smile. "All right, well, gotta run. Wish me luck.”

"Luck," Emma replied, shaking her head, which caused him to chuckle as he headed out. Well, at least now she'd be able to do her own work.

'*'*'*'*'

Chris yawned as he woke up a second time, feeling better. He was still feverish, but the medicine had managed to reduce the headache and dizziness. He grumbled as he made his way to the fridge and found the additional Tupperware inside.

Hope you're feeling better. Rice if your stomach isn't feeling well. If you're up to it, you can add some of the chicken gravy for flavor. Put a damp paper towel over the bowl and microwave it for 60 seconds and the rice will be soft. If you're not well enough for soup by dinner, let me know. - Emma p.s. I love you

Not a single I told you so, just compassion. He shook his head and dug his phone out of his pocket to send a quick text.

[Chris] I love you too.

With that taken care of, he took the chicken gravy and rice out of the fridge and followed the instructions on the sticky note. While the food warmed up, he grabbed his laptop from the study and set it on the living room coffee table. Once the microwave sounded that it was finished, he went back to grab the bowl of light food and a fork before heading back to the couch.

He finished up the small meal and managed to keep it down well enough before picking up the laptop to start clicking the keyboard and browsing the internet.

Maybe Ethan had a point. He had lived in the area for seventeen years now but had never bought a home, fearing that the second he did that, he'd end up getting uprooted. But that had never happened. Where do I even start? he thought as he looked at a few different websites that loudly proclaimed they were the ‘Top Sites for Buying, Selling and Renting.’ He was hesitant, thinking this, but maybe it was possible for him to have a little hope for a slice of 'normality,' a choice in his life that wasn't dictated by being a soldier under the BSAA.

He managed to dig up his lease a few days after visiting the graveyard with Emma and checked the official end date. July 31st, 2021. He had a little over a year to figure out what he was looking for, and he had until the end of December to decide if he wanted to go forward with this or sign another contract. For now, he would keep this to himself as simply indulging curiosity.

'*'*'*'*'

Emma stretched her neck before taking out her phone to check for messages.

Thursday, May 14th, 1:37 PM

New Messages

[Chris] I love you too

She smiled at her phone. Good, he found the food in the fridge. He was hopefully doing better since he didn't mention needing anything. She'd stop by to make sure, but other than that, she wanted to give him some space. The last thing she needed was to catch whatever he had and take more time off work.

"Look alive, space cadet," Maurice said as he walked past with a pile of folders that he put on her desk."Gotta run to another meeting. Could you get those put away?"

"They have you booked back-to-back today," Emma commented, surprised by how many meetings this guy had.

"Yeah, tell me about it," Maurice said with a laugh. "Thanks again, see ya around."

It made sense that he was busy; there were many more authors under their department than there were performers for her last job, and the department structure was different too. Before, each employee could pull from a pool of options for themselves, while here the senior manager was in charge of a genre of writing and would then divvy out the upcoming releases to the people they managed. So, he had to know about all of the releases, high profile or otherwise.

Still, it wasn't like Emma was the only person in the department he could go to for file runs. Just the newest... Dang it. Maybe it would get better after another new hire came in? The day went on as normal from there, a few runs to put files into storage and a coffee run later, Emma managed to make it to 5 pm. She headed out and stopped at the store along the way to pick up a few things.

Emma headed up the stairs of the building to the second floor, then over to Chris's apartment. She opened the door without announcing herself to avoid waking him up if he was asleep. Instead, she found him wrapped in a blanket, resting on the couch with a laptop that he slammed shut the second she walked in.

It took a second, but she started laughing as she closed the door behind her. "Well, that was a reaction," she said, shaking her head. He was acting like a teenager whose mom walked in on him watching por— "Wait... Were you watching porn?" Emma asked, amused. She wasn't one to judge. It was his sick day. But the fact he felt like he had to slam his laptop over it was really funny to her.

Chris tried to keep a neutral expression while internally screaming. Well, his options were to admit he was looking at houses and that he was thinking of moving and wanted her to come with him if he did or go with porn. "Eh." Smooth.

"Well, try not to have too much fun. You're supposed to be resting," Emma said, amusement still evident in her tone as she went to the fridge. The rice and gravy were gone. Good, at least he was eating. "There's some ginger ale in the fridge if you want it," she added as she closed the fridge before walking over to lean over the back of the couch and give him a peck on the forehead. He still felt warm, but he at least sounded better than this morning. "I'm going to head out, but if you need anything, text me."

"Right," he said with a nod before giving her a peck in return. He wanted to reach over and pull her onto the couch and have her join him in the search, but he still wasn't sure if he should mention this. He still didn’t know if it was feasible. Instead, he watched her head out before reopening the laptop and going back to clicking through pictures of different rooms in an empty house.

He quietly thought over their brief week and a few days living together while his apartment was flooded. The occasional nights where they'd pick an apartment and stay together and the content, peaceful happiness it provided. Living together would give him access to that all the time. Granted, they still had their moments where they'd argue or butt heads, given they practically lived together already with how freely they entered each other's apartments. Arguments rarely lasted that long, though. Maybe a day or two. The worst of it was a little over a week, usually after something more major like finding out he was on-site when Tanner died or the awkward air from the breakup misunderstanding. Even then, those things passed by, and they moved on all the same.

As he thought over the hows and whats that would be required to make the idea of sharing a home a reality, he cautiously allowed himself to daydream about the two of them working together to clean and fix up any imperfections he noticed while looking at the various homes.

Chapter Text

Subject: Company Birthdays

Emma gave a short sigh as she clicked the email, and sure enough it was an announcement of the birthdays for the week within the company. Monday, June 8th - Emma Swanson, the email read along with a few other names. Woo-hoo. She was officially forty now. Great. She frowned at that thought. It's not like she could stay in her thirties forever but the passing of time just felt like it was sprinting now when it used to be so slow.

She moved the email to the trash before continuing with her day as usual. Try to work, get Maurice his coffee, put away files, try to work, get files. At lunch, she pulled out her phone to find a few new texts.

[Chris] -Google maps location-

[Chris] Bastion said he'd take out Duke and feed him. Meet you there at 6:30?

The woman smiled at her phone. This was a cute surprise. She knew the general area where the address was. It would be better if she stayed at work and just left from here. Part of her wanted to see what the address was connected to, but the other wanted to wait and be surprised. She stared at the address longer before deciding to leave it be for now and reply.

[Emma] See you there.

Emma finished her lunch with a smile. Maybe it wasn't so awful that she was getting older, she thought with more pep in her step. Organize files, do her own work, put files away, get other files and a coffee, and back to work. Unlike the morning she did all of this with a smile. Staying later even afforded her extra time for her current work project to make up for the minor distractions throughout the day.

It was almost 6, and most of her co-workers had left by that point. Maurice looked up from his paperwork with a smile before getting up and walking over to Emma's desk. He grabbed an armless desk chair and spun it around to sit in it backwards so he could lean forward against the back of the chair. "Hey Em, what are you still doing here?" he asked and got no response as she was looking away at a monitor facing away from him while bobbing her head to the music playing from her earbuds.

"Em?" No response. "Emma." Nothing. He knocked his knuckles against the desk. "Emma," he said louder. That combined with the knocking finally got her out of her little daydreaming work stupor. She jolted from surprise as she saw Maurice sitting next to her, which caused him to chuckle.

"Earth to space cadet Emma. You in there?" he asked as she took out her earbuds.

"Hey, yeah. Sorry. How long have you been there?" Emma asked, concerned.

"Couple seconds," he said. "You're working late."

"Yeah, just figured I'd get a few things finished up," Emma said as she checked the time. She needed to head out, actually.

"Well, hey, that works. I was just thinking I could use a bite to eat. I saw it was your birthday too. Maybe we can head out, get a few drinks?" he offered with a smile.

Oh lord. Um, okay, well… Shit. This was awkward. He was really friendly and she couldn't tell if he was just trying to be the cool boss or if he was hitting on her. Was it rude to jump to 'I have a boyfriend' in response? Uuuugh. "Sorry, I have plans. I actually need to head out." If he tried it again, she'd be more direct.

"You worked late when you have plans?" Maurice asked with a confused expression. That seemed backwards to him.

"Yeah, it would have taken longer to go home and then to the location," Emma explained as she started packing up.

"The location. Very mysterious," he joked as he got up.

"I don't know exactly where it is that I'm going." Yeah, okay, it was probably time for the relationship drop to see if that cleared things up. "My boyfriend sent me an address and said we should meet there. I figured I'd keep it a surprise since he didn't flat out say where we were going."

"Ah fun, hopefully. Have a good time then I won't hold you up. We'll have to see about those drinks another time then." He gave a casual wave before heading back to his office.

"We'll see." No we won't. "Have a good night," Emma said as she left and made her way to her car.

'*'*'*'*'

Chris smiled to himself as he leaned against the hood of his car and waited for Emma. While birthdays weren't particularly important to him, he could still recognize the importance of celebrating milestones. He looked over to the warehouse-looking building. It might not have been the most typical idea, but knowing what he did about Emma, that she was a bit of a goofball when given the chance, something told him she would enjoy this. She'd mentioned before that she enjoyed skating because it felt like flying to her. Part of him considered looking for an indoor rink for her to skate around, but after the last time, he wasn't really willing to do that again. It hurt like hell and he still had a full week of drills to make it through.

Before long, Emma pulled into the parking lot and looked at the building with curiosity. A well-lit sign boldly proclaimed 'EXTREME AIR.' What was Chris up to? She found a parking spot before getting out and looking for him.

"There you are," she said with a smile as she walked over.

"Hey," he replied as he puts an arm around her waist and gave her a peck. "How was work?"

"Ugh, I don't wanna talk about it," Emma said with a sigh. "What about you?"

"It was work," he replied. Her answer was concerning, but he'd drop it since she said she didn't want to talk about it. "Ready?"

"Hard to say. What are we doing here, and where is here?" Emma asked, amused.

He chuckled at that. How to explain this? It sounded better in his head and he could already tell that. "It's a trampoline park. Thought you might like to try a different kind of flying."

"That sounds fun. I haven't been on a trampoline since I was a kid," Emma admitted before a thought comes to mind. She didn't really get to pick how often she could go to a rink as a kid. It was dependent on how often her mom wanted to drive her there. So, the trampoline in the yard was well used by her and her siblings. "Though, don't you think we're too old for this?" she asked.

Chris shook his head. "And that is exactly why we're here. The only thing that has changed is that the sun came up one more time since yesterday. If you weren't old then you're not suddenly old now," Chris said as he offered her a backpack with a change of clothes. "Besides, I'm seven years and some change older than you. Are you calling me old?"

Emma gives a short laugh at that. "Well, I mean, if the shoe fits…" she said jokingly, causing Chris to move the hand from her waist so he could ruffle her hair in response.

"Smart Aleck," Chris replied as he returned his hand to her waist.

"Love you too," Emma said as she fixed her hair. "Let's check it out." She motioned that they should go into the building.

The two headed inside and Chris paid for their entry fee. Sure enough, they did stand out compared to the large groups of teenagers and college students. The place was also loud as the teens and young adults shouted to be able to hear each other over the music. After making their way past a small section of tables, lockers and casual arcade games by a food counter, they found much of the warehouse was covered by a large section of trampolines with a large pool of foam cubes to the back wall that people were jumping into. To the right, there was a decent-sized obstacle course, and to the left there was a glass wall that allowed visitors to watch as groups jumped around and pelted each other with plush-looking hackie sacks that would create a chalky burst of color on contact.

This did look fun. Emma smiled. "I'll be right back," she said and headed to change. She returned wearing a more comfortable set of leggings, a sports bra and a loose white tank top. By the time she got back, Chris was walking out of the men's room having changed into gym clothes.

"Where to first?" Chris asked after they finished locking up the bag with their work clothes.

Emma looked around again. The color tag thing looked more like an end of visit sort of thing or else they'd track the powder around the facility. She could already tell the kids that worked here did not get paid enough to deal with that.

"Maybe the obstacle course?" Emma suggested and Chris nodded and looked at it. It didn't seem too difficult to him, but he was used to stuff like this, considering Hound Wolf Squad got first place for the BSAA obstacle course competition.

"Sure," he agreed and walked with her to get in line to try it. As they waited, they watched the groups ahead of them go through the course. There were three lanes for visitors to use. It looked like the rule was that once you fell, you had to get off the course and get back in line to prevent long holding patterns. There were about twelve or so different sections of the course as well, yet most of the people got stuck around the seventh or eighth task as they either got tired or misstepped.

Eventually, the two were at the starting position with one of the college kids taking the third position, his friends cheering him on. 'Kick this grandpa's ass!' one of them shouted, which lit a competitive flame. Grandpa? For heaven's sake, he wasn't that old. He was still in his forties. But he supposed anyone older than twenty-five was automatically ancient to college kids.

“Ready, set, GO!” the worker announced and the three were off. Emma had a good start bouncing back and forth from balancing pads since that worked to her strengths, but pretty quickly dropped off as the obstacles switched to more upper body strength-focused tasks. She landed in a pit of foam cubes with a soft fwump. She laughed as she watched Chris and the college kid keep going. "You got this Chris!" Emma cheered before getting out and making her way to the side to watch with the others.

Fourth, fifth, and sixth obstacles down. They were different from what they had at the BSAA but once he understood what was required, he was able to make his way across.

"Come on Jerry!" "Yeah, you got this man!" "Let's goooooo," cheered the group waiting for the college kid, who was clinging to a large padded barrel that slid down a bumpy track. The final bump ended up tossing the young man off earning him a group of sympathetic 'awws' from his peers as Chris kept going.

Eighth, ninth, and tenth obstacles. At this point Chris had the group's attention since he was making it further than most of their attempts.

"Holy shit, grandpa's a beast," one of them said through a laugh as the others cheered upon seeing Chris make it through the eleventh obstacle by the skin of his teeth.

Emma frowned at that. It was rude. "Come on Chris! You're almost there!" Emma cheered and the others mimicked that.

"Time!" called one of the workers as Chris finished the last obstacle. "Nice work man, here." The worker gave him a slip of paper with a coupon on it.

"Thanks." Chris smiled and accepted the paper while catching his breath. That was a fair bit longer than the course at work. As he walked back, he looked over the paper, which was a voucher for the Color Tag room. "Well that was a nice warm-up," Chris said with an air of confidence as he approached Emma who gives him a kiss on the cheek.

"You did great," Emma said with pride.

"Where to next?" Chris asked as they walked away from the course.

"Might as well try bouncing around," Emma replied and led the way to the main section of trampolines where a few teenagers were trying different tricks by jumping over hurdles and doing flips. The two tested it out to see how strong the flexible fabric was and it had a decent spring to it. Emma smiled as she remembered various stunts and games she'd play with her siblings. After a solid jump, she curled up in the air to do a 'cannon ball' bounce which rocketed her higher into the air causing her to flail before landing again.

Before long as the two got used to it and gained the confidence to try various smaller stunts. Emma did a front flip, bounced, and did a backflip. Good, she still remembered how to do those. "Wanna try a game of horse?" Emma offered, knowing well enough that they were both at least a little bit competitive.

Chris raised an eyebrow at that. "Run that one by me again?"

Emma shook her head "One person does a trick and the other has to copy it. If they fail, they get a letter. Five failed rounds mean you lose."

"Ah," Chris replied as he understood. "Okay, you go first then.” He figured he should get a better understanding of how the game worked.

The two went back and forth offering different challenges, each time they got more complicated in their attempt to stump the other. This eventually got the attention of the teenagers who would occasionally try to replicate a stunt or heckle the pair when they fell. While the obstacle course was Chris’s domain, it was becoming more and more apparent that this was Emma's as she was more accustomed to moving around in the air.

"You're up," Emma said as she gave Chris a pat on the shoulder. Four to three in Emma's favor.

"Right, um…" He was kind of running out of ideas. He looked around before nodding. "Got it." With that he got half a running start to bounce over a hurdle, continue running and bounce back off one of the ramped trampolines to backflip off it thanks to the assistance of the springy material. With that done he stepped to the side to get out of the way and made a gesture of 'after you.'

Emma laughed and went over to where Chris started, taking the same half a running start and the following along. The score remained the same.

"Damn, thought I would have got you with that one," Chris admitted, shaking his head then giving her a peck. This was actually causing him to work up a sweat. "Your turn."

"Mmkay, let's see if I can get that winning point," she said with a snicker before looking around and nodding. She wasn't sure if she'd be able to pull this one off, but she had a lead so she could take a slight risk.

She moved to be in line with one of the trampolines that gave her a good runway for the pool of foam cubes. After a few test bounces, she hurried forward, bounced for one front flip, landed on the trampoline at a slight angle that sent her forward into a second flip, which she added a spin to before landing in the pool of cubes, practically disappearing as she sunk.

Chris watched with a low chuckle, overhearing some impressed chattering from the teens while some insisted that they could do the same thing. "Can I just give you the letter on that one?" Chris offered, shaking his head. There was no way. The request earned him some heckling. He waited for Emma to get out of the way before giving it an attempt. He took the same running start, got the first flip in, landed bounced forward, and couldn't keep the momentum for a second, let alone to spin during it. Instead, he landed on his stomach in the foam pit.

Emma winced at the belly flop, but chuckled slightly after noticing he was okay. "And that's game," she said as she waited for him to make his way back over to the edge while some of the kids tried the same trick with similar results to Chris.

"Good game," he said as he got out to stand by Emma. He checked his watch. They'd been here for about an hour and a half at that point. "Did you want to check out that last area before heading out?"

"Sure, we could use a tie-breaker," Emma said as she walked with him out of the main trampoline area.

He nodded at that; they didn't really have any sort of bet going for this, but he accepted the excuse all the same. Outside of the plexiglass wall were two lines, one with a red-carpet runner and the other with a blue runner. Chris got into the blue line while Emma got into the red line and joined what appeared to be two large groups of college kids. It was a tie-breaker, after all, so they'd need to be on opposite teams.

"Hello and welcome to Extreme Air's ultra-color battle. You'll have fifteen minutes in this area. The first half of this will be a game of dodgeball. If you're hit then you're out, and you need to stand to the side. Once it's down to the final person everyone is free to rejoin the mat for the remaining time as a freestyle game of tag and throw the colored chalk bags as you see fit. We do ask that you avoid aiming for people's faces. To avoid injuries, please follow the guideline of One person per trampoline square," the employee explained before handing out multi-color chalk sacks and a pair of goggles to each person as they walked in. "Red to the left, blue to the right," he'd repeat each time someone walked up to him and he gave them their three chalk bags.

Eventually everyone had their positions. Emma jokingly gestured a silent taunt to Chris with a cheeky grin, which he returned.

"On the count of three," the worker said. "Three, two, one!" A loud buzzer rang announcing the start of the game as fifteen minutes showed on a large digital timer on the far wall.

The second the buzzer went off, and a flurry of chalk filled the room. As each person was hit, it made more and more dust making it a little bit harder to see.

"Out!" called one of the workers as Chris was inevitably hit due to being a larger target.

"Out!" shouted another as Emma was hit shortly after.

It took another four minutes or so, leaving nine on the timer, before the Referee announced, "Blue team wins!"

"And that's the match for me," Chris said as Emma lightly swatted his arm.

"You were out before me," she pointed out with an amused smile, but Chris only shrugged and smiled in return.

"Everyone back to your starting position for the battle royale," one of the workers called. Emma gave Chris a peck before hurrying off and picking up a few of the color sacks on her way.

"Three, two one," a worker cried and again the buzzer announced the resuming of the timer. While before they had been avoiding targeting the other, they were exclusively throwing the chalk at each other at this point as they laughed.

Where did she go? Chris thought as he looked around the large dusty area to try and figure out how he lost sight of her, only to feel something hit his rear. He turned around to find a snickering Emma and, sure enough, there was now a bright neon green chalk print on his backside.

While proud of her aim, she then noticed the agent had spotted her and was heading straight for her. Oh shi—She quickly turned to book it out of range while still gasping for air through chuckles. It didn't take Chris long to catch up with her and hook her waist with his arm, bringing her to a stop before leaning around to give her a quick kiss her which she returned before laughing more. She was hardly surprised to feel the texture of one of the Chalk bags gently smacked against the side of her face which now sported a large neon pink chalk mark that matched the chalk bag in Chris’s free hand.

"Hey! One person per trampoline!" one of the workers called, causing them both to wince through their laughter before moving away only to hear the ending buzz as the timer hit zero.

"Awww, can we be like that when we get older?" they heard one of the college girls ask their significant other who laughed and agreed.

Gee thanks, Emma thought, chuckling to herself. "Suppose we should head back and wash up," she suggested.

Chris nodded. "Yeah, hopefully, this stuff comes out easily, or it's going to be an interesting day at the office tomorrow for both of us," Chris pointed out as they made their way back to the lockers to collect their stuff.

"Oh gosh, I didn't think about that." Emma wasn't too worried, though. It was just chalk, surely that would wash out easy enough.

"It will probably be fine," Chris replied as he put in the locker code to open it for them. The two gathered their belonging and headed for the door to go home for the night.

Chapter Text

Chris tapped his thumb against the side of his laptop as he looked over a spreadsheet. He’d been crunching numbers over the last two months between digging around behind the scenes at the BSAA, missions to check on the Winters, and life in general. He considered every possibility he could think of, and the more he looked it over and planned and studied, the more this looked possible. He had been building up his savings ever since he left S.T.A.R.S. Not to mention, being a founding member of the BSAA came with its perks as far as pay went. So that, combined with the fact he didn't really spend much outside of his needs over the last seventeen years, had landed him with enough to cover a modest down payment with extra for wiggle room.

He smiled as he closed the laptop and moved it over to the coffee table. How to bring this up with Emma, though? He was kind of running on a major assumption that she'd even be interested in moving with him. Was it that major of an assumption, though? The two had been seeing each other for more than a year and a half, and they'd know each other for three at this point. Emma had just taken a pretty major hit to her pay too. So, if they split the expenses between the two of them it would make things more comfortable for both of them.

Chris closed his eyes and silently nodded in agreement with his own logic. It seemed sound to him, but that didn't really mean she'd see it the same way. He got up and stretched before walking over to the fridge. He was about to grab something to eat when a bright orange sticky note caught his attention.

Don't forget:

We're helping Mrs. Russo move out over the weekend.

- Emma

Ah right, that was tomorrow. He was glad that he’d be around to help. From the sound of it, Mrs. Russo’s kids were going to be driving down to help her pack up her boxes and drive her home. The harsh late summer heat was not going to be pleasant, but with more people, the move would go along quicker.

“Wait, the move,” Chris muttered under his breath. What better time to bring up the idea of moving than after helping someone else do exactly that? Yeah. That could work. He nodded at this thought before opening the fridge to dig out some supplies to make his own dinner. Shredded chicken mixed with a packet of single-serving instant rice, mixed together with some mayo and crushed black pepper. He stared at the mixture with a slight frown. As he ate it, he’d occasionally nudge the mixture with his fork. It was bland … He was starting to get spoiled when it came to food.

He gave a short huff at the realization before finishing up the almost-chicken-salad. He was about to get up and wash his dishes when Emma finally made her way in with a yawn.

"Hey," she greeted, closing the door behind her. "Sorry about that. Duke was taking his time.”

"Tired?" Chris asked and Emma nodded.

"Yeah, I didn't sleep well last night," she admitted as she walked over to Chris and gave him a peck, which he returned.

"Couldn't fall asleep, or?" he asked as he got up to put his dishes in the sink.

"I'd fall asleep for an hour or two, then Duke would end up kicking me or the window unit would turn on. That thing is like a jet engine," Emma explained as she headed over to the couch, grabbing a throw blanket along the way before putting her phone on the coffee table, then settling into her spot to wait for Chris. “And then there was the lovely frustrations of work, so…” she rambled before yawning again as Chris sat next to her.

The two assumed their usual position, where Chris would rest his back against the arm of the chair, allowing Emma to rest against him. Once they were comfortable, Emma reached for the remote and turned on the TV as gentle music played and a British narrator talked over the melody.

To move around, Sea horses are equipped with a dorsal fin.

The TV showed one of the small aquatic creatures floating around in the ocean, trying to move with the help of the single tiny fin flapping around like a hummingbird's wing. Thanks to the calm music and soothing, accented narration along with the rather boring subject and comfortable warmth, Emma was out like a light in about fifteen minutes.

Before long, Chris yawned as well. This was nice. It was simple and maybe mundane, but it made him happy. A tired smile crossed his face as he thought over the day to come. Chris leaned his neck forward to give the sleeping Emma a kiss on the top of her head before slowly reaching to grab the remote to prevent waking her up.

Sea horses are one of the few creatures on this planet that mate for life.

Click. The TV was turned off and the remote was returned to its place on the table before Chris gently shifted to lay down on the couch with Emma still sleeping on top of him.

beep!beep!beep!

Emma groggily shifted, reaching for her phone to turn off the alarm. 6:30 AM. She jolted slightly as she unexpectedly heard Chris grumbling about her alarm in her ear. Oh gosh, she fell asleep at his place again. This was happening more and more frequently.

"Whoops," Emma said with sleepy amusement, yawning. She was about to try to get up, but Chris held her in place and rolled to the side to sandwich her between himself and the back of the couch. Emma chuckled as he sleepily leaned in to kiss her. The two traded affection, each kiss becoming more impassioned then the last as Chris began waking up. He had just started pulling at her shirt when a knocking at the door caused him to stop.

"Hey, are you guys joining us or what?" Bastion asked from behind the locked door.

"Damn it," he grumbled quietly before letting her go so they could sit up. It was the weekend.

"Later," Emma said, giving him a peck on the cheek before getting up and walking over to the door and opening it. "Hey Bastion," Emma said, though her hair gave away that she had only just woken up.

"Good morning to you too," Bastion said, trying not to laugh. "You need a minute?"

Emma nodded. "Yeah, I need to walk Duke," Emma admitted before yawning again.

"Okay, just check a mirror first. You look like you slept on a couch," Bastion said, figuring he should let her know before she left the building.

"I did," Emma replied, amused, as she heard Chris finally get up and shuffle to the kitchen in search of breakfast.

"Ouch. Dog house?" Bastion asked quietly which Emma waved off.

"Nah, that's just where I ended up falling asleep," she replied, and Bastion nodded.

"Fair enough. Well, the move is started, but we still have a lot of packing to do, so when you're back we need you. The kids want to get this done before the heat really kicks in at noon," Bastion explained even though Mrs. Russo's kids were all around the same age as him and Emma.

"Right, right, sorry. I forgot to set an earlier alarm before passing out," Emma admitted. "Thanks for the wake-up call."

"Not a problem. See you soon," Bastion said before heading over to Mrs. Russo's apartment, which was left open for the group of men and women to enter and exit as needed. Emma made her way over to her apartment and leashed up Duke for his morning walk. It was a quick one, but she'd take him out again after the move. With the good boy fed and cared for, Emma locked up her apartment to join the hectic process.

Chris was already there and had started carrying some of the heavier boxes to the moving truck.

"Emma dear, over here." Mrs. Russo waved for Emma to join her. "Can you help me with wrapping up these plates?" she requested and Emma nodded.

"Of course," Emma said, and the two got to work wrapping the fragile plates in newspaper to stack them up inside of a box labeled fragile/kitchen.

"Mom, where do you want this?" asked one of the kids as they held up the old record player.

"Careful with that, it was your father's," Mrs. Russo said with a hint of panic in her tone, afraid it might be dropped and broken. “Pack it carefully, please. I'd like to have that in my room with the records too," she requested and the kid nodded.

"Okay," he replied with a nod, doing as instructed.

This process continued for most of the morning. Mrs. Russo, Emma, and the women worked on packing up the remaining items while Chris, Travis, and the men worked on carrying the boxes to the moving truck. Bastion entertained the grandkids back at his apartment. Emma chuckled as she worked on packing up one of the last boxes. No wonder Bastion wanted to make sure she was awake. He was probably at his wit's end with eight kids running around his place.

It took until 1 pm but eventually, everything was all packed up and stowed away in the moving truck. After the truck pulled away and the family left, Emma leashed up Duke again and took him for a walk before heading back to the apartment, washing her hands, and making a few sandwiches.

She walked over to her couch where Chris was sitting and resting his head on the back of the couch.

"Duke, no. It's too warm out for that," Chris said as he nudged the warm, fluffy pooch who was trying to snuggle up next to him. Duke gave a curt huff in response before getting up to lay down elsewhere.

Emma chuckled and took the space next to Chris instead. "Food?" She offered Chris a plate.

"Yes please," he replied, accepting the plate and happily digging into the simple meal. Now how to bring this up...

"Man, I hate moving. It's such a pain," Emma said as she shifted to get comfortable on the couch.

Well crap. Um. "It's not that bad?" he offered in response before taking another bite. Off to a great start.

"It just feels like a lot of energy for little result. Put everything into a box so you can take it back out of the box and repeat,” Emma explained and Chris chuckled at the explanation. To be fair, it wasn’t exactly like he moved around often.

"All right, fair enough," he agreed, giving a lazy one-handed motion of surrender. He paused and took another bite of food. Come on, man, just rip off the band aid. "What if we were to move?" he asked before continuing to eat.

That got Emma's attention pretty quickly, and she looked to him with hesitant, confused curiosity. "Where would we go?" Emma asked in return.

Chris shrugged. "Somewhere else? Together." When Chris offered the suggestion, it caused a smile to form on Emma's face.

"Together sounds nice." She grinned. "If that was the case, then maybe moving wouldn't be so bad," Emma added since Chris's original question was a 'what if' scenario.

Okay, so she was cool with the idea. He nodded at her answer. "I've been looking around lately. I was thinking about buying a place and figured, if you're interested, you could come with me?" he officially offered before going into the planned spiel of why it would benefit her. "It would make things easier with Duke. Whoever made it home first could let him out, and a house would mean a yard, so you would have a way to care for him without walking around town at night. Between the two of us, the expenses would be more cost-effective. There'd be more space in general since there wouldn't be a wall between us. We'd just have to upkeep the place ourselves and fix things up a bi—"

While he was speaking, Emma had put her plate down on the table and moved to kiss him, smiling. He was surprised but returned the kiss while carefully moving to put his own plate down on the side table so he could move to hold her and deepen it.

The two eventually broke away and Chris gave a low chuckle. "I take it that's a yes?"

Emma nodded. "Yeah. That's a yes," she confirmed before moving to give him another peck, and the two picked up where they left off in the morning.

'*'*'*'*'

Monday eventually rolled around, and Chris was a pretty happy camper. It had been a while since he felt like he had a plan. It wasn't much of one, but it was a plan all the same. He looked over the paperwork on his desk and filled out what he could on the report regarding his last visit to the Winters’ estate. They were doing well enough, but Mia was definitely showing some signs of mental fatigue and decay as she was getting more and more irritable without her medications. She was due any day, though, so hopefully she'd be back on her medicine sooner rather than later if not for her own sake then for Ethan's.

While visiting was sometimes a pain, and he wasn’t thrilled that Ethan was purposefully botching his own training, Chris did in some ways consider Ethan a friend after knowing him for the last three years. The guy was in a very unfortunate situation and he could sympathize with that to a point. Ethan was an engineer, not a soldier and Chris was often reminded of that while visiting. It didn't sit well with Chris that the BSAA was allowing Mia to keep her affiliation with the Connection a secret.

Maybe that's where he needed to dig. He had looked over the Baker incident every which way since, to the best of his knowledge, that was when Umbrella came into the picture. But maybe He needed to look into the Connection to see if there were links to Umbrella? His thoughts were cut short as a knock could be heard at his door.

"Enter," Chris said while going back to filling out the paperwork on his desk to try to look busy.

The door opened to reveal the director's secretary. "The director would like to speak with you."

Great, and he was in such a good mood prior to this. Chris nodded. "I'll be right there."

"I'll let him know," the secretary replied before heading out and closing the door. Chris finished the page he was on before getting up and heading out. What did the director want this time?

Chris knocked on the director's door. "Enter," he heard in response, and Chris did so. The director looked up from a folder that was open in his hand. "Ah, there you are. Go ahead, close the door and take a seat," he instructed.

Chris did as he was told once again, taking the seat and waiting for more bad news. What is it this time? Oh, I know. Wolf Squad will be disbanded as well now.

"Effective January 1st," the director started. Here it comes. "Hound Wolf Squad will officially be reinstated as promised." The director looked over the file in his hand.

"What?" Chris hadn't been expecting to receive good news.

"Is that an issue?" the director asked with an unamused expression as he raised an eyebrow.

"No. Not an issue at all," Chris replied quickly.

"Good," the director said, putting down the folder of files and nudging it over to Chris. "Hound Squad will be returning in October. Three months from now. From October to December, you'll continue working as individual squads while doing reintegration training."

Chris nodded and accepted the file to read it over. Things were looking up for once.

Chapter Text

Auto Beta Publishing's 37th Annual Company Cookout!

Sunday, August 2nd from 11:30 AM to 3 pm

Join us for our annual catered cookout.

Fun for the whole family!

Face painting, bouncy houses, and games for the kids

Beer, Raffles, and Contests for the adults

Vegetarian options available on request

Emma looked at the flyer again before checking over her outfit, a simple cold-shoulder sundress with sandals and the same floppy hat from the beach trip last year. She smiled and gave a nod of approval before locking up her apartment and heading over to Chris's apartment.

"Heya, ready to head out?" she asked after opening the door.

"Just about," Chris said while he finished writing on a piece of paper, which he folded up and brought with him as he grabbed his keys and placed both items into his pocket. "Okay, now I'm ready." He walked over to join her in the hallway and gave her a peck. "I'll drive if you navigate."

Emma chuckled at that but nodded. "All right. I'll repeat the instructions that Siri has already said," she agreed and they headed out.

It took some driving but the two arrived around noon to find that the company had rented out a few pavilions at a park along with the open fields between them to set up other activities. The field seemed to be well divided between the 'for the kids' section and the 'for employees' section. It looked like a pretty standard corporate event. There were bounce houses, face painting, and small colorful booths with simple games like ring toss and the like for the kids. A large stage was set up where a live band was playing cover music, while a dunk tank and other usual event gimmicks were also present. But there was one unusual addition… what looked like three or four portable batting cages made of chain-link fencing were lined up at the far end of the field with scratched-up wooden bullseye targets set up at the far end of each.

"They always have to have some sort of trendy gimmick at these events," Emma said, amused, as a small smile crossed her lips. "You know your job is boring when the event planner thinks that free beer isn't enough to get people to show up." She gave Chris a playful grin and he chuckled and shook his head.

"You sure you don't want to give it a try? They might still have a few blank waivers," Chris asked as he fished the paper from before out of his pocket.

"Nah, that's just not my cup of tea. I'll go with you and see how you do, though. I think that first prize for the throwing contest is some sort of gift card," she said after waving him off. "Did you want to do that first? It seems like that has the shorter line at the moment, compared to the food and drinks."

"Eh, might as well. I'm not hungry yet anyway," he said and walked with her to get in line.

"Fair enough, you usually eat a late lunch, right?" Emma asked as to pass the time.

"Yeah, it just breaks up the day better since I have usually drills in the afternoon," he replied as they continued waiting, only for Chris’s phone to go off. He pulled it out and checked it to find a message from Ethan.

[Ethan] Meet Rosemary Winters

[Ethan] -img file of Mia holding a tiny newborn-

"Huh, figured that would be any day now," Chris said aloud, which got Emma's attention.

"What's up?" Emma asked curiously.

Hmm. Was he able to talk about this? This was technically his personal phone, so Ethan was sending this to Chris, not to Alpha as a BSAA report. Should be fine so long as he didn't say it was work-related or give any additional info... With that, he showed Emma the phone. "A friend of mine just sent a text is all."

"Awww tiny baby," Emma cooed upon seeing the picture. "That's such great news, and everyone's healthy?" she asked as Chris took the phone back to look at the picture. He wasn't really sure what part of the picture earned that kind of reaction from Emma. The newborn looked more like a blood-stained raisin to him.

"He hasn't said as much, but it seems so," Chris said with a shrug.

The two continued to chat and after a good ten minutes or so, they’d made a decent amount of progress through the line. The pair eventually caught the eye of one of Emma’s co-workers assisting with tracking the scores for the contest while the outside company they hired for set up focused on giving safety instructions.

Maurice smiled before noticing that Emma was walking alongside some guy he didn't recognize. Maybe he was from a different department? He shook the thought from his mind before looking to one of the other volunteers. "Hey I'm going to take five real quick," he said and they nodded.

"Sure, man. Just get back when you can okay," they said, and shifted to cover for him for the requested time.

"It'll just be a few minutes," he affirmed before turning to leave. "Thanks"

Emma eventually noticed movement from the corner of her eye and saw Marice walking over. Cue the internal screaming. No, nope, this is fine. It isn't the office. He's not your boss right now.

"Em, hey. Good to see you," Maurice said as he walked over, eventually stopping in front of her and Chris. "Honestly, you're just the person I was hoping to see. I got my hands tied right now, could you grab me a beer real quick?" he asked with a smile, feeling oh-so-clever. He'd get a drink without having to leave his post and it would get her away from whoever the potential show-off next to her was.

And the internal screaming returned as Emma fought back the feeling of her eye starting to twitch. The bullshit has now left the office. Ugh, he was a volunteer at the moment, though, and the lines were long. "Fine. I'll be right back. Chris, do you want anything?" she asked.

Chris immediately picked up on her irritation. "No, I'm fine," Chris said with a concerned and slightly confused expression as he looked from Emma to whoever this guy was.

"I'll be back." Eventually. She was getting herself a drink too. With that, she walked off.

Maurice gave a short chuckle, waiting to make sure Emma was out of earshot. "Ah, office wives. They're cute," he said with a slight smile. "Hate to watch her go but love to watch her leave, am I right?" He gently nudged Chris with his elbow, speaking in what Chris hoped was a joking tone.

Whoooa not okay. The he—"What?" Chris snapped as the line moved forward slightly. Who the shit was this and why was he trying to pull some 'territory marking' bull with Emma in front of him? Easy, calm collected, maybe this guy just thinks that Emma is married? You know, a wife who works at an offi—

Maurice moved forward to wait with Chris since he was asked a question. "Hm? Oh, office wives. You know a female co-worker that goes and cleans up after you at the office, gets your coffee and takes care of your files and shit," Maurice explained, assuming that Chris just didn't know what the term meant, which was partially accurate. "What department are you in? I can help you find one," Maurice offered in another silent message of 'back off' at Chris. Again, they both moved forward a few steps.

Ha. No. No, No. "I don't work for this company. I'm here with Emma. I'm her boyfriend." He usually didn't say as much since the term seemed almost childish to him for some reason, but he'd make an exception. "How do you two know each other?" Chris asked though mentally he translated that to 'how much trouble will I get in if I knock your lights out?'

That seemed to surprise the manager but he brushed it off quickly. "Ahh, so you're the mysterious boyfriend. Haha, hey, good to meet ya. No hard feelings, yeah?" he said, offering a hand. "Name’s Marice Abner. I'm her boss." So he'd be in a lot of trouble if he punched this guy. Great. Chris accepted the offered hand but put more force into it than he meant to. "Well since you're here guess we can work out custody then. I get her in the mornings and you get her in the evenings?"

Chris forced out a laugh through gritted teeth. This asshole. Deep breath. If you deck this guy then that'll just make a scene and cost Emma her job. Instead, he put an arm over Maurice's shoulder. "Walk with me," he said, keeping the guy next to him as they continued moving through the line. "Emma's too kind for her own good sometimes. She's been getting your coffee?" he asked, trying to keep an even tone.

"Yeah, she can be forgetful. Half the time, she doesn't remember to put the cream and sugar into the coffee. But hey, we're all busy, and she does a decent job with my paperwork, so…" He shrugged, remaining painfully unaware of the level of stupid he was being.

"Now I'm sure you think it's real clever of you to pull rank on her to make her do all that. You're her boss. It's your choice to be that asshole at the office," Chris said with a forced smile. "But if I find out you ever set a finger on her outside of a handshake, we're going to have a problem," He gave Maurice a not so gentle pat. "How’s that for custody?"

"R—" Maurice cleared his throat. "Right. Totally."

"We're on the same page then?" Chris asked as he let go of Maurice.

"Absolutely," He nodded quickly.

"Good," Chris replied shortly since it seemed boundaries had been accepted.

"Sir, it's your turn. Do you have your waiver?" one of the hired workers asked, and the other volunteer waved to Maurice.

"Hey, you're back. Good timing. It's my turn for a break," he said as they offered Maurice the clipboard back while the employee went over the basics with Chris. "Do they still have ribs left?"

"Not sure, didn't make it to the line," Maurice muttered as he accepted the clipboard. “Good luck, man."

"Thanks," the other volunteer said, and with that, he headed out.

"All right, and that about covers the basics. You get two practice throws and three for scoring," the worker explained before stepping back.

Thump. It was off the side. Chris retrieved it, adjusted his stance, and tried again. Thump. Better. It hit the second of the three rings.

“All right, good practice. Now for scored throws," the worker said, nodding to Maurice to make sure he was recording. Maurice nodded back.

Thump. The ax hit the center. Chris walked down to retrieve it. Thump. Once more in the same place. He retrieved it once more. Thum-Crack! The plyboard split in half due to the little bit of extra oomph behind the last throw, which hit the same place as the first two hits.

"Um. Wow, uh, impressive, but I think that kind of means you're disqualified, since you broke the equipment..." the worker said with a slight frown as they went to collect the ax.

Maurice went pale upon seeing the broken target. "So, what is it that you do again? A personal trainer or—" he asked as he wrote down the three bullseyes with a disqualified marker next to it and made a note that the equipment was broken.

Chris gave a short laugh. He usually hated that question, but right now he'd work with it. "Let's go with this, if a dead body shows up, I'm the first person they call." Technically accurate. It was just the dead body was usually undead.

Maurice gave a nervous laugh as it finally sunk in how much trouble he was in. "Cool," he managed to eke out.

Chris waited nearby since Emma would likely come back to this location. It took another fifteen minutes, but she eventually walked over carrying a plate of food in one hand and two beer bottles in the other.

"Hey, how'd it go?" Emma asked with a hint of disappointment that she hadn’t it back in time to watch.

Chris walked over and gave her a quick kiss. "Might have accidentally broken the target. I'll take that," he said as he accepted the extra beer intended for Maurice before looking at him. "You have legs. Walk."

"W—I, um, okay?" Emma said, confused, as Chris put an arm around her. "Bye?" she said to Maurice as they walked away. "You are very upset, what happened?" Emma had a feeling it probably involved her boss somehow considering the beer snatch.

"Had a little chat with your boss," Chris admitted with a grumpy expression as he led them to a less populated section of the gathering. “Not sure if you’re aware since he waited until you were gone to say anything, but apparently he thinks you're his 'office wife' and likes your ass."

"Oh gosh, I was worried about that. He's very—" Emma paused to try to think of a polite way to say it. "Friendly?"

"Doesn't understand boundaries," Chris corrected, and Emma nodded.

"It's—Yeah. Guys like that happen. I'm used to it," Emma said with a slight frown.

She's used to it? "If he tries anything, you tell me," Chris said with a stern look that caused Emma to force a neutral expression and squint her eyes slightly as she remembered Maurice's offer for drinks after hours. "He already tried something," Chris said more than asked.

"He asked me out for drinks on my birthday. I told him no and left," Emma explained with a sigh. "There's a company email that goes out every week, so I couldn't tell if he was trying to just be the cool boss or—"

"He was trying to get you drunk," Chris said with a frown. Heavens above, he loved her but she was dense sometimes.

"Well…" Emma winced, looking away. I mean, knowing what she knew now, probably.

Chris went to turn right back around, but Emma caught his arm. "Chris."

"He's a piece of shit," he said with a scowl as he faced Emma.

"You're not wrong," she said, frowning. "I didn't know it was that bad, but now I do. If it continues, I'll go to HR, but I need to keep this job if we're going to move in together."

Chris grumbled at that. He hated that she wasn't wrong. She accepted this job because she wanted to stay. Because of him. He knew that, but that guy's attitude was grating.

Emma could feel him relax slightly. "Hopefully it doesn't come to it, but if he tries anything, I'll put that training you've been giving me to good use and kick the crap out of him then let you know and you can do the same. Deal?"

"...Deal," he begrudgingly replied before giving her a peck. "And you're not getting his coffee anymore."

"Absolutely not doing that anymore, and I'll avoid being alone around him now that I know this is a genuine issue. He'd been using meetings as an excuse," she explained before returning the kiss. "I love you."

"Love you too," he said, clearly still grumpy but much calmer than before.

"This place is pretty boring. There’s a much better barbecue place in town," she offered, bobbing her head. "Wanna ditch?"

Chris gave a short chuckle as a smile formed at the corner of his mouth. "Sure. I think I'd like that."

Emma tossed the plate she was holding before she shifted her hold from his arm to his hand and walked with him away.

Come Monday, Emma went to work, and to her great joy she wasn’t asked to get a cup of coffee or put away files. Instead, she was given proper work projects.

Chapter Text

The summer season was coming to a close and with it, house hunting was picking up steam. Chris and Emma had started a new habit of spending extra time together on the weekends to do research and work over a plan. Currently, the two were sitting horizontally on the couch with Chris leaning against the arm and a pillow while Emma sat between his legs to lean her back against him. One arm held her waist while the other held his phone, which he occasionally tapped to look at various listings. Emma hummed quietly to herself as she drummed a pen against a notepad resting in her lap before taking bite of an apple she held in her other hand.

As she looked over the list, Chris let go of her waist to reach up to tap on the shoulder connected to the hand holding the apple. Emma continued focusing on her list as she lifted her hand to offer the apple to Chris. He placed his free hand over hers to take a bite of the offered fruit before returning to holding her waist. Emma returned to her original position before taking another bite.

"What about this one?" Chris said, lowering the phone for Emma to see.

"Hmm," she hummed again and scrolled through the pictures. "It does look nice," she admitted before stopping and pinching to cause the picture to zoom in. "Uh oh. This one has mold in the basement. That would be a pain to fix."

"Where?" he asked as he leaned in to get a better look at the picture.

"There. See? In the corners and around the egress window," Emma said as she zoomed in more. "Gotta check the basement windows. Mold means water leaks in when it rains."

"Hmm, it's certainly something," he agreed with a slight frown. "As long as it's not black mold, it should be an easy enough fix."

"True," Emma said, bobbing her head before going back to scrolling through the pictures. "I do like it if you want to see if we can do a walk-through."

"Commute is nice too," he said as he watched her focus with a gentle smile.

"Is it?" she asked as she scrolled to check. "Oh. That is nice.”

"Told you,” he said with a chuckle as he moved his arm back. "How goes the list?"

"Going well. So far, the list of additional expenses isn't too bad,” She flipped to a different page. "Between the two apartments, we're pretty set on furniture. The big hitters are the storage unit since my lease ends on the last day of May and yours ends on the last day of July. Depending on what you end up going with, potentially appliances if the seller doesn't include them, and a lawnmower which could be eh or ugh based on the size of the yard..."

"Ugh. Lawn mowing," He kind of forgot that part. "Is it too late to look at apartments?" Chris joked.

"Don't 'Ugh lawn mowing' me. You're gone for weeks on end. I'll probably be the one handling that," she pointed out with an amused chuckle. "Though that does bring up another point."

"Hm?" he hummed to show he was listening while clicking around at another listing.

"Bills," Emma said with a slight frown. A universally hated word regardless of what language it was in.

"Ah," Chris said with a nod.

"Do you want me to take care of that?" she offered. "I know the plan is that you're going to worry about the mortgage and signing chaos and I'm just gonna Venmo over my fair share each month, but do you want me to take care of that portion?" Emma suggested while fiddling with the pen in her hand. "We could just go with having you set up automatic billing for utilities and I'll increase the monthly fair share to cover for that, but that's a lot of money to put through an app every month."

"Hm, good point," he said and bobbed his head. "So, you’d cover utilities and take it out of what you'd transfer over?"

"Yep." Emma nodded in response to his suggestion.

"Seems fair," he admitted. He honestly wasn't really worried about the fair share thing. That was more Emma being nervous about. How did she put it again? 'Being a freeloader,' since he'd insisted on just letting him worry about the home purchase rather than mixing credit scores and all the chaos that comes with adding an extra person to the deal.

"I can take care of that and groceries since I cook anyway, and it would be easier to just have you send me a list," Emma said before flipping to a different page to write down a note about the bills.

"I do know how to cook. You know that, right?" Chris asked, amused. “I did have to take care of my own meals before you showed up.”

“Mhm,” Emma said with playfully sarcastic disbelief.

"Sure, that works," he finally agreed with a grin before offering the phone to her again. "This one?"

Emma chuckled at that. "Honestly, as long as it doesn't have window units for air-conditioning and has enough space for a bed, I'm a happy camper."

"So, a shed with no air conditioning?" he said with joking sarcasm to point out that it didn't really help for her to be that unopinionated on the subject.

"You know what I meant," Emma said, shaking her head before scrolling through the pictures. "Oh, I like the hardwood," she commented with a tone of surprise. The flooring looked nice.

I am a mature, responsible adult. I am a mature, responsible adult. Chris repeated the thought in his mind. A small snort managed to escape him as he pressed his lips shut to keep from chuckling at the innuendo.

Emma shifted to look back at him. "Do you wanna go?" she asked while pointing at him and trying to force a frown as she realized her mistake.

He was about to continue joking around with her when he noticed a new message pop up on his phone. Huh, another message from Ethan, Chris thought and shrugged as he opened it since it was his personal phone. It shouldn't be an issue if Emma sees it.

[Ethan] Picture of Ethan, Rose, and Mia walking on the beach

Chris smiled at that. It was good to see they had some time to relax. They'd been pretty stressed about everything and requested to be allowed to take a vacation on their own. The BSAA approved on the condition that they went to a private location where the BSAA could check the area for security ahead of time. Naturally, however, they still kept an eye on them the whole time, and they were ordered to be out of sight at all times for the illusion of privacy.

"Aw, what a cute picture," Emma said with a chuckle.

"Yeah, it's the same friend as before, the one that just had the kid. He mentioned they were going to a private beach. Looks like they're all healthy."

"Oh... does he have two children?" Emma asked, confused as she stared at the picture.

"No, that was his firstborn," Chris replied with a raised eyebrow.

"That baby would only be two months old at best. A two-month-old wouldn't be able to support the weight of their own head that well. That doesn't happen until closer to six months. He shouldn't be able to hold her on his shoulders like that at all," Emma said with evident concern.

Chris raised an eyebrow. That was an odd fact to know so confidently. "Have you been looking that up recently or something?" he asked in return as a scapegoat. He did not expect her to have an eye for that kind of detail, and the BSAA certainly didn't know yet how the child of two infected civilians would be affected...

Quick make up an excuse. "I have three nieces," she said, shaking her head before looking back at the photo and examining it more critically. "You're sure it was a private beach?" Emma asked, confused.

"That's what I was told," Chris replied. He couldn't explain why he was sure since it was work-related.

She leaned to look at Chris with a slightly concerned expression, "Then who took the picture?" Emma asked. None of this made sense.

Chris stared at the picture again. "Shit," he said before quickly getting up and heading over to the door to put on his coat and shoes. "I'll be late, don't wait up."

"Stay safe," Emma said, concerned as she watched him quickly grab his keys and hurry out the door and down the stairs.

Chris quickly made his way to the BSAA Headquarters. It was a Saturday, but after that extra info, he was willing to put in the overtime. Hound Squad would be back in a week, but that might not be soon enough. He quickly started digging around in files from some of the newer Winters reports starting with the reports from the area sweep.

Mission report: Area Sweep

Synopsis

The beach perimeter was combed for 2 miles from the target destination to confirm the area is secure and vacated. No threats found in the vicinity.

Tiger Orca Squad will continue to monitor the location perimeter to make sure no one else enters until T plus 4 hours after target departure to assure target security.

Okay, so it was one of the European teams that did the sweep. Why was it one of the European teams? He should have been called in for this. Chris dug through the rest of the reports and none of them mentioned any sort of issue with securing the area. If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself, apparently. What about Rose, then? There had to be something going on if she was experiencing accelerated growth, like what Emma pointed out. It would mean she was developing at three times a normal human rate. That was not quite Eveline tier age acceleration, but it was something to be aware of. With that, he dug through what was available in Rosemary's file.

Name: Rosemary Winters

DOB: 02/08/2020

He started at that for a second. February 8th? It took him a second to remember it was a scan of a European report so the date was set up differently. August 2nd. That made more sense. It was currently September 26^th, so yeah, Emma was right. She was barely in the two-month age range.

Height: 62.3cm (24.53 in)

Weight: 6.57kg (14.48lbs)

Screenings (hearing Vision touch reflex test):

All results show no issues. Patient is in good health.

Other Notes:

Results for additional Fungal pathogen tests will be provided by BSAA

-Applefield Memorial Hospital

Chris gave a tired sigh as he continued digging around through the files. Where were those pathogen tests? He pulled out his phone and looked over the picture again before heading out of the file room with the two folders he had been searching through. Down the hall, around a corner, and up to the director's door to open it.

The director looked up from his computer. "Redfield, working over the weekend?" he asked, surprised.

"Just got some info that isn't sitting well with me. Have you heard anything from Tiger Orca regarding the Winters case?" he asked as he closed the door behind him.

"How do you—" he stopped and looked at the files unamused. "That's not your concern. The situation is well attended."

"Yeah, except it's not," Chris said as he put his phone down to show the director the picture.

"A picture of a happy family on vacation. Hardly a reason for alarm," the director said, shaking his head before taking a sip from his coffee. He was going to need the caffeine; he already had a headache.

"Who took the picture?" Chris asked, which caused the director to give a quiet sigh.

"Perhaps one of the agents," the director offered as a potential answer to play along with the question.

"Their orders were to stay out of sight, and that's not a posed photo. Yet Ethan sent it to me from his phone, and he's in the picture," Chris pointed out.

The director put down the mug of coffee as he relaxed into his chair. He had a feeling they'd be here for a while. "I concede. Tell me. Who took the picture?"

"I don't know either. That's the problem," Chris explained. "No one else was supposed to be there."

"Then call him and ask, so you stop worrying," the director replied before looking at the clock. "It's what, 6:30 pm over there? Maybe 7:30?"

Chris gave a short-tired huff before poking at the phone to call Ethan and motioning for the director to be quiet while he put it on speakerphone.

"Hey Chris, what’s up?" Ethan asked as clicks and clanks of silverware against plates could be heard in the background.

"Not much. Just saw the picture you sent. How's the vacation going?" Chris asked casually, figuring he should beat around the bush to avoid raising any alarm with Ethan.

“It's going great. We're back at the beach house now. Honestly, this is just what we needed, fresh air away from the house," Ethan said in a relaxed and content tone.

"Glad to hear it." Chris tried to lead back into the subject. "Although, speaking of that picture, How did you manage to get all three of you in the photo like that?"

"Oh! There was some plant and wildlife photographer in the area," Ethan said with a chuckle. "She saw us walking by and took the photo. She came over to us after to show it to us and sent us the file," Ethan said, unaware that the perimeter of the beach had been completely closed off. He was just told there would be a sweep, not constant monitoring.

Chris shot the director a look that said, 'See? Security breach. Why wasn't that reported?' "That's great. Happy to hear you're doing well. Just thought I'd give you a call and check in."

"Oh, well, thank you. Good to hear from you. Are we going to see you guys again in a few weeks?" Ethan asked as Mia could be heard in the background asking who Ethan was talking to and telling him to get off the phone since they were eating dinner.

"Yeah, you'll see us soon," Chris confirmed.

"Okay, see you then. Bye," Ethan replied, complying with Mia's request.

"See ya," Chris said before ending the call and looking at the director once more. "See?" Chris said with an annoyed tone. "Someone got past the perimeter. This should be cause for concern."

"A wildlife photographer isn't a threat, and if they were, then they would have done something when they approached the family while they were already alone and undetected," the director said, trying to put Chris's mind at ease. "If you want, I can call the European HQ and have them reach out to Tiger Orca to have them comb the area again for anyone that got past the perimeter."

"Definitely do that," Chris confirmed as he put his phone away. "Where are the Pathogen reports for Rosemary Winters?"

"You'll have them when the reports are in. They just took the samples before the kid went on vacation," the director replied with a tired frown.

"Good." With that, Chris headed out of the director's office and back to the file room. He needed to do a lot more digging before Hound Squad got back.

"Would a please or a thank you kill the guy?" the director grumbled to himself after Chris left. Then he reached over to pick up the phone and make the calls.

Chapter Text

Chris sat in a bustling airport by one of the many luggage return carousels with his arms crossed as he impatiently tapped his thumb and listened to the announcements. They should have been here by now.

Boarding call for passengers of flight 09x292. Please have your boarding pass ready.

He gave a tired sigh. Nope, still not them.

"Hey Alpha," Canine said as he and Night Howl made their way over to sit with him.

"Anything?" Night Howl asked as he offered Chris a coffee from the convenience store.

"If they were here, you would have seen them," Chris pointed out but accepted the drink in one hand while digging out his phone from his jacket pocket with the other to check the time. Thursday, October 1st, 4:56 pm. They were an hour late...

Now arriving international flight 01x158 from Bucharest at gate 16.

"Is that them?" Canine asked and Chris poked around at his phone to get the details up.

"Yep, that's them," Chris said as he got from his seat. It took a good twenty minutes even after the announcement, but eventually, Umber Eye, Lobo, and Tundra came into view.

"HEY! OVER HERE!" Canine called as he raised a hand to wave.

"EY!" Lobo called back as he held up his arms in greeting. He hurried over with the other two to join them. "Papa Alpha came to pick up his kids from the airport." Lobo placed a hand over his heart, pretending to be emotional. "Told myself I wouldn't cry."

Chris rolled his eyes and flipped off Lobo. "You're lucky this is important, or I'd be ditching you here without a ride."

"Yeah, no. As emotional as this reunion is," Tundra said while giving Lobo a side-eye, "we need to talk." She shifted her weight and crossed her arms before looking around.

"Yeah," Chris agreed. "We really need to catch up," he said, though his tone suggests a more serious topic.

"We need somewhere secure. I don't know how freely we can talk at the moment," Umber Eye whispered, and the others nodded.

"So, what? We go to a random bar? Civilians could overhear us," Canine said with a slight frown.

" And we might be tailed..." Night Howl pointed out. None of them trusted the people around them.

"... I think I know where we can go," Chris said with a nod. "I'll drive. Get your bags."

"Yes sir," Lobo said with a chuckle. "Been a while since I was able to tell you that, huh?" he added as he walked away.

They had to wait in luggage return hell for a while, but the three eventually claimed their bags and followed Chris back to his car. They put their bags into the back and Chris motioned that they shouldn't talk. The ride was made in silence for a long, painful hour before pulling into a familiar parking garage and parking.

"Leave your bags, phones, and any tech in the car," Chris instructed, and the group nodded.

"Yes sir."

"Rodger that."

"Got it."

"Can do, boss."

"On it."

Clicks and plunks of phones and watches being removed and placed into cup holders were heard before doors opened and closed.

"You think your place is secure if they bugged the car?" Lobo pointed out as they walked out of the parking garage.

"They probably only got the bugs in there since I drive it to work," Chris said as they walked into the apartment building. "And I already checked the apartments once I noticed the bugs in the car. They're clean."

"Well, that's a relief," Tundra said as they headed up the stairs behind Chris, who unlocked and opened the door to Emma's apartment.

Upon hearing the door open, Emma smiled to herself. He was earlier than usual. Hopefully, that meant work went well. "Welcome ho—" Emma began as she turned around to see six people walking in. "Oh, mmm... I suppose I should have made more for dinner..." she said, stunned. "It's good to see you all."

"Sorry for not saying anything," Chris said, waiting for the group to enter before closing the door.

Canine gave an excited gasp as he noticed Duke lazing on the couch. "You didn't tell me she had a dog. Oh my goodness, hello friend," he said as he quickly walked over to start giving Duke attention and belly rubs. "Who is this good boy?"

"Canine," Chris said, unamused.

"This is important," Canine countered as he continued to pet the now very happy dog whose tail was wagging a mile a minute.

"Oh, sorry, I hadn't realized I never mentioned him to you guys. That's Duke," Emma said. She felt bad about that. How had it never come up?

"Duke, such a regal name," Canine said, very much distracted. He was a K-9 handler for a reason. He loved dogs.

"So, what brings you guys here? Is it poker night again?" Emma asked as she mentally started trying to figure out how to turn a meal for two into a meal for seven. Rice. She needed to make a lot of rice.

"We're being monitored," Chris admitted with a slight frown.

"Monitored?" Emma repeated, concerned, as her mental dinner calculations came to a screeching halt. "How so? What's going on?"

"Are you sure we should be saying anything in front of her?" Umber Eye said as he looked at Chris with a slight frown. It would mean getting a civilian involved.

"We don't have much choice at this point. We need a secure indoor location where we can monitor the comings and goings, that they won't guess off the bat as a base of operation. There isn't a paper trail that would lead them here. Even if they tracked my GPS location, they'd assume I was going to my own apartment," he explained. Luckily, he was pretty dang quiet about his personal life at work. Even his own squad barely knew anything about it, considering it took a year for them to find out they were seeing each other. With that thought, he looked at Emma.

She was definitely at a loss for words. What in the actual heck was going on that he wanted her to be around for what sounded like a work conversation? It took her a moment, but she eventually nodded. "How can I help?"

"We just need a place to talk where we won't have to worry," Chris said, and she nodded again.

"Well, my home is yours," she agreed and went back to trying to figure out how to stretch the meal she made. With permission given, the six sat at the table to talk. Duke followed Canine over to the table and lay at his feet.

The group was silent at first until Chris decided to just go ahead and say it. “The BSAA is up to something."

"Yeah, I'll say. They didn't even let me take the chopper back to the states," Lobo said, crossing his arms. "Had us fly commercial. That's weird, since we finished our stint there. Hell, even if we didn't, why wouldn't they want the equipment returned to the proper HQ?"

"It gets worse," Tundra admitted, shaking her head. "I tried sending in a report for a tip I got and that report just disappeared." Irritation was evident in her tone. "I was trying to get it back to you as quickly as I could. We've got a major security breach for the Winters’ case."

"You're kidding," Chris said, annoyed now as well. "I tried bringing a security issue to the director's attention for the Winters’ case just the other week, and he completely blew it off."

"It's not just you, I heard Tiger Orca tried reporting a security breach, but the report got covered up," Umber Eye said as he leaned forward on his elbows and clapped his hands together.

"What was the tip you were trying to send me?" Chris asked, looking at Tundra.

"I overheard that there was an infiltration plan. Some woman by the name of Miranda is after the kid. From what I understand, she's after the kid because of her connection to the Baker incident in Louisiana."

"The kid of two stabilized infected individuals? Her blood would sell like hot cakes on the market," Lobo said with a sneer. "Fuckin’ disgusting. She's just a baby."

"When did you get the tip?" Night Howl asked, concerned.

"About two weeks ago," Tundra said. "From what I was told, she's laying low for now, but we need to make a plan."

"Did your tip come with a location where we can track this Miranda person?" Chris asked, and Tundra nodded.

"Yeah, still in Romania. Probably a three-hour drive from the safe house." Tundra frowned. "We need to start gathering supplies to prepare for a stakeout. It doesn't sound like she's particularly active yet, but she is a known threat that the BSAA apparently doesn't want on record."

"We need supplies for the stakeout and a new secure location for the family outside of the BSAA's knowledge," Canine said. "That's a tall order. It could take months."

"We better get started then," Chris said, and the others nodded.

"We should tell Ethan," Umber Eye said, but Chris cut that short.

"No," Chris said in a low authoritative tone. "Absolutely not. He can barely keep up with his training."

"I mean, it is his kid," Night Howl pointed out.

"Exactly my point. He's going to want to get involved. He's a civilian, regardless of how much training we give him. He's not ready for this kind of fieldwork," Chris said in return. "He's not to know, and that's final."

"Yes sir," Lobo said, though his tone suggested he disagreed with the decision.

"Not to rain on everyone's parade, but how are we going to get enough gear for six people for what? Three weeks’ worth of Recon and potential armed contact without raising a few alarms at the BSAA? If they think we're up to something, they might move the Winters without telling us," Tundra pointed out. “And even if we gather it over time, where are we going to put it? That's a lot of gear."

"Store it here," Emma finally said, which got the group's attention. Everyone suddenly staring at her made her self-conscious, but—"You said it yourself, they wouldn't really look here because it would just look like Chris is going home for the day on a GPS. So assuming the bugs are sound and location only, if you put a few pieces of gear in his car each day for the next few months, you'll have more than enough for three weeks."

"Are you sure you want to get that involved?" Umber Eye said with a slight frown. "Storing weapons isn't something you can plead ignorance to if the BSAA catches us before we can get over there."

Emma shrugged. "Seems to be a theme with the apartment... the last guy was storing stuff here for a gang," she said with a half-hearted chuckle. “I could rent out a storage unit, but that's not much better, all things considered. That would be considered a paper trail, right?"

"Yeah..." Tundra confirmed, but shook her head. "I don't think we have a much better choice."

Chris thought it over more "What about Mrs. Russo's old apartment?" he suggested.

"That's right. It's still empty..." she affirmed. "Maybe we could talk to Mr. Jacobs? If we tell him that we're planning on moving in together and we need some extra space to store a few items that we're buying in advance, he might be okay with an over-the-table deal to let us use the empty apartment for storage while he's trying to rent it out?" she said, trying to follow Chris’s line of thought. The other five slowly looked at Chris with slight grins as he remained quiet.

"That's... true that could work," he agreed and silently confirmed that was something the two were planning on doing to the rest of the squad.

"Better hope he doesn't do any walkthroughs of the place then," Canine pointed out, "and here you'll find our heavy munitions room standard in our newly renovated two bed one bath apartments," the K-9 handler added while Lobo snickered and leaned back in his chair.

"That's a fair point... Again, I don't mind if you use my place," Emma offered while going back to poking at the meal, having shredded the two chicken breasts and added them to a now warming pot of tomato sauce, beans, garlic, diced onion, pepper, and some additional spices while waiting for the rice to finish cooking.

Chris shook his head at that. "We'll just use mine for storage. I don't want you getting in trouble for this. Meeting at your place has deniability, but this is going to be subordination at best."

"What are they going to do, fire me? I don't work for them," Emma pointed out with a slight chuckle.

"Jail time for illegal possession of firearms," Umber Eye replied in turn.

“Oh... right," she said with a wince. This was a pickle...

The group spent a good fifteen minutes spit-balling ideas for how to store the equipment before Lobo decided to speak up. it's not like they were actually getting anywhere aside from running in circles. "Well, you two could just rush the move-in plan. There's deniability that way," Lobo said with a teasing smile.

"Lobo," Chris said in a warning tone as Emma worked on plating up the meal by putting some of the chicken chili over a bed of rice. Bless rice for being a good plate filler.

“I know this is an important mission, but rushing to buy a house doesn't seem like the best long-term plan." Emma walked over and started putting plates down in front of the group.

Lobo stopped leaning back in the chair in favor of leaning forward to rest his elbow on the table and his cheek against his hand to look at Chris with a cheeky grin. "An excellent point. Anything else we missed while we were gone for the year?" he asked, highly amused by the night and day contrast of Chris and Emma when it came to their willingness to share details about their plans. Yeah, yeah, the thing with the kid was serious and all, but he could still appreciate a good laugh.

"Thank you," Umber Eye said quietly as Emma returned with another round of plates.

"No problem. Deniability and all that," she said as she walked back for another set of plates. "It's always good to have friends over for dinner after they were away for so long," she said to subtly suggest that could be used as an excuse going forward.

With the meals set and glasses of water placed, the conversation shifted back to the matter at hand.

"So, it's agreed then? We'll use Emma's as a base of operation for conversation and storage of the gear with the backup plan that if we hear about any suspicion of our activity, the gear will be moved to Chris's apartment." Umber Eye said and the group nodded.

"We'll use one of the BSAA choppers to head over to Romania on the last week of January. By then, we should have enough supplies," Chris said with a sigh. "In the meantime, Wolf Squad will continue to monitor the Winters during the monthly checkups to make sure there isn't any unusual movement," he listed, and the others nodded. "Tundra will try to establish a link to Tiger Orca Squad for further tips in case something happens when we're not there. If we hear anything odd, then we move in right away."

"Agreed."

"Sounds good."

"Let's get cracking."

"They won't see what hit them."

"Let's go squaaad!"

They had roughly four months to get this in motion. It wasn't ideal to hold off like this but if the BSAA was trying to bury this they needed to be careful and figure out why.

"Let's get going then," Chris said as he rose and picked up his plate. The others got up as well and started moving for the door. "Hey"—the team stopped—"Dishes in the sink," he said with a mixture of annoyance and confusion.

The squad looked at him, surprised. He didn't usually make them do that when they visited him, but all the same, each person went back, got their plate, and washed it before putting it in the dish drainer by the sink. Emma moved to cover her mouth knowing she was failing to suppress a grin. He wasn't always comfortable with being publicly affectionate, so little moments like that were cute and appreciated.

With the table cleared, the group once more moved to head out. Emma walked with them over to the door to make sure she'd be able to close up after they left. Chris stopped as he was about to walk past and gave her a quick peck of a kiss. "It's probably going to take a while to drop everyone off so make sure you lock up."

She blinked a few times while trying to process that. "Yeah, I'll make sure to take care of that. Travel safely," she happily said in return.

"Love you," he said, waving over his shoulder while walking away.

Holy frickin’ heck, she was going to have whiplash if he kept this up. Who are you and what did you do with Chris? "Love you too," she replied while smiling like a derp before closing the door behind them. It was a simple gesture, but one that made her feel over the moon. Hound Wolf Squad was practically family to him, and he was actually communicating with her about a pretty serious choice of going behind the BSAA's back, and why he felt it was necessary, before it happened. That was leaps and bounds of progress with communication. That, with the simple gestures of affection, meant that much more to her. Neither of them were perfect, but they were growing together.

Chapter Text

Emma yawned as she sat on her couch and watched TV. It was a peaceful Friday afternoon. She had actually gotten home early, which was nice, so dinner was in the oven and cooking. That peace quickly disappeared as a frantic knocking could be heard at her door. She looked over to the door with curious concern as she dug her phone out of her pocket to check the camera.

Standing outside of her door and nervously shifting his weight from side to side as he looked around was Travis, of all people.

"Huh," she said as she put her phone away and got up to walk over to the door. Hopefully, everything was okay but seeing him that antsy made her nervous. "Travis?" Emma said as she opened the door only to have him grab her arm and lead her away.

"I'm kidnapping you," he said without any further explanation as he led her down the stairs

"What?!" Emma asked, now panicking. Travis quickly turned around and mad a hushing motion.

"Shh, not literally. Now come with me I need your help," he said quietly.

"Travis my stove is on, and I don't have shoes or a coat," Emma said in a whispered hiss, frowning. He could have just asked.

"Oh... Sorry. Hurry I don't want anyone to see me," Travis said as he puts his coat hood up to try to hide his face.

Lord alive, why was everyone suddenly in trouble? She gave a quiet sigh as she went back into the apartment, turned off the stove, moved the food from the stove to the fridge since it had barely started cooking, and left a sticky note with instructions for how to finish cooking the meal in case Chris got home before she did. She went and grabbed her purse before putting on her coat and shoes. The only other people on the floor were Chris and Bastion. So, unless he was avoiding someone on a different floor, which she doubted, he was up to something.

"All right, now I can go." Emma locked up the apartment and walked out with him as he continued to hide his face all the way to his car. Once they got in, he finally put his hood down. "What are we doing?"

"I told you. I need your help," Travis replied as he got the car started and drove.

Maybe she should have checked on this before she got in the car. "Help with what? Did you do something Illegal, or…?" Emma asked with concern, which caught Travis' attention.

"Illega—what? No. Wait, you'd help me even if you thought I did something criminal?" he asked in a touched tone.

Emma laughed. "Well, that's debatable, but I'm glad it's not a question of legality. The question remains though..."

Travis continued to drive, though his face turned pink before taking a deep breath. "Well, Bastion and I have been together for two years now and I was thinking…" His words became more mumbled as he spoke, as if they were too heavy and fell flat. Realizing he probably wasn't completely coherent he tried again. "I was thinking of maybeproposingduringnewyears," he rattled out before clearing his throat. He spoke too fast, but it was the best the poor nervous wreck could manage.

It took Emma a second to translate the mess but once she understood she smiled from ear to ear. "Aw, Travis, that's awesome. Are you nervous?" she asked as she tried to understand why he was having such a hard time saying that when it was something he, assumedly, wanted to do.

"Pfft, Me? Nervous?" He laughed. "Terrified," he clarified before giving a quiet sigh. "I mean. What if he says no?"

"Have you guys talked about this?" Emma asked while trying really hard not to laugh. This was serious and he had expressed multiple times now that he needed her help.

"Yeah, a little bit. I dunno," Travis said as he kept one hand on the wheel to steer while the other moved to nervously rub his neck.

"If you've talked about it, I don't see why he'd say no. You'll be fine," she replied, hoping to reassure him.

"Maybe," Travis quietly said under his breath. "Anyway, you know Bastion pretty well. I was hoping maybe you could help me out by keeping me from chickening out while looking at rings and give some pointers on which one he might like?"

"I can do that," Emma said with a gentle smile. He really was nervous, the poor thing. "Though maybe Chris would have been a better source for that. He's known Bastion a lot longer than I have."

"That's true," he agreed while frowning slightly. "He's intimidating sometimes, though," Travis admitted with a sigh. "Not that it's a bad thing, I just don't know him that well. We at least see each other once a month for movie night."

That was a fair point, all right. "Okay well gentle but firm Emma support is at your service," she said with a determined nod that caused Travis to chuckle.

"Thanks," he said, continuing to focus on driving to the mall. "I think I know what he'd like, I just kind of need the reassurance and the nudge to go for it I think?"

"I can do that," Emma confirmed. She was honored he’d thought to go to her for this, even if the 'kidnapping' was much at first. It kind of made sense, now that she understood why he was so antsy. With that thought she dug out her phone.

[Emma] Hey ran out with Travis to do some shopping. Not sure when I'll be back. Dinner is in the fridge with cooking instructions if you're up for it.

[Chris] Kk. See you later.

With the messages sent and received, she smiled as she listened to Travis nervously chat as they made their way to the local jewelry store. He eventually found a parking space, allowing the two to exit the vehicle and head inside the well-lit showroom of glass cases.

"Good afternoon, can I help you find anything?" asked a sales clerk who rather eagerly walked over to greet the two. Ah, commission-based salary.

"I'm looking for an engagement ring for my boyfriend," Travis said as he kept his hands in his coat pockets so he could fidget with his keys.

Emma slightly raised her hand. "I'm moral support," she explained to try to signal to the clerk that she wouldn't be buying anything while in the store. Hopefully, that would keep any sales pressure away from her. She did not have the money for that right now.

"I see. Well, we have an excellent selection of engagement bands, so you're in the right place. Did you have a style in mind?" the clerk asked while motioning for the two to follow him.

"I'm looking for something in white gold?" Travis replied though it sounded more like a question.

"White gold would work nicely," Emma agreed with a nod. "He likes to have his nails done so it will match more of the styles and colors."

"Yeah, that's what I was thinking too," Travis said as his smile started to return and the fidgeting lessened slightly.

"I see, so would you say he's more on a fashion-forward side or simple and subdued?" the clerk asked as he went behind the counter to start poking around in the displays.

Emma and Travis glanced at each other before nodding and looking back to the clerk. "Flashy," they said at the same time, which caused Travis to laugh.

The clerk chuckled as well. "A unanimous answer, in stereo. Got it. Let's see what we can find," He was more than happy to hear that answer since flashy meant money.

This one was too thin, that one too thick. The other one was too plain. The next was just plain gaudy. Bastion was flashy, but a classy sort of flashy. They'd looked through dozens of options before Travis had it narrowed down to two. One being an almost brassy white gold with a random bark-like hatched texture towards the outside and a mother of pearl almost opal-looking central stripe running around the ring, giving it the illusion of three stacked bands. According to the sales clerk, the materials were actually Meteorite and dinosaur bones. The other was a more classic-looking white gold with a similar stacked appearance with a row of smaller chip diamonds around each of the edges and a soft, almost felt-looking braided metal center that was a slightly darker gray color but still rather light.

"They're both gorgeous," Emma said, ultimately leaving the choice to Travis.

"Yeah," he said quietly while staring at them.

"What's on your mind?" Emma asked, figuring that talking out his thoughts might help him pick.

He quietly hummed. “The Meteorite ring is certainly unique; I think he'd like it, and it's the right width," Travis said before pointing to the other. “I think he'd like that one better," he admitted, "but it's slightly too thick. Bastion works with his hands, so having something that bulky would be more of a hindrance for him..."

"Hmm, good point," Emma agreed as she looked between the two. Where did they even get dinosaur bones and who thought, 'I know, let's turn it into a wedding band!' She couldn't deny it was unique, and Bastion might enjoy the novelty of it, but a novelty wasn't usually the best bet for something like an engagement ring. And, to Travis's credit, the more classic-looking one was chunky.

"Ah, if it's just a matter of the thickness, we do offer this design in a 5-, 6-, and 7-mm variant as well. Our display model is the 8 mm," the clerk explained before getting a tool from behind the counter to measure the meteorite ring. "This one appears to be a 6mm, if that helps."

"So, I could get one in this style but with that thickness?" Travis asked, pointing between the two rings.

The clerk nodded. "Yes sir, if that's what you'd like to do."

Travis looked to Emma, who gave him a subtle thumbs-up. He then looked back to the clerk and nodded. "Yeah, I think I'll go ahead and do that."

Emma and the clerk both gave him gentle applause for the decision.

"Congratulations, sir. Let me go and get the order form and I'll get this written up for you," the clerk said before walking off.

Eventually, the clerk returned and talked Travis through the ordering process along with a few up-selling attempts that were politely yet firmly declined. The ring was ordered, a payment plan was made, and a date was set. December 31st, 2020. He'd have the ring just in time for New Year's. Travis drove the whole way back, no longer nervously chatting, but instead, excitedly going over ideas he had in mind for how to go about asking his million-dollar question.

"Thanks again for going with me. You're a lifesaver," Travis said as he pulled into his parking spot in the garage and stopped the car. The trip had been a full expedition as it was now quite dark out.

"Not a problem. I'm glad I could help," Emma replied with a chuckle. "You made it sound like I was going to have to tackle you to keep you in the store, but you did great."

"Well, there were a couple of touch-and-go moments there where you almost might have had to," he joked in return.

"All the same, I'm excited for New Year's now," she said as they both got out.

"It's gonna be something. Are you okay with taking pictures?" Travis asked, and Emma nodded.

"Absolutely," Emma agreed as they walked to the building.

Travis reached out and pulled her in for a hug. "Okay big hug, gaaah! Thank yooou." He gave her a little shake, which caused her to laugh.

"You're welcooome," Emma said, imitating his drawn-out tone. With that, he let her go, still smiling from ear to ear. "You remember your story, right?"

"We went to see if we could find a movie and went to three different red boxes, but no one had it," Travis said with a nod.

"Good," Emma replied, and with that, they made their way into the building.

Emma unlocked the door to her apartment and was happily greeted by Duke. She found Chris sitting on the couch, fast asleep. A gentle smile replaced her previously giddy one as she quietly closed the door and slipped off her shoes before walking around the apartment. She found a plate of food waiting for her in the microwave, which she elected to eat cold to avoid waking the guy up.

"He must have had a hard day. He's going to hurt his neck if he stays like that, though," Emma whispered while looking over at the sleeping figure leaning his head back to rest against the back of the couch and occasionally snoring. She chuckled before focusing on finishing her cold meal. Once the plate was clean, she put the dishes into the sink and walked over to sit next to him, gently nudging him to wake him up. A deep inhale let her know that the nudging worked as he began to stir. A quiet groan escaped his lips as he sat up and held the back of his neck. Whoops. Looked like she was too late to save him from a neck cramp.

"Oh. Sorry," she said with quiet sympathy. "Long day at work?"

Chris nodded in return and yawned. "Yeah, nothing too unusual, though," he said, though it was mumbled.

"Well, at least it's the weekend," she offered with a slight smile. "Any new additions to the stash?"

Again, he nodded. "Yeah, a few mags. Some flash grenades. And I'm not sure how but I'm pretty sure Lobo managed to get an RPG and marker system into the car. That's probably not going to go unnoticed."

I'm sorry a what now? "Ah," she replied, though her expression was one of concern. "Well, Lobo is the heavy munitions expert, right?"

"Yep," Chris confirmed.

"That was probably him then. Yeah, it would make sense for him to want that kind of gear. However, I'm not going to be sleeping in a bed with heavy explosives under it," she said with a short laugh. Oh gosh, how did this become normal for her?

Chris gave a tired chuckle as well. "I see. Well, luckily I think I know somewhere you can stay in the meantime," he said with a slight smirk. "We have to get up early tomorrow anyway, right?"

"Yeah, that's right. For the open houses." She had almost forgotten. She leaned over to give him a peck on the cheek before getting up. "I'm going to walk Duke real quick. I'll be over after that. You should get some rest though before you pass out again." Duke quickly wandered off to go find his leash as he heard his third most favoritest word.

"’Kay," he said as he got up and stretched.

'*'*'*'*'

A few weeks had passed since then as early November gave way to later in the month. Each Saturday the two would continue their search for a place to stay and this Saturday was no different. They were on the second to last walk-through for the day and they were both tired. It felt like they were going to run out of options at this point, and nothing had really struck them even after searching for what, four months now?

This one was probably the one Emma was most excited about of the few they had visited recently. It looked nice in the pictures, but she'd learned that half the time the photos online were taken at juuust the right angle to make the place look much nicer than it really was and hide imperfections. The realtor unlocked the house for the two.

"If you need anything I'll be right here," she replied and gestured for the two to enter.

"Thanks," Emma said and Chris nods before walking in. Emma looked around, mildly impressed. "It looks like the pictures." She chuckled. It was a good start.

"Hmm, let's not get too excited," Chris said in return with a slight smile as the two walked around.

No half-torn-up floors or missing walls, so that was a plus too. It was kind of weird how common that was when trying to find anything in the area. Lots of the listings were from first-time house flippers who realized halfway through that they weren't cut out for the job. The two walked around the two-floor home, looking for anything that might be an issue in the long run.

"It might be more space than we really need," Chris said as they looked around. Three beds, two and a half baths. They really only needed two bedrooms at most, so Emma could keep a spare room for the nieces.

“If that’s your only complaint so far I think this place is doing pretty good,” Emma said with a chuckle as they walked around the second floor before giving a quiet hum. “There would be room for you to have a study so that’s nice,” she said as she gestured to one of the empty bedrooms. “Lock that up when the girls visit so they don’t dig through your stuff. The last thing we need is for Summer to decide that handguns are cool and run around with one of those.”

“Did we add a gun safe to the list?” Chris asked as Emma made a pretty fair point.

“Already on there,” Emma said with a smile as she headed back down the stairs.

“Good,” he said with a relieved sigh as he follows her back to the main floor of the home.

They made their way through to the kitchen, dining, and living room areas that were painted a less than lovely shade of orange.

“Paint?” Emma said, forcing a neutral expression.

“Paint,” Chris agreed as he walked over to get a better look at the wall. “Looks like they painted over wallpaper too.”

“Greaaat,” Emma said with a slight sigh. “Well, it’s nothing a bit of elbow grease can’t fix.” She adds before chuckling. “Honestly, though, orange?"

"I don't know," he said, shaking his head, "Some people like weird things." He headed to a sliding door to open it. "Huh, I didn't realize this one had a patio."

"Does it?" she asked as she walked over. "Huh. Guess it does," she said with a note of surprise before chuckling. "Could add a grill to the list so you can practice with that."

"I'm not cooking for your father," Chris said with a slight smirk.

Hearing that caused Emma to openly laugh. “Oh gosh, no. I don't even like doing that. Gives me some crazy anxiety that I messed up a step and he'll notice. Not that he'd ever say anything if I did. I wouldn't ask you to do that. Were you thinking they'd be visiting?"

"Hmm, you never know. Last year my sister suddenly showed up out of nowhere for the holidays without warning," he said as he closed the door and locked it back up.

"Are you still grumpy about that?" Emma asked, surprised, though she relaxed as she noticed he was still smiling. He was pulling her leg. She rolled her eyes, but it did remind her… She took out her phone as he walked ahead of her and snapped a quick picture to send to Claire.

[Emma] Chris Report: House hunting day ? ? ? This one might be promising.

[Claire] Hahaha aww. Thanks for the update. Good luck!

Emma smiled as they headed down to the basement of the house. It had a decent amount of space but it was unfinished. "This could be a bit of work, but it's a blank canvas," she offered while looking around the open space.

Chris walked over to check the egress window. "No mold," he said with a note of hope. So far, this seemed like a decent option. With that, he headed back over to Emma. "So, blank canvas. What are you thinking?"

Emma chuckled. "We do not have the funds to finish a basement." Maybe if she used her nest egg, but she wasn't sure how comfortable Chris would be with her making that much of an investment in the venture. "Hypothetically, though," she said, looking at the area before walking forward to gesture around as she spoke, "maybe build back a wall on each side of the stairs to divide the space in half. This side could have another wall going from here to here," she said, pointing to the back quarter of the space. "Could put the washer and dryer in there for a laundry room to free up some space in the bathroom upstairs. Less room for water damage if they're down here too." Emma explained before gesturing to the remaining space for the half of the basement where she was standing. "We could turn this into a workout area. Get a few real mats for when we're practicing," she explained with a smile as she walked back over to Chris and gave him a few gentle punches to the arm. He chuckled as he took a step back and held up a hand in his usual gesture for a target.

Seeing this, Emma laughed, and after a few quick training punches and kicks, Chris grabbed her hand and pulled her towards him with a smile.

"All right, I think I'm starting to see it," he admitted while holding her and looking around before motioning with his head to the other half of the basement. "And what about that side?"

"Hmmm," Emma said, thinking it over. "Maybe card table for when the Squad comes over? Could get a dart board as well," she offered as a suggestion.

"Sold," Chris said with a laugh. "We could probably put in some storage space in the empty area under the stairs.”

"Oooh, that would be nice," she agreed. "We might be getting ahead of ourselves, though."

"Maybe," Chris admitted before giving her a peck on the side of her head. "I think I like this one though."

"Yeah, same," she replied with a content smile.

Chapter Text

Emma smiled as she stirred a cooking pot of boiling noodles. It had been an exciting few weeks up until now. She had occasionally been running off to help Travis prepare for New Years. Chris got called in for work, probably to Romania based on the conversation with Hound Wolf Squad back in October. He’d made it back a few days ago and the two decided they did like the house with the unfinished basement they had viewed in November, and Chris put in an offer.

"Things are moving so fast," Emma said quietly with a content smile. It wasn't a bad thing in the slightest, but between Chris planning some secret rescue recon mission, buying a house, Travis' proposal, watching the girls every other weekend, and the holidays her schedule was packed. Not to mention working full time. It was a lot to keep track of. Of course, that didn't mean she didn't have time to think of some small silly antic.

She smiled as she looked at the small sprig of Mistletoe that she’d taped to the hood of the stove. In her mind, it was just a winter variant of a 'Kiss the Cook' apron. Maybe slightly classier since it didn't have the instructions directly printed out. She nodded at that thought. It was still a goofy thing to do, and that poor sprig was going to dry out fast from the heat of the stove. Its sacrifice would be remembered.

Eventually, the click of the lock and whine of the door hinges caught her attention. Chris walked into the house with an excited smile rather than his usual tired and done with the week scowl. He closed the door behind him and didn't even bother taking off his coat or shoes before heading over to Emma to put an arm around her waist.

"Hey," he said, still smiling.

"Hey, you're in a good mood," she replied as she leaned back into him to try to look at him.

"Yep," Chris replied, still smiling. "Got a call from the realtor."

"And?" Emma asked as he now had her full attention.

"We're moving in. March 20th,"

"You're kidding," she said, stunned; she was sure there were at least three other offers on the place by now. "They accepted the offer?"

"Yep, standard contingencies, 90-day closing," he confirmed. "Inspections and all that will be going on in the meantime. The realtor is taking care of that, though."

"That's… Oh my gosh, I guess we have some work to do," she said with a matching excited smile.

Chris gave a quiet chuckle. "I thought you'd want to know. I still need to move in the gear for the day from the car."

"Oka—hey wait a second," she said as he got a few steps away. He stopped and turned to face her again as she called for him to wait. Now embarrassed, Emma used her wooden spoon to tap the stove hood by the little plant with white berries. "Pretty sure you forgot something important." No, he didn't. She had just put that up today. He just didn't notice the tiny unassuming plant in his excitement, which was fair. She just felt saying anything along the lines of 'I want smooches dag-nab-it' was far more childish.

Chris' smile remained as he gave a small huff of a laugh and walked back over, taking the plant from the hood to hold over them as he held the side of her face in his other hand and kissed her.

"Better?" he asked as he put the plant back in its place on the stove hood.

"Yep," Emma replied happily. "Oh, It's the 18th. The girls are coming over for the weekend. They should be here any minute. Make sure you lock the door to the supply room?"

"Right, right," Chris said, nodding before heading back out to bring in the supplies, including some excessive explosives and a remote detonator. Yeah, he was definitely going to make sure that was safely tucked away and locked up.

He'd barely finished locking up the room when excited knocking could be heard from the door. "I got it," he said as he headed over to answer it.

"Uncle Chris!" Called Summer and Maurie.

"Auwnkle Cwris!" said Annie as she echoed her older sisters. Summer would be nine in a few months, Maurie had just turned seven, and Annie was now three-years-old.

"Hey, good to see you," Chelsea greeted as the three kids hurried to hug him then ran into the apartment. "Thanks for watching them over the holidays like this. You guys are lifesavers."

Chris shrugged. "You gotta do what you got to do." He imagined it was probably pretty hard for them to manage, even with both of them working. Hell, especially with both of them working.

"Yeah. Oh, and just a heads-up. I already told Emma, but Summer has been on about C-H-R-I-S-T-M-A-S," the woman spelled out quietly to try to keep from being heard. "She's been getting pushy, so if she asks about it just ignore her, okay?"

"Can do," Chris said with a nod. This was going to be a long weekend he could already tell.

"Great. Okay, see you guys on Sunday," Chelsea said.

The kids were already doing their own thing. Maurie hurried over to look at the shelf of movies while Annie was poking at Duke who had rolled over hoping for belly rubs, and Summer took a seat at the table with her plastic art supply box and had already started working on a new drawing. She gave a small disapproving huff. "Goodbye girls!"

"Bye mom!"

"Bye mama."

"Buhbuyah."

Chelsea’s expression remained neutral. On the one hand, it was a good thing the girls weren't upset she was leaving, but dang that was cold. She shook her head with a chuckle "See you around," she said to Chris, who replied in kind, giving a short wave as she headed out.

Chris closed up the apartment before noticing Annie had started pulling on Duke's face. "Nope!" he said as he hurried over and picked her up to get her away from the fluffy critter who quickly got up to find a place to hide. With the lack of access to Emma's bedroom, there really wasn't a lot of space for the poor pooch to go, so he settled on his favorite place behind the couch.

Annie started to whine and cry as her entertainment ran away. Upon hearing the high-pitched, upset wail Emma dropped what she was doing to head over. “Trade you,” she said, offering the spoon to Chris, who more than willingly handed over the screeching siren to Emma and accepted the spoon. He headed over to the kitchen and finished making what appeared to be three boxes worth of macaroni and cheese.

It took a good five minutes, but Emma managed to get Annie to calm down by handing her a stuffed animal from her overnight bag. Once the screaming was replaced with giggling, Emma put Annie down on the couch.

“Auntie Emmy,” Maurie asked as she walked over to pull on Emma’s jeans.

“Hm?” she said, looking over to watch as Maurie held up a DVD case.

“Can we watch this one?” Maurie asked, holding up Frozen 2.

Lord alive, they had to make a second one of those, didn't they? "After dinner," Emma said, hoping to buy some time before having to watch it for the millionth time since it came out a year ago. A beeping sound could be heard from the kitchen as a timer went off. "That's for the oven," Emma said as she walked back over to the kitchen.

Chris moved to take a small baking sheet out of the oven and made a slight face as he put it down on the stove. Spam. Definitely not his favorite. He had to deal with it enough with MREs. It was gross and overly salty.

"Don't let the girls see you making that face, or I'll never get them to eat," Emma said quietly as she walked over to take over cooking again. Chris gave her a quick kiss before moving to gather plates and cups.

"Eeeww cooties!" Summer said loudly before making a disgusted face and sticking out her tongue. Emma laughs at the exclamation before clearing her throat and going back to preparing the meal.

Chris chuckled under his breath before attempting to set the table. "Summer, you need to pack it up for now," he said.

She quickly closed her sketchbook and nodded. "Fiiiiine" she replied. This lil turd was starting to get sassy. When did that happen? All the same, she did as she was told and packed up the plastic box with her art supplies and moved that to sit by her overnight bag by the door.

It only took another five or six minutes, and the table was set with a plate of sliced spam, a bowl of corn, and a large pot of macaroni and cheese. Was it the healthiest or tastiest meal? No. but Emma was tired, and it was a meal she could get all three munchkins to, sort of, eat.

Emma sat at one end of the table between Maurie and Annie to ensure she'd be available to help with their meals, while Summer sat next to Maurie and Chris at the other end of the table next to Summer.

He quietly ate his meal, watching Summer. She'd cut up a piece of the spam, wait for Emma to be distracted, then drop it on the floor for Duke to gobble up. Sneaky little turd. He smiled at this but said nothing. Honestly, if he wasn't worried that the sodium levels would cause the old dog to keel over, he'd probably do the same thing... He'd be fine.

Chris slid the last half of his slice onto the floor. It landed with a more noticeable slap since it was not cut up. Chris winced slightly, but luckily, Summer yawned at the same time to cover up the sound.

"What are you two up to?" Emma asked with an attempt at an unamused stare.

"Nothing," Summer said quickly with a clearly guilty expression. "I finished my dinner can I have dessert please?"

Emma was not convinced but nodded. "There are cookies in the pantry. You can have four with a glass of milk."

Chris picked up his and Summer's plates. "I'll help her with the cup," he said and the two headed to the kitchen. Chris put the plates in the sink before offering a hand to Summer who gently patted it for a subtle high-five. Mission accomplished. Chris got some decaf brewing for himself before getting the pack of cookies from the pantry and a glass of milk for Summer and putting those down on the table.

Summer wandered back over to her box of art supplies and took it back to the table so she could draw while eating her cookies. Chris got his cup of coffee and headed to the living room to sit down and read for a while. Peace didn't last long, however, as Annie and Maurie eventually finished their dinner and dessert as well and hurried over to the living room. They sat on the floor in front of the TV as Emma put on the movie before going back to work on cleaning up the dishes.

Maurie and Annie quickly got distracted and stopped watching the movie after maybe ten minutes as they gathered blankets and pillows to make a pile in front of the TV. Meanwhile, Summer joined everyone in the living room, shuffling over with her sketchbook to sit on the couch next to Chris. She eventually started to kick her legs and look around, which was usually a sign that she wanted attention.

Chris looked up from his book then went back to reading. If she needed something she could use her words.

Summer frowned as her usual cue was ignored. She shifted around to sit on the couch upside down while still hugging her sketchbook, so her head was dangling off the end of the couch, and her feet were in the air, before giving an exaggerated sigh.

The agent forced a frown. The lil goofball was really pushing for attention. "What is it?" he asked without looking up from his book.

The eight-year-old took the offer to talk, hook line and sinker, as she quickly sat up so she could continue hugging her sketchbook but look at Chris properly. Chris instantly regretted it. "There's something I really, really, really want for the holidays, but I asked mom and dad and they said no... I made pictures to prove my point and everything."

Well, shoot... Chelsea said he was supposed to ignore her when she asked about this, but she managed to trick him into asking her about it first. When did kids get so freaking sneaky?

Emma continued to wash the dishes but leaned back to call into the room, "Summer, leave Chris alone. He's not buying you a dog," she said, figuring that would at least get the kid to stop pestering him and argue with her instead.

Hearing the statement from Emma caused Summer's expression to shift to an indignant pout. "But that's not what I was gonna ask!" she shouted back, still pouting. "I changed my mind and I want somethin' else..."

This was not going to end until she got to say what she wanted, and he knew it. He had already opened Pandora's box, might as well rip the band aid off. He gave a tired sigh. "What is it?" he asked before taking a sip from his mug. If it was a toy or something, maybe he and Emma could use that as an idea for a future birthday gift.

"I wanna brother," she said as she flipped her sketchbook open to the page she had been hiding before.

The quick and unabashed answer caused Chris to spit his coffee back into the mug as Emma started cracking up. He finally looked away from his book with confused embarrassment to find that, sure enough, the picture was one of someone he assumed was Summer, holding a baby brother. Which was indicated by a bow on his neck.

A string of expletives crossed his mind while blanking on how to reply to that. Summer, however, had plenty more to say on the matter.

"I did the math, see," she said as she turned the page to show some interesting attempts at graphs and charts that were definitely not set up correctly by any means. But they did have numbers on them. "Having a brother would mean bajillion times increased in playtime fun and… " The fake statistics continued to spew forth.

"That's—" Chris eventually cut in, but cleared his throat. "You know I think you should maybe focus on asking your DAD for this one."

"I tried that, and he said no," Summer said with a defeated frown while nudging Chris with the sketchbook as if getting him to really look at it would change his mind.

"Sounds like that's a no then," Chris replied as he looks for any excuse to leave this conversation. How did this kid even think asking him for that would work? Did she expect him to sleep with her mom instead? Of course not she was eight and thought any adult could just order a baby from the stork in the sky, but come on.

"But I really want one," she whined, causing Chris to frown while trying to think of an out.

"Try writing a letter to the tooth fairy. I heard she knows Santa," Chris replied before going back to his book and drink, now sufficiently red in the face.

Summer gasped. "Thatsa good idea!" she agreed before hurrying back to the table to try to do just that.

Chris eventually finished his drink and got up to go wash out his mug, only to find Emma still chuckling to herself, earning her a hard stare.

Emma waved him off. "Don't look at me like that, it's funny."

"Is it, though?" he asked, unamused.

"Yes. Hilarious, actually," she replied before giving him a peck on the cheek.

He grumbled but gave one in return before washing out his mug and heading back to his book.

As the fully ignored movie's ending credits started to roll, Emma walked over. "All right, kiddos, it's bedtime," she announced as she started picking up blankets and pillows. She received a chorus of complaints in return. "Now don't give me that. You have all day tomorrow to play. Go get your pajamas and change," she said and the three begrudgingly complied.

It took a good thirty minutes, but eventually, Emma wrangled them into the guest room and got them set up for bed. She ended up having to push the two single beds together to make one larger sleeping area for all three girls to fit on by having them lay horizontally across the two beds instead of vertically. It would have to do for now. She couldn't exactly use her room. The last thing she needed was for the girls to get their hands on a pack of C4.

Speaking of which… She walked over to double-check her door and nodded when she found it was locked. With that confirmed, she smiled contently and sat next to Chris.

"And they're asleep," she said as Chris instinctively put an arm over her shoulder.

"Good," he replied with a yawn, having abandoned his book a while ago. "What a day."

"Yeah," Emma agreed. "You did pretty well with the girls, though, all things considered. I really appreciate the help." She gave him a slight smile.

"Eh, they're not so bad," Chris said with a partial smile of his own.

"Especially when they help you get out of eating dinner," Emma said, which caused Chris to wince. "Yeah, you're not slick I caught that. There was slobber on the floor."

"I don't see why civilians choose to eat that. It's nasty," Chris grumbled with a sigh.

"To each their own," Emma said as she leaned to rest against his side. "It's cute seeing you two get along, though. So I can't be too mad," she admitted before bobbing her head slightly. "Did you ever consider having one of your own?"

"You're joking right?" Chris asked with a raised eyebrow. Was this another jab because of what Summer said? It took half a second longer than it should have but Emma eventually nodded and laughed.

"Of course, I'm joking," she said with an amused smile while giving him a gentle swat to the chest. Hmm no, she wasn't. She internally sighed. She had hoped that whole kerfuffle could be a decent lead-in to the topic, but she chickened out… again.

How was she supposed to bring that up, though? There wasn't a graceful way to basically say 'hey yo daddio, knock me up' and throw a few finger guns? Just NO! Frick. It wasn't even just that. They were well past the proper time to really have that conversation. They had plans already and that wasn't part of it. She didn't want to jeopardize that by making him think she'd resent him if they disagreed. But she wouldn't know if she didn't ask. GAH! Why is communicating so difficult?! Wasn't it supposed to get easier the longer you knew someone? It didn't help that so much was going on around them. Summer, Maurie, and Annie were growing up. Travis and Bastion were going to be getting married. Chris's friend just had a kid, and she and Chris were moving in together. That should be enough. She was happy. It wasn’t like she wasn't because of one honestly small factor. Stupid hormones. She wasn't sure if that was the actual problem, but she was certainly going to blame it on them.

"Emma," Chris said with a slight frown.

"What?" she asked with a raised eyebrow. "Sorry, I was just joking. I didn't scare you, right?" She chuckled as she moved to get back up. "I should walk Duke before it gets too late."

"Right," he replied. She had a horrible poker face.

Chapter Text

New Year’s Eve approached for the fourth time since Emma had moved in. And, as strange as it was to think about it, this would be the last time the tradition would be held. It was bittersweet in its own way, but all the same, Emma smiled, standing next to Chris as they took their place between their apartments. Chris's phone was resting on his wall-mounted shelf and played a broadcast of the usual radio station. Bastion and Travis stood in the empty space between apartments on the opposite side of the hallway. Sitting on Bastion's wall-mounted shelf was his phone, which was blasting a recording of an old fashion Italian record. It just seemed appropriate for the tradition to follow through to the end.

Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four…

Three… Emma made sure her phone was out and recording.

Two… Travis took a deep breath.

One… He reached into his baggy jacket pocket to make sure that he had a small velvet box in hand.

"Happy New Year!" the radio loudly announced as Bastion gave Travis a quick kiss. Chris and Emma watched with knowing smiles. She wasn't able to keep it from Chris for long, considering she kept going 'shopping' with Travis.

Travis walked into the apartment to return with four glasses and a bottle of good champagne.

"Are you recording?" Bastion asked, confused as he finally noticed Emma.

CRAP. "Well yeah, it’s our last New Year’s together. I wanna have the memory," she said, causing Bastion to roll his eyes.

"Put that away. If you want the memory then live it," he countered while Travis nervously focused on very quickly pouring the four glasses and handing out three of them.

"Suppose it's my turn to give the speech," Travis said as he nervously shifted and checked his pocket again. Yep, the box was still there. "So. I, um—" He cleared his throat.

"A little over two years ago I was accepted into this community and with that, the second-floor new year’s tradition. Each year that I've been able to attend I consider how lucky I am to know such amazing and loving people," Travis said as he fidgeted with the box in his jacket pocket. "And it was exactly two years, two months, and sixteen days ago that I was fortunately smart enough to agree to go on a first date to a terribly horrifying Halloween carnival that changed my life forever."

Come on. You can do it. You rehearsed this so many times, Emma thought as she mentally cheered on Travis.

"A life that's going to continue to change as this little family that is the second-floor community starts parting ways. Mrs. Russo has left, and soon, so will Chris and Emma," Travis said, giving a slight nod to Emma and Chris.

Bastion chuckled at this. "I think I jinxed it by telling everyone not to move. Maybe reverse Psychology? Quick! Everyone, scatter!" he joked, which caused the other three to laugh.

Travis smiled as he took a deep breath. "If I've learned anything over the last year, it's that change is inevitable, even if it can be terrifying," Travis said before shifting to kneel. "So, if there was one thing that I could make consistent in my life, even if we change with time, I'd want it to be that we're together for all the changes that life can throw at us," Travis said as he took out the box and offered it up to a now sobbing and nodding Bastion, hiding his mouth behind his hands. "That is to say, do you want to share the rest of forever together and get married?"

"Of course I do," Bastion replied as he moved forward to kneel in front of Travis as well so he could throw his arms around his new fiancé and pepper him with kisses.

Emma fought back a quiet 'Aww' so it wouldn't cover any of the audio on the recording and moved to make sure she was recording at the right angle. She loved a happy ending. Beginning? Whatever you called this.

Travis helped Bastion put on the ring and he showed it to the camera. "It fits," he said happily with a chuckle while moving to wipe away a tear. "You're sending me the video, right?" he asked, smiling from ear to ear as he and Travis both stood up and Emma nodded. "Okay good." Bastion fanned his face to try and stop crying.

Travis cleared his throat as he finally picked up his own glass from the shelf. "So, if everyone would care to join me in a toast," Travis said as Chris handed Emma her glass, and she mouthed a quiet ‘thank you.’ "Cheers, to a year of good health and prosperity."

"Cheers!" the three cried before taking a drink. With that, Emma cut the recording and focused on taking pictures for the two. By the time that the four had finished their drinks and gotten all the photos the newly engaged couple could ask for, it was 12:20 in the morning. Chris and Emma made their way back to his place to rest for the night. Why did it feel like they forgot something... All the same, the two went to bed.

'*'*'*'*'

Briiing, Briiing! Briiing, Briiing!

Chris inhaled deeply as he heard his phone going off and lazily reached for it.

Monday, January 11th, 3 AM.

[INCOMING CALL - DIRECTOR]

Well shit. He gave a short-tired sigh before giving Emma, who was curled up next to him, a quick peck and answering the phone.

"Hello?" he said, not even trying to hide that he was tired and that he had just been woken up.

"Redfield. We need you ready to head out to Romania in the next three hours," said the director with little else in the way of a greeting.

"I thought we weren't scheduled to leave until next week?" Chris pointed out. "Did something happen?"

"The time was moved. That's all there is to it," the director replied.

Yeah, he doubted that. "Okay. I'll be there," Chris said before hanging up and putting the phone down.

"Work?" Emma said, confused as she rolled over since the conversation had woken her up too.

"Yeah," he said, getting up. "Something feels off..."

"Be careful," Emma replied with concern evident in her tone despite being half asleep.

"I should be back in a week," he replied.

"Mmkay," Emma answered before starting to fall back asleep. She'd known him for four years, and they'd been seeing each other for two, so this was pretty normal now.

'*'*'*'*'

One long flight across the ocean later, Chris made his way to check on Ethan, Mia, and Rosemary Winters. Overall, the trip went pretty normally. Until the last day. Saturday, January 16th.

"Hey, Alpha," Tundra said as she headed over to join Chris as the squad got ready for the day.

"Yeah?" he said with a raised eyebrow.

"Just got back from talking to Tiger Orca. Nothing unusual to report aside from this.” She handed over an envelope addressed from Mia to Zoe Baker. The only other survivor of the Baker incident. Zoe hadn't exactly been quiet or subtle with her poking around about the BSAA, but it made it easier for him to dig around too. So he didn't exactly move to stop it. "Mia found out about Zoe?"

"Seems so," Tundra replied with a nod. "The letter seems clean. She handed it off to one of the Tiger Orca members a week or so ago, judging by the photo of the kid's half-birthday. They wanted to run it by you. Figured since we'd be stateside, we could take care of sending it out. They haven't heard anything regarding Miranda. It's hard to tell, though, when the woman can apparently turn into anyone."

"That certainly makes it more difficult," he agreed with a tired sigh, pocketing the letter. "Wait, half-birthday?" Chris asked, confused as he took out the letter and opened it to look at it.

"Something the matter, Captain?" Tundra asked, and Chris nodded.

"Maybe... I want to confirm a hunch though. For now, lay low. And don't mention the letter to anyone," Chris said as he pocketed it again.

"Yes sir," Tundra replied, confused.

All the same, the squad gathered up, and they made their way to the Winters’ home. Chris was the first to exit the vehicle and make his way up to the door. He pushed past his initial urge to just burst through the door and knocked on it.

It took a moment, but Ethan answered. "Hey, good timing," he said with a tired smile. "Mia, I'm heading out!" he called back into the house. "Let's go," he said as he closed the door behind him.

"Good timing?" Chris asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah," Ethan replied as they walked down the path of the house to the group of armored cars. "Saved me from getting my head bit off again," he said with a weary sigh. "Mia's been irritable for the last few weeks," Ethan admitted with a slight frown. He didn't like speaking poorly of his wife, but the fighting was getting draining.

Chris nodded and listened while trying to avoid raising any alarm. "Is she off her meds still?"

Ethan bobbed his head slightly. "Kind of. She went on them again after the birth, but back off again recently. Started going on about some holistic baby food diet. How it's not good for Rose even though the doctors said it would be fine."

"Right." Chris nodded while knitting his eyebrows. "How old is she again?"

"Five and a half months," Ethan said with a smile. He was more than happy to talk about his little girl. "It's kind of funny, actually," he added as he pulled up his phone to show Chris the same picture that was in the letter to Zoe. "Without the meds, Mia can be scatterbrained. Back on the second, Mia made up a cake for Rose's half-birthday. I didn't have the heart to tell her it wasn't for another month."

And that was pretty much exactly what he was looking for. Something was wrong. They needed to move out immediately.

Chris was rather irritable through training; Ethan was still not doing great. He’d improved over the last few years, to be sure, but even with that, it just seemed unwise to tell him about what was going on. What if this Miranda person infected him too? They didn't know exactly how her powers worked, just that they did, and they were connected to the mold.

Once they dropped Ethan off for the day, Chris got back into the car. "Get us to the airfield. We're going to be doing an all-nighter," Chris said, which caught the group's attention. They hadn't even turned off communications. "Miranda is up to something. We need to move now." Chris flipped off the communications upon remembering it was still on. "We're going dark effective immediately."

"Yes sir," they all replied and made their way to the airfield.

"Tundra, stay behind with Night Howl and Umber Eye, just in case. See if you can get Tiger Orca squad on board to help. They've been our eyes on the ground the whole time. We're going to need extra hands for this."

"Yes sir."

"Got it."

"Can do, boss."

"Lobo, Canine, that leaves the two of you with me. I'll make the flight over. Lobo, gas up the chopper to make the flight back. Canine, you'll come with me to get the supplies from the apartment," Chris added before looking at the group as a whole. "We'll meet up again at the coordinates provided by Tundra's tip as Miranda's base of operations. After that, we won't be able to go back to the BSAA for a resupply, so grab everything that isn't bolted down."

It was definitely not ideal to have to do this right when they were coming back from a mission when they'd be expected to attend a debrief, but to hell with it. If they didn't act fast, someone was going to die. If there hadn't been casualties already.

After a long flight back to the States, the three went ahead to carry out their goals. Chris hurried to his own office to get his civilian gear, which had his car keys in it, only to find a lone envelope sitting on his desk. It was embossed with the BSAA logo. Chris frowned as he opened the envelope, though his expression shifted to shock as he read the letter inside.

BSAA HQ:

Warning Letter to Chris Redfield

Chris,

We are growing concerned with your recent activity. According to the recent reports, you have taken personal control of the elite unit, Hound Wolf Squad, without permission. And you've accessed a number of top-secret documents. Also without permission.

What the hell are you doing?

What are you and your squad doing in eastern Europe? Who the fuck is this Miranda that keeps popping up in your correspondences? What is with the investigation into the Winters family?

You’ve been very critical of BSAA since the Baker Incident. You might be one of the founding original eleven, but I cannot let you continue to run around unchecked. So, I will repeat myself, What the hell are you doing?

BSAA HQ, Investigations

He frowned as he read the letter, grabbed a pen, and wrote on the back, 'It's Not Over.' He shoved the letter back into the envelope and pocketed that along with his car keys. He was running out of time. The BSAA was catching on and fast. They had a few hours at best before a no-fly notice went out to try and keep them grounded. With that, he quickly made his way out of the building and to the parking lot, where Canine was waiting by his car.

"What took you so long?" Canine asked as he opened the car door the second it was unlocked.

Chris gets into the car as well. He reached to grab the wire he was aware of and yanked it out to throw it out the window. "We got trouble," Chris said with a frown.

"Don't we always?" Canine asks in return as he strapped in.

"BSAA is on our heels," Chris said as he got the car started and quickly made his way back to the apartments.

"Great, should I text Lobo?” Canine asked, taking out his phone for the group chat.

"No, they're going through phone records. All correspondence is being scrubbed as we speak from the sounds of it. We have to go completely dark at this point," Chris said with a frown as he used one hand to dig out a cigarette from the pack in his cup holder.

The drive went by quickly since there was hardly anyone on the road. Even after leaving at 6:30 pm for a thirteen-hour flight, it was still 11:30 pm on the 16th, thanks to time zones. Chris quickly parked along the side of the road, leaving the SUV running as he and Canine hurried up the stairs. He used the spare key to open up Emma's apartment, which caused Duke to start barking at first since it was an odd time for someone to walk in, but he stopped shortly after seeing it was just Chris and friends.

"Come on," Chris said as he led the way back to the room where the supplies were stashed and unlocked it using the allen wrench that Emma stashed on top of the door frame. It took a good while, but they eventually moved the six large crates worth of supplies, along with miscellaneous extras too big to fit into the metal containers.

"I think that's the last of it," Canine said as he waited for Chris to exit the apartment and lock it up.

Chris nodded. "Let's go."

The two drove back to the BSAA HQ and didn't bother parking in the parking lot. Instead, Chris used what security access he had left to get the car onto the airfield so they could start packing it up directly. It would be more evidence against him to leave his car on the airfield like this, but they didn't have the luxury of time.

"Taking off," Lobo said as Chris and Canine buckled in.

"Chopper H1W1, you are not cleared for takeoff," said a voice over the radio. "Return to base, over."

"Ignore it. Take off. If we re-ground, they're going after us," Chris said and Lobo nodded.

"That would be a negative air control. Make sure the skies are clear, over and out," Lobo replied, and with that, he took off and headed back to Romania.

Around 6:45 AM, Emma's alarm went off. She woke up in Chris’s apartment with a yawn. Sunday, January 17th. It was early for a weekend, but Duke needed a regular schedule, so she woke up all the same. She sleepily shuffled from one apartment to the other and walked in to stare at the island counter in confusion. That wasn't there before, she thought as she attempted to pet Duke while being distracted by two envelopes and a folded piece of printer paper sitting upright with a pen.

She walked over and picked up the folded paper to read it first.

Emma,

The BSAA caught onto my plans. I'm sorry but I don't know when I'll be back. It's more than I should ask of you, but please mail these out to the address on the envelope.

Stay safe,

Chris

P.S. Burn this so they don't know I was here.

Emma stared at the tiny metal house on the island before ripping off a scrap from the piece of printer paper and writing on it with the pen that was left next to the letters. She put the rushed message into the house before wandering to the junk drawer to find a box of matches and using one to light the scrap of paper in the tiny house on fire. She repeated the action of tearing off a piece of the page, writing a quick message, and burning it until the page of printer paper was completely gone and a mound of ashes collected on the tray under the metal hut. Each scrap of the page held the same message.

Please let him come home safely.

"Come on, Duke. We need to take a trip to the post office," Emma said with a worried frown.

'*'*'*'*'

Despite the rough take-off from the BSAA HQ, Hound Wolf Squad managed to shake the few scrambled pilots who tried to follow them. It cost them valuable time and fuel, but the price was worth the lead it gave them. It was January 18th, at 9 pm in Romania, and by the time they found a place to land, the helicopter's tank was almost empty. There was no turning back, so the team got to work.

Chris carried one of the storage containers out of the back of the helicopter and placed it on the snowy ground by Canine and Umber Eye. "How are we looking so far?"

"It's not great," Umber Eye admitted as he worked on packing up as much as possible into various rucksacks for the team to carry. "I was able to get a hold of Tiger Orca. They're on board to help, but they're trying to stay under the radar. This little stunt put a good size target on our back. It will probably take them a few more days before they can join us." He continued packing as he spoke, opening the newly provided box and sifting through the contents. "I sent Night Howl and Tundra ahead to try to set up camp. We only have what we can carry until Tiger Orca arrives with resupply and fuel. For now, we should only take the necessities."

"It's a start, at least," Chris said with a forced neutral expression before

"Here," Umber Eye said before tossing a wireless radio over to Chris. "It's not much, just an old-fashioned open wave radio, but it's the best I could do on short notice to stay in contact with the other two. We can't rely on any of the closed-line communication devices we packed. They all go directly back to HQ. So they'll be able to pinpoint our location in a second. Tiger Orca should have their phones on them, but it's safer to avoid calling."

"Makes sense," Chris stated before activating the radio. "Night Howl, Tundra, this is Alpha. Do you read me?"

It took a few moments, but a fuzzy response from Tundra was heard through the static. "So you're still alive. Night Howl and Tundra reporting in."

"What's your current status?" Chris asked with a half-hearted smile.

"We're closing in on the target location," Night Howl announced through the radio. "We should have line of sight in an hour."

"Good, but our priority is to secure a proper base of operation. Don't get too close," Chris warned as Lobo made his way over with another container.

"Understood, Over and out." A blip from the radio announced that Night Howl had closed the line.

"Well, you guys heard them. We have an hour to be ready to move out and join them," Chris stated while hooking the radio to his belt.

It took some time, but the four of them managed to unload the remaining supplies, divide them out into the four large ruck sacks, and put back everything they decided against taking with them. Munitions, explosives, rations, and medicine filled each corner that wasn't already claimed by pistols, rifles, and laptops. Much to Lobo's dismay, the laser-guided RPG system he worked so hard to sneak out of HQ did not make the cut and was left behind.

Almost exactly on the hour, another blip came from the radio announcing a new message. "Come in, Alpha. This is Tundra. Do you read me?"

Chris retrieved the radio from his belt and activated it. "Loud and clear."

"Target location is in sight," Tundra stated, though her voice seemed distant.

"Holy shit... The tip was right. This place is real. There's a whole village down there," Night Howl added but cleared his throat after a reverent pause. "We have eyes on a set of active smokestacks to the south. That should help you find our location."

"Understood. Is your current location secure?" Chris asked while the others got ready to leave.

"Confirmed. We're all-clear for the supply drop, Captain,"

Chris moved to shoulder one of the rucksacks. "Supplies en route. We'll be there soon."

"Over and out."

"Look alive. Keep your night vision goggles on and ready," Chris warned, earning a few confirmations in return as Canine, Lobo, and Night Howl followed his lead. Minutes turned to hours, and the all-nighter extended into its second night. Their marching steps crunched through the snow-covered forest floor and echoed through the leafless trees that creaked in the wind. By the ninth hour of their trip, smoke could be seen on the horizon.

"Smoke stacks." Umber Eye gestured to the source before looking at his compass. "Due north. they're on the other side then."

"We'll need to circle around then, and avoid being seen. It's hard to say if the locals will take our side or not," Chris stated before looking at Lobo. "Keep an eye out for a new landing site for the helicopter while we walk. We'll want to keep that close in case we need a quick getaway."

"You're really going to make me go back and move it, aren't you?" Lobo asked with a squinting, deadpan stare.

"Once we reconnect with Tiger Orca, we'll have off-road transportation and fuel. It won't take long if we have a place in mind now," Chris affirmed before a somewhat smug smirk formed. "Unless you can't handle flying it. That's fine. I can take over. It's a particularly difficult maneuver for a rookie to pull off."

"Hey, hey, hey, Not cool. That's not what I said," Lobo grumbled before nudging Chris. "Rookie my ass," he said under his breath before taking the lead to go around the village.

The roundabout path led to another several-hour-long hike. Exhaustion was setting in, but they found comfort in seeing several tents and familiar faces by noon. Just to be safe, Chris took out the radio once more. "Calling in a status update. Supplies are set for arrival."

"Status update received. I'll send Night Howl out to collect. Confirm your location?"

"Got it, camp is in sight with the smoke stated to the south," Chris stated. It took a minute, but Night Howl exited the circle of tents with a wide smile and waved at the group.

"Took you guys long enough," Night Howl stated as he walked over and took the rucksack from Canine. "You guys look like shit," he added with a laugh.

"I feel like it too," Canine admitted while gratefully handing over the heavy bag. "What day is it?"

"It's the 19th, bud. A little past noon." Night Howl gave the youngest team member a pat on the back.

"Everyone, try to get a few hours of sleep. We'll take shifts for now," Chris stated as they walked into the camp. "Lobo, Umber Eye, you two rest up first. Tundra, Night Howl set up a perimeter and kept watch. I want check-ins every 30 minutes. We're not taking chances here. Canine and I will stay here and work on unpacking. In 4 hours, we'll rotate positions. Camp shifts to rest. Rest shifts to perimeter duty and perimeter shifts to camp maintenance until we've had time to catch our breath."

"Yes sir," the group responded in unison before stepping into action.

'*'*'*'*'

The changing of the guard went well enough. Four hours of sleep was not enough after being awake for over 48 hours, but it was a start. Lobo and Umber Eye took over perimeter duty, which allowed Chris and Canine to get some shut-eye. Lobo trudged through the snow, following the trail of footsteps left behind by the others from their watch. As he did so, a figure in the distance caught his attention. A blond woman, probably in her late twenties or early thirties, was walking around dressed in turn-of-the-century clothing with a panicked expression.

"Turn around," Lobo said under his breath. He really didn't want to do this. From what he knew, they looked like a local. "Come on, turn around." He waited, but the woman continued getting closer to camp, to his dismay. "...Shit." Lobo kept his firearm at the ready but slowly started closing the gap to sneak up behind the frantically searching lady. As he got closer, a branch snapped under his foot, forcing him to find cover to avoid being seen. The situation went from bad to worse as she walked back towards the sound. He held his breath, counted down from 5, and once she was close enough, he left the brush he was hiding in to hit the woman in the back of the head and knock her out.

"How is it that civilians always get involved in this garbage," he grumbled as he tied the woman's arms behind her back before putting her over his shoulder. The heavy weapons expert activated his radio as he walked back to camp. "This is Lobo. I'm heading back to camp. I got a curious local in tow. We might be able to get some information out of them."

"Rodger that," Tundra replied.

The hike back was certainly not pleasant. Lobo's legs were already screaming from the 14-hour hike he had just finished. Carrying his own weight was hard enough, let alone the weight of an extra person. Still, he eventually made his way back and put the woman down next to the fire.

"Where's Alpha?" Lobo asked as he sat with the other four on the other side of the fire.

"He's still waking up. It should only take him a few moments," Umber Eye replied as he poked at the fire with a branch to keep it active.

The warmth and scent of the fire seemed to do the trick as the knocked-out woman slowly stirred and struggled to sit up while speaking Romanian.

"So, you think she's one of the villagers?" Canine asked while keeping an eye out for any sudden movement.

"Right, sorry. English. It's been a while. Hey there," the woman said as she corrected her initial greeting.

"She's an American." Night Howl mumbled with a stunned expression. "How the hell did you get here?"

"Vacation gone very, very wrong..." She laughed, seemingly unfazed about being tied up. "Are you the BSAA?" she asked, which surprised them once more, and at this point, Chris walked out of his tent to join the conversation and took a seat with the others.

"Who are you?" Chris asked while trying to wake up. This was just what he needed, an interruption to the limited sleep he was going to get.

"Charlotte... Mayweather," the woman hesitantly replied. "I heard your radio chatter. You're lucky the villagers don't know English."

"You're not one of them then? So why are you here."

"That is a really long story," she admitted. "To sum it up, I went hiking. I got lost, ended up in Miranda's lab, and was put on death row like every other sap that gets lost out here, but I managed to bullshit my way out of it by offering to help her in exchange for my life. I've been trying to sabotage her work ever since. I thought I could handle this, but it's gotten out of control..."

"You helped her? So you are one of them," Chris pointed out with some level of disgust.

"Okay, easy for you to say. I didn't want to get eaten alive. That was my alternative." She scowled. "I sent in the tip because I can't get people out anymore... I." she paused, "One of my allies who was helping me get people out... he got caught. I've been on a short leash ever since."

"You should have called in the tip off the bat and left this to professionals," he replied with a frown. "Where is Miranda now?"

"Wow, if only I thought to call the organization of professionals that I didn't know existed until a few months ago! Maybe my friends might not be dead! Yeah, sure. By the way, Mr. professional, this is a great place to camp if you're trying to end up dead in the night," Charlotte said with a frown. "I've managed to survive being in this place for a year and a half. I might know a few things you don't. So don't fucking patronize me when I'm trying to tell you that you don't have to start from scratch."

Lobo covered his mouth as he snorted and tried not to laugh while Chris glared at him.

"So, let's try this again," Charlotte said with an irritated smile. "Hi, I'm Charlotte. I called you here to help protect people who need it and don't realize they're in danger. Over the last year and a half, I've gotten a lay of the land, access to pretty much all the buildings, and became allies with the one person with an army that can help you. I know basically every lord's daily schedule and can get you anything and anywhere within this village. What's your name?"

Chris took a breath to calm himself before looking at her once more. "Chris Redfield."

"Chris. Nice to meet you," she said with her best customer service voice. "I'd be more than happy to help you and your team in any way possible to help assure the safety of the villagers if you would be so kind as to untie me."

"How do we know we can trust what you're saying?" Tundra asked with a skeptical glance.

Charlotte nudged at her pinafore to push her phone out. "The tip you received has a phone number with it. Turn on my phone, and text the number you received with the tip. That should confirm that I am who I say I am," she answered. "And we really kinda want to put some hustle on this. I wasn't joking when I said you picked a dumb spot. This is Lycan territory, and the sun is about to go down. They love to stay by the factory since Heisenberg gives them marching orders."

"What's a Lycan?" Umber Eye asked as he took the phone and powered it up as requested. He returned to his seat while digging out his phone, so he could look up the tip to find the number and call it.

Charlotte remained silent during the process. "And there you have it," she said after her phone started to ring. "And as for your question, I don't really know what they are... I know they used to be villagers, but they turned into these… things."

"Bioweapons," Chris muttered quietly.

"Maybe? I dunno. It's got something to do with mold and a parasite that Miranda called a Cadou..."

"You don't think this is another Baker incident, do you?" Canine asked while looking at Chris.

"It's hard to say," Chris replied before getting up and walking over to Charlotte to untie her. "Tell us what you know."

"Gladly, while walking, though. We don’t have enough time to move all your supplies now, but I know a place you guys can safely rest for the night,” Charlotte agreed.

“All right..." he hesitantly agreed. "Hound Wolf squad, pack it up," he ordered and went to gather what gear he could carry. If they were getting closer to the village, he wanted to have some supplies at least.

Charlotte waited until they were done and led the way down the mountain towards the reservoir. "Moreau rarely comes out at night. He's docile as a lamb unless provoked," she explained as she walked. "The lords are all what Miranda considered to be failed experiments to bring back her child, Eva. This apparently wasn't her only attempt. She mentioned some Eveline project."

"She was connected to the Louisiana outbreak too?" Canine rhetorically asked before muttering under his breath. "So this is another Baker incident."

"Not sure when that happened, but this has been going on for over a hundred years. The four lords and Miranda are considered immortals; honestly, I'd believe it. I've seen what they're capable of." Charlotte replied. "Luckily for you guys, the strongest of the four is your best chance at an ally. I'll try to introduce you guys sometime that isn't now because if I don't get back to the castle by curfew, you'll be short a mole."

The group continued to ask questions, which Charlotte answered in turn as they made their way down the mountainside. It took a while, but they managed to get to the reservoir as the sun set. Once there, she led them to a small abandoned boat house on the water.

"Here, the villagers aren't using these right now since fishing season is more or less done," she said as she let them into the building. "Moreau tends to go for a morning swim. When he's out in the water, make sure you're quiet. He doesn't have full control of his beast, and he tends to move towards sound."

Chris nodded. "I think this got missed before... Where is Miranda now?"

"She's been gone for at least three months now. Almost four. She left in October."

"What?" Chris asked with a tone of anger and concern.

"Yeah, kinda thought I mentioned that in my tip. She's trying to steal a baby. She can change her physical form," she replied.

"We're changing plans and leaving as soon as possible. We need to get there before she takes Rose by any means necessary." Chris frowned.

"What?" Charlotte said as her shoulders dropped. "But. You just got here. There are people in danger. Here."

"We'll come back after," Chris confirmed.

Charlotte frowns as pressed her lips together before walking away.

Chapter Text

Just like Chris said. Hound Wolf squad only spent a few days in the village before leaving to go and find Miranda. January turned to February as days stretched into weeks. If it wasn't for Tiger Orca, they would have never been able to confirm that Miranda swapped places with Mia. Getting access to a blood test was crucial since it seemed she wasn't able to change her blood type. Even with the weeks of effort, the team of twelve had no idea where the real Mia went, how long Miranda had been in Mia's place, and worse still, if Ethan had been in on the plan. How else could Mia have been so easily replaced?

Chris watched the winter's abode with night vision goggles and took a deep breath to calm his nerves. Months of planning led up to this. They needed to take out Miranda and get Rose to a new, safe location to make sure she wouldn't be used as a bioweapon.

"I've got eyes on the package," said one of the members of Tiger Orca.

"Confirmed. Package is solo in the second-floor nursery," another added.

"They let their guard down. On my signal, we move. Collect the target and make sure Miranda is dead. Hound Wolf will escort Rose to the new safe house while Tiger Orca takes Miranda's remains back to BSAA Europe's HQ. Understood?" A collection of confirmations was received. "All right. Ready... Aim..." He looked down his sight into the Winter's home to see Ethan and the disguised Miranda talking at the dinner table. "Fire!"

Tiger Orca's sniper took the shot, and to the horror of the team, they watched as the bullet to the heart did nothing. A blood splatter formed on her shirt as she looked around in confusion.

"Cut the lights, open fire!" Chris barked out orders, and the group of twelve sprang into action. Six Tiger Orca members riddled bullets through various windows looking into the home and targeted the false wife. Stray bullets took out various lights and bottles as Ethan moved to hide under the table to avoid getting hit. However, electricity wasn't the greatest concern as the remaining six Hound Wolf members worked on infiltration. Night Howl cut the power to the house as the other four broke in through various doors and windows. Chris similarly made his way into the dark house.

As the gunfire stopped, Chris walked into the dining room, where he could see Ethan cowering.

"Mia. Oh god," Ethan whispered.

Chris walked over and effortlessly flung the dining room table out of the way, so he could keep a close eye on Ethan.

"Chris? What the hell?!" Ethan shouted as fear turned to anger, though his legs refused to move.

He still didn't trust that Ethan wasn't involved somehow, but even then, there was a moment of hesitation. "Sorry, Ethan," he said before looking at the unmoving figure between them.

"NO!" Ethan shouted as he realized what was about to happen, only to watch in horror as Chris unloaded a few bullets into Mia's head and flinched with each impact. "What? Why?!" Ethan demanded in horrified rage while still too stunned to move. More shattering glass could be heard as the room filled with Tiger Orca members who were ready to provide backup, keeping their weapons aimed at Ethan.

Chris remained quiet while thinking over what to do at this point. "Tie him up. We're bringing him with," he stated before turning and walking away, so he could regroup with his team by the front door. This would be the end of it. Three years of work, and finally, he'd get some answers. The soft sound of an infant crying came to ear along with heavy footsteps as Canine walked down the stairs with Rosemary Winters in his arms.

"Go on, move," said one of the two Tiger Orca members as they pushed Ethan to get him to move towards the door while a second member walked past them.

"All clear," the second said as Night Howl strode past Ethan.

"Rose?" he asked quietly before realizing that Canine was handing over Rose to Chris. "What the hell are you doing with my daughter?!" Ethan snarled while trying to rush forward, only to be stopped by the agent pushing him.

There was a pause as Canine looked at Ethan before turning his attention back to Chris. "Package secure, Sir," he hesitantly stated while gently handing Rose over.

"Take him away." Chris spared Ethan a passing glance before turning to walk away with Rose.

"I said get your hands off her!" Ethan shouted as he tried to grab Chris's shoulder to stop him.

"Ethan, no." Chris warned, but it wasn't in time as the nearest member of Tiger Orca promptly knocked out Ethan.

"Rose," Ethan weakly said while trying to reach for her in his last moments of consciousness.

"Get him out of here," Chris said while staring down at the knocked-out father. His instructions were followed without question. "All right, we have a lot to do and not much time to do it. I want three people in each car. You three, you'll be in the car with Miranda and Ethan." He walked over to one of the four vehicles, so he could put Rose down in the baby seat they prepared ahead of time. "The three remaining Tiger Orca members will guard Rose. Hound Wolf will escort. Three in the front-most vehicle, three in the rear. We'll ride together for now before splitting off. Rear security will follow Miranda and Ethan to HQ while front security escorts Rose to the safe house. Once this is done, we'll work on extracting the villagers."

"Sir yes, sir," the soldiers all replied in unison. Within a matter of minutes, they managed to pack up and start driving.

The drive should have been quiet. Everything was going to plan. The groups split up. Roughly an hour after doing so, a dark raven-like monstrosity landed on the escort car for Rose. With a resounding screech of tearing metal, the top of the armored SUV was ripped open.

"Shit shit shit," Chris repeated while quickly turning the car in a tight U-turn to face the monster. Just as quickly as it arrived, it took flight and disappeared, and the torn-up SUV was left to careen headlong into the one Chris was driving. He was left face to face with the remains of what used to be the other vehicle's driver. A hole had been pierced clean through their skull. "Damn it!" Chris shouted while punching the steering wheel. "Get me on the phone with the other convoy," Chris said while trying to put the car in reverse, so he could get around the wreckage and carnage.

Night Howl got to work on that and tried dialing the number. "They're not picking up."

"Call again," Chris ordered while making his way back down the road to try and find the other convoy.

"They're still not answering," Night Howl said.

"Then keep calling," Chris irritatedly barked back as he focused on driving. This was not going to be another failure.

Night Howl continued to call each member of Tiger Orca with no success. He couldn't put it off forever, though, and he slowly started dialing the number for Umber Eye, fearing the worst. No answer. After another thirty minutes, they found more wreckage. Two cars toppled over with the back of one ripped to shreds with bodies littering the ground. "If they're alive, they'd head back to camp to regroup," Night Howl said solemnly.

Chris set the GPS to the coordinates from Charlotte's tip. The map updated, providing new directions, which were quickly followed. "They're alive," Chris said while trying to focus on the road until they came to a break in the guard rail that would allow them to drive off-road.

The SUV bumped and rattled down the path it forcefully made. An hour into the drive, the trees slowly shifted and swayed in an unnatural way as their bark became sickly and dark. The ground grew dense with mud that gradually caused the heavy vehicle to sink and stall.

"Looks like we're going the rest of the way on foot. Stay alert. It's safest to work under the assumption that we didn't kill Miranda. She could be anywhere," Chris warned as he powered down the SUV and readied his weapon. Night Howl and Canine did the same and followed behind him through the snow and mud-covered forest. The fog from their breath made it difficult to see at times, but they pushed forward all the same.

"What the hell is that?" Canine asked with quiet disgust while staring at something hanging from the trees. The three cautiously approached and found a decapitated goat's head dangling from the branch that Canine pointed out before. "That's disgusting..."

"We're getting close," Chris said, trying not to focus on it. "Keep moving."

They continued through the trees, and ropes and mist became increasingly plentiful as they did so. Goat heads and dolls were left to hang from the branches, and as they got deeper into the forest, the dolls became bigger, and graves began to litter the forest floor.

Chris.

Chris looked around as he heard his name on the wind. His breath caught in his throat as he recognized the voice. "That's not possible," Chris said under his breath.

"Are you okay, boss?" Night Howl asked with a raised eyebrow.

Save us. Please. Help us.

The voices began to multiply and grow louder, causing Chris's breathing to labor. He knew those voices. He knew all of them. How were they here? He couldn't get distracted, though. He needed to focus.

"Chris?" asked a woman's voice as clear as day. Standing in the distance was a face he didn't think he'd ever see again.

Chris stared at his mother with wide eyes and a pained frown before he shook his head. "No. You died. It was a car crash. It was thirty years ago. This isn't real." Something was messing with his head. Chris looked around to find he was alone. "Night Howl? Canine!"

"You're no fun. I wanna play, I wanna play, I wanna play," chanted a childish voice that cackled.

Chris quickly looked around, trying to figure out where the echoing voice was coming from, before feeling a sharp pain in his back. He could hear the same cackling behind him as he reached back and grabbed whatever was on his back, finding a porcelain doll dressed in a wedding gown holding blood-soaked scissors.

"Uh oh... uhh. I-I don't wanna play anymore," the doll nervously announced while swinging its scissors at him. "Let go of me. Let go. You're stupid. You're ugly. Let go!"

Acting out of fear, Chris quickly threw the doll as far away from him as he could before firing a barrage of bullets in the direction he threw it.

"Jesus Christ, Alpha, a warning!" Canine yelped as he quickly backed out of the way, and the illusion dropped.

"I think he's finally snapped," Night Howl said, confused. "What happened to your back?"

"We need to get out of here... Now," Chris urgently ordered while leading the way. Any way that would get them far from here.

'*'*'*'*'

The forest eventually thinned as the village came into view along with the morning sun. What was once a somewhat active community was littered with corpses and pools of blood. Seeing little reason to be particularly stealthy at this point, the trio sprinted through the village to the other side of the forest, through the trees, and all the way back to the helicopter, which Lobo did inevitably move closer to the village.

As they approached the helicopter, three figures also came into view. "Alpha? Tundra, Lobo, they're here," Umber Eye happily announced. "Boy, are you three a sight for sore eyes."

"Same to you. We didn't have you too worried, did we?" Night Howl asked with an attempt at a confident grin.

"Just glad to see you're all in one piece," Umber Eye admitted. "We're just as lucky. For the most part..."

"What does that mean?" Canine asked as a sense of dread set in.

"Tundra got hit pretty good during Miranda's escape. She got hit in the shoulder by a piece of scrap metal."

"You're sure it was Miranda? We shot her 30 times, at least. Alpha put five bullets in her head point-blank," Canine shook his head in disbelief. If she was still alive after all that, maybe she really was immortal.

"I can only assume that was her since the SUV in front of us toppled over as something exploded out of the back and flew off." Umber Eye frowned despite his best efforts to keep a neutral expression. "It's not ideal, but she's going to need a bit more time to rest. The injectors are working. The wound's practically closed at this point, but walking the whole way here after all that. I wouldn't push it. She needs at least a few more hours to catch her breath."

Chris nods. "All right. Well, we can't just do nothing..."

"I'm not so sure, Cap. I mean, you kinda lost it earlier. Are you sure you're okay to keep going?" Night Howl points out, earning a hard stare for it.

"I'm fine," Chris insisted. "Lobo, get over here!" Chris called and waited for the heavy weapon's expert to join them. "Here's the new plan. Umber Eye will stay here with Tundra. I'll go back to the village with Lobo, Night Howl, and Canine. We'll get Lobo to a defensible position in the center of the village. While there, he'll fill Tundra's role and set up a base of operations. That boat house from before seemed like a useful asset as well. I'll get Night Howl and Canine set up there. I need you two to focus on analyzing the mold, so we know what we're fighting because clearly, we got it wrong."

"What about you?" Umber Eye asked with a knowing frown.

"I'll go off on my own from there. Our tipster from before said these things use the factory as a hub of sorts. They like to gather around it because the one controlling their actions, lives there. I'll make my way in and destroy the place to flush out the last of them."

"By yourself?" Umber Eye repeated.

"It's better than leaving Tundra on her own. She's a sitting duck if she's still recovering. She needs you more than I do right now," Chris offered in his defense.

"I don't thi—"

"I'm not asking," Chris pointedly stated, which caused Umber Eye to remain quiet.

"Alright," he said and took a few steps back. "You guys heard the man. Get to work. I'll be here."

There was an unusual moment of hesitation, but the remaining three sounded off in compliance and followed Chris's lead back down the mountain. By the time they made it back to the village center, it was around one in the afternoon. After a bit of help from Night Howl, Lobo was left in an abandoned church, which seemed to be one of the few buildings still in good shape.

After that, Chris, Night Howl, and Canine made their way to the Reservoir. One pm turned to three. Then four. Chris and Canine would take turns running off to get samples for Night Howl to test. Chris was about to leave for another run when the sound of grunts and creaking floorboards caught his attention.

"Get off of me!"

"Stay the fuck down," Canine snarled, finally getting Chris to look over and see that somehow, some way, Ethan managed to survive Miranda's escape, but he made it all the way back to the village. Just to end up pinned to the ground by Canine.

"Ethan," Chris said with annoyed amusement. "I gotta say, I'm surprised you made it this far." The guy never did pay attention during training. The fact he still had most of his fingers and all his toes was a miracle in and of itself. "It'd be a shame if something happened to you now."

"Sure, Chris. Why not? you killed Mia!" Ethan accused while trying to get away from Canine. "Now do me and finish the job!"

Chris frowned at that. If this guy kept getting in the way, he just might have to. He wordlessly pushed himself to stand up from his leaning position against the wall of the boat house and walked over to Ethan.

"Hey Cap, I'm getting some serious motion readings out here. We should move on,” said Night Howl, which caused Chris to stop and look at the man behind him.

"What kind of readings? What's moving?" Chris asked, electing to ignore Ethan.

"Unknown, but my guess is we've been here too long, and Miranda knows it," Night Howl admitted with a frown behind his gear.

"Hey, hey, did you say Miranda?" Ethan asked. "How are you involved?"

Chris turned his attention back to Ethan and pointed at him. "Leave it alone, Ethan. You are out of your depth." He sneered before he turned his attention back to Night Howl. "What about the sample analysis?"

"It's definitely related to the mold."

Ethan finally pushed himself to stand as Chris walked over to investigate an unusual sound. A large creature pops out of the water for a split second.

Night howl walked around outside the house as Chris stormed over to Ethan, pointing once more. "You stay out of our business, Ethan," he said in an accusing tone

"What business? I don't—"

"God! Watch out!" Chris shoved Ethan, hoping to get him out of the way of the charging creature, only to get thrown back through a wall while flailing to try and keep his balance. The impact of the icy cold water and debris falling on top of him proved too much and knocked him out. He only started regaining his consciousness as he felt himself being dragged. Panic caused him to quickly sputter and cough to get the water out of his lungs.

"Oh, thank god you're not dead," Charlotte said as she flopped back to sit and rest for a second. Everything hurt.

"You. You're still alive?" Chris asked as he got up.

"What can I say? I'm really, really stubborn," she admitted with a tired laugh. "And I need your help..."

Hearing that caused him to pause. "All right," he agreed as Charlotte stood, getting her coat.

"We need to get to the factory. Quickly. Follow me."

"You can get into the factory?" Chris asked, stunned. He'd kind of figured he’d have to fight tooth and nail to get in there.

“Like I said before. I can get into all the buildings here, and Karl isn’t so bad once you get to know him. Same with Moreau, actually... Sorry about"—she gestured to the area where the building was—"That... It's not him... He can't control that form, and he has to use it sometimes, or it hurts him," she explained before motioning for Chris to follow her. "There isn't much time, but we can still stop Miranda."

Chris nod and follows Charlotte over to the sluice gate, which just got a few dozen times more dangerous as there was now a rampant fish monster slamming around in the reservoir. "Hold on tight. This is the fastest way across with the least Lycans. That will help a fair bit since we're both unarmed at this point."

"I still have a knife," Chris countered and followed.

"Oh good," Charlotte replied. "They can pick their teeth after they finish eating." She braced for another impact. "It's best to just avoid them completely, right no-OW!" her last word became more panicky as an unexpected impact came along while she stepped on ice. She nearly fell off the gate, only to be caught by the wrist and pulled back before she could fall. She clung to the railing and looked between where she almost fell and Chris.

"Guess we're even," he said with an attempt at a smile, only for her to glare at him in return.

Her silence only lasted until they were safely off the gate. "We're absolutely not remotely close to even," Charlotte said as she caught her breath now that they were safely on the other side of the gate. "I told you there were well over a hundred people who needed help. I told you what was happening here, and you left." She continued to lead the way. "But you're here now... so maybe you can still help us."

Chris remained silent but followed. He needed to get into the factory to shut it down. As they made their way to the main gates, the sound of rushing water and an alert siren announced that the sluice gates had been opened.

Chris watched as Charlotte shook her head and continued pushing herself to walk forward until she got to the factory's main gate. "Karl! Karl, open the gate."

No answer.

"Well, crap... He must be out. Sorry, I can't open it myself." Charlotte frowned as she tried to figure out what to do.

"You've never climbed a fence?" Chris asked, confused, before moving to do so. If this was the only security, then this would be easier than he'd thought. There was barbed wire at the top, but that was easy enough to get around with well-placed footing.

"Have yo—dumb question, of course you have," Charlotte said as she watched him do so with ease. She shook her head and attempted to climb the fence.

Chris managed to get over in a few seconds and hopped down to nimbly land on his feet. He stood up to dust himself off as Charlotte not-so-gracefully belly-flopped behind him with a yelp, getting her skirt caught in the barbed wire. The sound caused him to pause and look back to find the woman lying there. "Come on," he said as he offered a hand to help her get up.

She stared at the offered hand, seeming confused, for a few moments before she accepted it and got up so she could continue leading the way to the factory.

Chris watched as Charlotte attempted to nudge the heavy steel door open with no success. "Move," Chris said, and Charlotte complied, giving him the space to effortlessly open the door.

"Boulder punching. Got it," she said with a nod.

"You know about that?" he asked, a bit surprised, as they walked in.

"Saw it on your company website profile," Charlotte explained, earning a few grumbles in response.

"I thought I told them to take that part off," he said with an embarrassed frown.

"Come on. It's not much further. He asked me to bring you to the 5th level," Charlotte explained, and Chris nodded. Luckily, this place was considerably warmer than it was outside. The two had to pass by several rooms with mechanically enhanced bioweapons to get to the elevator. "How are you holding up?"

"I've been better, also been worse, so…" He shrugged.

"I mean, do you need anything? Medicine, bandages. I'd offer a change of clothes, but I honestly have no idea where he keeps anything in this place aside from the med kit..."

"No," Chris replied as they stepped onto the elevator.

"Mmk." She shrugged as she worked the elevator, lowering them further into the factory.

As the elevator descended, Chris crossed his arms and waited. "You've really been here for a year and a half?"

"Yep." She bobbed her head in a nod. "Feels like longer. Yet like no time at all..." she admitted as they waited. "There were a few times I could have run for it, but I couldn't get myself to do it... I couldn't leave everyone here, knowing I was in a rare position that I could fight back for people that couldn't..."

"I see," he said with quiet hesitance. "So did they end up experimenting on you too?"

"Luckily, no," Charlotte replied as she pushed the button to get the door to open so they could leave now that the elevator had stopped at the 5^th basement floor. "That was my deal with Miranda. I'd help her, and she'd leave me alone in return. I pointed out that if she did experiment on me, I'd be useless. Managed to get myself into a pretty cushy place where I was able to really make a difference until about seven months ago. She started catching on to what I was doing and sent me to the castle," she said with a short laugh before holding up her hands to show the now callused, cracked, and scarred digits. "They didn't look like this before I got here," she added with an attempt at a smile as if she was saying 'ta-dah.'

Chris nodded to show he was listening while trying to avoid eye contact. This place was a mess.

"But now you're here, and we can work together," Charlotte said hopefully. "You, Me, Karl, Moreau, and that other guy he was talking about. The kid's father," she listed off while looking around as well.

"Ethan," Chris said, surprised.

"Maybe? Karl never mentioned his name, only that he wanted to try to get him on our team," she said as she finally turned her attention back to Chris.

Chris shook his head. "That's not happening. Look, you've been through a lot, but this place is crawling with bioweapons. It's not safe."

"So you don't want to take down Miranda... because that's what we're trying to do," Charlotte said as annoyance started to eat away at her.

"I'm taken down Miranda and all of this as well. Bioweapons are dangerous. We can't let any of them leave the area..." Chris counters.

Charlotte remained silent, her angered expression was difficult to mask. "Fine. Fine, just..." She paused while trying to think of a new plan. "You're going to want that thing then," she said, gesturing off to some strange tank-like device nestled off to the side of the garbage heap of a room. "It's made of a metal-polymer composite. So, Heisenberg can't control it. He abandoned the project because of that, so if you can figure out how it works. Be my guest."

Chris nodded in approval. "Nice. That will definitely help," he said with a smile as he walked over to check it out by knocking his knuckles against it. "Weird. It feels like metal."

"Oh yeah, no, that's the polymer part. See, it looks and feels like metal, but it's really more just reinforced plastic," she said, going with it.

"Weird..." he said and moved on.

"Yeah, I don't really get it either," she said with a shrug. "Anyway... I should probably go. Sounds like you made up your mind."

"Yeah..." Chris paused before speaking again. "If you don't mind, helping a bit more. We set up a secondary base in the village church. One of my squad members should be there. Goes by Lobo. Can you try to reach him to get a supply drop?" Chris requested.

Charlotte thought it over. "All right. I'll be right back," she agreed and went back to the elevator, leaving Chris on his own.

Once he was sure he was alone, he took out his phone to call Lobo. "Lobo? Hey. Yeah, I'm fine. I've made it into the factory. There's a civilian in route. Get her back to the helicopter and order everyone to regroup there. We're going to need to work as a unit on this one. It's bigger than we thought." Chris stopped to listen as he tinkered with the odd tank-like tractor. "I'm still good to clean out the factory. I got a good tip from that civilian before sending her off to meet you. I asked her to go to you to pick up supplies. She seems resistant to leaving this place, so just work with that. Must be the trauma. Yeah. Survivor's guilt is a bitch. Keep me posted. Bye."

Chris got to work tinkering on the unusual tank. Two hours or so had passed before he heard a distant shout. Chris quickly reached over and flipped a light switch. If it was dark, at least whoever it was wouldn't know he was here.

"Dammit again?"

Chris turned to try to find the source, only to hear the scraping sound of metal from a nearby vent. He wasn't sure if he was still amused or just pissed off at this point, but lo and behold, there was the every persistent Ethan Winters. How did he get down here without the elevator? Chris tried standing off to the side to stay out of view, but the place was basically an open junk pit. Ethan pushed some sheet metal out of the way, wandering closer to Chris's location. This dumbass was going to get spooked and end up shooting him. Frustration set in as Chris realized Ethan was barely paying attention as he walked past Chris without seeing him. He was going to get himself killed at this rate.

"Give me that," Chris said as he grabbed Ethan's pistol. This moron should not be handling any sort of firearm. To Chris's annoyance, Ethan managed to keep a hold on the gun even though he was missing two fingers. In his frustration, Chris decked Ethan to get him to let go, causing the injured man to stumble and fall back. "I told you to leave it alone, Ethan," Chris scolded, staring down at the nuisance while emptying the chamber of Ethan's pistol, so he could take out the magazine. "You are in the way," he threw the unloaded weapon off to the side and moved to walk away.

"What do you care, Chris?" Ethan asked as he pushed himself to get up. "You killed my wife, you son of a bitch!"

Hearing this caused him to pause and look back. "You think I'd kill Mia?" he asked, annoyed with the engineer who clearly only had three brain cells. "That wasn't her. It was Miranda."

"What?" Ethan asked, understandably confused since he only just learned that Miranda even existed about 24 hours ago.

"She's a Bioweapon. She changed her appearance and pretended to be Mia. It seems she also survived being shot," he said with an irritated scowl as he went back to tinker with the tank again. "So now I'm here to finish the job."

"Bullshit!" Ethan replied as he stormed over, grabbing Chris's shoulder to force the soldier to look at him. "Why didn't you fucking tell me right away?!"

"Because I knew you would want to be involved!" Chris shouted back while shifting to use Ethan's strength against him to pin the upset father against the tank. "And this job is hard enough without civilians getting in the way." He gave Ethan another shove before moving to  find a part he needed to get the tank up and running again.

Ethan watched in silence this time and stayed put. When he spoke again, a quieter, meeker voice was heard. "Why us, Chris?" he asked while staring at the back of a friend turned enemy turned... he didn't know what. "What the hell is going on?"

"All right, Ethan. All right." Chris said, his tone became gentler. "I guess I owe you an explanation," he admitted as he turned to face Ethan again. "Hand me that wrench," Chris requested as he walked back to the tank. With the part in hand, he got to work, using the time to try to think of how to explain all of this. "Long story short. Miranda is fucking insane, and this village, all these monsters and freaks. This is her life's work. Some sort of crazy experiment with the mold."

"The mold. Like Louisiana." Ethan sat down and processed this while thinking back on the nightmare that seemed to keep following him. "Goddammit... All this time, I thought I could save my family. I can't escape from here. I can't do anything!"

Chris tried to ignore the panicking tirade while he put the last few pieces of the tank together. With the final part attached, the ramshackle, piecemeal tank started up. Yet even now, sympathy was hard to ignore. "That might not be true." He'd been too hard on Ethan... for a civilian, he’d done well to survive this long. "Take a look," Chris said before reaching into his pocket to toss his phone over to Ethan, who miraculously caught it with a severely injured hand. "My men sent me those pictures a few minutes ago."

"Miranda..."

"Keep looking," Chris crossed his arms and waited.

"Rose! Holy shit, we've gotta go!" Ethan said as he scrambled to get up again. He collected the scattered pieces of his pistol from earlier and quickly put them back together.

"Relax, my men are monitoring the situation."

"But they have my daughter," Ethan sneered as his anger and determination rekindled.

This is why he hated getting civilians involved. They didn't think properly. "You don't get it, Ethan," he warned. "You don't stand a chance against Miranda by yourself." Chris walked back to the tank and tested the trigger for the main cannon-like weapon, which fired an explosive blast at the elevator door to force it open again. Was it necessary? No, but he was trying to prove a point. "I will stay down here and finish planting explosives. You take that elevator, and I'll meet you topside." Okay, maybe he shouldn't have shot the elevator. At least it still worked. probably. "I promise you. We will get your daughter back. Together,"

"Damn straight we will," Ethan said through his teeth as he loaded a bullet into the chamber of his gun. "And when I find Miranda, she's a dead woman."

A half attempt at a laugh could be heard in response to the display of unfounded bravery. "All right, Ethan," Chris said, still trying to hide his amusement. "Then you take this and do me a favor... Try to stay under the radar."

'*'*'*'*'

The sun began to set as Chris made his way to Hound Wolf Squad. While all five were geared up and ready to greet him, his attention fixated on one person as he rigidly stormed over to the civilian sitting in the open helicopter.

"You lied to me!" Charlotte shouted once she saw Chris and started fighting to get free of the zip ties that held her arms behind her back.

"Yeah, well, you did too," Chris said with a sneer. "Fucking metal polymer."

"A metal polymer still has METAL in it, dumbass!" Charlotte shouted the point that had been bothering her the whole time.

Chris' shoulders tensed up as he tried to hold himself back. Despite the urge to hit her, he slammed his fist against the button on the side of the helicopter wall. Gears whirled as the doors slowly started to close, giving Chris enough time to hop out to rejoin the others. Why did civilians always have to make things so complicated?

Chris took a breath before looking over to the team. "I think Ethan's dead," he admitted, trying to force down any emotions of guilt and anger. "I left him alone for a few minutes. When I called him, Miranda was there. I could hear her, and the call abruptly ended."

The five Hound Wolf Squad members silently looked at each other for a few moments as words failed them. It was quiet until Umber Eye spoke up. "I'll go check," the second in command calmly offered as he noticed Chris starting to shake. "Take a few minutes. Breathe. I'll prepare the team for the next phase of all this." He put a hand on Chris's shoulder. "We will take her down."

"All right," Chris reluctantly agreed. "If you see Miranda, do not engage."

"Understood, Captain." Umber Eye patted Chris's shoulder before letting go. "There's still an SUV left by the helicopter. Should work well enough for a bit of space away from the civilian." With that, Umber Eye walked away and started handing out orders.

Chris took a moment to think over what he wanted to do, but he ultimately went to the SUV and sat in the driver's seat. He remained silent as he watched the sun set on another day of this nightmare. What should have been an easy enough transport mission had turned into a descent to hell. It was hard to call this a moment of peace or even a moment of pause as his mind continued to race in a desperate attempt to think of a solution that would fix all of this. The sun had completely disappeared by the time his phone's ringtone caused him to jolt. He instinctively moved to answer it, holding it up to his ear. "What?"

"Captain... I've confirmed the death of Ethan Winters," Umber Eye reverently stated. " I wasn't able to retrieve the body, but I've recorded evidence."

Chris slowly exhaled as the news hit him... He didn't have time for this. He needed to focus. What did they need to do? He'd need a log for when they returned home. "Share your screen, and I'll go over the situation," Chris stated as he set his phone to speaker and started recording his screen. "My team and I were careless. Yesterday, we took down the transformed Miranda. but we didn't kill her."

"Who knew she could fake being a corpse," Umber Eye commented under his breath while flipping through the various pictures he took to log the mission.

"Since Miranda could've infected Ethan, I forcefully took him and Rose with us, but the vehicle they were riding in was attacked. When I got to the wreck, Ethan and Rose were gone." He watched as various pictures of the wreckage appeared on his screen, occasionally tapping the screen to keep it from entering sleep mode. "The last time I was able to contact Ethan... I heard Miranda's voice. She murdered him, and she will not get away with it." Chris stared at the photo of Ethan's unmoving body that Umber Eye was able to take from a distance. He thought he'd be used to this by now, but anger set in, and he stopped the recording. "Goddammit, when does it end?" he asked under his breath as he put the phone down and picked up a discarded pack of bent and misshapen cigarettes.

"What's that, Sir? The Mission?"

"All of it," Chris put a cigarette in his mouth and lit it. "Three years, trying to put this thing in the ground... Three years too long."

Umber Eye remained silent for a few seconds, unsure how to respond, but he eventually found the words. "We'll get her, Captain. The squad is ready for you,"

Upon hearing this, Chris pushed himself to get out of the car, collecting his rifle along the way. As he closed the door, the soft hum of an engine could be heard, causing him to look up and see a BSAA helicopter flying towards the village. "So, BSAA out here already. They didn't waste any time," he sarcastically remarked as he made his way back to the others.

"Mission adjustment?" Canine asked as he walked alongside Chris.

"No, it doesn't change anything." Chris put out the cigarette he barely got to smoke and tossed it. "Terminate Miranda, and rescue Rose. That's the Mission, and failure is not an option."

"Let's have some fun, people! Like old times," Lobo commented, resting a rather large machine gun against his shoulder while his other hand held his coveted RPG system.

"Let's move out," Chris ordered and heard the usual cluster of confirmation in response. As everyone headed towards their various objectives, Chris stopped Canine. "Canine, I want to know what the hell BSAA is doing here. Find out what you can."

"Rodger that, I'm on it," Canine confirmed before hurrying to follow the helicopter.

"Been a while since we fought together, Captain. When was it last? The desert?" Lobo asked through the headset mic system.

"Doing nothing but recon's gotten me outta shape," Tundra added with a laugh as the group continued to spread out.

"But thanks to your recon, we know Miranda's plan," Chris pointed out while picking up the pace towards the village.

"Couldn't quite believe it when I heard she'd turned herself into Mia, though," Canine chimed in.

"Taking five shots to the head's nothing to sneeze at either. Spooky..." Night Howl joked.

Chris shook his head and tried to focus as he walked out of the treeline and towards the path. He found Umber Eye kneeling by a ledge and using the scope of his sniper rifle to keep an eye on everyone. Chris moved to kneel next to Umber Eye, silently trying to think of what to say. Sorry? Thank you?

He didn't get the chance to say anything, as Umber Eye simply offered his gun to Chris. "Hey Alpha, look at this."

Chris accepted the offered weapon and looked down the scope. Bioweapons now overran the building that had their base of operation at one point. Somehow these animalistic, humanoid things managed to build a crude towering structure from various scraps and planks around the village. These, Lycans, as Charlotte called them, were showing some Bronze Age level of sentience, as they'd even constructed patchwork armor from remaining scraps. Some held tools as weapons, while others brandished bows with flaming arrows. Weapons they made for themselves.

The helicopter from before came into view and quickly stole Chris's attention."BSAA..." He watched as the helicopter tried to get as close to the structure as possible to drop off a few agents dangling from ropes. "They've gone too far," he warned as if they could hear him, only to watch as the living tar-like vines that the lycans were trying to protect lashed out. It grabbed the helicopter and effortlessly threw it across the sky. "Christ." Chris lowered the weapon with a pained expression before handing it back to Umber Eye.

"Looks pretty rough down there." Umber Eye accepted the weapon back. "How are you planning on reaching the objective?"

"First, we're going to have to take that thing out," Chris said, gesturing to the vine-covered structure.

"I've got your back, boss. Let's get to work," Umber Eye said in return as an unspoken acceptance of an unspoken apology.

Chris nodded before setting off down the path towards the village. "Everyone, watch for hostile bioweapons." He received a few confirmations as he walked down the path only. Mere seconds later, several Lycans jumped out to attack. That didn't take long. "Made contact with a group of Hostile Bioweapons," Chris announced to the radio while firing at the group. These bioweapons didn't seem too tough. Three or four shots each, and they were out.

"There's more than we thought. Watch out," Night Howl warned while Chris refilled his rifle's magazine with a clip.

"Western route is clear, moving out," Tundra announced by the time Chris had made it to the outskirts of the village.

"Rodger that," Chris said as a trail of blood and gore was left in his wake. It was hard to tell what was once a villager and what was a bioweapon that met its own gruesome end. A partially demolished wall gave him access to an old supply point they set up earlier.

Lobo was the next to speak up. "BSAA craft spotted. Two guards. Heh, I can take'em."

"Don't get cocky," Chris warned while restocking on munitions and grabbed a few grenades to strap to his gear.

"What the hell is that thing?" Canine asked.

"It's all Mutamycete," Night Howl answered with a tone of horrified awe.

Muta wh—right. The scientific term for the mold. Good gracious, they really needed to agree on their terminology. "That's probably where Miranda is," Chris replied, having a decent guess about what the Canine and Night Howl were looking at. The same giant tower he was trying to get to. "Let's go." Chris continued to make his way forward past a large iron gate as thick vines and roots sprang from the ground around him.

Howling cries announced the arrival of more bioweapons. Larger ones that held a more animal-like form than the rest, as if human skulls had been stretched and warped to look like a dog's. Hair grew down the creatures’ backs as elongated spines and hunched legs supported oversized arms. The two circled Chris for some time before leaping forward to try and pin him to the ground.

A quick step back helped keep Chris out of harm's way as he shifted his attention and fired at each of the beasts if they got too close. "Large mutated bioweapons sighted," Chris warned the others.

"The mold might be releasing infectious particulates. Keep your masks on," Night Howl warned as he continued to shift between the two terms.

"Hey boss, it's me," Lobo spoke up at the same time, making it difficult to hear. "I'm at the location preparing for support fire, but it might be a minute."

"Rodger," Chris said in return to both. He didn't have time for this.

Chris plucked one of the grenades from his vest and tossed it at the two oversize bioweapons. In a flash, the creatures were ripped apart by the explosion. While he wanted to take the time to breathe a sigh of relief, he pushed forward towards the bright neon green light of a supply flare.

"Tundra here. I'm leaving some supplies in some of the houses, Captain. Help yourself."

Chris smiled to himself at the convenient timing of the offer as he did just that and stocked up again, taking another grenade for a total of five. That should be more than enough. While in the safety of the home, Chris took the time to reload again before heading out. However, it seemed he had lingered too long as roughly half a dozen bioweapons were waiting for him. "Umber Eye, I need some backup."

Just as soon as the request was made, one, two, three of them fell one by one, each taking a bullet to the head. "I see you. Two hundred to the point."

Two hundred feet felt like a mile. If he was making progress, it didn't feel like it. Chris continued to push forward all the same. Wave after wave of these mutant dog-faced freaks. What was more concerning was, now that he got a closer look, there seemed to almost be a hierarchy among them. The larger, stronger Lycans were covered with better armor made from bent metal scraps, while the weaker once tied wooden planks to their limbs.

"I've never heard of a Mutamycete colony growing so huge,"

Before Chris could chide Night Howl and tell him to pick a name for whatever this was, Lobo spoke again. "Hey, I got eyes on you, boss. Keep going."

Sure enough, Chris looked up and saw Lobo on a nearby roof, firing down at the undead army.

"If my mom saw this shit, she'd think she'd died and gone to hell," Canine remarked with a slight chuckle to ease some stress.

It didn't exactly help Chris, though. At this point, he tried to tune out any further chatter and focus on moving forward. He'd thought 700 rounds of ammo would be enough, yet even after two partial resupplies, he again found that he was maybe halfway through his supply. Though. to his relief, he eventually made it to the torch-lit fort that was once the church.

“I've reached the target location. Damn, this is big..." He looked up at the structure that had to be a good forty feet tall. When did they have the time to build this? "All right, Lobo, marking the target."

"Rodger that boss." It took a few minutes, but an explosion was seen as the RPG hit the side of the building. "Bingo! Alright!" Lobo cheered, but the cheering fell silent as the smoke settled, and the tower was still partially intact thanks to the vine-like mold. "Reloading now, just a minute."

"There's a swarm headed your way," Night Howl warned as a good twenty or so furious lycans left the fort.

Chris cursed under his breath as he openly fired at the beasts while slowly backing up to keep some distance. In a matter of 20 seconds, he'd picked off about half of them, but they were getting too close. He quickly tossed two grenades at the remaining crowd before taking cover. One explosion set off another, and to his relief, that was the last of the hoard.

"Okay Captain, I'm reloaded ready when you are."

"The mold is rapidly expanding. There must be something stimulating it,"

If I survive this, I'm writing Night Howl up. I'll find something, Chris thought as he marked the target again with the laser portion of the system. Just like before, an explosive round hit the building.

"Another Hit! Hah! Looks like it's about to collapse."

"It's them. Watch your perimeter, Chris," Umber Eye warned this time as another wave of Lycan's left to defend their fort. Umber Eye helped take out one or two of the rampaging monstrosities this time, but there were more than last time. He was down to maybe 200 rounds now and wasn't at the target. The last three grenades were tossed into the crowd, and like last time, Chris took cover. The explosions did their job, scattering limbs and ligaments across what was left of the village center.

"I'm reloaded. Where should I point next?"

Using one channel for communication turned out to be a cluttered mess as Canine spoke before Chris could reply to Lobo. "BSAA guys are engaging the bioweapons. You're right, Captain. They must be after the Megamycete too."

Oh, not you too, Canine. So, we're calling the mold site a Megamycete now? Just going to make that term up and not explain it. Cool cool cool, Chris thought as he silently aimed the guiding laser at the remaining structure.

"How many are there? Everyone okay?" Tundra asked.

"They're coming from the mold. There's no end to them..."

"Gimme a break!" Chris finally shouted as more lycans started to leave the fort while he waited for the next RPG.

"Boom, HAHA! Take that!" Lobo said as the structure was hit yet again, and this time the mold gave way and fell apart.

"Captain, the Megamycete is underground," Night Howl instructed.

Okay, I guess we're calling it that now, Chris thought as he made his way over to where the tower used to be. It didn't take long to find a deep hole in the ground that the lycans seemed to have dug themselves. After a moment of hesitation, he spoke. "I found a way down. I'm going in. The rest of you stay back." No one else was dying on his watch.

"Captain, I've compared the mold sample at the village with a sample from the Bakers' and—"

And we're back to mold. Silent sass aside, Chris continued to listen to Night Howl's explanation.

"—there's no sign of the genome editing we saw in the E-series. The stuff originated here."

Chris remained quiet as he focused on climbing down the hole into the depths of a dark cavern-like tunnel underground. It held a giant spiked mace that was as big as the creature welding it. That's not good...

"Guarding the Megamycete, huh?" Chris taunted but winced after. Yeah, that still didn't sound right. The taunting worked, though, and the towering creature rushed forward, swinging the weapon with ease, narrowly missing Chris's head as he ducked out of the way. Chris emptied a full magazine of bullets into the creature, who barely flinched. His eyes darted over to the hole that the spiked mace left in the wall of the cave.

"Dammit, I'm getting nowhere." If he didn't do something, and quickly, he'd be going home in a body bag. While he fought on his own for a few seconds more, Chris caved after another narrow escape from having his head bashed in. "Lobo, I got a tough guy here! I'm going to need back up."

"Boss, you're underground!"

"There's an opening in the roof. Use it," Chris barked out the order in his panic as he rolled out of the way once more.

"Okay, I'm moving out. Hold on till I get there," Lobo replied, which was precisely what Chris did. Three minutes felt like three hours. He was down to his last preloaded magazine when he heard Lobo again. "I'm overhead, boss."

"Good! I'll signal with the locator," Chris said as he reached for the laser. Hopefully, Lobo would know to dial back the explosive a tiny bit since he was in an enclosed space.

"Give a guy a break," Lobo said with a tired sigh.

It took a minute more, it certainly didn't help that Chris had to stop using the location beacon rather frequently to get out of the way of the charging giant, but the explosion met its target, and the beast calcified and crumbled to dust. "Nice! Hostile bioweapon eliminated," Chris announced with a sigh of relief. "I'll keep going. The rest of you stay above ground."

Chris followed another path, and there was more chatter from the team as he went. Winding crudely dug pathways felt like a maze, but after an hour or so of turning this way and that, he eventually found a large open space while marking down which way he went by carving markings into the stone walls. Hanging from the center of the ceiling was a large heart-like growth connected to the inky vines and roots that the Lycans were trying to protect. "Alpha to squad. I've located the megamycete." Okay, the name was starting to grow on him.

"So now we can end this mess after all," Umber Eye said with quiet relief.

"About damn time," Chris replied as he got to work. He carefully removed a very sensitive container of high-grade explosives and started tying it to a spare knife. He looked over his handy work before drawing his arm back and chucking the knife-bound bomb at the heart of the mold. By some miracle, that actually worked, and the blade dug into the pulsing mold enough to hold it in place. "N2 explosive's armed. There's enough there to blow the whole village sky-high."

"Let's get out of here and blow the damn place," Umber Eye said in a celebratory tone. The mission was over, right?

"Not before I end, Miranda," Chris corrected. "I'm not taking any more chances. I'm going in."

There was a slight pause, but Umber Eye replied, "Rodger that. Standing by..." There was no changing Chris's mind when he got like this. All they could do was back him up. "Captain, I have eyes on Miranda at the ceremony site."

"Keep your distance. Do not move until I give the order," Chris said as he started making his way into another section of the maze-like paths.

Umber Eye remained silent as he tried to think about how to voice what he wanted to say. "I know it's too late now, but. We really should have told Ethan the plan."

"There wasn't time, and we didn't expect Miranda to act so soon." It was an excuse, and Chris knew it. Umber Eye did, too, leaving little room for sympathy. They all told him months ago to talk to Ethan.

"Even so, you should have told him."

"Yeah," Chris begrudgingly admitted.

After that spat between the two in charge, the rest of the team wasn't in the mood to chat. Chris made his way up a set of stairs and into a hallway that seemed more meticulously constructed. Old bricks were held together by cement, leading to a heavy wooden door that seemed clean and new.

"This must be Miranda's lab," he whispered as he looked around, finding books and books of notes that he didn't have the time to sift through. Letters over 100 years old sat alongside newer research notes and proclamations of success. A collection of photos sat next to a jar labeled Cadou. It looked like some deranged fetus. “So they’re using this to control the bioweapons”…" Chris breathed before picking up a few of the pictures to look them over.

The photos proved once more that the initial tips from Charlotte were correct. Miranda was involved with the Eveline project. The more interesting picture to Chris was a group of photos showing Miranda standing next to Eveline with five others. One of whom was Mia Winters. Eveline's handler, but Chris already knew that. The BSAA knew that. She admitted as much when they first interrogated her about the whole ordeal in Louisiana. She used that to make a deal. The BSAA kept quiet about her past, gave her a new home, a new life, and protection while she'd helped shut down the people she used to work for.

Chris put the photo down and got back to work. He looked around, and a locked iron bar door caught his attention. His ammo was limited. He had maybe two more magazines worth of ammo left, but he spared a single shot to break the lock, so he could open the door and see what was behind it. Before he could fully enter the room, a figure jumped out from its hiding place and tried to hit him with a rusty pipe, which he caught, pulled out of its grip, and tossed to the side.

"Show me your hands," Chris demanded while staring down the sight of his gun at what appeared to be Mia Winters, but Miranda had already used this trick once before. "Umber Eye, this is Alpha. Where is Miranda right now?"

"Still at the ceremony site... Whatever she's doing, she's staying put."

"Goddamn," Chris relaxed and slowly lowered his weapon. "It really is you." Mia slowly lowered her hands with a forced smile as she avoided eye contact. "I'm glad you're safe, Mia. Why are you here?"

Mia was at a loss for words for a few moments, opening and closing her mouth as she tried to think of how to answer. "I was caught... and used in experiments..."

"Wait, did you say Mia? Mia Winters?" Canine asked in response to the sudden news.

"In the flesh. What's the situation up there?" Chris asked as Mia's answer was good enough for him, and he turned to walk away. This lab seemed safe enough to leave her to hear for now. She barely looked like she had a scratch, and she'd been missing for weeks, if not longer.

"Kind of a war going on. Nothing we can't handle," Lobo sarcastically replied.

"Don't get distracted. Stick to the mission. I'm heading to the ceremony site."

"Wait!" Mia said as she stood by the door to the cell she was in before. "You can't leave me here," she said, which caused Chris to stop walking and turn to face her again. "You promised, dammit! You said you'd keep us safe!" Mia accused as Chris averted his gaze, feeling guilty. "We did everything you asked. We moved over here, everything! And I didn't care, so long as we were together. So, you tell me, where is my husband?" she asked as she became more agitated, which made her voice raspy. "Where is my daughter?!" she shouted, and in her anger, she stepped forward to push Chris.

"Ethan is..." Chris paused. He didn't want to have to do this right now. He was wasting time. "He's gone." Mia remained silent and still as she glared at him. "I couldn't save him. But I can save Rose." As he said this, the room began shaking as an explosion went above it. Luckily for Chris, it wasn't the N2, or they'd all be dead. This realization caused him to rethink leaving Mia here alone. "Come on. It's not safe here after all."

Once more, as Chris started to walk away, Mia broke her silence. "What do you mean he's gone?"

This had the same result as the last time. Chris stopped walking, but he couldn't bring himself to face her this time. "He's dead," Chris said bluntly, though the words stung his tongue. "I'm sorry, Mia, but we have to leave." Mia remained silent as Chris paused. He really didn't have time for this. "We have to destroy this village."

"NO!" she shouted. "You're wrong," she added as Chris turned to face her. "I tried to keep this a secret, but," Mia said, seemingly at war with herself, "you don't understand how special he is." She shifted her weight from one leg to the other and back again. "I've been monitoring his vitals. Outside of the BSAA tests. I know what to look for after all, and... He died already... Back in Louisana," Mia explained. "His body is uniquely compatible with the mutamycete, or mold, I guess is what you usually call it. It keeps him alive, no matter how badly he gets hurt. I cut his hand off while under Eveline's control, and he just stapled it back on. It reattached. There's barely even a scar."

"That... Certainly explains a few things," Chris said while thinking over how many times he'd said or thought it was a miracle that Ethan was alive. "We'll talk more later, though. We need to get you back to the others. I can still fix this."

Mia limped alongside him, moving at a snail's pace. He wouldn't be able to make it to Miranda at this rate. Not if Mia was injured.

"Alpha to Squad, New plan. Regroup by the cave entrance. Canine, Night Howl, Umber Eye, you three escort Mia to a safe distance from the blast site. Lobo. Get the helicopter and land it in the field near Miranda's last known location. After that, join the others."

"I'm not leaving you high and dry, Captain. You might need me again after all," Lobo responded. "I'll stay with the helicopter."

"That helicopter is our best bet out of here. I'll stay with Lobo to guard it," Canine added. “Two people should be enough for an escort."

"I kinda prefer that plan myself," Umber Eye admitted.

"All right. Pack rules. Everyone, get to work," Chris said before picking up Mia. They didn't have time to waste.

'*'*'*'*'

Chris sprinted through the caves while breathing heavily. That took way too long. If there was a god, then Miranda was still at the ceremony site Umber Eye mentioned, and Rose was still able to be saved. To his great surprise and excitement, he ran into a clearing to find Ethan Winters standing in front of Miranda, holding a still safe and completely intact Rosemary Winters. "So Mia was telling the truth... He's a bioweapon?"

"Interesting, Your body certainly isn't normal," Miranda hissed while holding Rose close to herself.

"Give Rose to me, Now!" Ethan demanded as he stepped forward.

Chris hunkered down and lined up a shot while Miranda was distracted by Ethan.

"You will see. Once I kill you properly, everythin—" Miranda's words were cut short as Chris squeezed the trigger. The overpowered rifle created a spray of blood as the bullet made contact with the side of her head.

"Get her, now!" Chris shouted down to Ethan, only for his line of sight to be blocked by more roots and vines made of mold. "Shit," Chris backed away. He needed to get down there somehow. Gunfire and shouting could be heard as Ethan and Miranda fought.

"I spent a lifetime creating this moment, and you try to take it away from me?" Miranda accused as Chris panicked and looked around for a solution. "I will take what's due. My desires will be fulfilled!"

Chris strapped his gun to his gear and started climbing as he heard Ethan shout in horror. He didn't care how he got down there. He just knew he needed to be there now.

"You understand a parent's love for her child, don't you? How can you deny me?!" Miranda shouted. "I will take back my daughter!" The room grew so dark that Chris couldn't see, even with the help of night vision goggles. All he could do was cling to the cave wall, hoping the light would return.

When Chris could see again, he looked over his shoulder and realized Miranda had slowed her attacks significantly and that Ethan was covered in cuts that were trying to heal shut as the mold inside him stitched him back together. The cave roof started to flake away and crumble, revealing the morning sun. Fearing that the walls would fall away soon, too, Chris let go to try to control his landing.

"Rose! Shhh-Shhh. It-It's all right, Rose." Ethan picked up Rose from the pedestal-esque remains of the now officially deceased Miranda. "It's all right," he cooed though he grunted and started to breathe heavier as his hand started to deteriorate and crumble away in a similar fashion to the root-like mold walls around them.

Chris watched as, despite Ethan's best efforts to stay on his feet, he fell to his knees while holding Rose protectively. "Ethan!" Chris shouted as he rushed over. "Ethan," he repeats. "Come on, Ethan. Come on. Ethan, Wake up!" He tried to support Ethan's weight. A loud rumbling stole Chris's attention, causing him to look up at the sky, only to see that the remaining vines and roots were starting to lash out without Miranda around to control their growth. "Oh no."

"Chris?" Ethan asked as he could barely keep his eyes open.

"Ethan, you did it. It's finished," Chris replied while holding up Ethan's weight. Another rumbling forced Chris to look at the sky again.

"I think we finished each other..."

"Ethan, we've got to move," Chris said while trying to keep the panic out of his voice. He forced Ethan's arm over his shoulder and pulled the man to his feet so they could start walking away. Behind them, the Megamycete had forced its way above ground. What once looked like a heart started to bloom into a strange four-petaled flower large enough to block the sun's light from the surrounding area.

Chris pressed on as roots and vines cut off various exits. When one was blocked, he’d turn and find another way, ultimately leading them to a stone bridge. "Keep moving, Ethan. There's a bomb in that thing that'll blow this whole village sky-high." Ethan was starting to slow down, though. "Look at me," Chris demanded as he took the remote detonator from his vest and held it up for Ethan to see. "When I hit this trigger, we can't be anywhere near it." Despite this, Ethan stopped walking altogether. "Dammit," Chris looked from Ethan back to the growing threat and back again. "Mia's waiting for you. She's alive, you hear me? Alive," he pleaded to try and get Ethan to move once more.

"M-Mia." Ethan finally spoke, sounding even more tired than before as he could barely breathe. "I'm so sorry... I love you...Keep Rose safe," he managed to eke out in response before his knees began to buckle and his legs gave out.

"Hey, hey, hey," Chris repeated while catching Ethan before he could fall and forcing him to stand again. As Chris did so, Ethan put's Rose in Chris's arms before starting to back away as he managed to stand on his own without the additional weight.

"You tell her yourself," Chris said with a pained expression. "Now come on, It’s not that much further," he added while he watched Ethan struggle to take off his coat and put it over Rose.

"Watch over her." His voice sounded painful as it grew raspy. "Teach her to be strong." As soon as he finished speaking, a new root threatened to hit the two as it grew across the bridge. However, before it could, Ethan pushed Chris back while grabbing the detonator.

"Goodbye, Rosemary," Ethan said through newly formed tears that Chris could no longer see because of the forming roots and branches.

"Ethan..." Chris looked from the baby in his arms to the wall of moldy roots. He bounced on his heels, considering climbing his way over to get to Ethan for half a moment before he sneered and turned to leave Ethan behind once more. There was no way of knowing how much time Ethan would give him before activating the N2. He had a promise to keep.

Chapter Text

"Come in, Golden Liger. This is BSAA US HQ. Confirm Estimated Arrival time. Over," said a voice over the intercom system.

The pilot took a breath and nodded before flipping a switch. "BSAA US HQ, This is Golden Liger team lead. Our estimated time of arrival is February 14th at 18 hundred hours. The package is secure. Over."

"Confirmed. Do not disembark upon arrival. Await escorts for the package. Over," the voice replied in its same calm, even tone.

"Confirmed. Over and out," the pilot replied before pressing a few buttons to afford himself a chance to look back at the contents of the flight before focusing on the mission ahead of him.

Sitting along the sides of the helicopter's seats were six handcuffed individuals whose cuffs were chained to the floor of the aircraft. The pilot's team stood armed on either side of the individuals.

Chris had a permanent scowl stuck on his face. It had been there for the last four days. He held his clenched fist in hand as he tapped his thumb against it. He and the rest of Hound Wolf Squad had been apprehended after going to BSAA's European headquarters. Pretty much the second that they landed the helicopter, HQ was waiting for them. They had Mia and Rose while he had no answers and a pair of cuffs that were too tight.

The remainder of the flight was made in a piercing, grating silence as no one seemed willing to talk. The helicopter landed and shut down before the voice was heard over the intercom again.

"Golden Liger, you're clear to proceed with opening the hatch for transportation of the package. Over," the voice announced.

"Rodger. Over and out," the pilot said before flipping a few more switches. Automatic doors unfolded into stairs to allow further personnel onto the helicopter. The members of Hound Wolf Squad were slowly unloaded from the helicopter. Each was surrounded by four armed escorts, while Chris, being the human tank that he was, had six around him.

They were led into a large conference-style room where six chairs had been set up and screwed into the ground. Chris knew this room. He'd been in it before on the other side of that desk. It was for processing criminals to hand them off. One by one, they were instructed to sit before having their arms cuffed behind their backs and attached to the chair. The armed escorts then moved to stand along the sides of the walls.

The long wait felt like hell, and worst of all, at the end of that wait, the devil angrily walked through the doors. "What in the actual FUCK were you six thinking," the director demanded as he slapped a very thick folder down on the desk in front of the six chairs. "Do you have ANY idea how much trouble you guys are in?" the director asked as he walked around the table to stand in front of the six seated figures. "I am up to my neck in paperwork from this little escapade of yours."

"Let's go down some of the list, shall we?" the director scowled while pacing. “The death of not only Ethan Winters, who was under our protective custody, but multiple BSAA agents, resulting in the total wipe out of Tiger Orca squad. Hundreds of thousands of dollars of equipment? That’s all-scrap metal now. That’s not even accounting for the security risk that comes with the, what? Twelve laptops you hopefully blew up because you sure didn’t bring them back with you. Speaking of the explosion. The cover-up we have to go through with a giant explosion in the middle of a Romanian forest. Which, by the way, started a wildfire that is still burning.” The man collapsed into the seat behind the desk, holding his face.

“How? How do you expect me to explain all this to the UN? Because half of what you just did on your own could be seen as an act of war between the States and Romania. Did you see the size of that explosion?" the director asked in exasperation before digging through a few of the pages of the folder that he dumped on the desk. "All of this for what? To save an Ex-Bio-Terrorist mother and her baby? That's not even close to an equivalent exchange," he said as he threw the papers back onto the pile, trying to figure out what justification was used for this.

"For a Bioweapon that was about to be taken and used by an outside force," Chris corrected. "A Bioweapon the BSAA was trying to cover up!"

"Congratulations, Redfield. You figured it out. The baby's a Bioweapon. You must be so proud of yourself," the director said with annoyed sarcasm. "We were trying to keep quiet about it, so shit like this didn't happen, but you couldn't just let it be, could you?" He stood up and placed his hands on the desk while leaning forward. "Noooo. Of course not. You're you. The BSAA's golden boy who thinks he can just do whatever the shit he wants because he was here first." The director walked around to the front of the desk. "Seven people are dead because of the little rebellion that you dragged them into. If I have anything to say about it, you and your whole team are about to get locked up for good."

The room remained quiet.

"Now, against my better judgment and advisement, the council agreed that you'd be allowed on house arrest until your hearing at the end of the month," He went back to the desk and dug out six ankle monitors, and dropped them onto the desk. "So help me, if I have to track any of you down, the orders will be shoot to kill. Is that understood?” Silence remained as the director gave a tired sigh before fixing his posture and adjusting his suit jacket. "Enjoy the last of the outside world. You have fourteen days," he said, making his way to the door. "And Redfield"— he paused at the door to turn back and look at them—"You said splitting the six of you up, that blood would be on my hands? Look where it ended up once you get those hands of yours uncuffed."

With that, the director walked out the door and closed it behind him with a solid thud. It took another good hour before another employee walked in to process their records. One by one, they were fitted with a monitor before being escorted to a separate room to have any remaining patches removed from their uniforms and to be officially discharged from the BSAA removing any clearance and access they previously had. Then mug shots and to have their rights read to them along with the charges they were about to face. With all that taken care of, one by one, they were escorted out of the building. Each time, an unmarked car with three guards was waiting for the member that walked out to take them home, where their monitor would be activated.

"All right, and you're activated. Try and stay within 150 feet of this building. We set the address as your beacon for the GPS," one of the BSAA agents said as they handed Chris a charging cable. "You're gonna need to charge it twice a day. Try not to forget, or you're going to have a SWAT team at your door. Understood?"

Chris nodded.

"I'm going to need verbal confirmation before we can let you out," the worker said as he braced himself.

"...Understood," Chris replied quietly.

Hearing the soft-spoken word from the intimidating figure was surprising, but the worker nodded and unlocked Chris’s handcuffs before handing Chris his bag. Chris accepted it and got out of the car.

He took a deep breath before walking toward the building with a sense of dread. He was no longer Alpha, or chief, or boss, or leader. No BSAAs or STARS. Just Chris. Who even was that anymore, with everything he worked for in his life stripped away? Who was he if he wasn't chasing down bioweapons? The answer came up blank.

No one.

His tired steps led him to a comforting, familiar door. He stared at it for what felt like an eternity. A quiet sigh crossed his lips as he reached out and knocked on the door instead of walking in. Weighted down with guilt, he didn't feel he had the right to just walk in without permission.

'*'*'*'*'

February 14th. Valentine's day. Emma looked at the calendar on her fridge and marked off another day with a slight frown before heading over to the sink to wash the dishes from dinner for one. He'd been gone for almost a month.

Raging wildfires continue to spread in the forests of Romania following the mysterious blast four days ago.

Emma scrubbed at the plate more intently as she listened to the news and tried to force a neutral expression. Why was it always fire?

While the source of the explosion is still unknown, Romanian authorities are insisting that everything is under control, and it is the believed the source is a long-since abandoned factory that was scheduled for demolition at a future date, though world leaders are not so quick to rule out a potential attack as the blast has destroyed everything within 3 miles of the source. As far as a death toll-

She put the dish down with more force than she meant to before turning off the water. I'll take care of washing the dishes later, she thought as she briskly walked over to change the TV so it would accept a DVD instead. She gave a quiet sigh of relief as the voice was silenced before taking out her phone.

[Emma] Anything?

[Claire] Nothing...

She felt a slight sting in the corners of her eyes as she read the reply. Nope. No, I’m not doing this right now, she thought as she blinked a few times while taking a deep breath, then released it to try and rid herself of the sting. She looked back at the phone to see an unexpected message.

Ring: [Alert - Motion Detected]

She looked over to the door as she heard a quiet knock. The second she heard the soft echo, she put her phone down and hurried over to the door to open it.

"Chris?" she said with relieved surprise.

As the door opened, Chris lowered his head slightly as he closed his eyes and held his breath.

"Oh, thank god you're alive." Emma smiled, though she notices he seemed to refuse to look at her or move to enter the apartment. Concern washed over her and ate away any relief she felt. Something was wrong... "Do you want to come in?"

He pressed his lips together and gave a single short nod.

"Okay," Emma said and moved out of the way for him to enter the apartment.

Chris slowly shuffled in, leaving his bag and charging cable by the door. He looked at the kitchen island as memories flooded back... All the times they’d spent here together, from the day they’d met to the times he’d spent with Emma and the girls, ending with—

'What can I get you?' 'Just a cup of coffee,' 'One cup of coffee coming up,' 'How was your trip?' 'It was work,'

'You're military right? can you teach me to defend myself?' 'You don't need that, you're panicking' 'So if someone does get in what's going to keep me safe? Duke?' 'Alright Emma, alright. you made your point.' 'So you'll help me?'

'What are you in the mood for, quick food or tasty food,' 'Quick,' 'Can do, Let me think a second... How was your trip?' 'It was work' 'Is that the only answer I'll get to that question?' 'Probably'

'Hey. The girls are sleeping, but come on in,' 'thanks' 'How was your trip? it was work' 'It was wo-yeah' 'So quick food or tasty food' 'Let's go with tasty... I have time'

'hey stranger... Could you use a bite to eat? ... How was your trip?' 'Hell' '...Let's go then' 'What?' 'Leave your bag here. We're going for a walk'

'My friend! Come on you can sit next to me' 'It's okay you don't have to if you don't want to' 'I have a few minutes.' 'YEY!' 'How was your trip?' 'It was work'

'Chris! Hey, You're back. Er. Welcome back. Come in,' 'Hey to you too. you seem surprised,' ... 'How was your trip,' 'it was work' 'I see, so a quick meal or a tasty one?' ' How much time do you have?' 'I have time' 'Let's go with tasty' 'Can do ... Ah I almost forgot, I was wondering if I could ask you for a favor since your back'

'Chris, Welcome home,' 'good to be back,' 'How did you manage to get a tan in the middle of winter?' 'it was work'

'Chris?! ... I thought I lost you...' 'Everything's going to be okay' 'no it's not. what the HELL was that thing?' 'it was w-' 'Don't. tell me it was work Chris'

'It smells good, What's the occa-sion... Kennedy' 'Redfield' 'Good to see you, we were in the area' 'How was work?' 'It was work' 'I see'

'Chris?! You scared the Shit out of me' 'it's a good thing we still train because that was a horrible reaction... What's for dinner by the way it smells good,' 'You. none for you, you're in trouble' 'I'm in trouble?' 'yes' 'even if I say I'm sorry?' '...Maybe' 'Well I'm sorry, I won't do it again' 'okay fine, How was your trip?' 'it was work' 'I see'

'Hey, I'm home when you're ready' 'thanks' 'rough day?' 'Nah work was fine, just a bit disappointed, I think I messed up the recipe I was trying' '... it does look a little deflated.' ... 'April fools!' 'Get over here... Thought you were going to get away with it didn't you' 'I kinda did' 'little shit' 'worth it'

'Hey.'

'Hey, you're in a good mood."

"Yep, got a call from the Realtor.'

‘And?'

'We're moving in, March 20th!'

Shit...

"Chris?" Emma asked, concerned as she saw him staring at the island counter for several moments. He lowered his head, and instead of going to the island, walked to the couch to plunk down and hold his face. Emma watched, stunned, as their tradition fell short. He wasn't talking. What had happened?

How did this happen? Chris wondered. And again, the memories flashed into his bleary, despondent mind.

'We need to start gathering supplies for a stakeout. It doesn't sound like she's particularly active yet, but she is a known threat that the BSAA apparently doesn't want on record.’

'We need supplies for the stakeout and a new secure location for the family outside of the BSAA's knowledge. That's a tall order. It could take months.'

'We better get started then.'

'We should tell Ethan.'

'No. Absolutely not. He can barely keep up with his training.'

'I mean, it is his kid.'

'Exactly my point. He's going to want to get involved. He's a civilian, regardless of how much training we give him. He's not ready for this kind of fieldwork. He's not to know, and that's final.'

The soft clack of a plate and silverware against the coffee table eventually roused him from his thoughts as he looked up to find Emma putting a plate with toast and scrambled eggs down on the small table.

She didn't know what to do... It was all she could think of. She was about to walk away to see if maybe she could get a cup of coffee or find a book for him to read, but she felt a soft pressure grip her wrist.

He wanted her to stay. It was selfish; he knew that. He was in no position to expect kindness, and yet, all the same, she sat next to him and held him.

"Sometimes. When it feels like the world is falling apart, it helps to let someone else hold you together," Emma said quietly as an excuse. He embraced her in return and shifted so the two could hold each other more comfortably.

"Bullshit," he replied as he rested his forehead against her shoulder. "You just made that up..."

Emma quietly chuckled in response. "Guilty as charged." She wasn't sure if he was trying to reference their time spent running from hell or not, but at least he’d said something. She moved to give him a peck on the side of his head as he rested his head on her shoulder. "I'm glad you're safe," she said quietly.

He was safe but…

'Mia... I'm so sorry. I love you... Keep Rose safe.'

'Hey... you tell her yourself. Now come on, it's not that much further.'

'Watch over, her. Teach her to be strong.'

'Goddamnit.'

'Goodbye, Rosemary.'

'Ethan...'

The memory played on repeat. Watch over her... Teach her to be strong. The dying wish of a friend. How was he going to do that now? Mia and Rose were still in Europe... Even assuming the best-case scenario where he didn't get locked up for life and somehow got reinstated, how was he going to do that? Ethan was dead and he needed to be there for Rose. What would that even mean for him?

He knew.

He held Emma tighter as tears began to leak from his eyes and he openly wept as he realized the small shred of hope he'd allowed himself would likely turn to nothing now. There was no way they were moving anywhere together let alone in March if he ended up in jail. What was he supposed to do? Expect her to wait for him then completely uproot herself to go to Europe to watch after a kid she didn't know?

Emma felt the tears start to soak into her shoulder. She'd never seen him cry before. Not like this..."It's going to be okay," Emma cooed as she continued to hold him and moved a hand to support the back of his head. "I've got you, it's okay..."

'Try not to wait ten years to stop by again, okay?'

'I sent you a card each year for a while, would it have killed you to write back?'

'There just wasn't much to write about. Wake up, go to work, go home, sleep. Go on the next mission.'

'And that's why I gave up... we had our moments back in the day. Whatever you want to consider them, but nothing came of it because it was always just on to the next mission for you.'

He finally got it... and it was too late.

'God, I have the best neighbors.'

'Silly. His name's Chris, not Alpha. Chris is my friend.'

'Emma dear, your boyfriend is here.'

'Uncle Chris!'

All those memories, of being someone other than his work, of being someone to her. He experienced all of that and he still threw it all away at the drop of a dime for a mission. He had it perfectly well spelled out for him, and yet he made the same mistake twice. He put work first. It wasn't even work... He put his pride first, and he was going to lose everything because of it. He wasn't going to get a third chance to mess up.

How did he tell her he had ruined everything? He was selfish and now people were dead because of him. That he probably wasn't coming back after this. Chris was someone. He was a neighbor, he was a friend, a loved one, an uncle. But all of that would go away... he really was nothing. Again. Because Alpha threw him away. Now neither would exist. Who was he?

"Chris?" Emma said quietly, unaware of the question he was mentally asking himself. "Say something, please? I can't help you if you don't tell me what's wrong..."

He tried to find the words. "I messed up," he eventually choked out. He was lucky. He had someone waiting for him. What about the rest of his team? Where were they? Were they okay? They were going to lose just as much as him, if not more.

Hearing the guilt in his tone hurt, and Emma frowned and tried to nuzzle closer to him.

"God I really messed up," he repeated as he found his voice. "I'm so sorry..." he said, refusing to move, as if doing so would cause her to cease to exist and he'd be alone again. "It's all my fault... I was supposed to protect them."

Oh. Oh no. Someone died, Emma thought as she started to piece things together.

She didn't have to wonder for long. Having found the freedom to speak Chris did so openly. He explained everything that happened, from taking the baby by force to Ethan's sacrifice and dying wish. To put it mildly, she was stunned. He kidnapped a baby and shot the mother in front of the father because it wasn't actually the mom, and she was some immortal shape-shifter? It was like listening to the ramblings of a madman, yet she knew every word he spoke was the truth. Oh god, the baby and mother were in Europe? The trial was in less than two weeks...How was this going to work? She shook her head. He needed her to be the strong one right now. She couldn't think like that.

"We'll figure something out," she said, though she wasn't sure she believed that... She was going to lose him. She already had.

'*'*'*'*'

Sunday, February 28th came around slowly. Chris had to go to Emma if he wanted anything that required leaving the building. He had to charge the stupid ankle monitor for two hours twice a day, which meant he was mostly stuck to the couch with an extension cord.

Emma did her best. Really, she did, but he could tell this was starting to wear on her as the days counted down to the hearing.

As the final day arrived, a knocking could be heard at the door. It was time. They looked at each other with tired, defeated expressions.

Chris had changed into his uniform despite the lack of patches and walked over to the door to open it.

"Christopher Redfield?" said one of several armed escorts.

"Yeah," he replied in an empty tone.

"We're going to need you to come with us. Hands together, please," the escort requested, remaining rather courteous. Chris nodded and offered his hands, which were cuffed, and he was led out of the apartment to a transport vehicle. The drive was made in silence and he was led into the BSAA headquarters to a large conference room where the hearing would take place.

Long tables lined the edges of the rooms with various members of the BSAA council from all the different branches. Some of these faces were familiar to him. One in particular. Jill. Of course, she was here. She was one of the founders like he was. Naturally, they'd want as many of the remaining founders present for this as possible. This was beyond humiliating... all the same, he complied and took his seat.

"Thank you all for taking the time to be here for this emergency gathering of the council for disciplinary action," said the director as he read from a page. "Presiding over this meeting will be the director of the Oceanian Branch as a neutral party for all involved to present their cases," he explained. "With that, I offer the floor to the director of the Oceanian Branch."

"The Oceanian Branch accepts the floor," said the respective director as he stood. "We will proceed with the disciplinary review of one Christopher Redfield and members of the Hound Wolf Squad, Rolando Elba, Dion Wilson, Charlie Graham, John Perlman, and Emily Berkoff. Are all offending parties present?"

"They are," the director said and they nodded to each other.

"Very well, then we shall proceed," the Oceanian director replied. "Let it be known that today's meeting is being recorded and all parties are liable for what they choose to say as the recording will be provided to the courts if such action is deemed necessary. Any opposed say so now."

The room was silent.

"We'll start off with a brief explanation of the offense by the director of the North American Branch, followed by an explanation of grievances by the European branch, before opening the floor for questions where the offending parties will be able to make their case." Again there was no opposition. "I return the floor to the Director of the North American Branch."

"Thank you," the director said as he stood once more while the director of the Oceanian Branch sat. "Ladies and Gentlemen, what we have in front of us is a case of Insubordination at best," the director said with a frown as he was granted access to a large screen that now displayed multiple recordings of the explosion, the wildfire that resulted after, and pictures of six different funerals. "On January 16^th, Christopher Redfield was given an official warning for his actions of commandeering the elite task unit Hound Wolf Squad."

"Yeah, I got something to say about that," Lobo cut in with a scowl. "He didn't commandeer shit. What? Do you think he held me at gunpoint or something? Nah, we all knew what we were doing. Don't act like we're fucking dogs dragged on a leash," he growled, which earned a few mutters from the council.

"I'll remind you that your time to speak is later," the Oceanian Branch leader said with a frown before motioning for the director to continue.

"He accessed a number of top-secret documents without permission before going AWOL with Hound Wolf Squad, and shortly after led an invasion of the BSAA safe house that was granted to the Winters family of the Baker incident in 2017," the director listed. "Prior to this, they are charges of acquiring, using, and destroying BSAA property in aid of the grievances to be listed by the director of the European Branch. With that, I hand over the floor to the European director for discussion of their grievances."

"February 10th. What a horrid day for our branch at the hands of these miscreants," said the European director, who was likely trying to gain some level of sympathy from the others. "In an act nothing short of a rebellion, we have lost good men and women. A countryside was set on fire, causing irreparable damage to once beautiful land. We of the European branch humbly request the council impose severe punishment to the furthest extent of the law and compensation for the actions of the rogue members of the North American Branch. I return the floor to the North American Branch." The European Branch leader sat while the director stood.

"The North American Branch agrees to comply with the request of the European Branch and to follow any action mandated by the council. I surrender the rest of my time," the director said, and the Director of the Oceanian Branch nodded.

"European Branch council, the floor is yours for any further grievances," the Oceanian director said and the European director shook his head.

"None. We expect swift deliberation," The European Branch leader said before sitting back in their seat.

"Very well, the floor is open for questions of the offending parties and the branches of the North American and European BSAA for clarification before deliberation," the Oceanian director announced.

"The council of the South American Branch requests the floor," Jill said, leaning forward to speak into the microphone in front of her. Chris winced. He was not looking forward to this.

"Granted," the Oceanian director said and gestured for her to continue.

"Why are they in handcuffs?" she asked, which surprised most of the room.

"What do you mean? This is a disciplinary council," the Oceanian Director said to voice everyone's confusion.

"It's my understanding that the night of February 9^th, BSAA Europe activated an experimental task force to look into a potentially catastrophic threat. Your words, not mine," Jill said, reading from a page before clicking at a computer in front of her to take control of the shared screen and show the report she was talking about. The other council members chattered for a moment. After having the chance to read it over, the room went quiet again.

"Let's see how that went," she said and clicked at her laptop, which showed some footage from a helicopter looking down on an overgrown branches of sentient mold and hundreds of Bioweapons running around it. "And forgive me if I am wrong, are those Bioweapons actively using weaponry? Crude as the weapons may be, I will agree with you that this is certainly a Catastrophic level threat. So how did that task force of yours do?" she asked with rather perfect timing as the helicopter crashed and the footage died. "Ah right now I remember. According to the record, they didn't report back."

"That does not change the fact that these six acted without permission," the European director said in return with a scowl.

"True, true," Jill replied, looking at the six. "How did you know to go to this area when there were no reports on record of a potential threat?"

"I received a tip a few months back. I tried reporting it multiple times, but the report always managed to get 'lost in the shuffle,'" Tundra replied. "Additionally, further reports were going missing from Tiger Orca, who had agreed to help us look into the matter."

That certainly got the council's attention.

"And do you have proof of your claims?" Jill asked and Tundra nodded.

"I have digital receipts of the reports I sent, and I was provided a few of Tiger Orca's as well while we were comparing information," Tundra replied.

"So, I'll ask this again. Why the hell are they in handcuffs?" Jill asked as the muttering of the council got louder. "It looks to me like the only thing they did wrong is that they got to the infestation site first."

"There are still protocols to follow," the North American director said, joining the argument.

"Protocols they tried to follow but were unable to due to failure on the part of the BSAA," Jill countered.

"The East African Branch supports the observations of the South American Branch council, provided the proof mentioned is sufficient," the Eastern African Branch leader stated.

"Emily, can you access the documents you mentioned?" the Director of the Oceania Branch requested. Tundra nods. "Take off her cuffs," he said, and one of the escorts walked forward to do so.

"You can use my computer," Jill offered, and Tundra walked over to the computer, logged in, and showed the multiple report receipts that included transcripts of her reports.

Again, chattering filled the room.

"So, we're just going to ignore that this man ran off on his own with a team of eleven others, of which six died, plus one of the witnesses in our care, and that he blew up a large section of a mountainside, which resulted in an untamed wildfire?"

"Oh, and you can prove that was him? According to what we do know, there were five major Bioweapons, and based on the body count, a couple of hundred lesser Bioweapons poised to take out an entire European countryside. Would the council from BSAA Europe care to explain how there was no report prior to the ninth of any form of suspicious activity when we have clear evidence that reports were trying to be submitted?"

"It could be a server issue. We'll have to look into it," the European Branch manager said, still clearly unhappy with the turning of the tide.

"A server issue, really?" Jill asked. "That's convenient. While we're at it, let's talk about how convenient it is that we had a couple in witness protection from the States moved across the ocean to Romania, only for them to end up a few hours down the road from another mold site. The original mold site. Would anyone care to tell me who made the choice to move them to a country where English is not the native language, when a similar witness was given a new identity to live freely in the States?"

"That request came from the witnesses directly," the director confirmed.

"I see. With that, the South American Branch has no further questions and concedes the floor to the council," Jill said as she sat back in her seat.

Chris released a breath he didn't realize he'd been holding. She just might have managed to save his ass.

"If there are no further requests for time to speak, we'll move to deliberation," said the presiding director.

The room was silent.

"The council will deliberate then. Escorts, please assist the offending parties to the prepared waiting area," the director of the Oceania Branch said, and the escorts stepped into action to lead the six out of the room and into another where they continued to keep an eye on the potential traitors.

It felt like forever. At least two hours had passed before the door opened, and the director walked in with a neutral expression before plopping a folder down on the desk in his usual tired fashion.

"Uncuff them," he said with an annoyed expression. They weren't sure if they had heard him correctly as they looked between each other for confirmation, but all the same, the escorts did as they were told and uncuffed the six AWOL members. "You've been reinstated in full to the North American Branch. None of the other branches were willing to take you. So it looks like you're still my headache," he said as he moved to take a seat.

Lobo was the first to cheer, and the others soon joined in after. They were free. They were safe.

"Knock that off," the director said as a headache began developing. "The European Branch is pretty fed-up with you though; Mia and Rose will be transferred back to the North American Branch for closer observation. We'll be looking for a safe house for them to stay in close to our base to prevent this from happening again."

Chris felt a weight lift from him. Somehow, some way, he was getting a third chance.

"You'll be expected in the office first thing tomorrow morning for reissuing your gear," the director grumbled before making a waving motion. "You're dismissed."

The six got up and walked out. Chris found Jill waiting outside. "You really know how to stir the pot," Jill said with a short chuckle.

"Yeah... Thank you," Chris said quietly while rubbing at his wrists where the handcuffs used to be.

"You didn't give up on me back then, back when Wesker was using me as a puppet, even though everyone else did..." Jill said before motioning that he should get going. "We're even now. Try to be more careful," she said with a soft smile. "Oh, and Chris. Thanks for the letters. It's been nice catching up." With that, she turned to leave.

"Yeah." He nodded. It took him a moment before he made his way out of the building. Each step came quicker than the last. He needed to get home. He stared at the parking lot.

Right.

He didn't have a car anymore. He’d kind of left that on the airfield over a month ago... He shook his head and started to book it to the main road and followed that until he was able to find an intersection so he could call a cab and give them an exact location to pick him up and drive him to an ever-familiar apartment building. Chris quickly paid the cab driver before heading inside, hurrying up the stairs, and stopping in front of a door that had become home to him.

He took a deep breath and knocked on the door, causing Duke to start barking.

Emma looked over to the door lazily from her blanket cocoon on the couch before giving a tired sigh. She pushed herself to get up and shuffle over to the door while rubbing at puffy red eyes. It didn't help in the slightest. She looked like a mess as she slowly opened the door.

"Bastion, I appreciate the concern, really, but I just want to be alo—" Her words were cut short by a gasp as she saw who was standing at the door. She quickly moved forward to hold onto him, fearing she was seeing things. Nope he was real. The two clung to each other in the doorway as waterworks renewed.

“Everything is going to be okay," Chris eventually said, smiling and chuckling with relief.

He wasn't going to make the same mistake. Not again.

Chapter Text

be-be-be-beep be-be-be-beep... be-be-be-beep be-be-be-beep

Chris rolled over to try and turn off his alarm to find that it didn't work. He grumbled as Emma turned off her alarm instead.

March 1st, 5:30 AM.

"It's too early," he mumbled as he shifted to hold her to try and get her to stay. Needless to say, he was feeling a little bit clingy after the scare from less than twenty-four hours ago. He’d been afraid that he'd never see her again.

"We have to get up early because you have to go to work, and you don't have a car. Remember?" Emma said with a partial smile. This was early even for her, but it would be necessary until they got things back to normal...

Right... He rubbed at his face as Emma got out of bed to get ready for the day. "What time do you think you'll be off work?" he asked since she'd have to pick him up as well.

"Not sure," she admitted. "Should be around 5, but I don't know what traffic will be like to get to you," Emma explained as she collected her outfit for the day. "Were you able to figure out where they put your car?"

"I'll look in the system once I get there," he said with a tired sigh as he pushed himself to get up. As much as he wanted to just flip off the BSAA and move on with his life, he’d made a promise to Ethan, and he wouldn't be able to keep that promise if the BSAA had Rose and he wasn't there.

"All right, text me if you find it?" Emma requested as she looked over at him from the doorway.

"Yeah," he replied, simply sitting there on the side of the bed.

Emma frowned slightly as she walked over to stand next to him and give him a gentle peck. "Hey. Things are going to work out. All right? We'll figure this out. Worst case scenario, we have to wake up early for a few days and find a different car for you."

"It's more money to worry about," he pointed out.

"Then it's a good thing we're moving in together and saving some funds. We just have to take this, one step at a time," she offered and he nodded in return.

"One step at a time," he agreed before giving her a peck in return. He wasn't really sure if life was going to let them take that approach, but the idea was comforting in its own right.

With the morning morale boost out of the way, the two prepared for a very long day. Emma dropped Chris off at the first gate of the BSAA Headquarters and he had to walk the rest of the way to work since she didn't have clearance to get closer to the building.

It was like his first day of work all over again. Just fifteen years later, and he wasn't excited about it in the slightest. He went through the motions of filling out paperwork, safety training, and drills. Getting his uniform, patches and locker reassigned, getting the keys to his office back. It was pretty much an all-day affair. He had just made it to his desk and sat down to try to look for information on where his car had gone, when there was a knock at the door.

For the love of all that is holy. "Come in," he said with some irritation in his tone.

The door opened, revealing the director's secretary. "The director would like to speak with you," she said with some hesitation.

The director can kiss my a— "I'll be right there," Chris replied, cutting the thought short.

"Yes sir," she said and closed the door before hurrying away.

Chris took a moment to mentally prepare himself before getting up once more. He headed over to the door that had given him more headaches than anything else, and knocked on it.

"Come in," the director said from the other side. A deep breath later, Chris opened the door and walked in. "Redfield, have a seat," the director said in an attempt at a greeting. He could have said ‘welcome back’ or ‘good to see you,’ but both would be bold-faced lies after the events of the hearing.

"You needed something?" Chris asked. He was just as interested in cutting to the chase.

"Unfortunately," the director replied. "The European Branch is well and ready to be done with all of this. They're shipping over Mia and Rose as soon as possible," he explained before looking over to his computer to start typing. "The council believed you would be the best suited to keep their case due to your 'diligent monitoring' that led to all of this in the first place." The director avoided rolling his eyes at that while focusing on his screen. "This is a bit of a problem, though, since we've had less than a day to look into finding a safe house for them and Mia is refusing to stay in the barracks while we find suitable accommodations."

Chris nodded, "So you want me to look after them?"

"Bingo," the director replied. If she was going to make his life hell by rejecting the barracks, she was getting the next worst option. Torment two pains in the ass for the price of one.

Any other time he'd have rejected the request, but once more the words of Ethan's request rang in his ear. "Fine, I'll be moving into a new place soon anyway. I'll have the space."

"Excellent, they'll be here in two days," the director added, which caused Chris's shoulders to drop.

"Two days?" he echoed, shocked. He would have thought it would be at least a week or two. They still had an entire house to pack up and there was the matter of grieving.

"Is that a problem?" the director asked with a raised eyebrow.

"...No," Chris replied with a slight frown. Well, this was going to be a great phone call to have with Emma. Hey, remember how you said one step at a time? Turns out I just added five more problems to the list of issues to deal with...

"Very well. You're dismissed," the director said and motioned that Chris could leave.

Chris got up to do so, then paused. "You wouldn't happen to know what they did with my car, would you?"

The director gave a tired sigh. "Check impounds. If it's not there, it was sent to a scrapyard." Along with my hopes and dreams of retiring before I die of stress, the director thought as he pinched at the bridge of his nose.

Chris nodded and headed out to check that first before calling Emma. To his relief, his car was in fact, not scrapped, but there was an impound fee. He worked out getting the car and keys back before heading to his office, locking the door to avoid any further interruptions. He took his seat with a tired flop.

He waited a few minutes before digging his phone out of his pocket and dialing her number.

"Hey, good timing," Emma said as she picked up the phone. "I was meaning to talk to you."

"Oh um," he said, surprised.

"Why don't you go first?" They both said at the same time.

Emma chuckled. "If you have good news, you should go first," she hesitantly insisted.

That didn't sound good. "Bit of both..." he admitted. "Good news, I have a car and you don't need to pick me up."

"Good, good. Um"—Emma paused—"because I have to pick up your sister from the airport..."

"What?" he asked, surprised, before giving a tired sigh and leaning back in his chair.

"She just called that she was on her way," Emma explained.

"Is she staying long?" he asked, as his voice showing he was pretty clearly worn-out.

"She didn't say exactly. Probably a few days," Emma explained.

"Suppose I'll have to one-up your news," Chris replied as he rested a hand over his eyes to block out the light and tend to a building headache.

"Really?" she asked hesitantly.

"Sorry." Guilt returned to his mind. He was asking a lot of her of late.

"No, it’s okay. What is it?" she asked, trying to keep pushing on. This would be fine.

"We're going to have some extra roommates for ... well, that is, is it okay if I offer that guest room of yours?" Chris stammered. If she said no, he'd just let them use his apartment as their own and try and figure out how to bring up the idea that they'd have to stay in the house with them for ...

"How long?" Emma asked in a quiet neutral tone.

"It's probably going to be a while. Remember that friend of mine I mentioned who asked me to keep an eye on his wife and kid? They don't have a place to stay at the moment... they'll be here in two days," Chris explained while waiting for her to chew him out for this.

Emma relaxed in her chair. She knew how guilty he felt about all this and how much he blamed himself for what happened. "All right," she agreed. It would probably be a few weeks. Maybe a few months. It wasn't forever. "I'm ordering take-out. What are you in the mood for?" There was no way she was cooking tonight. Sorry, Claire.

"What about that one place down the street. They're pretty cheap," Chris suggested. They were going to be cutting it tight for a while until they recovered from. All of this.

"Got it, I'll order the usual," Emma agrees with a chuckle. It was cheap, but it was good comfort food, and she could tell they kind of needed that.

"Sounds good." He heard a soft beeping in his ear that caused him to look at the phone. "I'm getting another call."

"All right. good luck." She replied. "I'll see you at home."

"See you soon," he replied and switched lines. "Hello?"

"Hi, is this Christopher Redfield?" asked a way too chipper voice.

"Speaking," Chris replied as he leaned forward to rest his elbows on his desk.

"This is Daisy Mae with the realtor foundation. How are you doing today?" she asked in the same chipper tone.

He winced at this while saying a silent prayer. "Fine."

"Good, good. So, it's come to our attention that there's been a bit of a blip in your employment history recently and some potential legal issues?" she said with some hesitation. Not that the hesitation mattered, she asked all the same.

"That's already been handled and acquitted," Chris replied, hoping that would be the end of it.

"Oh well that's wonderful to hear," the realtor. "I'm afraid that we will still need to re-run a few reports, and this is going to end up delaying the closing until mid-April. It may also end up affecting your interest rates. The seller is willing to offer the extension on the closing date if you're still interested in making the purchase, though I would like to remind you that your earnest deposit is non-refundable at this point."

WHAT ELSE! "That's"—he gave his fifth tired sigh that hour—"fine. Mid-April works." Good lord, what else could go wrong? They just needed a little room to breathe.

"Okay excellent, I'll let the seller know. I'm sure they'll be thrilled to hear that everything will be moving forward," the realtor said as she returned to her chipper customer service voice.

"Thanks..." he replied, though he just wanted to flip her off. It wasn't her fault, but could they not have waited until tomorrow? This was a lot for one day, after just finding out he wasn't going to go to jail. He and Emma needed a little time to themselves, and they were not going to get it until probably May at this rate.

"Have a nice day Mr. Redfield," the realtor replied before hanging up.

He resisted the urge to throw his phone and pocketed it instead. The last thing they needed was to deal with a broken phone on top of his sister's unexpected visit, two sudden roommates, the car expenses, and now the chaos that would come from the extended closing on the house.

The agent attempted to focus on working for the remainder of the day, but ultimately didn't get much else done. He trudged out to his car, picked up a pack of cigarettes on the way home, and tried to relax as he made his way to the parking garage next to the apartment complex. After finding his usual parking spot, he gave himself an extra five minutes to decompress before getting out and heading into the building, up the stairs, and through Emma's door.

"Chris, there you are!" said Claire, who hurried over to hug him.

"Hey," he replied with an attempt at a smile. “Good to see you." Was it inconvenient that she didn't really give them a heads-up? Yeah. But she was worried about him, and he wanted to try and be better about being available for the people who mattered.

"I came as soon as I could," she said with a nod.

"I can see that," He chuckled. "Let's get a bite to eat then and catch up."

The response surprised Claire. She fully expected a tired 'how long will you be here' as usual. She smiled and nodded. "Yeah, we picked up dinner on the way."

"Smells good," Chris said as he walked over to the table to sit next to Emma and give her a peck. "How was work?"

"Surprisingly, not so bad. And you?" Emma asked as she returned the affection.

"It was a day. It's good to be back," Chris replied. He didn't really want to bring up the house issue with Claire listening. She'd just end up worrying more.

The three casually talked and caught up regarding the various events that had happened since their last get-together. Claire mentioned that she'd be heading back tomorrow morning and she was just going to take an Uber to the airport, but Chris rejected that and offered to take her.

Once everyone was set for the night, Chris joined Emma in bed. "Well, today was a day," Emma said with a yawn as she snuggled up next to him.

"Yeah..." He looked over at the clock,10:32 pm. "There might be one more thing that came up..."

Emma frowned but nodded. "Let's rip the band-aid off then. Deal with it all today so tomorrow is a fresh start," she said, though she wasn’t sure if that would actually work...

"The closing got moved to next month..." Chris said, which caused Emma to sit up and look at him.

"You're joking," she said, concerned. Chris shook his head no, signaling he was serious. She laid back down. "What are we going to do?" she asked quietly. She'd tried to stay optimistic, but this was a pretty solid kick to the teeth. "Chris, I signed an amendment to terminate my lease at the end of the month."

"I know. Mine expires at the end of the month too," he said with a slight frown.

"I'll take tomorrow off. Maybe I can talk to the landlord, see if I can undo the termination. That would put my lease back to the original terms," she said before shifting to rest a hand on her face.

"He's going to charge you an arm and a leg for that," Chris pointed out.

"I don't think we have much of a choice... it just means we'll have to hold off on a few of the fixes around the house for a couple extra months. It's better than a month in a hotel," Emma said, trying to figure out how they were going to manage four people sharing an apartment for a month. Even if the closing was in the middle of the month, they needed time to fix the place up a little and move in furniture, to get comfortable and all that. "I'll let my boss know I need to adjust the PTO that I scheduled for the move."

Chris nodded and waited. "Hey," he whispered to see if she had fallen asleep or not.

"Hm?" Emma replied sleepily.

"We got the car back," he said quietly, which caused an amused smile to cross Emma's face even if she didn't open her eyes.

"Thank god we got the car back," Emma replied with a short chuckle. It was a small victory, but it was a much-needed one.

'*'*'*'*'

The next morning, Chris drove Claire to the airport before heading to work. He was given a few extra files on Mia and Rose, but other than that, the day was uneventful. It was a much-needed breath of air before the day to come.

"Miss Winters, it's good to have you back in the states," said the director as the woman sat in his office with a permanent scowl etched on her face. She clearly did not want to be here. "Per your request, we'll have one of our top agents taking care of you and your child while we look for a suitable, safe home for you to stay in."

"How long will that take?" she asked, gently bouncing the child in her arms to keep her calm.

"We're not quite sure. We'll need to purchase a home. At best, a month. Though since we're still looking, we can try to accommodate any requests," the director explained, hoping that extra tidbit of information would reduce some of the complaining he'd have to listen to.

"Fine," she agreed, avoiding eye contact.

"Glad you find that agreeable," he said before a knock was heard at the door. "Ah, that should be your bodyguard now. Come in," he called and sure enough, Chris walked in.

Mia could feel her eye twitch slightly. "No. NO. Absolutely not. Find someone else."

"Miss Winters, I assure you, Mr. Redfield, is one of our top operatives. The council insisted in fact," the director said with a smile. This was well worth the headache.

"He practically shot me in the head! In front of my now deceased husband! And stole my child!" Mia protested.

"But it wasn't you," the director said. "And that's apparently all the council is worried about. If you have any complaints on the matter, I can provide you with the paperwork but that will take a few weeks to get processed."

"This is absolutely ridiculous," she fumed.

"It's this or the barracks. Your choice," the director said.

Mia stood up and looked between the two before grumbling to herself and staring at Chris.

"You have a car seat, right?" Mia asked, and Chris looked at the director, confused. Yeah, his car had, like, seven seats. "For the baby," she said as she recognized the confused stare.

"Oh. Um." Chris paused. In all the stress and panicking of the last two days, he kind of didn't think about that. They didn't exactly have to worry about that in the helicopters, so it had kind of slipped his mind.

Mia rolled her eyes before putting Rose in her carrier. "If I'm going with you, you'll need to pick one up."

"Right..." Chris winced slightly. More expenses. Great.

Getting back to the apartment took longer than expected because Chris had to run to the store, buy what he hoped was the right thing, get it into the car only to find out it didn't fit, take it back into the store, and switch it out for a different one that did fit. Then he had to get that into the car, get back to the BSAA headquarters, and THEN, and only then, was he able to get Mia to go with him back to the apartment.

"I'm home," Chris announced per usual as he walked in alongside Mia, who was still very protectively holding Rose.

"Hey, welcome back," Emma said from the living room as Duke could be heard barking from her room. As a cautionary measure, she made sure the pup would be out of reach to keep him from jumping and scaring the new guest and the baby. Emma got up and walked over, offering a hand to Mia. "It's nice to meet you."

"It's not nice to meet you. I don't want to be here," Mia said with an annoyed expression.

"Mia," Chris said with some level of sympathy. She did just lose her husband.

"Don't 'Mia' me," she snapped as she turned her ire on Chris instead. "You're the last person that should be even SPEAKING to me." As her anger grew, she reached out a hand to push Chris, who took a few steps back in response "YOU killed my husband," she accused as the emotional wound was reopened by being around him. "If you had just left us alone, none of this would have even happened. Everything was FINE," she further accused before Emma managed to step between the two.

It was odd seeing Chris so quiet and just taking that kind of abuse. "None of us are thrilled about this, but screaming about it isn't gone to change any of that," Emma said, trying to intervene, though not terribly successfully.

"Easy enough for you to say. Yours came back alive," Mia pointed out as Rose started to softly cry. "I got a coat and a bent-up ring. Because of him," she pointed at Chris, who winced and looked away.

"That's enough," Emma said sternly. Chris might have a guilt complex about this, but she sure didn't, and there were going to be some ground rules in her apartment. "This is not a competition to see who has the biggest scar from what happened. No one is trying to say you weren't wronged in this. We're just trying to help," Emma frowned. "So, either I can show you your room, or you can go back to the BSAA. It's your choice."

Mia threw her free arm up into the air and stormed off to the guest room, slamming the door shut. Luckily, she guessed the right room.

Emma gave a tired sigh as she heard crying from behind the door. That had not been one of her more masterfully handled situations... it had been a really long last few weeks, and she was, unfortunately, at her wit's end. Being introduced to a woman who instantly started screaming at her and Chris? That was never going to end well.

Chris looked between the door and Emma. It was probably better to give Mia some space. He walked forward to embrace Emma from behind as she moved to hold her forehead.

"Sorry," she said quietly. She'd apologize to Mia later. Hopefully. They were going to have to figure out how to live with each other for at least a month...

"It's okay. She's just... It's… a lot," Chris replied quietly, leaning forward to giving Emma a peck. "One step at a time."

Emma nodded. "Yeah," She returns the peck. Heaven, give her strength.

Chapter Text

Emma yawned as she pushed herself to get up and turn off her morning alarm.

Thursday, April 1st, 6:45 AM.

Same time as always. It had been almost a month now since Mia moved in. Chris’s lease officially expired, so his furniture was moved into a hastily rented storage unit, and he was now staying with Emma as well. To say things were crowded was an understatement, and things were still tense between the two households, but it was only a little bit longer. She leaned over to give the grumbling man next to her a peck before crawling out of bed and getting ready for the day, starting with Duke's walk then a shower. By the time she was dressed and ready to start cooking, Chris was sitting at the kitchen island with a cup of coffee.

"You're up early," Emma commented and got a mumbled reply. She walked over to the fridge and opened it only to find dozens of eyes staring at her causing her to jolt back with a yelp as she slammed the door shut, leaning forward to rest her hand on the door and support herself as she held her face. Chris was cracking up behind her. She took a breath and opened the fridge again to find everything, and I mean everything, in the fridge had a pair of googly eyes glued to it and were positioned to face the open door.

"Oh, what fresh hell..." she said with a forced frown as she tried not to laugh. Okay. Focus. She still needed to make something to eat. She opened the egg container to find all the eggs have googly eyes too. "CHRIS!" she cried as she turns to face the man who was now very red in the face from laughing. He cleared his throat as he got up and walk over and give her a peck.

"April fools," he said with a smirk. He’d had to stay up late after he was sure she had fallen asleep to pull this off. However, after last year, he had been planning revenge for a while.

"How am I going to cook a tomato with googly eyes?" she asked, gesturing to the produce that was staring back at her vacantly.

He chuckled at that and picked up a tomato, holding it at Emma's eye level. "Aaaaah! Don't cut me up," he said, attempting to speak with a goofy voice. It definitely wasn't something he was used to doing, so it really just sounded like he needed to cough.

Emma swatted at his arm. "Oh my gosh, why would you do that? Now I feel bad," she said with a pout before looking back at the container of eggs and picking it up to take over to the stove. "I'm sorry lil guys, but I'm hungry," she apologized, which caused Chris to snicker.

"You're kidding me, right?" he asked, shaking his head as he put the tomato back and closed the fridge.

"It's different when your food has a face," she said in return with a laugh. "I feel like I have to apologize."

"Glad you two are having a good time," Mia said with a frown as she walked in with Rose. The mood instantly shifted to awkward discomfort. She always seemed so tense and upset. Granted, she was probably still going through some difficult emotions. Her husband had died not long ago, but that didn't make it any less draining to be around her.

"Morning Mia, I'm making eggs for breakfast. Would you like any?" Emma asked as Chris went back to the island and his previously abandoned cup of coffee. I just need to make it a bit longer.

'*'*'*'*'

True to her thought she continued to hold on to what was left of her patience. Even then something just felt… off. It wasn't anyone thing in particular that made her feel that way. It was a jolt here and a glare there, a not-so-subtle jab in her tone that had Emma's nerves on edge. She was grieving, and it wasn't for Emma to say how she should or shouldn't go about that, but after listening to the same thing more and more, parts of Mia's original anger fell to the wayside. It didn't feel like she was upset about losing her husband. She actually dropped that after a week or two. It felt more like she was mad that Chris had showed up at all.

If you had just left us alone none of this would have even happened. Everything was FINE.

If Chris had left them alone completely, her daughter would have been taken away by a sociopath and she would have probably died being tested on. Sure, her husband was alive in that scenario but... Everything was not fine. By all means, she could be upset about how Chris went about the incident. Taking Rose by force without talking to anyone was kind of messed up and not exactly what Emma thought he had in mind when he was talking about an undercover protection detail. She understood the concern Chris had about not knowing who he could trust, but he went too far. Luckily, he seemed to understand that.

Even then, for Mia to say everything was fine so adamantly when she was kidnapped and tortured before he intervened… it just didn't make sense.

Emma shook her head as she walked up the stairs to her apartment and took out her phone.

Friday, April 9th, 4:32 pm.

She smiled at that; it was nice to get home early. Maybe she'd try baking something. That always helped her relax and it was something everyone could enjoy to relieve some stress once the baking was done. She nodded at that thought and put her phone away before walking to her door unlocking it and walking in.

Where is Duke? she thought as she walked in and didn't get her usual greeting. Instead, she heard barking from her room and some quick shuffling in the kitchen.

"Hey, I'm home," Emma said as she noticed one of the larger jars of apple sauce for Rose on the counter with a few stray opened pill cases. She wasn't aware Rose took medicine... maybe that was a new addition? "Where's Duke?" she asks while looking around and by the time she looked back, the pill cases were gone. Maybe she was seeing things...

"He kept barking so I put him away," Mia said, not looking at Emma.

"Oh," she replied as her eyebrows knit together. If her dog didn't trust Mia, she didn't trust Mia. What had happened? Maybe she wasn't seeing things... "Sorry about that, he must be antsy. It's close to time for his walk."

"Well, I don't want that brute near my baby," Mia replied with a frown as she closed up the apple sauce jar and put it away.

Brute? Duke was the single most patient dog in the world with kids. Annie pulls on his face and hair all the time and he'd just lay there and take it until she was removed. "Right." Emma nodded. Oh gosh, just another month or two. She could do this. "I'll see what I can do." She really needed to talk to Chris. "Ah before I forget, do you still need to borrow a car to get to that mother-daughter swim class thing tomorrow?"

"Yes," Mia replied with a nod.

"Okay, glad I checked. You can use mine then," she offered before going back to get Duke, putting his leash on, and taking the dog out. Something was absolutely wrong and she was going to figure out what it was.

Emma waited patiently for the next day and for Mia to leave with Rose. Once she was sure the two were gone, she tiredly plopped onto the couch next to Chris.

"My favorite part of the week," he said with an equally tired chuckle, which caused a slight smile to cross Emma's face.

"Soon to be Duke’s as well, I think. She's been closing him up in my room during the day," Emma said to lead into the subject.

"Really? Why? He usually just lays on the couch," Chris replied, confused.

"He's apparently been barking at her," Emma explained, earning a short 'ah' in response.

"Well, he's not going to like everyone, I suppose," Chris offered in response, and Emma nodded.

"You ever get that feeling in your gut that says something is wrong and you're not completely sure why? It's halfway between ‘I'm going to be sick’ and ‘emotional butterflies,’" Emma asked and Chris nodded.

"On occasion," he replied. "Is something wrong?" He had a feeling he knew who she was about to talk about. He couldn't really blame her for being unnerved. Mia wasn't really the easiest person to get along with, and this was all happening after a really, really stressful few months.

"I don't know. I just keep getting that feeling in my gut that something's wrong. That and—" She was about to continue but stopped as Chris’s phone went off. "Go ahead and check," she offered, knowing that it was going to bother him if he didn't look to see if it was work. He was pretty much always on call, so it couldn't be helped.

"It'll just be a second," he said and took out the device to answer it. "Chris speakin—" He paused as the person on the other line spoke. "What?!" he asked as he quickly stood up and started walking around. Emma knew this routine. He needed to go. "When did this happen? Four da—Why am I only just now hearing about this? Share your screen," he demanded more than requested and moved the phone away from his face to see a photo of an unidentifiable figure and one very identifiable figure. One of the four lords. What was his name again? It began with an H...

"How in the hell did he not only survive, but end up in Louisiana? That village was a crater." The picture changed to show another of the unidentifiable figure on their own, heading towards the Baker home." Chris sneered and puts the phone back to his ear. "I want a BOLO out yesterday for anyone matching their description," he said as he walked to the door and put his shoes on. How in the hell did that metal asshole end up in the States? He paused. "I'll be right there," he said before hanging up.

"Duty calls?" Emma asked with a weak smile.

"Sorry," he replied with a frown. "Security breach. Pretty severe one if this is who I think it is."

"It's okay, go get 'em. We can talk when you get back.” It was his job and part of who he was. She knew that.

I’m not going to make the same mistake. Not again.

He paused again before letting go of the doorknob, walking back to sit down again, though he was noticeably antsy and clearly wanted to head out. "In a second. You were trying to tell me something."

Emma was surprised by this but nodded. "Yeah... I… Do you know if Rose takes any medicine?" she asked and Chris raised an eyebrow.

"Not sure. That's really more Mia's responsibility," Chris replied. Was that it?

"Okay. I was just wondering if you knew. I think I saw Mia emptying pills into the apple sauce that she feeds Rose. So, at the least, try not to eat that?" Emma requested.

Okay, that… yeah, he could see how that might be concerning. "I'll look into it. if I find anything odd, I'll take a sample to the labs," Chris offered.

"Thanks. Honestly, I'm probably just being paranoid. It's been really stressful lately," she said with a sigh.

"Yeah,” he agreed. "Not that you're being paranoid… Just, it's been stressful. We have the move coming up, and vacation time for getting the place fixed up, so at least we'll have some time to ourselves while we do that. Things will be back to normal soon."

Emma nodded. "Yeah," she agreed before giving him a nudge. "I'm pretty sure there's a security breach that requires your attention."

"Right," he said with a short laugh. "I'll try and text you if I'm going to be late."

'*'*'*'*'

Yeah, I’m definitely going to be late, he thought as he ended up on a helicopter down to Louisiana the second he set foot on BSAA soil. Luckily, he was able to let Emma know before he left. "What do we have to work with so far?" Chris asked as he walked alongside a few others.

"Honestly? Not a lot. Whoever this was, they didn't want to be tracked," said one of the agents who was flipping through a few reports on a clipboard.

"Unknown figure, roughly 5 foot 6 inches tall, no visible identifying features, and we got a partial print for a men's size 9.5 in some of the mold in the basement," the agent replied as they all masked up.

"So, it's a kid?" Chris asked while adjusting his air filtration mask.

"Probably, but it's hard to think that some kid managed to get past security without leaving evidence aside from a partial footprint and triggering a trail camera," the other agent chimed in.

"Do you think they had help?" Chris asked as they headed inside.

"Hard to say," the agent with the clipboard said. "The photos were taken fifteen minutes apart. They went in and out pretty quickly. Suggests they knew what they were after. Going in they were on their own. Going out…"

"They had a Bioweapon with them," Chris finished the sentence.

"Bingo," the second agent responded as they made their way into the basement.

"The trail cam was by the water, which suggests they at least had a boat and knew the area," the second agent pointed out.

"Did we send out a team to check the docks? See if there are any boats with mold samples and find the owners?" Chris asked as he took a look at the print and the casting next to it.

"Already on it, but it's an unlikely lead since they would have had to walk through the water before getting on the boat again," the clipboard agent replied. "We're having forensics check for anything that might be useful, but with how badly the mold has spread, it's hard to really get anything else."

"Why don't we have more information on this? Who was watching the area?" Chris asked, feeling frustrated.

"We had three guards on patrol. None of them saw anything suspicious," the one with the clipboard replied. "By their accounts, it was a peaceful night. No incidents. They check the trail cams every weekend and called it in as soon as they saw the intruders."

Chris frowned as he looked over the scene. This didn't add up, and he was going to find out why. "We're increasing security after this, right?"

"After some kid walked in out of nowhere then walked out with a Bioweapon? Yeah. Security is going waaay up," the second agent replied with a nod. "We let our guard down, didn't think people would still be looking into this place three years later."

Chris gave a quiet sigh. "Someone get me in touch with Zoe Baker." She'd been looking into this for a while now. Maybe she knew something.

'*'*'*'*'

The impromptu trip ended up taking four days as he helped gather and review information. In the end, he didn't feel any closer to finding an answer, and went home to wait and see if new information came to light from the BOLO. While this was frustrating and concerning, he had other fish to fry.

The 20th came and went. By the end of it, he was officially a homeowner. One step closer to peace and a slice of normality. The thought caused him to smile. It made the rest of the week that much easier to get through. Before long, Saturday arrived, and Chris and Emma walked into the cleared-out and empty home with supplies.

As per the norm, Emma walked around with her notebook and started making lists. "We get to get rid of the orange walls," Emma said with a laugh while adding plastic tarps, primer, and paint rollers to the list of things to pick up at the hardware store.

"Yeah," Chris replied with a twinge of a smile before remembering the notebook as the same one from around a year ago.

'So, you read my lists?'

'Not really. More so, flipped through the pages until I noticed the charts.'

'Oh thank heavens you didn't read them.'

'How bad could it be?'

'Nope. If you want to know you can ask.'

'What are your goals in life?'

'Well... what are yours?'

'...Not sure.'

'Then, for now, it's a secret'

His mind wandered as words went in one ear and out the other.

'It's cute seeing you two get along so well, though, so I can't be too mad...Did you ever consider having one of your own?'

'You're joking, right?'

'Of course, I'm joking.'

'...Emma.'

'What? Sorry, I was just joking. I didn't scare you, right? I should walk Duke before it gets too late.'

'...Right'

'You're going to wait until you're in your grave at this rate.'

'Pretty much.'

"Chris?" Emma said, snapping him out of his thoughts as she nudged him.

"Hm?" he replied as he looked at her. How did he bring this up...?

"Are you okay?" she asked, concerned. "If you're tired, we can start working tomorrow. I'll see if I can get Mia and Rose out to the park so you can take a nap."

"Sorry, I'm fine, just remembered we never really finished that conversation a while ago," he replied.

Emma stared at him quizzically. What conversation did they not finish? She thought it over before a lightbulb went off. "Oh! that's right," she said with a nod. "Did you find anything out about the medicine situation?"

Shit. "Ah. Um." He tried to force a neutral expression. He might have gotten busy. "Kind of slipped my mind."

"Chris," she said with mild disappointment. This was important.

"Sorry, sorry," he replied, digging out his phone. "I'll call in and check on it now," he offered before poking at his phone.

"It's oka—wait. What conversation did you mean then?" Emma asked with a raised eyebrow, which caused Chris to stop before dialing the number. He canceled the call for now.

"I think it was a year ago," he admitted, gesturing to the notebook. "So... What are your goals in life?"

Emma paused as she looked at the notebook that still held the lists she had considered burning before. She was going to have to talk about this eventually. Was this really the right time? They were both really stressed. Was there ever a good time, though? She bobbed her head and handed over the notebook. If she was tongue-tied, maybe this would work instead.

Chris put his phone away and accepted the notebook. As he did so, fight or flight kicked in for Emma. She tried to quickly exit the area. An attempt that ultimately failed as he hooked an arm around her waist to hold her while flipping through the notebook with the thumb of his other hand.

Life goals:

- Find a job I'm happy with

- Be debt-free before retirement

- Get out of apartments / get a house

- Have a family

- Be happy together

Emma hid her face behind her hands as Chris read over the list. As he got to the fourth one, he nodded. Kind of what he figured. She was genuinely trying to talk to him before, and he didn't take her seriously because of the earlier embarrassment caused by Summer. "It's a good list."

"Hm?" Emma replied, surprised. Okay... which one did he read?

"The fifth one is cheesy, don't you think?" he asked, and he couldn't quite understand the muffled response. He chuckled, then paused before speaking again. "I like the fourth one."

That confused her. What was the 4th one again? She peeked from behind her hands. "You do?" Gracious, it had been a while since she wrote that, assuming he was looking at the life goal list. That was the house one, right?

"Yeah. I mean. It's not a 'now' thing, but"—he shrugged and offered the book back—"it's a good goal."

So, it wasn't the house. She accepted it and checked, smiling when she realized what it was. "Yeah," she agreed, then switched back to her list of supplies.

Chris cleared his throat. "Right, well, I should probably make that phone call," he said as he let go of her so she could go back to what she was doing before. He dug out his phone once more and dialed the number from before.

"Hey, Night Howl, are you in the office?" Chris asked and paused. "Yeah, I know it's a weekend. Do you have remote access? I'm not able to get in right now." He nodded. "Thanks. Yeah, no. Can you look up Rosemary Winters’ medical file? Let me know if we have her on any medications." He waited again.

Emma walked around the room pretending she wasn't, but very clearly was listening to the conversation, as she was not writing anything down.

Chris’ expression shifted to one of concern. "She's not... you're sure?" He looked at Emma, who was now looking at him with a similar expression. "Okay, well, thanks for checking. That's all for now. Yeah, see you in a week. Bye."

"Maybe we should install some security cameras and leave that detail out," Emma suggested cautiously.

Chris nodded. "Yeah, that might not be a bad idea," he agreed as he pocketed his phone again. "You're sure you saw her putting it in Rose's food?"

"It was a while ago but there were open pill capsules on the counter one second. Then they disappeared after she got me to look away. She was acting really weird," Emma explained.

"All right," he replied. "I'll see if I can't get a few samples and bring them into the labs. Maybe she was just taking her own meds and snuck a few bites to wash it down."

"Hopefully, that's all it is," Emma agreed with a nod.

Chapter Text

It took the full week, but Chris and Emma eventually got the house set up, including some additional security cameras, before moving Mia and Rose over. It wasn't a great feeling, knowing that they were quietly keeping an eye on Mia like this when there wasn't a ton of concrete evidence against her. The poor woman had it hard enough, but something just wasn't right.

Emma gave a quiet sigh as she thought about this while rinsing off the dishes to put them in the dishwasher. It had been two months now since Mia moved in with them. Hopefully, Chris would have some news when he got home about Mia getting her own place...

"Em, Emem," Rose babbled while toddling over and hugging her leg to regain her balance.

"Rosey," Emma cooed, which caused the child to giggle. She was only nine months old, but she had developed to the physical and mental capacity of maybe a one-and-a-half-year-old. It was strange, but Chris had already explained that Rose was special since she was a Bioweapon.

"Eh!" Rose grumbled with a frustrated expression while pulling on Emma’s pant leg.

“Use your words, Rosey," Emma said with a chuckle.

Rose let a few more sounds of frustration before eventually speaking. "Ehup! Up!" she said, holding her hands up and making a gripping motion.

Emma smiled at this. She really needed to get the sink cleaned out, though. Hmm. She moved to pick up the child and helped her sit on the counter. "Bubbles?" Emma said, which got Rose's attention quickly.

Emma smiled before picking up the dish soap container, flipping it upside down and back upright quickly before opening the cap and gently squeezing the plastic container. The air in the container pressed out hundreds of tiny little bubbles that floated around. Rose jolted from surprise at first before squealing and openly laughing and clapping.

"Rose? Where did you go?" Mia said as she walked back into the room to see Rose sitting on the counter and clapping at the bubbles floating around. "There you are," Mia said as she walked over and picked up the child. "Why was she on the counter? That's dangerous." Mia scowled.

Yikes. "Sorry, she just seemed like she wanted to play is all," Emma explained as Rose continued to try to grab the bubbles as her mom held her.

"Well, she's not YOUR kid, so next time you want to do something like that, you need to ask me first," Mia said with a frustrated frown before walking away with Rose to head back up the stairs to the room they were staying in.

Emma sighed and got back to cleaning. She was just about done when she heard the garage door open. Oh, thank heavens, she thought with a tired smile.

"I'm home," Chris called after closing the door behind him.

"Welcome home," Emma shouted back to help him know where she was.

"You had dinner without me?" he asked, confused.

"Sorry, Rose was getting cranky, so we decided to go ahead and eat," Emma explained in return. Chris frowned slightly but nodded and went to put his plate together. "How was work?" Emma asked with an unsure expression.

Chris forced a frown before tapping on his ear to point out Mia might hear them before taking out his phone. "It was work," he said while poking at his phone. Emma dug her phone out of her pocket.

Monday, May 3rd, 7:21 PM

[Chris] Brought in the food samples. The lab said it would take a week.

Emma nodded and put the phone away. "Well, hopefully, you had a good day all the same," she replied before giving him a peck on the cheek.

'*'*'*'*'

The wait for the lab results felt like torture. Tuesday rolled by, and Chris took Mia and Rose with him to work for their monthly check-up with the doctors. Wednesday passed uneventfully, and Thursday was about the same.

Emma was out walking Duke around the neighborhood for the afternoon when she passed one of the neighboring houses, and a woman older than Emma waved.

"Yoo hoo," said the woman.

"Hm?" Emma stopped and signaled for Duke to do the same. She supposed she should meet the neighbors.

"Hi, so nice to meet you," said the woman as she took off her gardening gloves and offered a hand. "You just moved in a few doors down, right?"

"Yeah, moved in a few weeks ago. Sorry, I didn't introduce myself sooner," Emma said, accepting the offered hand.

"Right of course. Just wanted to stop you since, well"—she forced a wincing smile—"couldn't help but notice that you guys haven't taken your trash cans back in yet. As leader of the community watch, we generally put that out at 6 pm on Wednesday since pick up is on Thursday and have those back in by 6 pm as well."

Oh God, she’s one of those neighbors. "Right," Emma said with a nod. "Cool, yeah, no… we'll start doing that then." She forced a smile in return. She had planned to do that as soon as she got back from her walk with Duke, and it was barely after 6. "Sorry, I don't think I caught your name."

"Whoopsie, klutzy me," she said as she put a hand over her heart. "Karen Blight," the woman answered with a more genuine smile. It honestly didn't look much different from the forced one.

Of course, it is. "Great to meet you Karen. I'm Emma Swanson," Emma said, and luckily the woman seemed to buy it. No wonder the previous owner was so interested in keeping the sale even with the hiccups. Every house had a catch...

"Emma, such a pleasure," said the woman before she looked around. "Now, I don't mean to pry, but what exactly is the living situation with your, um… the community you've moved in with?"

"Pardon?” Emma asked, confused.

"Well, I've already met Mia and her little girl, Lily."