November 11th, 2014.
Hunnigan nuzzled the top of Helena's head as the younger woman leaned into her, crossing her arm over Hunnigan's midsection and resting her head on her chest. It was raining outside, strong gusts of wind slamming fat drops of water against the windows, the impacts occasionally interrupting the otherwise gentle hum of the rain falling against the tile roof. Wood popped and shifted in the fireplace, the living room illuminated only by a dim lamp in the corner and the gentle orange glow of the fire.
Hunnigan sighed happily; they hadn't had a chance to just sit together like this in what felt like weeks, the last month or so had gone by in a flash because work had gotten more or less hectic recently. Taking a moment like this to wind down was a welcome and much needed pause to said, it was easier to say she'd turn her brain off and just enjoy the moment of peace than actually doing it, and work kept creeping into her mind.
Briefing Jill Valentine on how to run the DSO had gone over easier and a lot quicker than briefing Kosmin ever had been, which wasn't surprising; Jill actually cared about what she was doing and listened whereas Kosmin had just tolerated the instruction to learn enough to be able to pretend running the agency competently. Sometimes Hunnigan could've gone with less involvement from Jill who wanted to know absolutely everything, but she understood it, had she been in Jill's shoes, she would've wanted to know everything too. She'd just never realized how much of her time reporting to Jill would actually take, no one had ever cared quite as much about Hunnigan and her team's comings and goings.
Kosmin's sudden but not entirely surprising death had raised questions. It had been ruled a suicide and all the evidence seemingly supported that, but Hunnigan was convinced he'd been dead long before he'd allegedly made a noose and hung himself on the metal frame of his bed. None of the intel he'd given Helena and Lucy had turned up anything, the only way to verify it was to go to Raccoon City, and doing that on unverified intel wasn't something Jill was willing to do.
Hunnigan half-hoped Ada would drop by with a present like the Deus ex Machina that she tended to be at times, but Hunnigan hadn't heard from her since they'd met in person at the party. Besides, even if Ada did drop by with some convenient information, Hunnigan had no way of verifying that either, and she doubted Ada Wong's word would be enough to convince Jill either, so it probably wouldn't have helped anyway.
"Stop," Helena muttered.
"What?"
"You're ruminating over something pointlessly and I want you to stop because overthinking won't fix whatever it is."
"You don't know, it might," Hunnigan smirked, but knew Helena was right. The only thing that would change it would be convincing Jill to authorize sending a team in to investigate, and the last three times Hunnigan had said as much Jill had shot the idea down due to insufficient intel, and she was not interested in explaining to Hunnigan how was she supposed to get more intel if she wasn't allowed to go to the one and only place that could provide her with any answers.
"I just expected Jill to be more...aggressive. Based on what I'd heard of her, I was sure she'd be taking point and leading the charge to Raccoon City, but instead she's just—"
"She's careful, I would've imagined you of all people would appreciate her 'look before you leap'-attitude," Helena interrupted gently.
"I do, but it bothers me that nothing's happening. I want to know the truth, I want to take out what's presumably left of Umbrella, and most importantly, I want to know what exactly Ada meant when she implied that whatever's happening in Raccoon City is somehow related to our baby," Hunnigan snapped.
Helena sighed and sat up, turned to sit sideways on the couch and reached to take Hunnigan's hands into her own, kissing the tips of Hunnigan's fingers.
"I understand why you're restless and concerned, I do. But we're not going to win anything by rushing into things. And, frankly, I'm not all that eager to rush into Raccoon City. I'll gladly go kill monsters and take down corrupt arms dealers, but I'm also willing to drop it when it becomes obvious we're in a deadend and chasing after the ones responsible will just waste my time. Time which I would rather spend with my wife and my daughter. Why is that upsetting to you? Would you rather both of us spend our lives prioritizing work over everything?"
"Just what the hell do you mean by that, both of us?" Hunnigan scoffed despite the implication being more than obvious. But she wanted to hear Helena say it.
"Ingrid, I'm not trying to start an argument, and I don't mean it as an offense but we both know that you would never be happy just stopping, you'd never settle for just me and our baby, your job is such a big part of who you are, I don't think you could stop even if you wanted to."
"I'm 'obsessing' over my work because I'm fucking scared!" Hunnigan yelled, tears beginning to sting in her eyes.
"Of what?" Helena frowned.
"What if Traynor really does still work for Umbrella? What if our baby is some kind of an Umbrella experiment?"
"Traynor seems like she's on the level about everything, and your mother vouched for her, didn't she? So I don't think there's any reason to be worried."
"Well, how the hell do I know, what if she's in on it?"
"Your mom?"
"Yes! As far as I know I was abandoned at a firehouse when I was a baby, what if I was just one of the many failed experimental babies Umbrella's left behind? What if my biological mother was one of the half a million people who go missing annually, kidnapped by human traffickers who deliver people to entities like Umbrella, and Umbrella used her as an incubator, what if she managed to get away and dumped me at the firehouse, what if I'm being used as—"
"Ingrid, honey, I think you're having a panic attack or about to, try to calm down, everything's okay, I promise," Helena spoke quietly and put her arms around Hunnigan, holding her gently. She leaned into the embrace and buried her face into the spot between Helena's neck and shoulder, trying to take deep breaths instead of shallow, shuddering ones. She focused on Helena, on the warmth of her body pressed against Hunnigan's, on the sensation of her fingers running through Hunnigan's hair and her other hand rubbing a soft circle on Hunnigan's back, her chin pressing against the top of Hunnigan's head, her words reassuring her that everything was all right. It took a while but eventually Hunnigan managed to believe her words and calm down.
"There's just so much that I don't know, and I can't relax until I do."
"I understand that but all I'm saying is it wouldn't be terrible if one day we'd just get to a point where every day is...not a crisis and we're just happy and bored together, you know?"
"I know, I'm tired of it all too," Hunnigan exhaled, wiping her eyes.
"And you know that I'll protect you and our baby, I won't let anything happen to either one of you."
"I know. And I trust you. And I love that I seriously mean it when I say that, I love that I can just trust you."
"I'm happy you do," Helena said softly and smiled.
"And, while I loathe the idea of being a damsel in distress—"
"Which you've never been," Helena interjected.
"—I do find you being protective of me very appealing," Hunnigan finished with a grin. Helena tugged on her gently and Hunnigan eased into the movement, leaning closer to Helena, going to straddle her legs.
"Want me to get the shotgun and do a little 'You talkin' to me?'-routine in front of the mirror for ya?" Helena said, over-emphasizing the accent and Hunnigan scoffed amusedly.
"Just look pretty," she said, put her hand on Helena's cheek and softly pulled her into a passionate kiss. Helena slipped her hands underneath Hunnigan's shirt, running them over her belly and sides to gently rub against her back as Hunnigan put her arms over Helena's shoulders and deepened the kiss. They both groaned in annoyance when the doorbell rang.
"We're not home," Hunnigan breathed and kissed Helena again.
"Jimmy! I need to talk to you!" Lucy's voice called out.
"She doesn't sound happy," Hunnigan muttered after breaking the kiss. Sighing, she stood up, Helena reluctantly letting go of her as she went to answer the door.
"Why didn't you tell me?" Lucy said and pushed past Hunnigan, entering the house, dripping water from her clothes and hair.
"Tell you what?" Hunnigan frowned and closed the door.
"The truth about me!" Lucy said and Hunnigan realized Olivia must've finally told Lucy about her origins.
"Well...when I tried talking to you about Irma Wesker, you didn't seem to care, a part of me assumed you wouldn't want to know," Hunnigan said quietly.
"What is going on?" Helena asked.
"Stay the fuck out of this!" Lucy snapped at her.
"Calm the hell down, what the fuck is wrong with you?" Helena questioned.
"Jimmy, you better put a leash on that puppy or I won't—"
"Don't you talk back to me! Who the hell do you think you are, coming into my hou—"
"Both of you, stop it!" Hunnigan yelled over them. "Helena, give us a moment, please?" she requested.
"Fine," Helena muttered and went upstairs while Hunnigan told Lucy to get out of her wet jacket and come into the living room. Lucy slumped onto the floor in front of the fireplace and pulled her knees to her chest, wrapping her arms around her legs..
"What am I?" she asked. Hunnigan went to sit next to her —not managing it quite as effortlessly and gracefully as she'd used to— and reached to put her arm around Lucy's shoulders. To her surprise, the little sister didn't pull away or hiss at her but leaned into her.
"That's...not an easy question to answer," Hunnigan muttered. "And at the same time it's simple, you're Lucy Hunnigan," the older sister said, hugged Lucy to herself tighter, and pointed her finger at the framed family photo standing on the bookshelf.
"You're my little sister, and nothing's gonna change that," she said. In the photo, Lucy sat on the floor, petting the family dog; Alix, Lance and Hunnigan were standing behind them as they all posed for the picture.
"That's nice, but it's not real," Lucy said. "I was put together in a fucking petri dish and shoved into some poor woman who had to birth me, I don't even have parents. I was manufactured."
"Family doesn't mean you have to share blood, I know that better than anyone And so should you."
"Oh yeah? Is that why you insisted having a baby that's blood-related to you and Helena rather than just adopt?" Lucy asked, her voice growing rather venomous, and as much as Hunnigan wanted to deny it, she couldn't because the truth was she'd explicitly said she'd only have a baby if it was literally Helena's.
"That's different."
"How?"
"Because I'm selfish, all right! Happy?"
"No."
"And what does my baby have to do with any of this?"
"Nothing, just making a point," Lucy mumbled and Hunnigan sighed deeply, taking a moment to calm down before she'd get genuinely upset. They weren't here to debate her choices, they were here because Lucy had just lost a remarkable piece of her identity. Or so Hunnigan presumed, she had no means of knowing what Lucy was feeling, and she told her as much.
"I can't know or even begin to imagine. All I know is that you're my sister and I love you, your origin doesn't matter, what matters is that you're here now."
"I would like to meet her," Lucy said after a long moment of silence.
"Who?" Hunnigan frowned.
"Irma Wesker."
"Oh."
"Is that a problem?" Lucy asked and turned to look at Hunnigan.
"No, I'm—" Hunnigan began to say but the rest of the words fell away when she looked into Lucy's eyes and realized that amidst the green were flecks of reddish-orange, barely noticeable, and Hunnigan at first thought she was imagining it, or that it was a reflection of the flames and embers in the fireplace. Looking closer she concluded that wasn't the case, the red was definitely a part of Lucy's eyes. Question was what did it mean.
"—I'm sure we can arrange a meeting," Hunnigan finally finished her sentence.
"Good," Lucy said and turned back to stare at the fire.
"So, um...how's things with Liv?" Hunnigan inquired in an attempt to keep the conversation going.
"She has gone from being scared of my brain to finding it interesting. She said something about most psychopaths studied having been male and that there's really no proper data about female psychopaths, and that female psychopaths are probably capable of love and empathy to some extent, males not so much probably because males tend to be less emotional by default...so it's been a lot of fun watching her once again become convinced that I am indeed a psychopath...and then finding ways to convince herself that I do actually love her despite being one and therefore supposedly emotionless," Lucy said sarcastically.
"She can't help herself, can she," Hunnigan muttered ruefully.
"No, she can't. And Garrett's been poking at me still trying to figure out why RAY hit me, the closest to an explanation he and Liv got was that I got zapped because my exposure to the plaga was fairly recent. So, essentially, I've been everybody's lab rat, it's always nice to be needed," Lucy continued in her mocking tone and Hunnigan pulled her into another hug.
"You do realize you can tell them both to leave you alone, right? Or do you want me to talk to them?"
"No, that won't be necessary. And yes, I know. But at the same time, what I really want is to be useful. If being a lab rat is what makes me useful, I guess I'll take it."
"Lucy, you're a human being, a person, stop reducing yourself to some test subject. That isn't who you are, it's never been. You know that. You're—"
"Don't tell me I'm Lucy Hunnigan, because I'm not. I'm a Wesker."
"What does that mean, then?"
"I don't fucking know," Lucy snapped and stood up agitatedly. "But I do know I am not a part of this," she added, grabbed the photo Hunnigan had pointed out earlier, and threw it into the fireplace.
"Lucy!" Hunnigan gasped and reached to grab the fire poker so she could use it to dig the photo out before it would catch fire but Lucy gripped her wrist and stopped her.
"Leave it," the redhead said, waiting for the flames to begin eating away at the picture. Once satisfied it couldn't be salvaged, she let go of Hunnigan. Truthfully, that wasn't the only copy of the photo, but seeing Lucy determinedly destroy it, and the implications behind her act, were not a pleasant thing to consider.
"Why are you—" Hunnigan spoke as she began to stand up.
"I want to meet Irma Wesker and I want to go to Raccoon City," Lucy spoke over her, then turned on her heel and marched out of the house as abruptly as she'd entered it. Hunnigan called out to Helena and she made her way over quickly.
"Everything okay?" she asked as she hurried down the steps.
"Yes, but would you help me up?" Hunnigan requested. She could've managed on her own if she needed to but having Helena do the honors made it much quicker and involved less grunting.
"What did Lucy want?" Helena inquired and Hunnigan explained everything to her. The fire was beginning to die down, the remains of the photo frame among the embers and ash, the photo itself now gone. Helena was silent as she listened and finally pursed her lips as she thought about what Hunnigan had said.
"Okay."
"Okay? That's it?" Hunnigan scoffed.
"I'm thinking."
"What is there to think? This is quite a disaster. Lucy's understandably always been a little unstable, this is—"
"Yes, I know, she's a lot more fragile than she lets on, but hear me out. You know who else should meet Irma Wesker?"
"Who?" Hunnigan frowned.
"Jill. If there's anyone who could convince her to go to Raccoon City, I'm pretty sure it's one of the original Weskers."
