Pray For Better Days

Title from Tupac Better Days song. Thanks for the reviews everyone, and FluffyBunny4eva, since I can't reply to you, thank you for the review. Nice name and I really hope you enjoy the rest! Random point, I assume the BSAA don't have ranks, but Chris was called Captain, so I thought I'd shove in rankings anyway. Enjoy!

Sunlight split through the curtains, waking the man from his slumber. And here started another day. Another day of torment. In honesty he wished never to wake up again. His life felt like a nightmare, one he could never wake from. He could never get away from the pain.

As always he would wake with some hope, some comfort. But as he swung his legs from the bed, and hobbled out, those feelings soon left him. He would wake to an empty house, no pitter-patter of small feet, no excitable laughs of an innocent child. That broke his heart.

His heart shattered that little bit more, when yet again there was no figure lying in the bed next to him.

Letting out an exasperated sigh, Chris rose from the bed and threw on a large hoodie. He took a glance in the mirror, face was clearly exhausted, hair dishevelled and he noted he was probably well over due a shave. He shrugged off his appearance; he really just couldn't care less anymore.

Chris walked out of the bedroom and headed towards the kitchen. Sitting at the table, Jill was silently reading her book. In any normal circumstance it would bring a smile to his face, not today. He wondered these days if she was ever actually reading anything, he more just assumed she took the time to try and think through the confusion. The book was a mere front.

He gently placed his hand upon her shoulder. She flinched. Regardless, Chris kept his hand on her shoulder, gently rubbing his thumb along the back of her neck. It was little affection, but both benefited greatly from it. Slinking around to take a seat beside her, Chris kept his arm around her.

"Did you sleep?" Jill closed her eyes as he asked, letting out a gentle sigh. Sometimes she wished they wouldn't talk, sounded absurd but sometimes she just wanted to relish in his affection in silence. Words seemed to break any comfort his actions could bring.

"Not really."

Chris sidled his chair up against hers, bringing the two as close as possible. He looked longingly into her dull eyes, she quickly averted her gaze. Pulling upon the arm situated around her shoulder, he brought her into him. Jill complied and found a comfortable position on his chest, while he buried his head into her neck, savouring her delicate smell.

She felt the bristles of his stubble brush against her neck, sending tingles along her body. Jill closed her eyes, listening to the rhythmic sound of his heart which correlated with his gentle breathing. He placed his free hand up to cradle her face, slowly beginning to entwine his fingers in her brunette locks. His breath became more hitched, less rhythmic and much more staggered. She could tell her was trying to overcome his unwanted emotion as he always did. He hated if anyone saw him upset, especially Jill. He felt he needed to be the strong one for her. But this time it was different.

"I love you…"

…

"Do you blame me for what happened?" Jill's voice was little more than a whisper as she asked.

Immediately Chris retracted from their embrace, he blinked away the tears and frowned at her. Did she really think he would ever be like that? He wasn't that type of person, he was completely selfless. And in fact if the blame lay with anyone in his eyes, it would be himself.

"Of course I don't, it hurts that you even have to ask…"

Jill remained silent, looking emotionlessly into his eyes.

"If anyone is to blame it's me, I should have been there Jill. I should have been there to save you and I should have been there to save my son…. God, strangers on the street call me a hero. I'm pathetic."

"You are a hero, Chris. And I'm glad you came home safe." Her quick topic change clearly showed she still wasn't ready yet to talk about their son. Chris saw her wince as soon as he mentioned him.

"It's a nice day. We need groceries, how about we go for a walk after?"

"…I don't want to leave."

Chris regrettably nodded; Jill hadn't left the house since he'd arrived. It was hard to tell if she was angry or just upset. No tears fell from her eyes, though neither did a frown appear on her features. The perfect poker face.

He gave her a rub on the back, before leaving to get changed. Regardless of Jill not wanting to leave, they needed food, so Chris would have to get it.

…

After lousily chucking on a pair of scruffy jeans and black t shirt, Chris shut the door to their bedroom. As he made his way to the staircase, his eyes moved to the closed door across the landing. Said door had been firmly shut since he had arrived, and figured it hadn't been opened since.

Opening the door, Chris was overwhelmed with memories of happier days. The room was untouched, curtains open, bed covers slightly dishevelled, and the boy's favourite teddy scattered on the floor. The room looked lived in. Once again tears pricked the aging man's eyes.

The letter was like any other that came through the door, nothing startling. However when opened, the smell of familiar perfume wafted into his nostrils as he read, and of course it was finished with a red lipstick kiss mark. Her trademark. The letter was unsurprising. Every now and again she would meet up with him, but never would their meetings be spontaneous.

"Are you listening to me?" Leon snapped his head up to catch her eyes, he had dazed out of their conversation. She looked at him sternly, piercing green eyes penetrating his. Underneath her sharp exterior, he could tell it was a front, and could almost swear he was seeing a smile forming on her lips. He continued to look bemused at her, as she frowned. Raising his eyebrow towards her, he gave a sly smile. After a moment, her exterior broke, and a smile broke across her lips, leading him to let out a slight chuckle.

She was near perfect to him. Elegant cheek bones, mesmerising eyes, fantastic body, and on top of that, strong willed. Perhaps it was because he rarely saw her that he felt like that. Or maybe there was something tantalising about how perfectly unattainable Ada Wong was.

"This is serious Leon, an attack on America is imminent. The North American BSAA along with the Northern Europe branch are caught up in all the attacks in smaller countries. Their guards are down, a perfect opportunity for an attack on the United Kingdom, or more likely the United States of America…"

And there lay Leon's confusion with Ada. She seemed legit and to be on his side, however from the photos retrieved earlier it was clear she wasn't.

"Why are you telling me this?"

"I don't want the end of the world either…" Leon let out an agitated groan, nothing was black and white with her, it frustrated him to no belief.

"So please tell me then you're not the one causing this?" Leon had been tearing himself up over his doubt. Ada wasn't a hero, but she definitely wasn't a villain. He had kept his mouth shut over the photo, but was completely unsure if he had made the right choice.

"Let me guess, there's a dodgy photo of me floating around involving the selling of bioweapons?" She flicked a piece of dark hair from her eyes, and let a small smile play on her lips.

"Good guess…. I haven't said anything about it. I don't think they've identified it as you yet, but it's only a matter of time."

"Aren't you withholding information then?" Ada teased, the sly smile never leaving her mouth.

"I like to give you the benefit of the doubt Ada."

"You're getting soft in your old age Leon." He merely scoffed at her reply.

"Tell me I won't regret doing this? Are you behind these outbreaks?"

Ada looked into his eyes, debating if she should reveal everything to him. As much as she teased, Leon was a good guy, however that still just wasn't enough. In a job like hers, she learned to trust no one.

"I have one more piece of information for you…" She began.

"Feels like Christmas all over again."

"Well technically this is more for your friend. I don't know much, and I don't know if it's even true to begin with. But there's a little glimmer of hope for him within this file…" Ada reached and passed a brown folder over Leon's kitchen table to him.

He gave her a confused look, but quickly thanked her. Her eyes meet his in a longer than expected glance. She was a hard woman to read, but Leon could almost swear there was fear embedded deep within the emerald orbs.

"Do you want to stay?" Perhaps it was because he hadn't been with another woman in a couple of months, or his feelings for Ada were more than he thought, but he thought it would be worth a shot.

Ada knew exactly what 'stay' meant, for a brief second she considered it. However she knew full well, spending any more time with Leon, ultimately she would spill to him. Something she couldn't risk.

"I'll see you around Leon…" Giving a sly wink, Ada slipped out of his house and out of his life once more.

"You wanted to see me, Mr President?" Helena asked politely. She felt quite privileged to be called to the President without Leon by her side.

"Take a seat…" Helena complied and sat herself nervously opposite the President. "I just wanted to fill you in on the current situation. The people need to know what's going on. Mass hysteria is about to begin, and they deserve to know what these viruses are. It's for that reason that I'm coming clean about Las Plagas, Raccoon City…All of it."

Helena nodded slowly as he spoke.

"There have been threats against America and now against my life. Rumours of me coming clean along with the news that our friends the BSAA have finally achieved some knowledge on the outbreaks is clearly worrying those behind the attacks. Finally we're gaining some speed on the terrorists."

President Benford paused for a second, taking a deep breath. It was hard for him, time was ticking. The terrorists seemed always to be one step ahead, and now with threats against his life, he knew it would only be a matter of time before he was dealt with. He just hoped he could tell the people what they deserved to know, before those behind the outbreaks got ahead of him.

"You have to keep this from Leon…He's a great friend and more likely than not he'll argue against me revealing the truth, and place himself to protect me. You two need to focus on protecting America from an attack, him knowing all this would just distract him. If you can do that, I'll reveal the truth of these viruses, ultimately suffer the consequences but at least the people of America will know the truth and together hopefully prevent these terrorists from succeeding…"

The President was clearly emotional as he spoke. It was easy for the normal people, they had a blanket thrown over their eyes and didn't know the true threat of these attacks. He, on the other hand, felt full responsibility.

"I won't tell Leon, I promise." Helena held out her hand to shake her superiors.

"Thank you, Helena. Let's pray we can stop this…"

Chris sat himself heavily down on the sofa, letting out a huge sigh. The day's seemed to drag on, Jill barely spoke, she only did if he prompted her, and he didn't feel up to going out. Trying to take his mind off all of it, he flicked on the television.

The first channel was news he was about to flick on, unable to bear to hear more devastation, however the bulletin grabbed his eye.

"Eight killed…" He muttered under his breath, immediately sitting upright. Fear burrowed into his spine, as he started to turn up the volume.

"It's been reported that eight of a team of twelve North American BSAA members have been killed in a mission in Borislav, Serbia. The names of those killed have not yet been released, but family members have been informed…" The woman presenter began, as various pictures of Borislav and the BSAA came onto the screen. Chris felt the palms of his hands shake, he kept praying what he was hearing wasn't true.

"It's thought that the incident happened during an investigation into the recent outbreak in the area. They were attacked by what has been called a giant B.O.W." Chris sat further on the edge of his seat, whenever an image of his dear friend cropped onto the screen. "The team were being lead temporarily under Lieutenant Piers Nivans, after the sudden departure of their Captain, Christopher Redfield, three days prior…"

Jill crept into the room, listening intently to the news report. Her heart saddened as she looked at the heartbroken man on the sofa. Yet another blow to Chris, she worried how much more he would be able to take. She slid around behind him, placing her hand on his shoulder, and bringing the other to stroke the short locks of hair. She leaned over, bringing her face to his to leave a gentle soothing kiss on his cheek. Chris's eyes glistened with tears, as he never removed them from the screen before him.

"Director of the BSAA, David Wilson, made this statement…" The news cut from the presenter, to a video footage of a BSAA press conference, with Director Wilson beginning his speech.

"It is with great sadness, that we have to announce the deaths of our fellow soldiers and friends. They were brave men, who fought with dignity and pride. They fought for our freedom and our lives, forever will we will be indebted to them..." The Director paused, clearing chocking up as he spoke. "The BSAA achieved in gaining the information we set out to get. Unfortunately with such gain, came tremendous loss..."

Chris frowned at the directors words. Jill kept herself draped across him, leaving the faintest of soothing kisses along his jaw as he began to tense. To gain this 'information' as the Director said, the BSAA had to lose eight of their men, Chris had to lose eight of his men. He seriously doubted if their fight was really worth it anymore.

Got the chapter out! Success! Hope you enjoyed, feedback is greatly appreciated.

Artichoke,

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