So this is an odd chapter. it's kinda short... and we're kinda skipping July. I tried writing a chapter for it. aaaaand I hated it. with a passion. It wasn't fluff and went into filler territory and it's. yuck. No, I want to make sure what I'm posting for the story has movement not. whatever that ended up being. Maybe I'll use the idea in the future but it just. Nah. It was bad. So hey now this one is a chapter earlier than expected and Dang I have been excited to write it lol. so. here is a chapter with movement. Beautiful, cute, fluffy, happy, movement that might rival Chapter 11 in my mind. Heck, the next 5 chapters are looking to be really good and just -chef kiss- soon. gosh, it is a good thing it's almost the weekend.
Song Suggestion: I Hear a Symphony by Cody Fry
Disclaimer: I really hope I don't need these at this point. I don't own anything it's fan-fic. yatta yatta, don't sue.
July was a restful blur as routine returned. On Sundays, Emma would stop by to drop off the usual set of Tupperware holding lunches for the week. Chris would go to work, do paperwork, drills and on occasion look for clues to prove or disprove the claims of the woman who stormed the building alone. Thursday would come along and the two would practice Emma's self-defense drills. It was simple and good, but like all things with the BSAA, good things cant last forever and fieldwork was once more required. The timing of it made Chris suspicious as he felt like he was getting close to a lead, only to be sent to Romania for another 3 weeks. more than enough time to re-bury anything he was close to digging up.
August had just about passed because of this. He walked up the stairs at 7 pm on the 29th, A Wednesday night of the last week of the month, only to notice something strange.
"What the hell?" he says quietly as more than half of the second floor was blocked off by caution tape which made it so he couldn't get to his apartment. With a concerned expression plastered to his face, he heads to Emma's door and knocks. To his relief, she answers it.
"Chris! you're home. um. Okay so," She says clearly not sure how to address the bright yellow elephant in the room as she looks to the caution tape. "There was a little bit of a problem while you were gone and there's not an easy way to explain it but, Well, your apartment got flooded..."
"What," he replies surprised.
"We tried calling but we couldn't reach you. It kept saying your number wasn't available..." Emma explained shaking her head. "Mr. Jacobs really should be the one telling you this... but please come in, I'll make you something to eat," she offers and moves out of the way. Chris walks in leaving the bag by the door then takes a seat at the island.
"When did this happen? What happened?" he asks still trying to process that.
"It was about 2 weeks ago, There was a pretty bad leak from the laundry room. It ended up spreading into your apartment and the Russo's." Emma says with a tone of sympathy," It managed to spread from the Living room into the bedroom and bathroom as well for both apartments before they were able to get the water to stop and start controlling the spread" she adds before walking away to the back of her apartment and returns with a decent size cardboard box which she places on the Island. "I hope it's okay, but I used the emergency key for your apartment to try and get some of your stuff out of the flooded area. it's not much but." she shrugs. "the kitchen and study were apparently untouched but Mr. Jacobs had to cut off that half of the hall while repairs are going on..."
Chris's shoulders dropped slightly upon hearing this. that Cheapskate. He brought up the laundry room with him over a year ago, he knew this would happen eventually and just wanted to put off paying for it. serves him right that he has to pay for the repairs... but dang it all his stuff. "How far are they through repairs?"
"Last I heard, it's going to take another week at least," Emma says with a slight frown. " They had to dry it out for 5 days before construction started, it's 7 rooms worth of damage. not including the hallways. and that's also not including the apartments below us... so."
"Right..." he says with a frustrated sigh as he frowns and runs a hand through his hair.
"I know it's not, ideal but. If you need a place to stay I have a couch?" she offers with a hesitant smile.
Chris thought it over. It was late already, finding a hotel would be expensive and he doubted the landlord would reimburse that long of a stay. "That would actually be great. If you don't mind."
"It's not a problem, I can try and pick up an air mattress or something more comfortable?" she offers in an attempt to be accommodating to Chris's situation but Chris shakes his head.
"The couch is fine," he says. He definitely owed her one for this, "I'm not really a great cook but do you want a slice of Pizza?" he offers since he didn't feel right asking Emma to cook when he was kinda going to be couch surfing at her place for the next while. The question causes her to chuckle.
"Sure, I'd like that," she replies with a smile.
"Pizza it is then, I'll see if that one place from before does delivery, What kind do you usually get?" Chris replies and takes out his phone to call in an order for a pizza.
"Just Cheese is fine," Emma replies as she walks back towards her room to get a few spare supplies from her room to set up the couch.
Chris nods to show he heard even if she couldn't see it and places an order for Half cheese and half ultimate. Pizza was supposed to have toppings but she could be wrong she wanted to. "Pizza should be here in 30," he says before getting out of his seat. "You said my study was safe right?" the agent asks, hoping he didn't mishear that part. It was a bit unnerving to know people had been in his apartment without him knowing, considering all the sensitive documents and equipment he kept at home...
"Yeah, I didn't really check though," she admits as she walks back into the main living area with some blankets, a pillow, and a fitted sheet. "I mostly just moved things out of the way of the puddle and picked up anything that looked important, like electronics to keep it safe."
"Thanks again," he says with a nod. "I think I might see if I can salvage anything else while we wait..."
"Go for it, you can use the study to store as much as you can fit," Emma offers as she walks over to the longer of the two couches and started placing the fitted sheet over the cushions so it would seem more mattress like.
Oh thank heavens, he'd be able to get all those documents moved in that case. that would be some peace of mind. He'd have to do a full inventory to make sure nothing was missing... this might take a while. with that thought, Chris heads out, goes past the tape, and into his apartment to look around. The place was an absolute mess. furniture had been pretty much shoved over into the kitchen so that was completely inaccessible now. The area was loud thanks to the many fans that were left running to keep the place dry in case of any further leaking during the repairs. He silently made a note to be ready to argue with the landlord over his electric bill because he was not paying for this. A tired sigh was muted by the loud equipment but all the same, he made his way to his study and started collecting books and boxes to carry over to Emma's apartment for storage. It took several trips but by the time the pizza arrived, he'd moved over the more of it and Emma had set up a place for him to rest.
"Thanks for the Meal," Emma says as she takes a slice from the box.
"I'm pretty sure I owe you more than a few slices of pizza at this point," He replies while taking his own slice from the box. "You saved me from a three-way argument with Mr. Jacobs and the insurance company over who's paying for a hotel."
"That would be entertaining to watch," Emma jokingly replies while snickering. "Who would win, the insurance adjuster, the landlord or the living tank."
Chris gives her a gentle nudge in response which causes her to laugh. The two continued to eat their junk food meal and chat before a question came to mind.
"Not to pry but, a week was an optimistic guess on my part," Emma starts while trying to gentle approach the subject. "What do you think you're going to want to do about clean clothes... Considering your room got affected so the clothes might not be clean..."
"Ah...um," Chris frowned upon realizing that was a fair point. "hm. and the laundry room is out of the question."
"Yeaah," Emma replies with a nod. "There's the laundry room on the 3rd floor but that's been a bit crowded since it's the only access left for all 12 apartments... well I guess it's more like 9 since I think the downstairs neighbors left for the time being and so did the Russos but. still."
Well shit... "I'll just sleep in this for now and see if I can figure something out after work. Maybe there's a laundry mat I can go to," He replies and offers a potential solution.
"That's kinda where I was going with this. I found a laundry mat a few blocks from here but, you know how parking is around here," Emma replies and he nods.
"Nonexistent so you're better off walking unless you're leaving," he replies and she nods.
"Yep," She confirms with a slight smile. "I've found it's better to go during the week. Weekends are always packed. So if you want some help tomorrow I can help with shuttling things around to get them washed up and stored away."
he bobs his head while thinking it over. "I might take you up on that," The agent admits. he was going to have to wash everything so having an extra set of hands would be helpful.
"Kay, I'll wait to head out until you get back then," She replied before moving to walk away. "I'm going to call it a night," Emma says with a stretch. " Make sure to lock up once you're done moving things around?" She asked more so than instructed.
"Can do," he replies with a nod as he takes another slice of pizza.
"Seeya in the morning," She adds before giving a short whistle and Duke follows her into her room before she closes the door.
"Seeya," he says with a short wave. The agent did as she requested. Once he finished moving around everything from his apartment which included a pile of damp-smelling clothing, he locked up the apartment and put away the leftover Pizza before heading over to the couch to settle in for the night as well.
be-be-be-beep be-be-be-beep... be-be-be-beep be-be-be-beep... Chris lazily rolls over.
Emma's voice could be heard in the distance "Your alarm is going off."
"I hear it," he replies sleepily and yawns.
"Mkay," she replies simply, as the smell of eggs finally registers. he picks up his phone and turns off the alarm. it takes a minute but he finally rolls off the couch to get up.
"Morning" she greets with a smile as she poked at the contents of a frying pan with a spatula. She was already awake and ready for the day. She gave the contents a small flip before sliding it onto a plate next to her making a neatly folded omelet. it looked like it was a simple spinach and cheese one. "Did you want one?" She offers, holding up the pan. Chris thinks about it debating between greasy leftover cold pizza and a warm breakfast.
"Sure," he says as he shuffles over to check the coffee maker. Yep, there was a pot already brewed. She didn't seem like it but, guess she was a morning person during the week. She nods and heads over to the fridge "let's see, I have some leftover Fajita chicken, some hamburger I could probably break either of those up. There are some diced red and green peppers in the freezer, some onion, spinach, oregano, parsley, um oh right leftover pork roast- m no actually I'm going to save that for dinner. I can make burritos with that..." she list off ingredients she has that could be included.
"Chicken with red and green peppers sounds good," Chris says with a nod and she gets to work on the omelet.
"Can do," she says in response, and before long the small folded circle was plated as well and placed at the island, it was similar to their dinner routine but this time she put a plate next to his. she grabbed a bottle of ketchup from the fridge then took the seat next to him.
"Ketchup on eggs?" he asks as she makes a little squiggle down the omelet.
"Ketchup on omelets is normal, don't even" she replies with a shocked expression "Would you rather that I put buffalo sauce on it?" Emma asks shaking her head.
"Actually," he says with a smile before getting up to go check the fridge for hot sauce.
"Christopher Redfield you are not ruining the perfectly good food I just made you," Emma says in mock protest.
Hearing that caused him to turn around and make a confused but ultimately amused face, "Did you just mom voice me?" he asks causing them both to start laughing.
"I will mom voice the heck out of you if you're going to disrespect my food like that," she says as he finds what he was looking for all the same and makes a similar squiggle on his own omelet. "Fine see if I make you breakfast again," she says still laughing. he ends up stopping and cuts off a piece and offers her his fork
"Try a bite," he says with a smile as Emma shakes her head no. "Seriously, it's good" he adds with a laugh.
Emma thought it over, she really didn't want to eat that. "Okay fine, but only if you try a bite with ketchup since you mocked my omelet too."
"Deal" he replies.
Crap. she thought but all the same, cut him a piece with ketchup and hands that over in exchange for the fork he offered here. she stared at it for a bit before taking the bite and making a face. "UHUH," she says with her mouth closed and shakes her head as she forces herself to finish it. A similarly less than happy coughing came from Chris after choking down the bite.
"Why is it sweet?" he asks confused.
"Why is it so spicy? it's breakfast" she rebuttals and the two continue to laugh before returning to their own dish. I think I have feelings for her. The pesky thought returned. he could have sworn he burned that one away. Nonetheless, before long the two finished their meals. Chris got ready for work and had just opened the door to leave.
"I'm heading out," he says.
"Oh! wait a moment!" Emma says as she hurries back into the kitchen. some rustling about could be heard as she put something together before she walked over to Chris to offer him a small padded lunch sack. "Have a good day at work," She says with a smile.
I have feelings for her.
Oh God Damn Bitch Ass Hell Fucking Shit...The first two words of the original thought fell away, the two words that were protecting him from having to really think about it. This was nice... all of this. Having someone to greet him when he leaves, having someone to come back to, having someone that would hear what he's saying even when he isn't actually saying anything at all, someone that made him want to be better, someone to argue with then laughs at it after, Hell, someone to joke around about eggs in the morning with. Just. All of it.
He took a breath "Yeah. Thanks. You too," he replies while accepting the offered lunch and continuing to process that thought. It kind of-
"And they were roommates," Bastion says quietly from the other side of the hallway while sipping at his morning tea.
"Bastion, good morning," Emma says still smiling though now a bit pink in the cheeks. "Yeah I guess we are roommates for now," she says with a chuckle before looking back to Chris. "Anyways, I should head out too, they're getting a bit stricter about clocking in on time" Emma adds before heading back to the kitchen to get her own lunch. "See you later."
"Right, yeah." he says with a nod "See you later" he agrees and heads out. This was a cigarette moment... Unfortunately. Okay... So. The thought wasn't going away... He was going to have to do something. He could already feel the thought eating at him. He should probably set up some personal ground rules for discussing this. Maybe that would help...
Ground rule number 1. Not while I'm staying with her. That's an absolute no. How would that even sound? Hey, I spent one night on your couch, and now I think I love you. see?! Look at how irrationally that escalated. Absolutely not allowed.
Okay. Ground rule number 2. It can't be during training... That one should be obvious. Training like that is an act of trust. She's willingly putting herself in a vulnerable position specifically because she trusts me not to take advantage of her.
Last one. Ground rule number 3. I probably shouldn't bring this up while she's cooking. She'll just take it as a joke.
He nods at this and then ends up frustrated. They didn't really spend any time together aside from that. A bit of smoke leaves his mouth as he exhales... This... was going to be more troublesome than he thought.
Even with the ground rules set, the thought was rather distracting throughout work. Not so much from excitement or jitters as much as it was annoyance with the timing. Of course he had to have this lovely epiphany when he was going to be living with her for the next week or so. Now he'd have to try and pretend that everything was normal. I mean it kinda was normal. It just wasn't at the same time which made it all the more frustrating.
Thoughts like this would continue to distract him as he finished his day and work and made his way back to Emma's apartment. He found himself staring at the door. did he knock? he was staying here at this point. did that mean it was okay to just walk in? In the end, he decided to be safe rather than sorry and knocked on the door.
Emma opened the door with a confused expression that turned to surprise. "Hm? oh, hey Chris," She says in greeting and opens the door the rest of the way. "you don't need to knock while you're staying here. do you still have the key for my place from the Key share?" she asks curiously.
He nods as he walks into the apartment. "yeah I have it still. figured I shouldn't assume is all."
"Not a problem, thanks for checking," she says in return. "For now my home is your home so you don't need to worry about knocking."
"Alright," he says in return.
Well, that's odd... he's being really quiet. Emma thought with a concerned frown. Maybe he had a rough day at work? "Did you still want to head over to the laundry mat?" She asks, figuring if he did have a rough day he might want to just wash a few things upstairs and call it a day.
Crap right. "Yeah, I'm still alright to do that if you are," The agent says with a nod.
"Alright, I'll grab a basket then. Did you get your clothes moved to the study or did you leave it in your room?" Emma asks as she heads back to her own room to get a large plastic laundry basket.
Chris follows but stays in the small hallway for the back rooms. "I moved everything to the study, hopefully that's alright."
"Yeah that's fine," Emma affirms as she returns with the basket. "Let's see if we can get this taken care of."
Inside of the study, the large mound of clothes laid waiting next to a basket that was already full. Between the two of them, they were able to carry the more of it and head out to make their way down the street.
"I can head back to the apartment and pick up the rest of it if you're okay with watching the machines," Chris offers and Emma nods.
"Sure, I can do that," She replies with a nod as he opens the door to the laundry mat. Emma smiled at the gesture and heads inside to find that the place was empty. Not too surprising for a Thursday night. "oh my gosh it's Thursday," she realized with a slight frown as she walked over to one of the tables to put down the basket she'd been carrying. "Darn, sorry about that I completely blanked on that," She admits with a slight frown. "I guess this means no training for today."
Oh thank god. "It's not going to hurt to miss a week." He says in response with a shrug while blessing his luck for that one. He did not need to deal with close proximity while trying to figure out what was going on with his brain.
"I suppose," she agrees half-heartedly.
"You sound disappointed," he points out with mild amusement as he walks over to one of the available machines to check the cost and make sure it was empty. He definitely learned his lesson.
"I donno, I guess I've started to look forward to it is all. I like getting to spend time with you." the woman says with a smile.
Was she trying to make this more difficult? Did she know? was she just messing with him? "Isn't that what we're already doing?" he asks instead.
"oh..." he had a point. Emma thought on it for a second. "well yeah that's true. I guess I-" she stops as she notices him just throwing everything in as a group. "What are you doing?" she asks with concerned amusement.
the question left him confused. "Washing my clothes?" he answers.
"You don't sort them out first?" Emma asks with a laughing smile.
"Are you judging me?" he asks with a slight smirk while getting the machine set up with soap all the same.
"A bit yeah," Emma teased in response. "That's such a typical bachelor move." She adds as he closes the machine and pays for the cycle to start.
"Who said I was one?" He asks in return with a shrug as he moved to stand next to her and lean against the table that was bolted into the floor.
Emma's expression quickly switches to one of embarrassment. "Oh gosh, sorry I did kinda just assumed that. my bad."
Well, that backfired. "That's. I'm not... I was joking." He offers as clarification as he moved to cover his eyes with a hand in an attempt to cover his reddening face. Smooth move dumbass what happened to no talking about this while staying with her? huh!
"Oh," Emma replied relieved. that could have been awkward. "Well it was a convincing joke, you had me fooled."
He rolled his eyes at that and gave her a slight nudge. "Sure," he replied as he relaxed once more. "I'll be right back. I should get the rest of the pile."
"Kay, see you in a bit," She replies as she moved to take a seat.
The evening went on rather uneventfully for some time after that. Chris returned with the clothes. more of the washers were filled to try and save time and before long dryers were chiming to alert them that the clothes were clean and dry.
the two each went to check a different Dryer. While Chris moves to simply gather arm fulls of the cloths to toss into the basket Emma was taking each piece out one at a time and folding it before gently putting it into the basket.
"What are you doing," He asks amused.
"Folding them. don't tell me you're planning on leaving them in a pile in the middle of the study," She replies with a playful smile.
he rolls his eyes at that and picks up a stray sock from the dryer to toss that at her in joking retaliation.
Emma laughs while making a face but picks up the abandoned sock and throws it back at him. "don't pick a fight unless you want a war, it's your clothes, not mine." She points out.
Yeah, he did not need his underwear flying through the air. those were in there somewhere soo. "I surrender," he quickly replies. "I'm just planning on folding them back at the apartment is all," he explains. "It's getting late and you probably should be getting back to take care of Duke, right?"
"True," She replies before shrugging and following his lead to empty out the dryer. "I can at least help carry this back in the meantime."
"Thanks again for the help, This was probably kinda boring for you," He says as he picks up his basket and the two head out.
"Not at all. Like I said. I like spending time with you," She replied as they made their way down the sidewalk.
He smiled at this. "I like spending time with you too."
Well then, I'd say that some decent progress has been made here. An I think has been replaced with an I know. I had a little too much fun with that panic after the realization lol. I've seen so many fics where Chris is like. this mega chad and smooth as heck but. come on. no. uh-uh. The dude is 45 and single. There's no way with how much he works that he's some smooth mc groove lots of dating game guy when he's practically married to his work in-game.
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Ink Scribbles- Yee new baddie ahoy~. This one is going to be a doozy so I'm excited for this. we're going to get a tiny break for fluff but she's going to hit. hard.