Standing alone on the hilltop that would have overlooked a vast portion of the Burton residence if not for the thicket of muffling greens, the soldier gazed between that gap in the leafy hunter treetops, seeing not just the empty window but the neutral rocky wall that gave way to the cool pewter paint job. Of all the various window sets and styles that covered the residence, Chris' favorite was the stained glass depicting the final scene of William Shakespeare's 'Romeo and Juliet', but alas that memorial of history's most famous love story was in the library on the other side of the house, hidden from sight. Not much of a reader himself, Chris liked that particular window because for one thing it overlooked the garden that supplied the family with roughly one-third of their food, but more than that he admired the reflection between worlds for its craftsmanship. It wasn't entirely realistic as Romeo's hair was done in royal hues of midnight and lilac as to not blend in with the inky shades of obsidian and ash used for the homely doublet, and the murky background was an open field of stars with a waning crescent moon as opposed to a more classic candle-lit crypt, but what really struck him was the eerie resemblance Robin had to Juliet. Often times the family would just laugh at the vague enough coincidence of it all - himself included - but musing upon the possibilities of how doomed the current situation was, the soldier had to ponder if maybe the effortlessly interpreted likeness wasn't a sign of some sort.

Eyes opened by libido, envy, kismet, and ire - arguably the very same sentiments stirred in the tragic and immortal tale of forbidden romance - the man was curious to know that now that he was able to pursue this new path, might the option have been revoked by his own hand? Upset simmering from the distance he created and the shocking discovery he came to, a part of him had to wonder if it was really possible for anything good to come from this clarity, or if at the end of the day he was still doomed to sweat the inevitable fallout. Obviously someday he would have to face Barry about this one way or another, since between himself and the teen one would step up and make that first move (now sooner than later), but did it really have to come out so soon? Nothing had even technically happened yet, but... Well to put it another another way, it would have been one thing if he had come to this conclusion once the girl was legally a woman or older, but considering the fact that she was still only seventeen... Yeah, this situation looked bad no matter how you looked at it or the words one might use to try and justify what came next.

Following that train of thought as his eyes shifted over to a subfuscous hollow in the nearest wooden sentry, a family of fuzzy brown hatchlings tweeting and hooting hungrily from deep within the scarred bark as they waited for the return of their parents and a live meal, what exactly did come next? After breakfast it became rather obvious that things were going to have to adapt in order for them to survive in the same social circle - from either perspective the only solution was change - but just what did that transformation encompass? The age gap would always be a tender issue among people, but for the next year or so - at least the parts that he was in the continent for - it would be an actual fight they would have to contend with, assuming that he did act on this and they made it into something. Trying not to get too far ahead of himself, Chris wondered what would happen a year from now, when she had hit adulthood and didn't have to answer to anyone but the government and whoever else was above in the chain of command, what if her parents had made her chose between continuing to remain under their roof or him? Presuming for a moment that she had picked the soldier, would the girl then move in? Considering that it would have been his fault Robin was forcibly evacuated from her home it wasn't like he could turn her away, and besides making him the biggest asshole of the year if he even tried, Chris would never be able to forgive or live with himself. Of course there was always the option of her just applying for student housing or a place of her own, but that brought him back to the point that she would be going off to college and he would be spending a majority of the time away on missions, so they were still in a position where they would barely get to see the other.

Plus with college came a whole other slew of issues that they would have to face, including him not trusting her rather sketchy story about not sleeping with her dashing foreign-exchange roommate after crawling back home late one night after drinking a bit too much. It was college, the time when the girl ought to have behaving her worst so that someday she could be the best person possible, but that didn't mean he had to like it; sending Claire away to finish her schooling had come with a sense of relief, but with that ease also came even more to concerned about. But the reverse was just as true - naturally working in such close quavers with Jill for a bulk of the year, Robin would get jealous and either leave or cheat, and when confronted about her decision, she'd spin it and point the blame at him for making her feel so lonely that she had no other choice. Of course that was just all worst-case scenario, so maybe none of that would happen. Maybe she wouldn't even pick Chris when asked to chose between him and her family; maybe the girl would just break up with him then. Who's to say that by the time that dilemma came around they even still wanted to try and see if they were interested in the other that way? Losing Robin in any sense seemed like the worst possible outcome, although he had thought that about Jill too...

But something just felt different between the two of them and their respective stories, though the man couldn't begin to explain it. Robin and Jill were two very different women with different wishes and goals (for one thing Jill eventually wanted to settle down and have a family) yet they were both his closest confidants, and they were both two of the best people that he knew. However, having said that, Jill seemed to have matured well beyond Chris these last few years, and even if she stalled her own progress and had waited for him to reach her level, it felt in the deepest part of his heart that they would never click in a romantic sort of way. Robin, on the other hand, still had plenty of room to outgrow Chris as well, but at the present they seemed to gel even better than two compatible herbs for mixing. It was a strange metaphor to be sure (and a sign that he might have been speaking to Rebecca a tad too much if her professional jargon was rubbing off), but under the circumstances it was the best that the weary soldier could come up with when his mind was so scrambled by the avalanche of thoughts and what-ifs bombarding his brain.

On that charming note, Chris could stand here amid this plot of unchanged nature staring up at the emptying house until the sun set in the east and the seas dry, but that would not change that these thoughts were nothing more than presumptions and the earliest stages of seedlings that could someday sprout and become viable dangers. Nothing more than hints of shadows and echoes of a movie that hasn't yet been made, the only thing keeping him there now was fear of what might happen in the future; not even apprehension of his friend selecting Carlos or any other guy was enough to deter the soldier now. Chris knew his Little Bird better than almost anyone else, and he could say with certainty that no force on earth or cooked up in some whack-job's lab could stop him from doing this thing, because the man had made up his mind. Things had to change between them anyways, so now was as good a time as any to start tailoring the situation to his own advantage, because there really was no fighting this feeling anymore. Hit by what this turning point meant - what it really meant - Chris turned away from the house and began the trek back down the slope to the sounds of a hummingbird flitting to and fro, something moving off to the side of the trail - probably something tiny scurrying for cover like a floppy-eared rabbit or a curious fox - careful to avoid stumbling on his own feet or tripping in a trap of nature's (it wouldn't do to return with a sprained ankle).

"Hey Pol," not some fluffy critter, Moira's voice cut through the greenery out of the blue like a sharpened steel blade slices broken sinew, indicating that at the very least the pair of sisters were walking nearby, "do you think it would be the greatest thing if Robin married Chris someday? Then Claire and him really would be our family!" Marriage?! There wasn't even anything going on between them yet, and the girls were already talking that seriously? Distantly the soldier wondered as he crouched behind a particularly girthy tree if Robin hadn't implied her desire for a serious future... Well for the moment he was only concerned for the present, but that was certainly an additional item to add to the vault for discussion later. "I mean they pretty much are now anyways, but like legally and stuff." It sounded as if the girl had stopped moving for a moment, "Then she'd have to change her name three times. That seems like a real pain in the ass to me."

Lowering her voice to a conspiratorial sort of whisper, Chris had the impression that Barry and Kathy weren't far off, although granted it was next to impossible to find out for sure without blowing his cover, "Shush Ira! If daddy overheard you blabbing about how Robin's growing up and making her own decisions now, he might try to hold on to us that much tighter." There was a pause as the younger of the two considered the possibility of getting a brother and an additional sister, "I hope they don't move here, because the place gets crowded enough with just the five of us. Why," the child's weariness was laced with a large dose of interest then, "do you think that Robin is faking being sick so that she can secretly spend this time with Chris? Has this whole thing just been some kind of elaborate ruse?!" Apparently Polly had forgotten the fact that he had quickly fled after breakfast had adjourned, and that after the display during and leading up the meal, if Claire could help it, the redhead would most likely be attempting to seek an audience with both Robin and her brother because they were (how the girls might see it) "in a heap of trouble". The soldier made a mental note to himself to be prepared for that encounter. "So long as I don't have to give up my room for any of their babies, I guess it wouldn't be so bad to get another big sister, and if they did get married, then we could better understand what Robin lost. It'd probably make Robin really happy if she could end up with Chris too."

There was a crunching underfoot as the girls started to move on past the fresher limbs that never quite took hold of the ashy bark base, but the soldier could just make out the rest of Moira's replying scoff, "Pfft, babies? Dumbass. Robin loves us, obviously, but can you imagine her as a mother? Remember when Steffie's mom wanted her to babysit for her - and from what I heard Steffie say her mom was offering a butt-ton money for watching the kids - she refused. She was ok sitting over our sleepover last year, but we were all older than Steffie's siblings. I don't think that our sister will be a mom anytime soon. And anyways, if they did get married they'd get their own place, or maybe they'd just stay with him," Moira's voice sounded as if it darkened at this point, although it could have just been the increasing span of soil speaking, "either way something tells me that our sister wouldn't want to remain here if she had a real boyfriend." A real boyfriend? What did that mean...? As Chris puzzled that one out, it occurred to him that Moira shared a bedroom wall with Robin, so the little girl probably overheard quite a bit from her sister that she ought naught have. "And do you really see Chris settling down with anyone ever? He didn't marry Jill, did he? Nope, he's the kind without any hope of a future."

In all likelihood there might have been more to her point, but if so her words were beyond his ability to hear (Polly had frowned, confused about how the soldier for good could be so protective of his own sister and great with their family and not want one of his own). It was just as well though, because in the process of their voices fading away into nothingness in the blazing orange summer sun, Barry's gruff inflection was easily discerned as the older man whispered urgently to who could only be his wife, his own highly-trained ears straining to pick up the same conversation Chris had been inadvertently spying on. Flustered and rearing into overdrive, the father was clearly beginning to panic the same way all overly concerned dads did, which indicated that he had caught a majority of his offspring's words. "Married?! Children?! I can't even accept that my girl is about to graduate from school, let alone go out into the world on her own! Kathy, can you believe that they actually want their sister to move on and start her own life? Don't they realize that once she does, she won't be around to help them throw out most of their vegetables?! We all know that Robin eats most of them for the girls, just so long as they ingest at least two mouthfuls - three at holidays and on special occasions - so what will they do then?! Who will eat their vegetables?!" It was a miracle that Robin had been able to influence the girls into that one good habit, but if she left the house, it was pretty transparent that Barry feared they might stop altogether, or at least that was what Chris was getting out of that rant. "What do you think Moira means about a 'real boyfriend'? Do you think that Robbie's been sneaking boys in the house at night?! And why are they so adamant that Robin will marry Chris? Do you think that there's something we're not seeing between them?"

Taking his first breath during that whole flurry of speech, the man-bear seemed to turn to his spouse in a dizzy that was more crazed than the wildness around them, conceivably receiving a comforting smile from the woman who remained thoughtfully quiet during the entire tirade. Knowing the mother as long as he had and as well as he did, Chris could tell that she was deep in her mind about something and biting her tongue as she mulled it over for herself, and the guilty sensation gnawing at his stomach told him that he knew exactly what she was pondering upon. "Relax dear, you know that the girls are just excited to see everyone together. It's been such a long time since so many of us have been able to gather all at once, and you know how much Moira looks up to Claire, so its natural that she'd want to deepen that bond as much as she can. Oh, and speaking of guests Rebecca called while everyone was getting ready, and she wants to come over for dinner tomorrow night, if 'it wouldn't trouble anyone too much'. Sweet thing." There was a suspended hiatus as she answered the question forming on her husband's lips even before he could so much as open his mouth, "Yes dear, he will be coming along too. I still don't understand why you-"

"I don't like him because he's not a right man! I don't care what she says to defend him, I don't trust a man with that kind of shadow hanging over his head. Rebecca's my old partner you know! She's an old pro, but she might as well be a baby - she's only a few years older than our daughter, and thinking of her with him," stopping in his tracks with a rather sinister munch of terra firma, there was such venom in his voice Chris could almost see the spit that flew out of Barry's mouth melting through the tangle of gaudy brown roots below, "its almost like thinking of Robin with Chris!" To a certain extent there was a trace of something akin to hope in his voice as the old man blurted out that particular name, and yet the tarrying tactlessness thickened as the lacuna after lingered ever longer, making it perfectly clear that the father had not meant to utter that suggestion to the universe. "You don't suppose that there really is something there, do you...?" There was a brief intermission as he considered it in more detail, "Chris is a good enough guy, but Robin is my little girl, blood be damned." The words carried with them such an incomprehensible gravity, and yet there was a mixture in his tone that indicated it wasn't a completely horrible thought. But more than anything else, the love and desire to protect the girl came out stronger than anything else there might have been hidden in the meaning or unspoken wishes.

Blood be damned. Like a broken record that refused to be changed out or forgotten, the words repeated themselves in Chris' head as he listened to the sounds of the fiercely proud parents retreating deeper into the serene scenery, footsteps echoing away as they vanished towards the widest, deepest (while still being safe) part of the river, unseen but understood. Torn between what he had just overheard and his own resolve, the solider stood rooted in his hiding place as if he had suddenly merged with the earth; on the one hand there was a certain level of approval at the idea, but on the other... Mind made up to make his move on the girl - all restraint virtual gone of its own accord - there was no misconstruing how much he had a yen for Robin, or that this might have been the best thing for their relationship (at least short term), however the man found that he could not move so much as a muscle in the direction of the house, not even when it was obvious that the coast was clear. Listening firsthand to just how much Barry loved his girls, it made the young paratrooper think once more of his own friendship with the more experience pilot and just how much that relationship had meant to him over the years. Barry - and Kathy and the girls when they came into the picture - had been there for so much in his life, and to just go behind the older man's back and take what he wanted felt so unspeakable now that he had came face-to-face with the consequences of what could happen. If he went back to the house, to where the teen was lurking in unwitting wait, something would happen that could never unhappen, and it was something that would bring both burden and joy, but if he followed after the rest of them to join in the well-earned play and relaxation, he would have to shove away all of these perverse thoughts, which might not be the worst thing, as the time it offered might ultimately be a good thing in its own way... Damn it all, which heaven should he chase, and which hell was the most survivable? In times like these, he almost relished the thought of another Mansion Incident...

Author's Notes: Man-bear-pig! I could not resist that, but I'm not apologizing for it. So after that very short insight into what Chris is thinking, now we see the outcome of their respective decisions! At least that was the plan, but after thinking about things a bit more, I decided to go in a different direction that would see that fateful moment in the story delayed. For those of you familiar with Game of thrones/A Song of Ice and Fire, you should spot a pretty little tribute. And also a little lot of lame for the rest of you kitties, but that's just how I roll, smiley face. :) And for all those Chris/Jill fans out there, I personally don't mind that pairing so much, but I honestly see their relationship as more platonic, OCs or not. Just so no one gets upset. As far as all the time it took for this chapter to come out, that I do apologize for, as it was almost entirely me just trying to figure out what would happen next - there was some other stuff too, but that's all pretty personal, so you need just know that I was scheming on what will happen next.

What measures the success of a fic? Is it the number of overall views received, or is it the sum of reviews? In part I ask you this, good readers, and in part I say that it is in the reviews. I'd quote Damnation and say that 'that is my answer, and yours', but then I'd feel as if I were trying to control you, and I don't want to do that! Seriously, I hate being over anyone. Although I really do love that line (and movie series). Anyways, that was written before getting the first review for the story (just in case it sounds rude or ungrateful, which I promise is not my intention), so I want to heartily thank hooray4natasha for the kind words!

Music: "I Can't Fight This Feeling Anymore" by REO Speedwagon. This is one song that I've considered using since damn near the beginning of this story, but the timing was never right - until now.

Disclaimer: Resident Evil and its characters are the intellectual property of Capcom; all I own is the plot, Robin, and all other OCs within the story. Also any music or branding mentioned or used belongs to their rightful owners.