Disclaimer: Resident Evil is property of Capcom. This story is my property.
Side Notes: This story takes place several years after Umbrella's fall. Dates in reference to the RE timeline are guessed on. Background information for main characters is a cross between the games and the S. D. Perry novels.
Story Of UsBy: Striker
Chapter 2- Getting Close.
Present
"So when did you really start falling for me?" Chris asked.
"I'd have to say a few weeks after I met you." Jill replied. "I believe it was the day I found out about your sister."
Chris smiled. "The café. I remember that day. Remember how the guys wouldn't leave us alone?"
Jill giggled. "They started the day you arrived. They just felt that we should be together."
"All except Wesker." Chris said. "He even tried to stop it."
"Yeah, I remember." Jill said. "That morning…"
Raccoon City. July 24, 1997.
"So when's the big date?" Forest asked.
"Don't you have something called work?" Jill asked, trying to type up a report.
Joseph leaned on the corner of Jill's desk. "Come on, you can tell us. We're all friends, right?"
"Hey if you don't tell us, Chris will." Forest said. "Right buddy?"
Chris grunted and continued to work at his desk.
"Why don't you guys back off?" Barry asked.
Richard walked over to Chris and gestured to the partners. "We need to know because it's what everyone is talking about. The one question the whole precinct is asking is if Chris and Jill are just friends, or something more. The thought of love blooming in the S.T.A.R.S. office is on everyone's mind."
"You read too many romance novels." Edward said, standing next to Brad by the communications equipment.
Brad chuckled. "You guys need to get laid."
Forest glared at Brad. "Shut up chickenheart. If you were with a woman you'd pass out as soon as she took off her socks."
Richard patted Chris on the back. "All we want to know is if you and Jill are an item."
"Shut up, leave me alone." Chris said, his eyes fixed to his computer screen.
"Maybe you should leave them alone." Kenneth said, standing next to Enrico's desk. "If they are dating it's their own damn business."
Enrico nodded. "If they want to tell us they'll tell us." Enrico looked at Jill. "So, are you two an item?"
"Not you too." Jill moaned. "How many different ways do you want me to say no?"
"Face it Jill, they won't listen." Chris said.
Joseph snapped his fingers and pointed at Chris. "There you two go again. Why is it that whenever we ask you this question you get so defensive?"
"Can you please knock it off?" Barry asked. "You're all giving me a headache."
Wesker entered the office and marched to his desk. He had heard most of the conversation from the hall. "Don't we all have work to do?"
"We were just talking about…" Forest began.
"Talking about meaningless bullshit." Wesker cut in. "Why can't you people work like Chris? Since he's been here he's done more work in two weeks than all of you have in two months."
"You better spot Chris." Richard said. "You're making us look bad."
"That's not too hard." Jill said.
Wesker growled. "Listen up. Forest, Richard, get down to the weapons locker and clean those guns. Joseph, get your ass down to the motor pool. Edward, get up to the helipad and service those copters. Kenneth, get down to forensics. The rest of you, finish up your paperwork." The men standing there staring at him only pissed him off more. "What are you waiting for, a written invitation? GET MOVING!" The S.T.A.R.S. members scrambled from the room. The one's that stayed quickly got back to work. Wesker sat down in his chair and rubbed his forehead. "Sometimes I feel like I'm running a circus."
"I tired to stop them." Barry said. "But they would leave these two alone." He pointed to Chris and Jill.
"Look, I couldn't give a shit about your personal lives." Wesker said. "What I do give a shit about is when you put gossip about your lives before your work. This has gone on ever since Chris got here. I want it to stop now."
Everyone present acknowledged and got back to work.
Chris sat by a window booth and continued to write his letter. He was in the same café that he had first met Jill in. He had come to the café every once and a while. The place was small and the food wasn't that bad. Mostly he had gone to Grady's Inn with Barry, Forest, and the other guys. Chris ate some of his fires and went back to writing.
Jill soon entered by herself. Valerie was sick in bed and Tracy was swamped with work. Jill looked around and spied Chris sitting alone. She walked over to his table. "Fancy meeting you here."
Chris set down his pen and looked up at Jill. "I needed some time to myself. Where are your friends?"
"Valerie caught the flu and Tracy got a load of work dumped on her." Jill replied.
Chris motioned to the seat opposite him. "Have a seat."
"Thanks." Jill said, sitting down. "So what are you writing?"
"It's a letter to my sister." Chris replied.
"You have a sister?" Jill asked.
Chris nodded. "Her name's Claire. She's my little sister. She's about five years younger than I am. She starts college next month. I write her about once a month to tell her how I'm doing."
"How about your parents?" Jill asked. "Do you write to them?"
Chris closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "My parents are dead. They died in a car accident when I was fifteen. Drunk driver plowed into them head-on. Claire's the only family I have left."
"I'm sorry." Jill said softly.
"It's something I really don't talk much about." Chris said. "I still miss them but I've managed to deal with their deaths. So how about your family?"
Jill stared out the window. "I'm an only child. My mother died when I was eleven or twelve. My father took care of me ever since. Soon I found out that my father was a thief. Ever hear of Dick Valentine?"
"Yeah, I have." Chris said. "Wasn't he busted a few years ago for grand larceny?"
"Well, I'm his daughter." Jill said.
"I thought your last name sounded familiar." Chris said. "So it is true, you were a thief."
Jill sighed. "Ex-thief. Most people don't understand the difference. After my father got arrested he found out that I had followed in his footsteps. After I was arrested he pushed me to join the police and give up stealing. I did what he said and now I'm here. However, some people in the RPD still don't trust me. They all think that I'm still a thief. Whenever there's a break-in they think I did it."
"You're not the only one who's got in trouble." Chris said. "When I turned twenty I joined the Air Force in order to get money for Claire and I. I was one of the best at my airbase. Then during a ground mission one of our teammates was injured. Against orders I rushed back and got him. For that I got kicked out. I became a drifter until I met Barry and he got me to join this unit."
"Looks like we've both had bad childhoods." Jill said.
A gray-hair woman walked up to the table. "Hey Jill, I see you have a new friend. What can I get you?"
"The usual Betty." Jill replied. "Chris, this is Betty. She's one of my good friends."
Chris smiled and waved to Betty. Betty smiled and left to get Jill's food.
"You know, you're one of the only people I've opened up to." Chris said. "After my parents died I closed myself off from everyone but my sister. I've only had a few close friends, but I never told them this much. Usually I don't even talk about my parents or how I got kicked out of the Air Force." Chris looked back at his letter. "I guess I feel comfortable talking around you."
"So that's why you're so quiet." Jill said. "You know when I first heard that you were in the Air Force I thought you would be some cocky asshole who thought he was tough shit. I guess I was wrong to think that."
"Most people make that mistake." Chris said. "But sometimes I do act like a cocky asshole."
Betty brought Jill her lunch. Jill thanked the woman and began to eat her salad. As she looked up, she saw Chris take out a pack of cigarettes and light one up. "You know those are bad for you."
"Relax Jill, I only smoke once and a while." Chris said. He took a drag and blew the smoke out. "I usually have one twice a week."
"Well I don't like to be around people who smoke." Jill said. "I think it's disgusting."
Chris took another drag. "Fine, I'll put it out." Chris jammed the cigarette into an ashtray. "Happy?"
"Quite." Jill replied.
Chris finished writing his letter as he and Jill continued to talk.
Chris and Jill entered the S.T.A.R.S. office and took their seats. Forest was talking with Joseph by the fax machine when he saw them enter. He immediately ran over to Chris' desk. "Now where did you two come from?"
"They probably came back from having lunch together." Joseph said.
"So that's why you didn't come with us." Forest said to Chris. "You had a secret rendezvous with Jill."
"No retard." Jill said. "I just happened to run into him at the café and we talked."
Joseph lit up at the news. "Hey guys, these two had lunch together." Soon the whole team except for Barry and Wesker had gathered around.
"So what happened?" Richard asked.
"They probably stared into each others eyes and shared a soda." Edward replied.
Enrico let out a gruff laugh. "They probably had a conversation about work."
"Or maybe planning a romantic dinner for two." Brad said.
"Would the jury buy it if I called killing them justifiable homicide?" Chris asked.
Jill shook her head. "No, go with temporary insanity."
Wesker stood up and removed his shades, revealing his hard, cold, blue eyes. "Don't start this again. Get your asses back to work now." The team scurried off after seeing Wesker's icy stare.
"Thanks Captain." Chris said.
Wesker put his shades back on and sat down. "What makes you think I did that for you?"
Chris shrugged and went back to work.
When it was time to leave the team left the office except for Forest and Enrico, who had the night shift. Jill said goodnight to Chris in the parking lot and watched him walk off towards his apartment. Barry walked over and tapped her on the shoulder.
"So you ran into Chris?" Barry asked.
"Don't start." Jill replied.
Barry shook his head. "No, it's just that maybe you know why he didn't come to Grady's Inn with the other guys."
"He was writing a letter to his sister." Jill replied.
"Oh." Barry said. "Do you know about his family?"
Jill nodded. "He told me what happened."
Barry was a little surprised. "I didn't think he'd tell you about that. For as long as I've known him he rarely talks about himself to anyone."
"I know." Jill said. "I thought he was going to be some arrogant flyboy at first. Now I see that he's really a nice guy."
Barry knew what was happening. "I think you're falling for him Jill."
Jill gave Barry a funny look. "What makes you think that?"
"Believe me, I can tell." Barry replied. "I am married you know." Barry winked at her and left.
Jill watched Barry leave. She then got into her car and started the engine. Before she left she looked in the rearview mirror. "Face it Jill, you are falling for him."
Chris walked down the sidewalk. Jill drove by and honked at him. Chris smiled and waved to her. As he continued walking he thought back to the conversation at the café. "Face it Chris, you're falling for her."
Present
"We really got close that day." Jill said. "And that was the day I first started to fall in love with you."
"To tell you the truth I started falling for you too." Chris said. "I never thought I'd tell you so much so soon. And I still can't believe that I put my cigarette out for you."
Jill took a sip of wine. "I still can't believe that Barry saw it. I was really surprised by what he said."
"He probably went through the same thing with Kathy." Chris said. "Hell, Barry even said that he knew we would get along nicely. I bet he was waiting for this to happen."
"I wonder if the others would have left us alone if we told them we were together." Jill said.
Chris shook his head. "No, that would have made it worse. Forest and the others would never have left us alone."
"Well, I guess it was only a matter of time before we did hook up." Jill said.
"And neither of us could have avoided it." Chris said.
Author's Comments: The relationship deepens. Like Jill said it was only a matter of time. In this chapter we see that the other S.T.A.R.S. members continuously hounded both Chris and Jill. We also saw their first heart to heart. Finally, it looks like Barry knows what's going on between our two partners. By the way, I decided on a combination of the game and novels for the backgrounds. For Chris I chose the game. For Jill I went with the novels. I also decided to play around with the character's personalities. Finally, I guessed on Wesker's eye color. If I'm right, good. If I'm wrong, oh well, we all make mistakes.
In the next chapter the inevitable will happen. See how Chris and Jill finally becomes a couple in Story Of Us: Chapter 3- Getting Closer.