Jill Valentine was busy packing for her week-long trip to her mother's house to celebrate Thanks Giving and to catch up with her younger siblings who she hadn't seen in years.
Her long time boyfriend Chris Redfield sat on the bed with a dour look on his tan face.
Jill stopped packing for a moment and sat by Chris.
"Something wrong"? She asked with a bit of concern in her voice, Chris was usually blunt and forceful and never acted worried.
"I'm just thinking' about Claire and that guy she's with". He said guy as if it were a curse word.
Jill rolled her eyes as she stood up. Chris had fretted over his younger sister Claires new fiance. Constantly talking about how he wasn't good enough or was just taking advantage of Claire.
She let out a frustrated sigh as she packed another t-shirt.
"Chris you need to understand that your sister is a twenty-five year old woman and is going to go where ever she wants, and be with whoever she wants".
Chris threw his hands up in anger. "I just don't understand how she would agree to marry this guy without ever introducing me to him."
Jill just shook her head. " Like she told me and you and hundred times, They started dating a year ago after she met him through Rebecca and Ryan, because he's Ryans best friend".
"Pssh,remind me to give Becca my utmost thanks for making that love connection when we see her".
"Chris...". Jill warned.
"Sorry"
"And you better be nice to my brothers when you meet them, too". Jill said with a hint of tease in her voice.
"Yes ma'am". Chris play simpered.
"Good, now let's get this luggage in the car so we can leave".
The Valentines house
Ryan Valentine sighed and ran a hand through his short light brown hair, and watched as his friend Spike Casson worked under the hood of his car.
"So what's wrong with it"? He asked in a bored tone, they had worked on the car for the last half hour and he was growing restless.
"Nothing's actually wrong with it". Spike replied impatiently. "I'm just giving' everything a once over to make sure it's all good.
Ryan shrugged and lit a cigarette and blew out a smoke ring, pausing for a moment to watch it disappear.
"Didn't you do that yesterday"?
Spike glared at him with eyes the same color as the smoke drifting from Ryans cigarette.
"I did. So What"?
Ryan took another drag of his cigarette, before shaking his head and asking.
"Whats wrong"?
Spike looked at him like he was an idiot.
"What do you mean what's wrong"?
Ryan snorted " Spike I've known you for twenty years, I know that when your nervous or somethings wrong you find whatever excuse you can to work on something and try to ignore the problem. So I ask you again, what is wrong"?
Spike sighed before closing the hood of his car. He took a deep breath before turning to look Ryan in his blue eyes.
"Alright, I'm going to tell you whats going on but you have to promise not tell anyone. Not your mom. Not James, Bryan,Danny, or Melissa, cause god knows they can't keep their mouths shut.
Ryan ground his cigarette out under his shoe. "Are you that nervous about meeting Claires' brother"? He asked jokingly.
Spike ran a hand over his face. "This is not a joke Ryan, Promise me".
"Alright, Sorry, I promise I won't say anything".
Spike nodded. "Good, Alright". He took another deep breath.
Ryan was a little nervous about what his friend was going to tell him now that he was having such a difficult time saying it.
"She's pregnant".
Ryan furrowed his brow. "Who's pregnant"?
Spike dropped his face into his hands as if he couldn't believe the sheer aloofness of his friend.
"Claire, Ryan, Claire is pregnant".
Ryans eyes widened in surprise. "Oh, well are you sure"?
Spike nodded again. " We went to the doctors before we came down, She's about a month along".
Ryan gave him a wry grin." This is gonna' make getting along with her brother a little harder, huh"?
Spike glared again. " Go fuck yourself".
Ryan pulled out his cell phone and glanced at the screen it read ten forty-five.
"You still got a couple of hours before they get here to think out a plan".
Spike shook his head. "Let's go inside, it's cold as hell out here."
Jill adjusted her sunglasses and look out the window at the landscape zipping by trying to remember a land mark from the last time she had been to her mothers.
"How much longer till we get there Chris"?
Chris glanced over at her quickly before looking back at the road.
"I don't know about twenty minutes". He said with a hint of an edge in his voice.
Jill sat up straighter in her seat and gave an exasperated sigh before asking.
"What is your problem Christopher? You've been acting like something's been up your ass the whole drive. you wanna tell me what it is"?
Chris let a few frustrated noises and then threw his hands up from the wheel in exasperation.
"I'm just still kinda mad about this engagement thing, to tell you the truth."
Jill grabbed the wheel and pulled the car straight before the drifted into the other lane.
"Chris keep hands on the damned wheel"!
Chris quickly grabbed the wheel.
"Thank you, now what are you so mad about that we haven't already discussed"?
Chris shrugged. "... I mean what's this Spike guy like, Also what kind of nick name is Spike"?
Jill racked her brain for what she could remember about her brothers friend, since the last time she had seen was around ten years ago.
"Well, I haven't seen him in about ten years. But from what I remember he was a pretty quiet kid, kind of the "Strong Silent Type" I guess you'd call him. Also, Spike is not a nick name, It's his actual legal name.
Chris grunted. "Well what does he do for a living"?
Jill raised an eyebrow. "Haven't you talked to Claire about him"?
A brooding look came over Chris's face. " Well, when she called and told me about the engagement we got into a big argument and haven't really talked since".
Jill rolled her eyes at hearing this." That's what I've told you about Chris, you react way to fast and you react way to severely".
Chris glared at his girlfriend. " I wasn't reacting at Claire, I was only reacting at the news she gave me".
Jill rolled her eyes again. She found she had been doing that a lot more often lately.
"Whatever. and to answer your question about his job, He and Ryan were in the army for a few years and fought over in Croatia, and now he's a welder of some kind".
Chris snorted. "A welder".
Jill gave him a perplexed look." What's wrong with being a welder"?
"How is he going to support my sister on a welders salary".
"Chris, you do know that your sister can get a job with the college degree she has right"?
"Whatever, I just don't like it".
Jill sighed "Fine, lets just listen to the radio for the rest of the drive."
The Valentine House
Spike and Ryan walked into the house to see Ryans mother Wendy and his girlfriend Rebecca Chambers sitting on the couch watching t.v. and talking. Wendy was a thin woman with dark black hair with a few streaks of grey in it. Rebecca was a petite woman of twenty-four years, with a heart-shaped face, her eyes were a light green, and hair was light brown in a pixie haircut.
"Where's Claire"? Spike asked bluntly.
Wendy scoffed. "Spike where are you're manners"?
Spike raised an eyebrow. "What manners"?
Ryan and Becca laughed, and Wendy simply shook her head and said. "Exactly. Claire is upstairs in the guest room I believe.
"Thank you". Spike said before walking upstairs.
Ryan took a seat next to Becca on the couch and placed his arm around her waist before giving her a quick kiss.
"Oh! Your lips are freezing". Rebecca said, touching two fingers too her own pink lips.
Ryan grinned suggestively at her."Wanna help me warm them up"?
"Not while your mothers in the room". Rebecca teased.
Ryan laughed. "Yeah, she is kind of a mood killer".
Wendy threw her hands up in defeat. "I can leave if you want me to". she said in mock hurt.
Ryan stuck a hand out to stop her."No,no, don't leave on account of me. So when is everyone else supposed to get here"?
Wendy glanced at the small white watch on her wrist. "They should be here in about half an hour, but knowing your brothers and sister that could mean anytime today".
Ryan laughed at this knowing how many arguments and other obstacles would happen on his siblings journey.
"I remember when we took that road trip when I came back from Croatia, I had to keep Danny from getting into six fistfights, and three of 'em were with Bryan".
Rebecca giggled and Wendy laughed at the story she heard so many times. "I'll never understand why those two can't just get along".
Ryan shrugged. "Sibling rivalry I guess".
Wendy nodded in agreement and then stood up and said. "I guess I should start making some lunch for when they show up".
Rebecca stood up also."Want any help"?
Wendy smiled. "Sure sweetie, thanks".
Ryan looked at Rebecca. "I thought you were going to help warm my lips up"?
Rebecca giggled. " I think you can wait till later".
Ryan shook his head. " You're a tease, you know that"?
Rebecca tossed an I know over her shoulder as she joined Wendy in the kitchen. Ryan settled down on the couch to watch t.v. until the rest of his family showed up.
Claire was sitting on the bed in the guest room she and spike were sleeping in while they stayed at Ryans mothers house for the thanksgiving week. She had definitely needed the vacation after everything she had gone through and with just finishing getting a degree in human psychology, and now that she was pregnant she had tried to spend more time with Spike. The last few days though he had acted somewhat distant. She guessed it was just him being nervous about the pregnancy and meeting her brother.
The door opening shook her out of her thoughts. She looked to see the man she was just thinking of walking through the door. His grey orbs locked with her blue ones. His mouth twitched slightly and she knew right then he had something that he wanted to talk to her about. He set down next to her on the bed and wrapped his arms around her resting his chin on her shoulder.
She slipped her hands into his and let her self sink into him. "Whats wrong".
He placed a kiss on her neck before saying. "I'm sorry for how I've acted. I know you wanted to spend more time together".
Claire smiled. "It's okay. Just don't let happen again". she said forcefully.
Spike let out a short laugh and let one of his hands drift to her stomach.
"So, how are we gonna tell your brother about this"? He asked.
She sighed. "Well, we should definitely let him eat lunch first, he'll take the news better if he's not hungry.
"You don't think he'll be happy about becoming an uncle"?
Claire laughed sarcastically. "Yeah, my overprotective brother is gonna be really happy the I'm engaged and impregnated by a guy he's never met, and that I only dated for a year.
Spike laughed again a sound she loved to hear, "Yeah, I guess I wouldn't too happy either".
He looked her in the eyes again. "You do know we're gonna be okay though right"?
She kissed him deep on the lips. " Of course we are. We'll take care of each other. I love you".
He smiled and kissed her again. "Love you too".
They heard the front door downstairs swing open and voices drifted through the door.
Spike said. " That must be the kids".
A string of what sounded like curses and threats floated up the stairs and through the guest room door to their ears.
"And they're already arguing".
She stood up pulling her with him. "Come on, let's go see what they're doing down stairs."
He nodded and followed after feeling both happy and nervous.
They made their way downstairs where they saw that the two people arguing were the younger Valentine brothers, Bryan and Danny. Bryan was twenty-one years old about five foot ten inches tall and had dark green eyes, his black hair was in a buzz cut.
Danny was a few inches shorter than his brother and skinnier. He had the same green eyes but his hair was longer and covered with a purple hat that he wore backwards. From what she could tell they were arguing about a woman that they had met at a gas station. How lovely. She thought.
There was a girl who was about the same age as Bryan and looked remarkably like a younger version of Wendy, Claire figured this must have been Bryans twin sister Melissa. Standing next to her was another man who looked to be in his early twenties, he had jet black hair and dark grey eyes, he was shaking his head at the two brothers arguing.
Spike took her hand. " Come on, I want you to meet my brother".
He led her over to where Melissa and the dark-haired guy were standing.
"This is my brother James". He said
James gave her a small smile and a "nice to meet you".
The girl introduced herself as Missy and gave Claire a sweet smile. Claire returned it.
"I'm sorry about my idiot brothers, they don't exactly know how to get along".
"Don't worry I know all about how brothers can be". Claire said
Claire and Missy shared a small laugh.
By now Wendy had come into the room broken the argument up and sent the two boys on their separate ways, Bryan to get the rest of their luggage and Danny to take what they had already brought in too their rooms.
