Who's ready for the obligatory beach episode~! This chapter has another reader suggestion included, so please enjoy a bit of Claire and Emma solo time :) Thanks, WhimsyWisp for the suggestion! However as an additional aside, those who have water-based anxieties may not have as much fun with a portion of this chapter, just a fair warning.
Song Suggestion: Summer by Calvin Harris
Disclaimer: I don't own a thing~ CapCom please don't sue.
Before long May passed by and the weeks of June counted down to the final Friday of the month. Chris was able to put that Paid time off he earned from Moral Day to use, making the trip that much easier since it was one less thing to worry about. the night before, Emma took Duke to a Dog sitter, and by Friday He and Emma woke up early to catch their flight to the coast. As they fly Emma gives Chris a quick rundown on who is who within her family. Her Father Edward was the Head Chef for a hotel back home and her mother was the hotel event planner which is why they tend to take vacations anywhere else. Her older brother Eric was a stockbroker while her younger sister Elana was a graphic designer.
Claire walked over to the airport terminal exit for arrivals and checked her watch, Noon. the flight should be landing soon. She was a bit nervous, this was the first time in a while that her brother came to visit just because. no world-ending threats, no bioweapons or bad guys to chase down. It was actually kind of amusing to hear him nervous for once. He had explained the situation with his visiting and in a way she was happy for it since there was a chance she could get to know this new person in her brother's life a bit better too.
As she waited a man in his early 40s, maybe a year or two younger than Chris, walked over to a couple that appeared to be in their Mid to late 60s and gave them a hug. Shortly after a younger woman probably only a few years younger than herself joined the three and more hugs were exchanged and chattering began. Cute, Claire thought with a smile while waiting and watching. Before long she noticed two familiar faces walking towards the door as it occasionally opened for those who walked through.
"There she is," she heard the older woman say happily.
"Holy hell she's dating the hulk," the man says quietly to the woman next to him who slaps his arm.
"Eric, behave," the younger woman warns and gives Eric a swap to the arm.
"Elana, don't hit your brother," the mother of the group says in a warning tone.
The elder brother had a smug smile as Elana frown. "Yes, mother."
Claire Chuckles a bit at this but waves to get Chris's attention.
Chris raises a hand in greeting but is ultimately swarmed as the family hurries over to greet them. "Sorry one moment please," He says and walks over to Claire with a smile. She thinks on it a moment before giving Chris a hug which he returns.
"Good to see you," she says after letting go and taking a step back.
"Yeah, good to see you too," Chris says with a smile. the small family goes through their own hugging routine with Emma before walking over to join Chris and Claire.
"Well then, I think some introductions are in order," the father figure says with a friendly smile.
Chris nods "Right, My name is Christopher Redfield, Chris for short. It's good to meet you" Chris says and offers a hand to the father which was accepted and given a good firm shake.
"And this is my younger sister, Claire. I'll be staying with her during the visit," Chris explains and gets a few nods in response.
"I see, well if you're available you should join us tomorrow as well," Emma's father says still smiling a gentle friendly smile as he looks to claire. "Family is family after all and we'd be happy to have you at our table," he adds before giving a short chuckle. "Not to toot my own horn but I am a professional so there's sure to be good food for the day," he says as some pride for his work starts to show in his smile.
"Oh um" she looks to Chris and he shrugs "Sure, actually that sounds lovely." Claire agrees which causes Chris to internally relax, it would be nice not to be alone.
"It's settled then," he says with a nod before realizing he'd cut off the introductions. "Ah forgive my manors, My name is Edward Swanson it's a pleasure to meet you both." He says as he gestures to himself than to the woman next to him. "And this is my Beautiful Wife Emily," he says causing the woman to blush a bit and wave him off. "My Eldest son Eric, and my Youngest Daughter Elana," He says introducing the others.
"Hey," Eric says with a short wave.
"Nice to meet you both," Elana says after.
"And of course you already know our little Emmy," Emily says and chuckles into her hand
"If we knew she was going to end up in the music industry we would have named her Grammy," Her dad says with a snicker at his own bad joke.
"Dad no," Emma says holding her face.
"Where are Chelsea, Jack, and the babies?" Emma's mother asks concerned in an attempt to change the subject.
"Ah, I think they had to stop for a bathroom break they should be out in a moment" Emma replies while looking back to the door.
"I see, well we won't hold you two up while we wait, I'm sure you have plenty to do," Emily says looking to Chris and Claire.
"It was nice to meet you all" Claire replies with a nod. "See you tomorrow" she adds, receiving a couple of 'You too's in response before the two head out to go and get Chris's bag from the pickup carousel.
"They seem friendly," Claire says with a smile as they get his bag.
'*'*'*'*'
After spending the remaining day catching up Chris and Claire got some rest and slept in a bit. They packed up their swimsuits and made their way to the address that Emma texted Chris the night before. by 11am Claire ends up driving them and they end up in front of a large Beachfront house that the family rented out that was maybe half a mile from the local lighthouse. "Wow... fancy," Claire says looking at the place before getting out of the car.
"Yeah," Chris says as his nervousness returns. Claire gives him a gentle nudge.
"Relax, you already did the hard part." She says as they walk up to the front door and knock.
Emma's mother answers the door, "Ah there you two are we were wondering when you'd be arriving" she says with a warm smile and motions for them to follow her. "Come in come in," she says and they do so while casually glancing around at the rather nicely furnished rental house. "Do you two have your Swimsuits on already or do you need a place to change?"
"Is there a bathroom we could borrow?" Claire requests with a sheepish smile.
"Of course, follow me," Emma's mom says and leads the two up the stairs but pauses by a closed-door for a moment. "Emma Dear, your boyfriend is here." She says then moves along to an open door that showed a spacious bathroom. "Here you two go, just head down to the kitchen and use the back door to go out to the patio, there's access to the beach from there." She explains.
"Thanks" Chris replies with a nod though his face was now a bit pink by the announcement to the closed door.
"Not a problem, See you at the beach," the mother says with a wave and walks away and back down the stairs to the first floor.
"Go ahead," Chris says and gestures for Claire to go ahead and go first.
"Kay" she replies and heads inside of the bathroom closing the door behind her. it took a few minutes but she eventually walked back out wearing a sporty pinkish-red zip-front one-piece swimsuit with a decorative sarong tied around her waist and black flip-flops. "you're up" she says giving him a pat on the shoulder as she moves to lean against the wall to wait for him.
"I'll be right out," he says and heads in to get changed. After changing into a solid black pair of swim trunks he moved to remove his watch, the thing would break if it went into the ocean. Removing it caused past injuries to become apparent. Dipping his hand in liquid nitrogen had its consequences. The chemical burns healed for the more part but the area where metal was in contact with his flesh left scars. more notably two horizontal scares wrapped around his wrist where the bomb once was. he gently held and rubbed the area with his other hand to remind himself it wasn't there anymore before looking over to a full body mirror that was set up in the corner of the room. Impaled, bitten, scratched, shrapnel, glass shards, burns, bullet holes, surgical scars from resetting broken bones.
a knocking at the door could be heard. "Chris?" Asks a quiet voice from the other side of the door which woke him from his stupor.
"On my way." He replies before taking a breath. How long had he been staring into that mirror... maybe this was why he hadn't gone to the beach in so long... He looked back at the mirror, this time noticing the beginnings of wrinkles at the corners of his eyes, between his eyebrows and the corners of his lips... he was getting older. "How long am I going to be able to keep this up..." he whispers to himself before shaking his head and packing his day clothes back into his bag to head out.
'*'*'*'*'
Emma slips a sheer white lace Cover up on over her warm pinkish peach-colored two-piece swimsuit and puts on a floppy wide-brimmed braided straw sun hat before slipping on flip flops. Once properly dressed she walks out of 'her room' to see Claire waiting by the bathroom. "Hey, good to see you again," Emma says with a wave as she walks over.
"Hey, good to see you too," Claire says as she gets up from leaning against the wall. "Sorry seems like we might be a few more minutes, Chris is really taking his time," Claire says with a slight frown. "He's been in there for 7 minutes already."
"and men say it takes women forever to get ready," Emma jokes with a short chuckle which causes Claire to smile.
"Right?" Claire says in agreement, the two wait for a bit longer with casual small talk to pass the time but the longer they waited the more worried both of them became.
"he'd been in there a while now..." Emma says with a slight frown before walking over to the door and knocking on it "Chris?" Emma asks quietly to see if he'd reply.
"on my way" he replies shortly after.
"maybe he fell asleep," Claire says with a hesitant joking smile which causes Emma to smile in turn.
"maybe." Emma agrees before hearing footsteps make their way to the stairs.
"Emmy, could you come down and help me with the table clothes?" her mother calls up the stairs.
"Be right there!" she calls back "sorry, I'll see you guys out there" Emma says giving a partial wave before heading down the stairs to join her family outside.
it took another few minutes but eventually, Chris walks out.
"Hey," Claire says in greeting though with notable concern "are you doing okay? if you're not feeling well I can drive you back to my place," She offers and Chris shakes his head.
"Nah I'm fine... Just got a bit lost in my own thoughts for a bit," he admits as he leaves his bag in the hall by the bathroom.
"If you're sure," Claire replies clearly not quite buying that he was okay but she wasn't going to push. Claire leaves her bag by Chris's before the two head down the stairs through the house to the kitchen and out the back door onto a spacious wooden patio. Chelsea and Jack were making sure the babies all had a healthy amount of sunscreen, Eric and Elana were in the middle of a game of volleyball down by the water, while Emma was helping her mother set up two large wooden picnic tables and pin down table clothes with clips to keep them from blowing away. He found himself staring a bit at the scene, it was peaceful. Comfortable? He couldn't really explain the feeling to himself. It was foreign but, good. He knew that much.
"Hey, there you two are," Emma's dad says from his place by a grill. "You prefer Chris right?" Chris nods "Well Chris why don't you give me a hand here." he suggests as he steps to the side so Chris could join him.
Upon hearing this Jack gives Chelsea a peck on the cheek but gets up and walks over "Mind if I jump in too. wouldn't mind watching a professional work a grill" he says with a smile.
"of course! Mind you this isn't exactly what I'm used to working with at the restaurant but, eh. grab a beer from the cooler and let's get cooking" Edward says and offers the tongs to Chris.
Oh boy "I've. never used a grill." he admits, he's had an apartment for the more of his adult life, so there was never really the space to have one or a reason to learn to use one.
"you don't say, you're parents never taught you?" Edward asks confused.
Chris attempted to keep a neutral face on that one. "Didn't really have the chance. Lost them both pretty suddenly at an early age," he admits which causes Edward to frown but nod as a decision was made.
"Well then, you're gonna learn today," Edward says as he claps a hand on Chris's back and makes sure he's in front of the grill. Even with the risk of being potentially insensitive, he was more than happy to adopt the two into the family relations or otherwise. While they were here they were family.
Jack leans against the railing of the patio by the Grill and idly chats with the two as Chris gets his impromptu cooking lesson from the family chef. He knew the struggle of meeting the family for the first time and wanted to be there as a buffer just in case.
"Watch the flames. There you go. You're going to want to flip that one. That one is cooking a bit slow you can tell by the dripping there. See how it's still a bit red? You're gonna want to move that one back a bit further." Chris follows along with the instructions and even starts making a few decisions on his own, "Now you got it" Edward coaches with a smile.
"I see where Emma gets her love of cooking from," Chris says in an attempt to complement the two which causes Edward to laugh.
"Yeah maybe" he agrees with a chuckle "when she was really little, once she figured out what my job meant, she thought it meant she could just ask for whatever she wanted as far as food went," he admits with a chuckle. "I still remember her little tantrums as a 6-year-old when I'd tell her if she wanted something she'd have to make it with me."
"That's hard to imagine," Chris admits with a bit of a smile.
"Every word of it is the truth," Edward says making a crossing motion over his heart. "Never could get Elana to join us but Eric and Emma were usually my little helpers." He explains "Alright then son let's get these plated and carry them over to the tables, we got a hungry family to feed." Edward says which causes Jack to clear his throat. "Oh uh, sorry do you mind if I call you that sometimes?" the man corrects, and jack gives a single nod before sipping at his beer.
It was a bit surprising, but Chris nods "Sure, that's fine if you want."
"Alright well, All the same, we should get the food moving. Jack, can you round up Eric and the girls?" Edward requests.
"On it," He replies and stands up from his leaning perch to go get everyone to gather at the table. Before long the food was placed on the tables and everyone gathered around. the table was well covered in plates of hot dogs, burgers, and Ribs along with a collection of sides that were made well in advance. Jack and Chelsea were sitting with one of their girls on each side of them with summer on the left of Chelsea to sit next to Elana. The 7-year-old was happily drawing and showing the graphic designer each time she made the slightest addition to the drawing to get Elana's praise. Claire sat on Chris's left while Emma sat on his right side. Edward and Emily sat at the middle of the table so they could see everyone.
"Summer put the book down and focus on your lunch please," Chelsea says as she puts a cheeseburger on Summer's previously empty plate. the girl grumbles but obeys and starts to eat.
"Eric, how are the wife and kid doing?" Edward asks as he serves himself alongside everyone else as they all filled their plates.
"Doing good, Milena wasn't able to get the time off though so she stayed home with Jax" Eric explains with a shrug. and the lead couple of the table nod in response.
"It's a shame but understandable," Emily says with a slight frown before looking at Claire. "and you live in the area?" she asks wanting to make sure she includes Claire in the conversation though she seemed to be occasionally glancing at Chris. She was curious but didn't want to just ponce on the guy with 100 questions off the bat.
"Sorta, it's about an hour and a half drive from here but it's pretty close all the same" Claire replies "Thanks again for inviting us."
"Of course dear it's been a pleasure to have you with us," Emily says as her usual smile returns. "Now then Christopher."
"Chris," Emma's father corrects.
"Oh right, Chris. How did you meet our Emma?" She asks as she indulges her curiosity.
"She moved into the apartment next door to mine a couple of years ago," how to explain this without saying, she was worried she was going to get attacked because of breaking attempts and asked me for help. "I tend to have to travel for work a lot and usually don't get home until late. With that, it makes it difficult to keep a full fridge without the food going bad. I'm not really sure how she found that out but she offered to help and make sure I had something to eat when I got back and we got to know each other that way."
"It wasn't hard to figure out," Emma says shaking her head, "you were slamming your cabinets so I figured I'd be nosy and drop off a plate of food as an excuse to be nosy and figure out what you were trying to do."
"Is that why you stopped by?" Chris asks as it's the first he heard of this.
"Yeah, you were making such a ruckus," Emma replies with a short laugh "It took me a minute to choose if I wanted to be that nosy or not but curiosity got the better of me."
Chris shrugs at that "It was work." he replies with a slight smirk which causes Emma to chuckle at their inside joke.
"So sweet," Emily coos. "I remember meeting your father, I was an intern for a wedding planner." Emma's mother reminisces "One of the busboys caught my eye and I was determined I'd know his name by the end of the night," she says with a snicker.
"You hit on a busboy at a wedding when you were supposed to be working?" Emma asks with a laugh and shakes her head.
"What, he was cute," Emma mother says with a smirk as she took a sip of her drink. Her father smiled for a moment before realizing the statement was in past tense.
"Was?" He asks confused causing Emma's mother to hide her mouth as she laughs.
"Like you're one to talk anyways Em, I recall you having a rebel streak," Eric says with a smug smile as he picks at the macaroni salad on his plate. it was his siblingly duty to embarrass her after all.
Eric no, Emma thought while holding her face.
"Oh yeah that's right," Emma's mom says with fondness. "My cute little punk."
"Cute?" Emma asks with amused confusion. "I was being a little shit."
"Well sure but, I wasn't worried in the slightest." Her mother replies while poking around at her phone. "Okay, maybe a little bit, but you were learning about who you were, and as a parent, that's part of the fun. Seeing who your kids will end up being," Emma's mom explains with a content nod She puts her phone down and slides that across the table for Chris to see sure enough there was a younger probably 18-year-old Emma wearing loose baggy jeans supported by a thick belt and a black fishnet shirt over a tube top style bra, a little too much eyeliner with poofy teased out hair with exaggerated layers. Emma's mother smiled at the picture before a thought came to mind. "that reminds me though do you still have that piercing on yo-"
"NOPE," Emma very quickly cuts her mother off. nopenopenopenope. "I had that removed 10 years ago. That's not a thing anymore and why do you have that," Emma asks with an embarrassed tone as she gestures to the picture.
"Eric was a dear and helped me digitize all the old family photos, they're in the cloud now," Emma's mother says with a smile.
"Thanks," She says sarcastically as she looks at her older brother.
"Not a problem," he says making a slight cheers motion with his plastic cup before sipping from it.
Chris looks from the phone to Emma with confused curiosity. Just... What? I mean this explains why she was able to recognize that punk rock music as a would-be hit, but he couldn't see her as a punk even with the evidence right in front of him.
Emma recognized that an explanation was required at this point. "Okay uh. that's a thing. I might have had a small phase of sorts... remember that bad habit I mentioned that I used to have in my early college days where I'd fall asleep in my clothes?" Emma says with a nervous smile "That's because I chose to make sure I had good grades and a social life... As a consequence, I gave up on sleeping most of the time so I'd just kinda pass out whenever I had a free hour..." She explained "Soooo, yeah while you were off being you, fighting for justice and making a difference in the world. I was. probably blackout drunk at a dorm party with alcohol of questionably legal origins. After waking up with a piercing I didn't remember getting, I got the wake-up call that my choices were kinda garbage and decided to make better ones."
At this point, Emma's face more closely resembled a cherry tomato as this was something she was not expecting to really ever have to admit to. It wasn't who she was anymore and it honestly wasn't who she was for very long, maybe 2 years out of basically 40 at this point but it still happened and she had the literal scars to prove it.
"You mention you travel a lot, what is it that you do exactly?" Edward asks which causes Chelsea to look over and see if that answer was going to change. Emma internally winced, it was an inevitable question but one she had hoped they'd avoid all the same.
"Secret agent," Jack chimes in getting a frown from Chelsea.
"I'm not really at liberty to talk about it," Chris says as he shakes his head in amusement with Jack's answer. He did appreciate the help all the same.
"You don't say, like those James bond movies? Suppose that explains the marks," Edward says with a nod.
Shit he noticed them. well I mean yeah of course he did they were on full display... maybe he shouldn't have changed into a swimsuit. " Well saving the world one mission at a time results in a few bumps and bruises."
"I can imagine." Emily says sympathetically "It's a shame you can't talk about it though, I'd be willing to bet you have a few crazy stories to share." Again the woman wanted to make sure the sister was included in the conversation. "What about you Claire, what do you do for work?"
oh boy... "It runs in the family," Claire says using the excuse her brother already built.
"That's amazing," Elana says with stars in her eyes as illustration ideas of a brother-sister spy duo started building up in her mind. The subject was left with that as the meal continued and the conversation remained more jovial.
"You kids go and enjoy the water, your father and I will worry about bringing the food in," Emma's mother stays as she starts collecting up plates.
"Are you sure mom? I can help," Emma offers but she's waved off.
"I'm not going to repeat my self now go have fun," Emily says and walks inside with a stack of plates while Edward picks up a few dishes of food.
"Best not to test your mother, if she sees you here when she gets back she won't be a happy camper," He says with a chuckle and follows after.
"Bye Gramma" Summer says as she quickly gets up and hurries to leave and go back to the water but motions for the others to follow her "Last one in the water is a Turcufalous."
"A what?" Claire asks confused.
"I have no idea," Jack says and goes to follow after the kid "but I don't think I want to be one so," he says and that was enough to get everyone moving. Emma checks her phone, 4pm. they started eating a little before 1 and just sat at the table talking for a while after.
Chris and Emma stick to the back of the group as she checks the time "So, you're an Ex Party girl?" Chris quietly asks with a hint of amusement. And she called him a hothead, though suppose that explains why she liked stronger beer back at the poker game.
"Ex being a keyword in that question. Those days are well behind me," She says shaking her head, oh lord please just let her hide in the sand. Let her be buried. Please?
"Fair enough," he says as he made a vague gesture of surrender. "So... where was it?"
"Mh-m. Nope. I get to have a few secrets too mister," Emma replies with a chuckle, pretty quickly understanding what the question was about.
"Can't blame me for being curious." He points out in return with a slight smirk as he cautiously moves to loosely hold her hand as they walk.
"How about this you get 3 guesses and if you don't get it then you drop it," Emma says offering the challenge. "If you get it right I'll admit it. promise," she says with a nod "I'll even give you a clue. It left a scar to get it removed."
"Alright, deal," He says with a nod and thinks it over. If it left a scar and needed to be removed, then it was probably somewhere unusual. "Thigh?"
"Nope," she replies "two left. no rush you have all day. So maybe pay attention," she says as she gives him a slight nudge before stopping by a cluster of laid-out beach towels to ditch her swimsuit cover and hat to go and join the others in the water.
The group passed around a beach ball, hitting it from one person to another as summer tried to swim around and catch up to it.
That lasts for about half an hour as the group eventually grew tired of it and dispersed to various activities. Summer continued to swim around while Eric got out a boogie board, Chelsea sat under the umbrella with Jack and two nappy tots as they kept an eye on Summer. Claire was happily sunning while Elana went to see if she could find any seashells as the tide continued to move away. Emma sat by the water and tried making a sandcastle. After swimming a bit in the deeper water Chris joining her on the beach and sat down next to her.
"Chest?" he asks which causes Emma to laugh. belly was too easy of a guess that and it kinda stuck with him that she had to get it removed, it wasn't just that she stopped wearing it and that was that. though suppose that depending on location... this was more difficult than he thought it would be.
"Well nice to know where your eyes are going," she says shaking her head as her laugh turned to a chuckle. "One guess left."
"Hey Em! I found some Seaglass for your castle!" Elana calls over.
"Be right there!" She calls back "Sorry, I'll be right back." Emma says and gets up to walk away. Chris watches her leave with a slight frown. last guess so he'd have to make it. count. what was that? he thought as he noticed something new. two small slightly darker circles on her lower back. Interesting.
Eventually, Emma returned with a hand full of Sea glass and moved to sit back down. As she does so Chris reaches out and places a hand on her lower back to steady her but also presses the tip of his thumb and ring finger against the marks.
Well, shoot. I mean it was the goal of the game for him but she didn't think the scars were still that noticeable. She thought as she starts putting the glass into the sandcastle as windows.
"Did I find it?" Chris asks as he moves his hand away to avoid it being seen as lingering by anyone watching.
"Final answer?" Emma asks wondering if she could trip him up but he nods.
She hesitates but nods in return. "yep."
"Really," he asks surprised and amused. huh. lower back. technically two in that case.
"Now you're just gloating," Emma says with a half-hearted smirk.
"Not at all, just surprised." He says offering a smile in return as the two fail to notice that Emma's mother had rejoined the group and was happily taking pictures of everyone from a distance and fully utilizing the zoom lens attached to the chunky camera.
"Cute" Emma's mother says as she looks at the picture of the two smiling at each other while sitting by the water and recently decorated sandcastle. She continued taking pictures as everyone relaxed.
Once she was content with her building Emma stood up again and went back to get her cover, hat, and flip-flops. "I kinda want to go to the boardwalk for a bit to get an ice cream, anyone want to join me?" Emma asks and gets a few 'Eh's in response. Claire looks up from sunning and nods.
"Sure, I wouldn't mind some time to walk around," She says as she gets up and puts her wrap around her waist once more and puts on her sandals as well.
"Sounds good, we'll be back in a bit," Emma says as she motions for Claire to walk with her, and the two head out. Shortly after Jack gets up with the smallest child to carry her inside, likely for a diaper change.
Chris gives a short wave as they walk off. This was rather peaceful. it took a good 5 or 10 minutes after that when a soft voice caught his attention from the ocean.
Mama!
Chris and Chelsea notice the voice at around the same time.
"Summer!" Chelsea calls terrified as looks over to summer confused to notice that she was now further out than she was before and struggling. Shit. He quickly got up and started running through the water until he could start swimming to make his way over to her. At that point, it didn't take long for him to notice that the tide moved her out to a current that was making it hard to move any direction other than with it and further out to sea. She had just been by the shore a few minutes ago, how did this happen?
Once he makes his way over to the small girl she quickly clings to him "I got you," he says and he lays back to float so she could rest against him, He continue following the current, if they were lucky it would bring them back towards shore eventually and he'd be able to keep them above water longer this way.
Back at the shore, the remaining family was panicking regarding what to do, they were getting further and further away and moving down the beach away from the house. "Holy shit who do call for this. the coast guard? is there a number for that?" Eric asks as Emily consoles a sobbing and panicking Chelsea.
"I looked away for a second when Jack left how did she get that far out in such a short period of time?" Chelsea asks through sobs as she feared she was going to lose her child.
"It's okay baby, it's going to be okay," Emily says stroking her back as Elana clicks at her phone to try and find any sort of contact number for this kind of emergency.
"Um okay well heck when in doubt use the general emergency service number," Elana says while dialing the 3 digit code. "Hi um so we have a kid that's stuck in a current we need help. Yeah, we're at the beach. The address? Um. Guys what's the address!"
In a matter of minute's The two were pulled and tumbled past the light house's cliff and out of sight of the group. Chris watched as a larger wave started forming. FUCK. "Summer hold your breath okay?" He says and holds onto her as he takes a deep breath.
the two tumbled but eventually contacted sand, ending up on a very narrow strip of beach on the wrong side of the lighthouse that was surrounded by cliffs. Once the tide started moving back in they were sunk... but for now, he would at least have a minute to catch his breath and rest. He couldn't contact the others to let them know where they ended up.
Summer was coughing and crying as she continued to cling to Chris for dear life. Chris frowns and shifts to sit so his back is resting against the stone cliff gives the child a hug to try and comfort her. it takes her about 15 minutes but she did eventually start calming down. "That was pretty scary huh?"
Summer nods.
"You're safe now, I'm going to get you back to your mom. okay?"
"Okay..." Summer finally speaks before giving another nod.
he needed to come up with a plan... Curse those stupid Cigarettes, he was already winded and he out there for what felt like 20 minutes. what time was it? Luckily for Summer water base training was required in case of emergency landings and aquatic various aquatic missions he's had to take on.
'*'*'*'*'
"So how have you been?" Emma asks as the two make their way to the boardwalk.
"Good, busy working so the break is nice," Claire says with a smile. "And you?" she returns the question.
"Same, they rarely mention that raises mean more work too," Emma says with a short chuckle and shakes her head. "oh well."
"Yeah they really don't," Claire says with a sympathetic smile. "Do you mind if I ask you a question?"
"Ask away," Emma replies as they make their way down the street.
"Chris really hasn't told you anything about what we do for work, has he?" she asks with a concerned but curious expression.
Emma nods "Yeah, I mean he's explained a little bit. something about international security under the UN?" she answers quietly to avoid being overheard "but other than that we tend to just not talk about work."
"And you're okay with that?" Claire asks after.
"Honestly? Yeah. It's a bit selfish but I feel like if I did completely understand then I'd worry about him more than I already do," Emma admits in return which causes Claire to crack a smile as she laughs a bit. "hm?"
"Sorry, I guess I'm just trying to figure you out is all," Claire says with a now relaxed smile as her laughs subside.
"I'm nosey but I can respect when someone tells me not to dig," Emma replies shaking her head. "It's his life, he'll let me know when he's ready to talk about it. if he ever is."
"Yet when we first met you were quick to take my side," Claire points out.
"Yeah... I dunno it just seemed li-wait how do you know about that?" Emma asks with a raised eyebrow, did Chris tell her about that?
"I went to get a glass of water from the kitchen and heard some muffled voice from the other side of the wall. Curiosity got the better of me so I put my ear to the wall to hear." Claire admits with a shrug before chuckling for a moment "I guess we're both a bit curious."
"Yeah I guess so," Emma says with an amused smile. "Neither of us are perfect. We're both capable of being wrong and in that situation, I felt like he was wrong. granted I didn't go about that in the best way but." she bobs her head, "I guess it was kinda weird to me that the guy that carried my mopping self down the street to push me to get over it was suddenly running away from conflict."
"He what?" Claire asks amused.
"Oh god, that. um okay so" Emma says while holding her face as they make it to the boardwalk. "I enjoy skating in my free time, Roller, inline, ice you name it. However," Emma moves her hand away from her face and her smile became more neutral "I rather suddenly lost a friend of mine who I'd skate with so I just stopped all together."
"I'm sorry for your loss," Claire says sympathetically as they walk past the various lined-up stores.
"It's fine," Emma replies as her smile returned in part, "Chris noticed that I had stopped going and had me go for a run with him. The second we passed the building he threw me over his shoulder and carried me in."
Claire chuckles at this. "I mean I guess that works?"
"I certainly would have appreciated not having my ass in the air. I'm a regular there so that was something I had to explain a few times." Emma replies with a laugh. "Eh I got him back for it by making him try skating while we were there so we're even."
"So you two push each other. In a good way that is." Claire says with a smile.
"I guess so, hadn't really thought about it much," Emma admits as she thought it over, they kind of did, within reason. They'd give an initial nudge and maybe a shove if the situation called for it but if the other insisted on needing space the request was more often than not catered to.
"I'm glad," Claire says contently. In her opinion, her brother needed someone that would ground him a bit but not someone that would just roll over and say he's always right. Emma seemed to at least be willing to push back sometimes.
Before long Claire and Emma made their way through the line for the ice cream stand and started slowly making their way back. Emma had an orange and vanilla swirled ice cream while Clarie had chocolate and vanilla.
"Do you mind if I ask you a question?" Emma asks as they walk.
"Sure, seems fair." Claire admits before taking a bite of the soft serve.
Emma paused to try and think about how to word the question, "What were your parents like?" Emma asks, fully prepared to apologize if the question ended up offending her.
"Hmm," Claire hummed while thinking about it. "It's kinda hard to explain" she bobs her head "They were, parents," she says with a short laugh. "I was 17 when I lost them and I was in my own rebel phase of sorts so I didn't really pay much attention to them," Claire admits with a slight hint of guilt in her tone. "They cared about us, worked long shifts but we'd go on vacation every other year or so. We'd argue sometimes but we'd hug and make up after."
Emma nods and quietly listens as Claire attempted to explain and seemed to understand where she was coming from. When it's your normal you don't really pay attention to what's going on around you. it's just, how things are supposed to be.
"You know... I think this is the first time Chris and I have been on a vacation together since then..." Claire realizes quietly. "Thanks, for letting me tag along." She says as they leave the boardwalk.
"Of course, it's been fun to get to spend time with you," Emma says with a smile.
"Yeah, it has been fun," Claire agrees. When was the last time she relaxed and just went to get ice cream because she wanted to... she needed to make some changes it seemed.
"And now if you need me, you have someone who will team up with you to gang up on your brother," Emma offered with a cheeky grin and chuckles.
"Thank you, I might take you up on that," Claire replies with an amused laugh.
"Oh! I should give you my number" Emma realizes as she digs through her purse with her free hand to try and find her phone.
"Good idea, you tell me if he's being a pain too," Claire jokes as they swap numbers. Once the digits were exchanged she shakes her head. "Joking aside, if it's not too much to ask, can you just let me know everyone in a while that he's okay?" Claire requests. "I know he's my older brother but I worry about him..."
"Sure, I can do that." Emma agrees as they make their way into the house, through it, and out to the patio.
"what's going on..." Claire asks quietly as they notice the family huddled together on the beach.
"No idea, let's go check it out," Emma suggests as she dropped her purse on the patio and abandons the remainder of her ice cream cone to the trash so she could hurry over. whatever was going on was much more important.
"How did I not remember the ocean has tides and currents?" Chelsea could be heard sobbing. "my baby...my little baby."
"it's going to be okay..." Jack says trying to comfort his wife.
"Where is Chris?" Claire asks as she was the first to notice he was gone.
Eric shook his head. "Summer got pulled out by the tide and Chris went to get her but they couldn't get back... we lost sight of them after they went past the ledge..."
"What?" Emma asks from shock.
"It's been an hour, they could be anywhere," Chelsea speaks through sobs once more. Elana was still on the phone and providing information to the dispatchers as needed.
'*'*'*'*'
Chris Taps his thumb against his knee to try and keep track of the time. 30 minutes. he had caught his breath by now and had been glancing around to try and think of how to get out. there was one ledge that was maybe a 50 ft climb but it was directly over the sand if they fell that would really hurt... there was another point maybe 75ft tall but it was over the water, if they landed there ... it would still hurt like hell and they're no guarantee they'd end up at this strip of beach again. he could try and coast a bit further down to see if he could find a better way up but there was no guarantee what they'd find. They could wait until there was a boat and try swimming out to it but that's a good 200 feet through a current to reach a depth that a boat would be able to comfortably be controlled in... Guess they're climbing...
"Hey Uncle Chris..." summer asks quietly. this got his attention. he wasn't really sure how to respond to the change in title.
"What is it Summer?" Chris asks while trying to figure out how he was going to get them both up the cliff.
"... Can I call you Uncle Chris?" Summer asks which causes a small smile to form on his face. She already did that.
"Sure..." He replies, hearing a tiny 'woot' in response which causes him to chuckle. Okay. Time to try. "Ready to get out of here?" he asks quietly and summer nods as he moves to stand up. She continued to cling to him as if it was the only reason she was still alive. In a way it was. he walks over to the short section of the cliff. "Keep holding on okay? try not to move." If he lost his balance that could end up being a broken spine, or at least a broken rib thanks to the extra weight that would be landing on top of him.
"Okay," She agrees and adjusts her hold before nodding "ready."
With that, Chris started climbing slowly up the side. it was difficult with the extra weight and having to arc his back. the rocks were sharp and a loose foothold caused him to scrap up a few bare toes. "Fuck" he shouts as a reaction to the pain. "... don't repeat that," he says through gritted teeth but continues climbing. It felt like forever but he eventually made it to the top finding that they were surrounded by tall weeds. his foot hurt like crazy and it was bleeding and had sand in it now but they were out. "I'm going to put you down now okay?" Chris says as he walks away from the ledge and into the weeds. Summer nods and finally lets go only to take his hand and the two start walking back to the house.
"It's been an hour, they could be anywhere," Chelsea could be heard through sobs as she was surrounded by the family. Elana was still on the phone and providing information to the dispatchers as needed.
"MAMA!" Summer calls as she starts crying again and running over to the group.
"My baby!" Chelsea says through sobs as she hurries over to summer as well and collapses in front of the child to swoop her into her arms. The others were not far behind her as they all surround the two.
"He's injured, someone get a medkit," Eric points out as he notices Chris was limping slightly due to the now sand and dried blood-covered foot. upon hearing that Emma hurries back to the house to try and find one while Elana updates the emergency response line that the two missing individuals had made it back from the water.
"It's not that bad," Chris says, sure it hurt and it was bleeding but he'd been through worse.
"No need to tough it out, that'll get infected if you don't get it cleaned up son," Edward says concerned as Chelsea eventually moves to get up and stand in front of Chris.
She was relieved but still felt heavy with guilt. Summer was her responsibility, her child. She looked away for a moment and almost lost her forever. Even with how petty she had been to him and Emma both, the silent daggered glares he still didn't hesitate to run out there and help when she messed up. "Thank you." Chelsea says through tears "and, I'm sorry. Gods I am so sorry," she says hiding her face from the shame. she felt like the worst mother right now even though she didn't want this to happen and she did everything she could up to this point, it still happened. She wasn't used to the ocean, she had been treating this like a trip to a lake with waves, she completely failed to consider tides and currents and she almost had to pay the price for it.
A very gentle hand on Chelsea's shoulder woke her up from her thoughts to find Chris reached out to her. "Hm?" she hummed confused.
"It's okay," he repeats. she'd completely missed the first time he spoke.
After a few more moments the gathering of 11 made their way back to the rental home where Emma was just about to walk out with the med-kit. Chris stayed on the patio to try and wash off as much of the sand from his feet as he could before joining the others inside taking a seat at the dining room table next to Emma so she could clean and patch up the injury.
"It's getting a bit late," Claire says while rubbing at the back of her neck "I should probably go."
"Hm? oh it is late, isn't it... If you don't have plans, you should with us, both of you." Emily offers to Chris and Claire with a smile.
Edward nods in agreement with his Wife as he puts an arm over her shoulder. "It's almost dinner time, you'd be doing a lot of driving going there and back again." he points out. "and we have plenty of space."
Claire looks to Chris, the two smile at each other, and Chris nods. With that Claire looks back to Emily and Edward "Sure, I think I'd like that."
Haaaa this one ended up being a total brick X'D I couldn't get myself to cut a single section of it, hopefully, you can forgive me. the next chapter is probably going to be half the size of this one if that lolol.
Review Responses:
Ketchup imagination - Not a problem :) it makes me happy that you like my writing that much to trust me even if I went sicko mode to make it a good and interesting read. It makes me want to continue to grow as a writer. U hopefully this was another good chapter to the book even if it was like 10% sicko mode by putting characters in danger lol
InkScribble - thank you~ glad you enjoyed the call back uvu I personally love laser tag so i could not resist bringing that back for a bit in chap 25 XD