Forbidden Love:
Chapter Seven: In which Umbrella takes over another town:
The Redfields and their friends got six months of peace and quiet with the new baby. Annie was getting bigger every day, she'd started talking, she had four teeth now and she hated Rebecca almost as much as Rebecca hated her.
On this morning Chris was sitting awake at his computer, he'd heard that Umbrella was building another research facility on the outskirts of the town, not far from the house they were in. Claire was sleeping peacefully curled up under the covers, Annie was starting to wake up in her crib.
"Dada!" She announced loudly as she tried to roll over. Chris looked up from his research with a grin, still surprised at how that one tiny word could pull at his heart so strongly.
"Morning munchkin. Bet you want breakfast." He said brightly, getting up from his chair to lift the baby from her crib. "Well lets go see if we can find something for you." He said carrying her downstairs and into the kitchen.
Rebecca was already awake and fixing oatmeal for herself. "Morning Chris." She said, without looking up, she knew it was probably him, too early for anyone but the Redfields.
"Morning Becca." Chris responded, searching the shelves for baby cerial. "You seen Annie's cerial?" He asked. "She's hungry."
"Yeah, top shelf, behind the oatmeal." She answered, still not looking at the baby, she wasn't fond of that child, the feeling however was mutual, everytime Rebecca had tried to pick her up, Annie had started howling as though she were being murdered.
"Thanks." He pulled it down. "Crap I can't hold her and make a bottle at the same time." He sighed. "Annie you wanna play in the living room floor for daddy?" He asked, tickling her stomach.
"No no dada." Annie responded, giggling at the tickling and squirming a bit.
"Well she sure told you Chris." Rebecca rolled her eyes.
"Okay, I get it Becca you don't like Annie, and Annie can't stand you but could you at least pretend to be nice to her?" Chris snapped. "It's too early to deal with this." He said, dragging the walker into the kitchen and setting Annie in it with a teething cookie.
"No I can't, she shouldn't even exist and you know it." Rebecca responded, turning to glare at the baby.
Sherry came bouncing into the kitchen just before Chris could respond. "Morning Chris, Becca. Hey there Annie girl." She said brightly, Annie looked at Sherry and clapped, one hand full of cookie. Sherry giggled. "Breakfast Annie?" She asked, pointing at the cookie.
Chris shook his head. "Nope, quiet making tool while daddy makes breakfast." He answered with a grin.
Sherry nodded. "Good idea, last time she screamed the walls down."
"Wasn't because she was hungry, Becca picked her up." Chris explained, finishing the bottle of cerial. "Can you hand her here?" He asked.
Sherry nodded and picked the baby up. "Gosh she's getting heavy."
"I know, and guys, we're gonna have to start packing. Umbrella's comming to this town and I know they're still looking for us." Chris said, taking the baby and offering the bottle to her. Annie quickly traded the cookie for the bottle.
Sherry sighed. "Alright then, Jill, Claire, Leon, and the Burtons know?" She asked.
"Barry and his family are leaving at midnight, Claire knows, Leon and Jill are half packed already." Chris responded.
Sherry nodded and grabbed an apple so she could eat it while she packed. Rebecca sighed. "Why is it that every fucking time we get settled somewhere you make us up and move again?" She demanded.
"Rebecca it's not my fault, Umbrella's still looking for us, we all know too much, except for Annie and they don't even know she exists." He snapped back at her, standing and leaving the kitchen with the baby, once he got back upstairs he shook Claire awake gently.
"Hey Claire-Bear, time to wake up, we have to get packed." He said softly as she came to.
"Morning you two, so Umbrella's really comming?" She asked, sitting up and starting to get things gathered up.
"Yeah they are." He answered, setting Annie on a blanket on the floor with some toys so he could help. "Besides Wesker's probably still hanging around..." He trailed off as Rebecca poked her head in the door.
"Chris, Claire, we got a problem." She announced. "Umbrella vans are comming."
"Fuck!" Chris yelled. "Claire just throw the esentals in a few bags, Becca let everyone know, we don't have time to wait till midnight that's probably what that message meant from Barry." He stopped yelling and looked down at Annie, who had started crying as soon as he yelled.
Chris leaned down and picked her up. "Shush baby, daddy's sorry." He said, trying to calm her down.
Within five minutes everyone was downstairs with their bags, Chris had Annie strapped in her carseat, still in her sleeper, he had pulled jeans and a shirt on in a hurry.
Everyone was in a state of disarray as they threw bags into one of the two vans, deciding to sort everything out when they had gotten somewhere safer. Jill, Leon and Sherry ended up in one van, leaving Rebecca with the Redfields.
They drove for around six hours, Rebecca trapped in the back with a very pissed off infant. "Chris can we stop so someone can take care of the baby?" She demanded from her seat.
"Becca can you do it please, she just needs changed, probably wants food too, give her a handful of cheerios and she'll be alright." Chris begged, keeping his eyes on the road.
Rebecca rolled her eyes but quickly did as he said, and was shocked when the screaming stopped. "Wow it's that easy to shut her up?"
"Don't start Becca." Claire said. "We have no idea where we're going right now and you don't want to piss off everyone in this car." She continued, effectivly shutting the younger girl up.
"We should be alright to stop for the night though." Chris commented. "Claire can you call Leon and tell him to pull off at the next exit, we're gonna find a hotel."
Claire nodded and quickly called the other car. Within another hour or so they pulled into the parking lot of a motel. Annie had fallen asleep in her carseat twenty minutes before.
"We should be alright here for the night." Chris said, getting out of the van and gently lifting the baby out. Claire and Rebecca nodded their agreement, Leon had already secured a few rooms so he handed keys to everyone.
A few minutes later Claire had changed into sweat pants and a tanktop and was feeding a now awake Annie some babyfood. Chris was nervously watching the windows.
"What if we were followed?" He questioned seeming to be talking to himself, he turned from the window. "Claire, listen to me if they do find us I want you to take Annie and run, got it?" He asked quietly.
Claire frowned. "Chris I'm not leaving you to face Umbrella operatives alone, if something happened to you and Annie grew up without a father I don't know what I'd do." She said looking at the baby with a frown.
Chris sighed. "Baby, I don't want you or Annie to get captured...Umbrella means business. I know what they'd do to you and her if they got you. I can't let that happen. I love you both and there's no way on earth I'm just gonna let you two become Umbrella's newest experiments." He said firmly.
"Chris, I know you love us and we love you, so I'll do what you asked, even though it probably won't do much good, I know just as much as you do, we're both high priority targets." Claire pointed out, wiping Annie's face with a baby wipe. Within twenty minutes Annie was changed, and asleep with her head on her mother's shoulder.
Chris looked at the two girls he called his family with a small smile. "I know that Claire-Bear and that's why I have to stop them, for good this time...I'm going to the goverment with what I know, I have enough proof now to shut them down for good." He explained quietly. "I love you and Annie, so I'm ending this fight, I'm done running. It's not a good life for Sherry or Annie....any of us really." He continued.
"So what, you're just going to up and take off? For how long? What should I tell Annie when she starts screaming for you?" Claire demanded, her voice raising a bit.
"Claire, relax, I'm not taking off on you, the three of us, and Sherry are leaving at dawn, we're going to DC and giving our information to the president, as far as records go, I did have a sister, but she got caught up in the Raccoon cover up." Chris said quietly. "I have a wife and an infant daughter, Sherry I can pass off as a cousin." He finished.
Claire nodded. "Well then let's get what little rest we can and get going." She said, shifting the baby a little and standing up.
Chris agreed and the three slept soundly for the next few hours.
