2:00 in the afternoon. The sun shone brightly down onto the tiny town of Scarborough. Birds flew silently and gracefully through the clear, crisp air. There was no snow to be seen, although it was a tad chilly, chilly enough to warrant a light spring jacket. It was one of the days were it felt good to be alive.
It was hard to believe that Scarborough was only a 30-minute drive from Raccoon City... which was now just a large wasteland of debris.
Jill sighed to herself calmly, enjoying the scenery that was Chris' backyard. She was dressed, so was Chris, and in-between their make-out sessions, they were able to ready themselves for the day. Chris was preparing lunch, and she was stretched out on a lawn chair.
'Did Chris really mean what he said to me?... Is he just out for, you know...?...' thoughts like that had snuck into Jill's mind frequently through the day. It was Valentine's Day, which also doubled as her birthday. Claire had invited her to the Valentine's fireworks for a little celebration, but she secretly knew that it was a ploy of Claire's to discover Jill and Chris' relationship, and where it stood.
"Jillll?" Chris shrieked from within the house, interrupting her thoughts.
"Yeah?"
"Do you want the green ketchup or the red?"
"Surprise me."
Chris nodded to himself. 'She loves surprises...' He had made burgers and fries for her, which Chris knew Jill would hate, since she was a fanatic health freak. But he figured she'd let herself go, only for her birthday. He squirted some green ketchup on the side of Jill's plate, placed the burger and fries next to it, did the same to his plate, and wiped his hands on his cargo pants. "Here it comes..." he yelled.
In the backyard, Jill groaned as she lifted her body up from the lawn chair. She walked into the living room, saw the plates of burgers... saw Chris' goofy smile... then groaned.
"Chris!"
"What?"
"You... you know I hate fatty foods!" she sputtered.
"Honey, it's your birthday. A little meat wont hurt you." he winked at her, and ate a French fry.
Jill just rolled her eyes, once again defeated by Chris' charm. The man had a temper, but boy, when he brought out that smile...
"Fine! But I'm only eating half the burger..." she muttered. Sitting down, she gave the man a kiss, then began to eat the slimy, manufactured glopp before her.

~~~

Leon, Sherry and Claire were all cramped in Leon's cheap, rented car, driving down a long, lonely stretch of road, toward Chris' house. Leon was driving, Claire was idly drawing angular figures in the passenger seat window, and Sherry was curled up in the backseat. Dido's 'Thank You'* was playing on the radio, which was Sherry's favourite song.
"Leon, turn the volume up!" the 13 year old chirped.
"Sher, you turn the volume up for songs that are sung by angry rappers, not an estrogen-overdosed British woman." said Leon.
"LEON! That was rather sexist, even for you." Claire ended the sentence by punching him in the arm. Sherry followed suit.
"Hey! Ladies! Fine." he turned the volume up a couple of notches. Satisfied, Sherry laid back in her seat, sighing. Claire turned around and smiled warmly.
"What's wrong, hun?"
Sherry just shrugged, choosing to keep quiet. Valentine's day, to her, was always about jealously watching her friends and their boyfriends going out on dates while she stayed home and watched movies with her aunt. She was attracted to Leon**, but she was old enough to realize, that he was too old for her. She just stared back at Claire, looking into her deep, green eyes.
"C'mon, you can tell me," Claire smiled, and softened her voice a bit "...is it girl stuff?"
The girl nodded. Claire nodded back, "We'll talk later, then..." while pointing at the rookie cop in the seat next to her.
"Ladies, dont yawl be talking behind my back." he brushed a strand of hair away from his eyes.
Sherry and Claire simultaneously rolled their eyes, then giggled.

10 minutes later, the trio arrived at Chris' house. Jill was in the living, Playstation controller in her hand, furiously trying to play Dino Crisis 2. Jill and Chris were in the midst of an interesting conversation...
"What are you TALKING about, Chris? I look *nothing* like Rebina."
"Her name is REGINA. And she looks JUST like you, except with red hair."
The couple just laughed at each other. Jill paused the game, and scooted closer to Chris. He put his arm around her, protectively.
"I love you." she said.
"I love you too."
"...do you mean that?" Jill countered. The question caught Jill off guard. Of course he meant it. He meant every word...
"What kind of question is that? Of course I do. I didn't even give you your birthday present, yet."
He lifted himself from the couch, then dashed off somewhere in the house. Present? 'Did he actually get me a present?' Jill thought to herself.
While waiting, she continued on with the game. It was a boss, in the Missile Silo with the gigantasaurus, where you have to set off the fires to evade the large dinosaur. Jill did so, and was rewarded with the game's best FMV. While watching Regina run from the Gigantasaurus, another thought popped into her head...
'...I have a costume at home just like hers. Where is it? Oh, yeah, it's in the trunk with my police uniform, STARS uniform... the biker outfit I borrowed from Claire... and that horrible disco suit Carlos gave me as a gag gift...'
Her thoughts were yet again interrupted as Chris practically shoved a tiny, palm-sized box into her face.
"What's this?"
"Open it..." Chris couldn't help but smile. He practically spent his life savings buying it for her...
Jill opened the box. It was a gold necklace, with a fancy heart shape pendant. The heart was lined with tiny, sparkling diamonds. She opened the pendant, and read the inscripted words...

"Everlasting, eternal, endless.
I'll love you forever and always, Jill.
~Chris"

She looked back at Chris, her mouth open in awe... and surprise. Chris was still smiling, but his expression softened when he saw her eyes water up.
"Chris... I..."
Miss Valentine stumbled around for words, trying to sum up her feelings and emotions in some comprehensible sentence, but she couldn't. She grabbed Jill, and gave him a deep, loving, tender kiss. Chris nearly melted on the spot, feeling her soft lips press against his like that. Finally, Jill was able to spew out some words.
"Chris... it's so beautiful... how did you ever afford...?"
"That's none of your business. It's my gift to you." Chris said, taking her right hand and kissing it gently.
...The doorbell rang, suddenly, nearly causing both of them to jump up the wall.
"It's Claire and Leon..." Jill whispered. Chris nodded, then went to answer the door.
Wiping her damp eyes, Jill put on the pendant, and looked at herself in the mirror. 'Wow... I guess Chris does love me...' Gripping the heartshaped locket in her hand, she closed her eyes, and smiled.

__________________________________________________________________________________
*Another beautiful, touching song. Go download it now, Napster users. Please?

**Heh, I was gonna have a 'Sherry trying to get Leon's affection' subplot, but I decided it was too much like Mayumi's wonderful "Thank Heaven For Little Girls" (I urge you to read it if you haven't), so I decided to drop it. I'm not a copycat or anything...

Sorry this chapter was so short... but my creative bursts last only fifteen minutes. ^_^

Oh, and all that Resident Evil stuff is owned by Capcom, not moi. So dont sue me, Mr. Capcom Representative Man.