A/N;
It's about time you made an appearance…
Beh, I want to have Kevin Ryman turn up a few more times… He's awesome XD I need to play Outbreak, still.
Resident Evil still only lives on my multiple consoles.
'Carry Me Home' lyrics belong to the awesome, The Living End.
Carry me Home
So one more round is all I need, Fill it up and let me be
It's getting late I should've known, Won't somebody carry me home?
Jill slumped down at the bar, catching the attention of the barkeep as she placed Gabriel and his cage on the counter. It wasn't the strangest thing to ever be brought in, so he made no comment.
"What can I get you, love?" the Barkeep asked, hoping to be able to hear a reply over the cage beside them rattling. Jill looked past the barkeep, looking at a few of the bottles settled in the back. She picked one at random.
"Kahlúa, thanks." She answered after a moment of pondering. The barkeep wondered off, but sure enough, came back with a bottle of the requested drink and handed it to her, before heading off to serve another customer who had rolled up.
She screwed off the cap and took a quick drink of it. It was strong, and strangely sweet. Yet her taste buds enjoyed it, as well as her numbed mind. She sat on her own for a good ten minutes, listening to conversations in the background. Some about sports, women, work… Slurred words she couldn't make out.
"Fancy meeting you here…" A familiar voice said, snatching her from her thoughts. She quickly turned to the side, surprised by who she saw.
"Well if it isn't Billy Coen! I didn't imagine seeing you in a pub." She smirked. Billy laughed slightly at that.
"Are you kidding me? Half this town still won't make eye contact with me because they think I'm going to give them a black eye if they so much as acknowledge me." He said, taking a seat on the stool next to her. He quickly ordered a strong beer then got back to their conversation.
"I'd love to say that you never struck me as a girl who would come to a pub to drink alone, but…" Billy began, but Jill gave a wave of her hand.
"Don't worry about it, you'd be right. When I want to drink, I can drink. And I want to drink tonight." With that, she took another sip of her Kahlúa. "And trust me, I ain't going home tonight – Plan to spend the early hours of the morning passed out in the corner of the room. Now, what are you doing here, Coen?"
Billy shook his head, "Not one to beat around the bush, are you?" He asked, "I'm a man who likes Steak, Sex, and Beer. I'm only here for the latter."
"I'd certainly hope so." Jill said with a nod, taking another swig of the Kahlúa. She paused, and then smirked. "Lolicon."
"Shut up and drink."
She snickered, happy to find something to tease him with, though she moved on. "Must be hard going around like that. Your two clothing styles seem to either scream convict, or pimp." Jill commented.
Ironic that she should bring up that 'pimp' outfit, as it was just the one he was wearing. The blue suit, yellow undershirt, dark sunglasses… Yep, on him, he looked pretty gangster.
She was one to talk – It was surprising she hadn't been mistaken for waitress or something yet. She'd changed into just something simple. Black pants, black shoes, black belt and a white, long sleeved button up shirt. She wasn't aiming for any attention, so the plainness was helpful, though misleading in ways.
"Some people could argue drug dealer rather than pimp, you know." He reminded her, "But I've already been arrested three times, just for walking around with Rebecca."
"So, people don't mind that you look like some sort of underworld gangster, but as soon as you're with someone that looks like a child, they arrest you?" She asked.
"Nobody likes a pedophile except for other pedophiles, dear Jill. It's not my fault that my girlfriend happens to look like she's fifteen at the most."
"Well you probably deserve being arrested, deflowering her like that." Jill smirked, while Billy slumped on the bench slightly. "At least you were nice enough to let her be on top."
"… So, you were actually a bitch enough to watch that tape…" Billy said, drinking down a large amount of his beer, slamming the bottle down hard on the counter. Jill gave a nod.
"I said I wouldn't believe her until I saw it, I was just keeping my word, so don't take it out on me." She said, but her voice was chirpy as she finished off her drink. She raised her hand, ordering a second.
"… Can you ever get drunk off that stuff?" Billy asked, able to smell the sweet liquor from where he was.
"To hell if I know," Jill shrugged, "But I'm going to find out, and if I can't, I'll make it work."
As soon as the next drink came, she basically finished it off within a twenty second time limit. Billy leaned away again as she raised her hand for yet another.
"… What kind of drunk are you?" He asked cautiously. She glanced at him for a moment.
"No clue, it's been way too long. I remember how everyone else is drunk, but not me." She explained. "I've only seen it once, and that was probably an accident on her part, but I know Rebecca's pretty much a giggling drunk. It's actually pretty funny and strangely cute at the same time. Barry I remember jumped through a window last time… First floor, thankfully. Chris is the extremely affectionate type. He would not get off me last time we went to the pub."
"Wouldn't get off, hm?"
"Not like that, he just clung onto me for a few hours before he fell off his chair and couldn't get back up." She said, shaking her head.
"Pass your phone." He said out of the blue, but she did so, not even inquiring why. He quickly went through her contact list and wrote down a number on a napkin, just in case he was going to need it later when she inevitable passed out.
Chris was at is wits end. What the hell had he done? Was she alright? More worrying, why couldn't he shake the panicky feeling he had? This was Jill after all; it wasn't as if she were his wife or something…
He sat on the curb of the street outside his apartment building. He'd gone through five cigarettes, and was breathing his sixth one in heavily. He stubbed it out on the ground and fumbled to find another in the packet. It was hard – His hands were shaking, and he kept missing each individual one when he tried to grab it.
His mobile was still in his pocket, with him still waiting for it to ring. It was four in the morning. He had work that day. But he couldn't sleep. The last time he had felt like this was when he'd come back from one of the missions, having killed a man… It wasn't the same feeling, not exactly, but on that occasion, he had someone to make sure he was alright and recovered well. Jill. But even though it hadn't been long, even though it had only been a short time without her, he still felt somewhat lost.
His mobile rang, and his heart nearly stopped beating. He dropped the cigarette packet and quickly grabbed it from his pocket, answering it out of breath, "Hello?!"
"… This is Chris Redfield, right?" An unfamiliar voice asked.
Chris felt his heart sink. Definitely not Jill. "Yeah," He replied, his posture slumping, "Who the hell's this?"
"This is Billy, Billy Coen." Billy answered.
"Billy… You're Rebecca's boyfriend, right?" He asked, though there still lacked enthusiasm in his voice. "How did you get my number?"
"A little bird told me… More of a blue jay with that attitude." He answered simply, "You know the Starlight Pub? Down by---"
"Yeah I know it." Chris said, rubbing his eyes.
"Reckon you can come down here?" Billy asked.
"What's down there for me?" He sighed, not seeming impressed, "It's four in the morning."
"An incredibly drunk lady blue jay, who's very close to passing out." He said, before hanging up.
Chris looked puzzled at his mobile. Could he possibly mean…?
"Jill!" Chris called, walking through the pub doors and spotting Jill slumped over at the bar's bench. She had both of her arms on the table – She was resting her head on one, and holding a half bottle of Kahlúa in the other. Chris quickly moved past the other patrons of the pub, over to the stools.
Billy gave a slight wave, remembering Chris' face from a photo Rebecca had shown him. "Chris Redfield?" He asked.
Chris gave him a glance and nodded, before turning to Jill. He put one hand on her back, and heard her mumble angrily under her breath, though he was unable to make out any of the words.
"Come to pick up the Blue Jay, Mr. Bird Catcher?" Billy asked, seeming relieved. He'd found out the hard way what type of drunk Jill was – The violent type.
"I, I told you… I'mma fucking parrot. Polly wants a motha fuckin' cracker…" Jill growled, though her words were slurred worse than could actually be written. She tried to sit up, but slumped back down. "Dead parrot… Caww…"
"How much did she have to drink?" Chris asked, not taking his eyes off of her.
"A lot," Billy answered truthfully, "I don't know if she had any before I came in or not, so I can't guess very well."
"And you let her?!" Chris asked angrily, looking at Billy.
"Pfft. Shame you aren't drunk a well, according to Blue Jay there, you're friendlier when you are." Billy said, taking another sip of his beer. It would seem he could hold his liquor better than a lot of people. "I've got no right to tell her how much she's allowed to drink or not, and she came here with the aim to get drunk off her face."
Chris had previously ignored the loud screeching coming from beside him, but it finally reached his ears. He looked to the side, spotting an angry Gabriel in a carrier cage. "What's he doing here?" Chris asked.
"All I know is Jill said she wasn't planning on going home tonight… I'm guessing she didn't want to leave him on his own." Billy shrugged. "You'll be takin' two home, but the looks of it."
Chris sighed, looking at Jill once more. It was strange, whenever they went to the pubs, Jill was the one that stayed sober. It was rather depressing, seeing her like this.
"Come on Jill, time to go home." Chris said, moving his hand to her shoulder to help her up.
"The fuck out. Get there!" Jill barked, swatting Chris' hand away.
"Don't put up a fight, Jill, you're not staying here." Chris said, as Jill put in a lot of effort to sit up straight, having to use the bar to balance.
"Fuck off." She hissed.
Chris shook his head, "Can't do that." He moved his hand to her shoulder again. This alcohol was not doing good things – one could tell that as Jill took a swing at Chris, punching him in the chest. He had to take a step back, but quickly moved forward to catch as she fell off her seat. She struggled, not wanting the contact, and punched him in the jaw. It was going to hurt later, but for now he ignored it, putting both arms under Jill and picking her up, in a wedding style method.
She beat her fists hard against his chest, slurring curse words while trying to squirm out of his hold. In her state, she wasn't able to find a way, and reluctantly accepted her defeat. She looked up at Chris for a moment and sniffed.
"… You fucking stink." She commented, a glare in her eyes.
"You're drunk, Jill." He stated, shaking his head.
"She's right, though, you smell like you've gone through three packs of smokes." Billy said.
"I've only had six cigarettes, thank you." Chris pointed out, before looking at Gabriel's cage. It would take some thinking to carry them both back to his apartment.
One way or another, Chris managed to accomplish the feat, somehow. He had thrown Gabriel's cage on the couch, letting the animal out to explore the apartment – Not a smart thing to do, but Chris had a more important thing to attend to without hearing him rattling the cage in the background.
He walked into the bedroom and placed the heavily intoxicated Jill onto the bed. She once again struggled, but once Chris had gotten her under the covers, she seemed to settle down. He sighed and smiled, relieved. Partly because he had thought it would be much harder to do, and partly because the panicky, worried and fretting feeling had left him now that he knew she was safely nestled away in his apartment.
He turned to leave, but felt his arm catch onto something. Well, not quite. Jill had grabbed onto his arm while he was still in reach.
"Chris, be meh teddy, pleaasse~?" Jill asked, holding onto his arm tightly. She hugged it, causing Chris to jerk down a bit.
"You're drunk." He reminded her.
"Pleaassee~?" She asked again.
Chris shook his head, "Drunk, you are."
"Pleeeeeeease~?" She begged once more.
"No, Jill. I'm going to sleep on the couch." He stated. She gave him a low growl, digging her nails into his arm.
"I'll bite you." She threatened, "Hard, again and again." Chris tried to tug his arm back, but it seemed like Jill wasn't letting go any time soon. It also seemed she had been serious about her threat… As she quickly chopped down on Chris' hand.
"Fine." He sighed, using his free hand to try and pull the covers up. She stopped biting him as soon as he had agreed, though left her lips against his skin.
Chris managed to get in, even with Jill still clinging onto his arm. He couldn't put much distance between them, because just as he had gotten his arm free, Jill had wrapped her arms around him, definitely using him much like a teddy bear.
"Luffles you, Chrissers…" She said, snuggling up to him and resting her head on his chest.
"You're gonna have the worst hangover imaginable tomorrow…" Chris said, tugging the covers up and putting his arms around her. He stroked her hair as she closed her eyes, and without intention, gave her a quick kiss on the forehead.
"… Luffles you too, Jill."