Disclaimer: Same as before. Note: I'm writing to get rid of anger now. And
to a few certain people:
There's always going to be a dawg in my story, get used to it; Chris/Jill
only, I'm not hooking up Jill/Leon that would make no damn sense in this
story; No Leon/Claire, you want some? Go read Mayumi-H's fictions, she's in
my favorites for the lazy people; Claire's annoying attitude will make
sense later, so till then, hoe well...I mean oh well.
The van pulled to a complete stop outside a brown house with a large porch. The houses in the area were spread out incredibly far, each home containing up to 4 acres of land to itself. Behind the particular house Leon had pulled up in front of had a short backyard due to the fact that a wood area took up much of the space. But what was there in the yard, was a very tidy green land, with a few apple trees sitting in random spots across the lawn, and a slightly large shed out on the left of the land, surrounded in white- wood fence.
"Nice place, huh?" Leon said to the others in the van.
"I guess", Claire replied while hopping out and stretching her sore legs.
Jill cringed at the house and the thought of sitting in a room with Denny all day was sickening. Whatever he did she had to be prepared for, no trick shots this time 'round.
"Hey, are you going to be alright? I can see green in your cheeks if I look very closely", Chris said and squinted at Jill when he spoke of her being a tad bit green in the face. She wasn't surprised if she looked sick. Denny wouldn't be either, so it didn't bother her much.
"Yeah. I'll be fine", Jill nodded and walked along with Chris up to the decorated porch.
Rick and his children came piling up after them and waited as Leon pressed the doorbell. The door opened slowly and there hold like a nightmare (in Jill's mind that is) Denny's twisted smile. His green eyes, his large teeth, his barely shaved face, his floppy brown hair, his high-set cheek bones, all of it swimming into focus.
"Well, well. Look what turned up on my door step. Come on in everyone! It's nice having such a large group to entertain today", Denny spoke as he pulled the screen door open and stepped back for everyone to come through.
As Jill entered, last, Denny winked at her and ran his hand across her back; he took a slight grip on her shoulder, directing her inward like she had no clue where she were going. Out of anger though, Jill swished her hand at his arm, and stepped back.
"Whoa! Calm down there Lion Eyes, just trying to be friendly here", Denny laughed out loud causing Chris to jerk around automatically in worry of what Jill had already caused.
Jill kept her lips pursed and eyes trained tautly on Denny as she brushed passed him and forward to Chris; wrapping one of her arms around his.
Chris was pretty much clueless as to what was going on between Jill and Denny, but he could tell right-off-the-bat that Lion Eyes had been a popular nickname for Jill and her fierce glare that she must have given to Denny in the past, not a surprising name for someone who could look so mean in seconds with their eyes alone. But as for the tension starting from the two, Leon had explained that much. The "situation" that happened only a few months ago:
Leon, Jill, and Rebecca had gone out to a bar to meet up with Denny and a few other guys. Leon promised the two girls a good time, but when they got there the three guys waiting for them had already started drinking a bit, naturally they hung all over Rebecca and Jill and made stupid jokes, talked about sex; etcetera, etcetera. Two hours into the night and Denny had asked to see Jill in the back, a couple minutes later Rebecca was the one whom had gotten worried and went out to find Jill struggling underneath Denny, he'd already began unbuttoning her shirt and speaking in a slur, telling her she was a lucky woman to have him attracted to her. Rebecca had ran back to Leon and told him what she saw. They both ran out in time to help force Denny off Jill before he could strip her down , but none the less Jill was incredibly angry and never forgave either men (Leon and Denny) for what had happened that night.
Chris snapped out of his thoughts when he felt Jill tug him forward, "Come on, they're going out back."
"Ah right", Chris mumbled.
Chris followed behind Jill. As they walked to the door, Chris let his gaze fall on Jill. Almost sudden he felt a need to be protective of her like she was a gem that had been passed through the family for several generations. He knew if she could fight of a zombie, she could fight off dirty men, but either way he tightened his grip around her. She must have noticed too, because she glanced up at Chris with a softer expression.
He nodded in return, and moved along to the back porch where there were a few chairs set up around a table, and a little outdoor couch along the wall, stairs led down to the ground. It was more clearer now to see that the house sat on a hill that flattened out in the back.
"So he told me that he'd be at the gas station catching a smoke, and I told him, 'well if you plan on getting in anymore trouble Bob, I'm just not gonna help ya this time.' So of course he went out and got into a riot again'", Denny was already off to telling stories to the group when Jill and Chris walked out.
Leon sat on the couch next to Claire and listened to Denny politely, while Claire on the other hand was catching Z's on his shoulder.
At least Denny isn't acting like an ass, Chris thought to himself as he pulled up a chair at the wooden table, next to Jill, just in case.
"Well, looks like we have a few more coming out now", Denny announced as two other women came out from the backdoor.
One appeared to be a blond woman, her face powdered down slightly to cover any signs of aging and her hair tied back tightly. They soon learned that this was Rick's wife, Linda, whom they didn't have the chance to meet the night before. The other woman was Denny's wife-to-be. Her black hair lay messily at her shoulders and her hazel eyes gleamed of a certain immaturity, or maybe it was the fact that she was dressed up like a biker whore. Chris was reminded of the time Claire had thrown on a pair of faded out blue jeans, ripped at the knees, and a black leather jacket over one of his own grunge shirts he'd grown out of, except she'd torn it up so that much of her stomach showed. He had accused her of trying to "hoe" herself when she explained that she was just going to hang out with some guys at the dirt bike alley. Another friendly memory of his.
"Well everyone this is my woman, Fran", Denny smiled proudly.
Fran smiled back at Denny and walked over to sit in his lap, "That's right baby", she said in a sort of squeaky voice. Her and Denny shared a short, intimate kiss.
Automatically, Jill turned to Chris gave him a quick humored expression, and held back on her laughter. Chris winked to her to tell her he understood. A little code signaling him and Jill had gone over before.
The dull-witted conversations of couples and what Fran and Denny were going to do when they get married, nonsense like that, came into play. Causing Chris to wish he could fall asleep on Jill's shoulder, getting the idea straight from the great and almighty annoyance, Claire Redfield. It somehow pissed him off to see that she could get away with everything she did, especially falling asleep during someone's talk. Poor Chris couldn't do the same or he would be scowled at.
"Pst! Chris!" Jill poked Chris in the ribs, startling him quite a bit.
"Huh? I'm sorry, did I miss something?" Chris said glancing around and noticing everyone walking off into different directions.
"Yeah, Claire fell off Leon and hit the ground like a brick. That signaled everyone to do something else, so Denny and I are going to walk around out by the trees. Are you coming or are you going to stay and chat with the everyone else inside?" Jill questioned.
"Uhm, I feel a bit drowsy. I think I'll stay inside. Wait! Claire fell over?" Chris looked up in shock.
"Mhmm, she just mumbled something about 'sexy Carlos' and rolled off him", Jill giggled.
"Oh! Uh, there isn't anything going on between Claire and Carlos is there?" Chris said in a bit of worry.
"Not that I know of", Jill shrugged, "Well, erm, Denny's waiting for me. Later!"
Jill winked at Chris and jogged down the steps to where he could see Denny waiting patiently. Chris cocked his eye brow at the scene. He went over the story Leon told him, word from word, again. Just to make sure he hadn't missed anything, like Jill and Denny had already been dating, or something stupid like that. Leon had a habit for forgetting the more important detail to a story, the kinda guy to forget the punch line to a joke but reassure you that it was a good joke anyways.
Either way, Chris walked into the house to sit with the others, he decided he had made a good decision, since he didn't want to look like Jill's bodyguard or anything. With this decision he also decided that he was going to at least have a good time. End of story.
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Jill and Denny walked along the yard in silence. There just wasn't much to say after what happened in their last meeting and first meeting.
"So, Jill. How have you been?" Denny said, trying to at least break the tension.
"Erm, good I suppose", Jill shrugged.
"Ah I see", Denny nodded.
Silence again.
"So was that your boyfriend back there?" Denny asked.
"Who?"
"The guy with the spiked hair. Looked like that girl sitting by Leon."
"Oh, you mean Chris. Uh, no, he isn't. I'm not dating anyone as a matter of fact", Jill stated.
"That's a surprise", Denny said, still trying to hold the conversation before it crashed and burned.
"Why? I don't like tying myself down with someone, it never really means anything and unlike some people I'm not that big into sex", Jill chided.
"Whoa, whoa! Ok, don't get PMS-y with me Jill, just trying to have a nice little chat here without you biting off my head", Denny defended himself and rose his hands up from his sides to show peace.
"Right, whatever you say", Jill rolled her eyes now, "look I'm going back, this is redundant now. We're obviously going nowhere, and are meant to go no where."
Jill stared hard at Denny and waited for his reply, which wasn't very much anyways.
"That was harsh", he mumbled under his breath.
Something was odd about the way he kept his eyes a far distance from her, and it was starting to make Jill uncomfortable. Maybe he was actually sincere. That too bothered Jill for some reason or another.
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Chris yawned at the boring conversation that picked up from outside, one on children. Claire had seemed to like it enough to throw in a few inputs, which all and all scared Chris out of his brains.
He let his gaze fall on his younger sister, whom he still believed to be acting very odd ever since she was invited on the trip. He always thought that she was kind of a sappy person but now she was just acting like she was-
Chris tried to think of a mild term for Claire's behavior but none that was appealing seemed to work. He shrugged it off and decided it was the air of a new area. Claire got hypered up from that sort of thing a lot.
Outside the window to his right is where his half open eyes led to next. He noticed that Jill and Denny didn't seem to be standing out there in the same spot anymore, maybe they were finally coming in up the stairs. Chris turned and looked out the back door but didn't see anyone out on the porch. He waited a moment later, but still no sign of Jill and Denny.
Almost at once, Chris's protective side was kicking in and he considered going out just to "take a peek around" and see if Jill was doing alright with Denny.
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Denny brought Jill around to the side of the house and tried to reason with her somewhere he knew the others wouldn't see them before he could see them. He checked both directions before continuing his argument with Jill further on, so far it seemed like she was winning.
"Look, you should clean up that attitude a tad bit, you just happen to be coming off like a little bitch right now", Denny frowned down at her as if she were a little girl that had just been caught with her hand in the cookie jar, and he was the disapproving father.
"Well that's just fine and dandy by me", Jill said with a snide attitude.
"You wouldn't even give a person a second chance would you? Hm?" Denny pressed on.
"It depends on who and what they do. As for you, why should I?!"
"I was drunk for starts. Second you came in looking like a cheap whore anyways", Denny growled back.
Jill's mouth opened slightly as if she were about to say something, but instead she threw her hand out at Denny's face. He caught her arm in time before he was hit, probably knowing that he should have let her just take the swing at him and let it be done, but that was the thing. He wasn't done.
"I didn't mean that", Denny whispered roughly as he struggled with Jill who was pushing fiercely at him to free her arm back again.
His grip tightened around Jill's wrist and she could fell circulation breaking off, and she groaned in pain. She pushed her free hand against Denny's chest and automatically knew that there was going to be trouble now. So trying to end it she ran her hand from his chest to his opposite arm and forced it away from her. No good though, his grip just tightened more and more.
"Let me go you cheap bastard", she whimpered in protest, "let me go or I'll scream. Then your skanky ass wife will see what your-"
Jill was cut short when Denny flung her against the wall, and all the breath in her body was knocked out. Jill let in a rattled breath, then let it out before sliding down to the ground in pure pain and shock from the blow.
Then she felt her body being lifted up, but through the hazy red in her eyes she could hardly see around her, and everything began to swirl around for moment until it caught into focus, and the next thing she knew she was being pressed against the wall and Denny's hands were running across her body.
"Asshole", she spat. Blood mixed in the saliva now, it dripped down his face, "should have known you'd do this."
"Quiet, you talk too much, and by the way. I'll make sure you don't speak a word of this to anyone", Denny chuckled as he brought his lips to hers and forced them open with his tongue.
Pain wasn't what was bothering Jill, it was the fact that she'd been so stupid to even trust a guy she hardly knew. Especially one that had tried to rape her once already. Jill wasn't one to be naïve but she had trusted Leon's word too much, and was going to give him a good pop along side his thick skull if she could manage to pry off Denny anytime soon. So all she could do was continue to struggle as she felt more of Denny begin to press into her pelvis.
"Ya know it excites me so much to see you fighting off something you know you want", Denny leered into her ear.
"Yeah, I can tell", Jill cringed at the truth ness of the statement.
One of her arms broke free and she managed to smack Denny across the face with it before he cut it again and jam it back down to her side.
All of a sudden a loud CLANK filled the air, the sound of a pot being rammed across something maybe. Jill opened her eyes and looked down to see Denny unconscious on the ground. Somehow she knew someone would save her again. She was just that lucky, or maybe it was because one of her friends, knowing Denny, came out to check on her anyways.
Jill snapped her eyes up to see her "hero" holding a shovel in one hand, and there face full of incredible fear. Those gray eyes filled with such deep concern , shock, and utter disgust at the sight. Jill could almost hug the victor of the battle just then and there on the spot, she knew Denny wasn't going to really get anywhere without first getting caught, but Jill couldn't bring herself to think of the humiliation if Denny did get someplace with his actions---
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
She stared at the ground, as if somehow fascinated by it, hoping the moment could pass a little more quicker.
"Are you alright Jill?" she asked quietly.
"I think, yeah. I am", Jill nodded shakily.
They both gave each other a half glance, and let there worried stares fall onto Denny's unconscious body. He looked pretty dead, but part of Jill would have almost cheered. She bowed her head deeper in shame. Just not a very nice thought for the moment.
"I really have to thank you", Jill spoke up.
"Uh, well I guess I couldn't say it was nothing or something like that", Claire replied in return, "I just, got bored in the house and came out here. Didn't see you and Denny out there so I figured you were going around front, so then I came here and saw, erm, the situation at hand."
Jill agreed silently to never become aggravated with Claire's nosiness ever again.
"Uhm, do you think we should announce that Denny just tried to rape you again", Claire asked.
"Maybe---I'm not sure how cool that'll go everyone. And it might even hit Leon in the wrong spot, I mean he was the one that convinced me that Denny was ok when he wasn't drunk", Jill sighed.
"True, but we're going to have to tell them something Jill."
"Just help me drag his bum ass up the steps for now", Jill said while grabbing Denny's legs.
Claire grabbed his arms and the women heaved his body up at the same time. They dragged him up the steps and onto the porch, where they dropped him heavily to the floor. Jill opened the backdoor slightly and overheard the conversation. She eavesdropped.
"Tell them the truth Jill, it's what they would want", Claire pleaded.
"Alright", Jill said as she pushed the door open all the way and came in to hear the whole chat.
Fran was squeaking on and on about how happy she was to finally be able to marry Denny after dating him for two solid years. Jill thought about how Denny had attacked her only a few months ago, than remembered the situation just outside, merely seconds ago. And she listened to Fran's excited voice go on about her romantic moments with Denny, her times of recovering from family lose with Denny, and anything else that came out of Fran's mouth. She then realized that what she was about to do---it couldn't go on. She wasn't about to break up someone's marriage, even though she knew she shouldn't give Denny's worthless ass a second's worth of her time like that, she just couldn't be the one to bring rain on Fran's wedding day. Jill had to get out, she all of a sudden felt a wave sickness come across her as all this went through her mind. She quickly pushed back out the door, and stumbled along down the stairs out into the grass of land. She saw Claire's eyes follow along her as she crashed to her knees on the ground.
"Jill?"
She jerked forward and crawled quickly under the stairs and unable to hold the bile back longer she hurled until she couldn't take it any longer. Claire must have heard her get sick, because the next thing she knew the younger girl was pulling her out from under the stairs and lying her out on the grass.
"I can't tell them the truth", Jill groaned.
Claire's eyes fell slightly, "I understand that it's hard, but-"
"No you don't understand Claire. You weren't in there hearing that Fran woman go on and on about how happy she was to be with Denny and how glad she was that he had proposed to her at all. Ugh, Claire, I just can't bring someone that happy, down", Jill rubbed her temples, already knowing she was going to have an aching migraine.
"Well, we could always tell them something else happened", Claire said softly.
Jill pulled herself up, with the help of Claire, and both of them climbed back up the stairs slowly. When they reached the top they saw Denny sitting up rubbing the back of his skull and groaning in pain.
"Denny---", Claire whispered as if she were even surprised that the worm was up so fast.
"Damn, what happened?" He moaned.
"You were going at Jill like a hound, that's what. I brought a shovel to your head to cool you down, ya crazy fool. Do you know how upset Fran would be if she heard about this", Claire snapped at him.
"No, no! You wouldn't do that! She's, too happy about the marriage, you can't possibly think about breaking her heart like that!" Denny said in a horse voice.
The backdoor opened at once and Leon was now standing in the doorway staring at each of the three on the porch.
"What happened?" he asked, sensing some kind of trouble.
"Denny got hit in the head, he wasn't watching what he was doing and banged his head against one of the trees out there", Jill answered quickly.
Denny stared at her in disbelief. She'd lied for him, just to keep his sorry ass out of trouble with Fran and his relatives, and after what he did.
"Aw! Denny are you ok?!" Fran said in worry.
"Uh, yeah I'm fine, don't worry about it", Denny said trying to shrug Fran off his shoulders, starting to feel guilty.
Jill's eyes were on the floor boarding of the porch now, as if she were just plain bored. She didn't realize Chris had crept up on her. He put his arms around her waist from behind and whispered carefully into her ear.
"Are you alright Jill? I think that green in your face went to a guacamole shade of coloring now."
Jill looked up at him silently, her eyes began to sting with tears, and Chris's smile faltered. She was hurt.
"Don't worry, I'll get us out of here", he whispered back to her.
And as everyone made they're way back into the house, Fran cradling Denny extra carefully in her arms, Chris turned to Rick and tapped his shoulder. He whispered something into the man's ear and motioned his hand towards Jill. Rick shock his head "yes" in what seemed like a nano second prior to the comment. After that, Chris walked back over to Leon and said in a casual tone, "hey Leon, I'm taking the van. Jill and I are getting a hotel. When we get settled in, I'll bring the van back for you and Claire to go back to Rick's, alright?"
Leon cocked an eyebrow and smiled slyly at Chris, "Going a little far there aren't you Redfield?"
"Knock it off Leon, it's nothing like that, she's just a bit sick", Chris said, waving his hand at Leon's nonsense thoughts.
"Alright, alright. Just don't crash into anything you big ox", Leon laughed.
"Just fork over the keys already, Leo."
"Pht, here", Leon shoved the keys in Chris's hands. "Leo" always got him.
Chris walked back over to Jill finally and put his arms around her again. They both walked out to the front door and left for the van.
Chris opened the passenger's door for Jill and helped her in carefully, sure not to 'cause her anymore sickness or pain. When he shut the door he hustled quickly to the other side of the van, and hopped into his own seat, he revved up the vehicle and pulled out of the spot.
They drove along the road for awhile before turning to Jill and questioning what happened between her and Denny. She tried to convince him that she had told the story truthfully, but he knew it was a cover-up.
"What really happened Jill?"
"Denny and I got in an argument. He attacked me. Claire saw it. She grabbed a shovel and whacked him in the head with it. Knocked him unconscious", Jill sighed out.
It was kind of a relief to explain her stupid encounter with perv boy. Chris didn't say anything else as they drove to a particular hotel.
As they pulled up, Chris explained that he knew he wasn't going to last long, spending the night at someone else's home. Jill agreed with him, and they decided it was settled that they'd stay at the hotel for the rest of the time, while Leon and Claire stay at Rick's.
The both walked up to the counter of the hotel. The lobby was a bit small but no worries for them. Jill stared out into space and let her thoughts travel onto the events that occurred, while Chris paid for a single room.
As Jill stared out he window and noticed that it had started to rain again, she felt a soft tap on her shoulder and turned to see Chris jangling the keys for her to take notice in. She followed along with him through a hall, clueless as to where to find the room. Seems how she was never good with hotel-anything.
A shining elevator sat just on a left fork of the hallway and Chris pushed a button on the pad next to the door, that slid open to the sides for them at once.
Jill was a bit hesitant to get on. She'd been on one before with her father and she'd freaked out. Quite the scene she drew up for what was supposed to be "a quick, ten second ride". Jill noticed that she was starting to feel a little sick again.
"Chicken?" Chris teased.
That caught her attention enough to bring her on board.
"Hey can you hold that?!" Someone called from the hall, Chris stopped the door with his hand and held it open for the old woman who was now huffing and puffing from the run. The woman thanked him and stood off on the other side of the elevator.
As soon as it started to go up, Jill almost fell flat on her ass, but thanks to Chris for grabbing her arm and holding her to him tightly, she hadn't made a total fool of herself in front of the old lady who let out a small laugh at the scene. Her legs were much to weak to work correctly either way, so Jill hadn't much of a choice, except to keep herself pressed to him.
When the ride was over and Chris stepped out in front of Jill; into the new hallway, she realized she wanted him to hold onto her like that again. She had taken note that ever since the Spencer mansion went up into flames, she'd gotten a bit obsessed with having to be touching Chris in some form or fashion to feel any safety at all. She had admitted this to him not long after she noticed it herself, and he'd seemed cool about it by going ahead and hugging her often and this, that, and the other. Now it seemed it had become more than just a matter of feeling safe, but, maybe even wanting him. Though Jill and Chris had agreed long ago that they were attracted to each other for sure, but never wanted to get into a relationship that was just about the attraction, it was a bit of a bummer, but it was a good rule to live by, even though Jill constantly thought about Chris as her Romeo.
"Hey, stop dazing out. You're worrying me", Chris said snapping Jill's attention back onto the real world.
"Huh, oh. I just feel real sick", Jill groaned.
"Ok, just hang in there a little while longer", Chris said patting her back and directing her towards the room.
He quickly unlocked the door and let her in, with a quick look, Jill found the bathroom directly on the right as she entered, and rushed into there. Chris followed in closely and pushed Jill's hair back between her ears.
"You might wanna take a warm shower too", he said softly to her.
She was about to nod in reply, but she noticed the build up of saliva in her mouth and knew she was going to throw up again. Quickly enough, Jill spat out the extra mucus then leaned in and breathed deeply.
"It's alright Jill, just calm down, your getting worked up", he said as soothingly as before.
His voice warmed Jill's blood, and she calmed down like he said enough to finally throw up what was bothering her. Chris had grabbed up her hair in the nick of time. Coughing and sputtering, Jill tried to speak but she could only cry. She felt much better in the stomach now, but she was still shaken up.
"Are you going to be ok Jill?"
She nodded softly, making sure she didn't hurt herself further.
Chris climbed up to his feet and grabbed a wash cloth off the shower rack and held Jill's chin up softly as he cleaned her face. He leaned over her and flushed the toilet, while Jill lay against the wall.
"Come on. You'd rather sleep on the bed", Chris informed her like he were her conscious. It wasn't bothering to Jill, actually it was quite reassuring that he was picking her up now and carrying her carefully, then lying her out on the bed. He took the top covers out and placed them over her. Last of all, Chris remembered to kiss her on the forehead, and whisper to her that he was going to go and take Leon and Claire to Rick's home.
A soft nod was his reply from Jill.
"Rest well", Chris said before walking out the door and locking it behind him.
End of Chapter: Ooooooh many comments here! I really enjoyed writing this chapter now, I guess that's 'cause something really did happen. But let me go over the afterthought with ya's (which makes me so damn original in my crazy ickle world here). 1st Don't you just love how Claire falls over and that tells everyone to do something else? LOL 2nd I told you I had to have dawgs in my stories, and if you didn't know what that was before, you sure do now. 3rd yay! Finally something that's somewhat---erm---romantic! ^_^ Fun hm? Oooooh, now what will happen next!? Will Jill eventually tell the others what happened between her and Denny? Will Chris and Jill finally boof each other like bunny rabbits? Will Claire stop being the center of attention in almost everything that happens? Will Leon get a better part in the story? Well, for the last two I think it's safe to say "no", but we'll just see what happens here. ^_~ Enjoyed!? Didn't?! Who cares?! Review!
The van pulled to a complete stop outside a brown house with a large porch. The houses in the area were spread out incredibly far, each home containing up to 4 acres of land to itself. Behind the particular house Leon had pulled up in front of had a short backyard due to the fact that a wood area took up much of the space. But what was there in the yard, was a very tidy green land, with a few apple trees sitting in random spots across the lawn, and a slightly large shed out on the left of the land, surrounded in white- wood fence.
"Nice place, huh?" Leon said to the others in the van.
"I guess", Claire replied while hopping out and stretching her sore legs.
Jill cringed at the house and the thought of sitting in a room with Denny all day was sickening. Whatever he did she had to be prepared for, no trick shots this time 'round.
"Hey, are you going to be alright? I can see green in your cheeks if I look very closely", Chris said and squinted at Jill when he spoke of her being a tad bit green in the face. She wasn't surprised if she looked sick. Denny wouldn't be either, so it didn't bother her much.
"Yeah. I'll be fine", Jill nodded and walked along with Chris up to the decorated porch.
Rick and his children came piling up after them and waited as Leon pressed the doorbell. The door opened slowly and there hold like a nightmare (in Jill's mind that is) Denny's twisted smile. His green eyes, his large teeth, his barely shaved face, his floppy brown hair, his high-set cheek bones, all of it swimming into focus.
"Well, well. Look what turned up on my door step. Come on in everyone! It's nice having such a large group to entertain today", Denny spoke as he pulled the screen door open and stepped back for everyone to come through.
As Jill entered, last, Denny winked at her and ran his hand across her back; he took a slight grip on her shoulder, directing her inward like she had no clue where she were going. Out of anger though, Jill swished her hand at his arm, and stepped back.
"Whoa! Calm down there Lion Eyes, just trying to be friendly here", Denny laughed out loud causing Chris to jerk around automatically in worry of what Jill had already caused.
Jill kept her lips pursed and eyes trained tautly on Denny as she brushed passed him and forward to Chris; wrapping one of her arms around his.
Chris was pretty much clueless as to what was going on between Jill and Denny, but he could tell right-off-the-bat that Lion Eyes had been a popular nickname for Jill and her fierce glare that she must have given to Denny in the past, not a surprising name for someone who could look so mean in seconds with their eyes alone. But as for the tension starting from the two, Leon had explained that much. The "situation" that happened only a few months ago:
Leon, Jill, and Rebecca had gone out to a bar to meet up with Denny and a few other guys. Leon promised the two girls a good time, but when they got there the three guys waiting for them had already started drinking a bit, naturally they hung all over Rebecca and Jill and made stupid jokes, talked about sex; etcetera, etcetera. Two hours into the night and Denny had asked to see Jill in the back, a couple minutes later Rebecca was the one whom had gotten worried and went out to find Jill struggling underneath Denny, he'd already began unbuttoning her shirt and speaking in a slur, telling her she was a lucky woman to have him attracted to her. Rebecca had ran back to Leon and told him what she saw. They both ran out in time to help force Denny off Jill before he could strip her down , but none the less Jill was incredibly angry and never forgave either men (Leon and Denny) for what had happened that night.
Chris snapped out of his thoughts when he felt Jill tug him forward, "Come on, they're going out back."
"Ah right", Chris mumbled.
Chris followed behind Jill. As they walked to the door, Chris let his gaze fall on Jill. Almost sudden he felt a need to be protective of her like she was a gem that had been passed through the family for several generations. He knew if she could fight of a zombie, she could fight off dirty men, but either way he tightened his grip around her. She must have noticed too, because she glanced up at Chris with a softer expression.
He nodded in return, and moved along to the back porch where there were a few chairs set up around a table, and a little outdoor couch along the wall, stairs led down to the ground. It was more clearer now to see that the house sat on a hill that flattened out in the back.
"So he told me that he'd be at the gas station catching a smoke, and I told him, 'well if you plan on getting in anymore trouble Bob, I'm just not gonna help ya this time.' So of course he went out and got into a riot again'", Denny was already off to telling stories to the group when Jill and Chris walked out.
Leon sat on the couch next to Claire and listened to Denny politely, while Claire on the other hand was catching Z's on his shoulder.
At least Denny isn't acting like an ass, Chris thought to himself as he pulled up a chair at the wooden table, next to Jill, just in case.
"Well, looks like we have a few more coming out now", Denny announced as two other women came out from the backdoor.
One appeared to be a blond woman, her face powdered down slightly to cover any signs of aging and her hair tied back tightly. They soon learned that this was Rick's wife, Linda, whom they didn't have the chance to meet the night before. The other woman was Denny's wife-to-be. Her black hair lay messily at her shoulders and her hazel eyes gleamed of a certain immaturity, or maybe it was the fact that she was dressed up like a biker whore. Chris was reminded of the time Claire had thrown on a pair of faded out blue jeans, ripped at the knees, and a black leather jacket over one of his own grunge shirts he'd grown out of, except she'd torn it up so that much of her stomach showed. He had accused her of trying to "hoe" herself when she explained that she was just going to hang out with some guys at the dirt bike alley. Another friendly memory of his.
"Well everyone this is my woman, Fran", Denny smiled proudly.
Fran smiled back at Denny and walked over to sit in his lap, "That's right baby", she said in a sort of squeaky voice. Her and Denny shared a short, intimate kiss.
Automatically, Jill turned to Chris gave him a quick humored expression, and held back on her laughter. Chris winked to her to tell her he understood. A little code signaling him and Jill had gone over before.
The dull-witted conversations of couples and what Fran and Denny were going to do when they get married, nonsense like that, came into play. Causing Chris to wish he could fall asleep on Jill's shoulder, getting the idea straight from the great and almighty annoyance, Claire Redfield. It somehow pissed him off to see that she could get away with everything she did, especially falling asleep during someone's talk. Poor Chris couldn't do the same or he would be scowled at.
"Pst! Chris!" Jill poked Chris in the ribs, startling him quite a bit.
"Huh? I'm sorry, did I miss something?" Chris said glancing around and noticing everyone walking off into different directions.
"Yeah, Claire fell off Leon and hit the ground like a brick. That signaled everyone to do something else, so Denny and I are going to walk around out by the trees. Are you coming or are you going to stay and chat with the everyone else inside?" Jill questioned.
"Uhm, I feel a bit drowsy. I think I'll stay inside. Wait! Claire fell over?" Chris looked up in shock.
"Mhmm, she just mumbled something about 'sexy Carlos' and rolled off him", Jill giggled.
"Oh! Uh, there isn't anything going on between Claire and Carlos is there?" Chris said in a bit of worry.
"Not that I know of", Jill shrugged, "Well, erm, Denny's waiting for me. Later!"
Jill winked at Chris and jogged down the steps to where he could see Denny waiting patiently. Chris cocked his eye brow at the scene. He went over the story Leon told him, word from word, again. Just to make sure he hadn't missed anything, like Jill and Denny had already been dating, or something stupid like that. Leon had a habit for forgetting the more important detail to a story, the kinda guy to forget the punch line to a joke but reassure you that it was a good joke anyways.
Either way, Chris walked into the house to sit with the others, he decided he had made a good decision, since he didn't want to look like Jill's bodyguard or anything. With this decision he also decided that he was going to at least have a good time. End of story.
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Jill and Denny walked along the yard in silence. There just wasn't much to say after what happened in their last meeting and first meeting.
"So, Jill. How have you been?" Denny said, trying to at least break the tension.
"Erm, good I suppose", Jill shrugged.
"Ah I see", Denny nodded.
Silence again.
"So was that your boyfriend back there?" Denny asked.
"Who?"
"The guy with the spiked hair. Looked like that girl sitting by Leon."
"Oh, you mean Chris. Uh, no, he isn't. I'm not dating anyone as a matter of fact", Jill stated.
"That's a surprise", Denny said, still trying to hold the conversation before it crashed and burned.
"Why? I don't like tying myself down with someone, it never really means anything and unlike some people I'm not that big into sex", Jill chided.
"Whoa, whoa! Ok, don't get PMS-y with me Jill, just trying to have a nice little chat here without you biting off my head", Denny defended himself and rose his hands up from his sides to show peace.
"Right, whatever you say", Jill rolled her eyes now, "look I'm going back, this is redundant now. We're obviously going nowhere, and are meant to go no where."
Jill stared hard at Denny and waited for his reply, which wasn't very much anyways.
"That was harsh", he mumbled under his breath.
Something was odd about the way he kept his eyes a far distance from her, and it was starting to make Jill uncomfortable. Maybe he was actually sincere. That too bothered Jill for some reason or another.
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Chris yawned at the boring conversation that picked up from outside, one on children. Claire had seemed to like it enough to throw in a few inputs, which all and all scared Chris out of his brains.
He let his gaze fall on his younger sister, whom he still believed to be acting very odd ever since she was invited on the trip. He always thought that she was kind of a sappy person but now she was just acting like she was-
Chris tried to think of a mild term for Claire's behavior but none that was appealing seemed to work. He shrugged it off and decided it was the air of a new area. Claire got hypered up from that sort of thing a lot.
Outside the window to his right is where his half open eyes led to next. He noticed that Jill and Denny didn't seem to be standing out there in the same spot anymore, maybe they were finally coming in up the stairs. Chris turned and looked out the back door but didn't see anyone out on the porch. He waited a moment later, but still no sign of Jill and Denny.
Almost at once, Chris's protective side was kicking in and he considered going out just to "take a peek around" and see if Jill was doing alright with Denny.
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Denny brought Jill around to the side of the house and tried to reason with her somewhere he knew the others wouldn't see them before he could see them. He checked both directions before continuing his argument with Jill further on, so far it seemed like she was winning.
"Look, you should clean up that attitude a tad bit, you just happen to be coming off like a little bitch right now", Denny frowned down at her as if she were a little girl that had just been caught with her hand in the cookie jar, and he was the disapproving father.
"Well that's just fine and dandy by me", Jill said with a snide attitude.
"You wouldn't even give a person a second chance would you? Hm?" Denny pressed on.
"It depends on who and what they do. As for you, why should I?!"
"I was drunk for starts. Second you came in looking like a cheap whore anyways", Denny growled back.
Jill's mouth opened slightly as if she were about to say something, but instead she threw her hand out at Denny's face. He caught her arm in time before he was hit, probably knowing that he should have let her just take the swing at him and let it be done, but that was the thing. He wasn't done.
"I didn't mean that", Denny whispered roughly as he struggled with Jill who was pushing fiercely at him to free her arm back again.
His grip tightened around Jill's wrist and she could fell circulation breaking off, and she groaned in pain. She pushed her free hand against Denny's chest and automatically knew that there was going to be trouble now. So trying to end it she ran her hand from his chest to his opposite arm and forced it away from her. No good though, his grip just tightened more and more.
"Let me go you cheap bastard", she whimpered in protest, "let me go or I'll scream. Then your skanky ass wife will see what your-"
Jill was cut short when Denny flung her against the wall, and all the breath in her body was knocked out. Jill let in a rattled breath, then let it out before sliding down to the ground in pure pain and shock from the blow.
Then she felt her body being lifted up, but through the hazy red in her eyes she could hardly see around her, and everything began to swirl around for moment until it caught into focus, and the next thing she knew she was being pressed against the wall and Denny's hands were running across her body.
"Asshole", she spat. Blood mixed in the saliva now, it dripped down his face, "should have known you'd do this."
"Quiet, you talk too much, and by the way. I'll make sure you don't speak a word of this to anyone", Denny chuckled as he brought his lips to hers and forced them open with his tongue.
Pain wasn't what was bothering Jill, it was the fact that she'd been so stupid to even trust a guy she hardly knew. Especially one that had tried to rape her once already. Jill wasn't one to be naïve but she had trusted Leon's word too much, and was going to give him a good pop along side his thick skull if she could manage to pry off Denny anytime soon. So all she could do was continue to struggle as she felt more of Denny begin to press into her pelvis.
"Ya know it excites me so much to see you fighting off something you know you want", Denny leered into her ear.
"Yeah, I can tell", Jill cringed at the truth ness of the statement.
One of her arms broke free and she managed to smack Denny across the face with it before he cut it again and jam it back down to her side.
All of a sudden a loud CLANK filled the air, the sound of a pot being rammed across something maybe. Jill opened her eyes and looked down to see Denny unconscious on the ground. Somehow she knew someone would save her again. She was just that lucky, or maybe it was because one of her friends, knowing Denny, came out to check on her anyways.
Jill snapped her eyes up to see her "hero" holding a shovel in one hand, and there face full of incredible fear. Those gray eyes filled with such deep concern , shock, and utter disgust at the sight. Jill could almost hug the victor of the battle just then and there on the spot, she knew Denny wasn't going to really get anywhere without first getting caught, but Jill couldn't bring herself to think of the humiliation if Denny did get someplace with his actions---
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She stared at the ground, as if somehow fascinated by it, hoping the moment could pass a little more quicker.
"Are you alright Jill?" she asked quietly.
"I think, yeah. I am", Jill nodded shakily.
They both gave each other a half glance, and let there worried stares fall onto Denny's unconscious body. He looked pretty dead, but part of Jill would have almost cheered. She bowed her head deeper in shame. Just not a very nice thought for the moment.
"I really have to thank you", Jill spoke up.
"Uh, well I guess I couldn't say it was nothing or something like that", Claire replied in return, "I just, got bored in the house and came out here. Didn't see you and Denny out there so I figured you were going around front, so then I came here and saw, erm, the situation at hand."
Jill agreed silently to never become aggravated with Claire's nosiness ever again.
"Uhm, do you think we should announce that Denny just tried to rape you again", Claire asked.
"Maybe---I'm not sure how cool that'll go everyone. And it might even hit Leon in the wrong spot, I mean he was the one that convinced me that Denny was ok when he wasn't drunk", Jill sighed.
"True, but we're going to have to tell them something Jill."
"Just help me drag his bum ass up the steps for now", Jill said while grabbing Denny's legs.
Claire grabbed his arms and the women heaved his body up at the same time. They dragged him up the steps and onto the porch, where they dropped him heavily to the floor. Jill opened the backdoor slightly and overheard the conversation. She eavesdropped.
"Tell them the truth Jill, it's what they would want", Claire pleaded.
"Alright", Jill said as she pushed the door open all the way and came in to hear the whole chat.
Fran was squeaking on and on about how happy she was to finally be able to marry Denny after dating him for two solid years. Jill thought about how Denny had attacked her only a few months ago, than remembered the situation just outside, merely seconds ago. And she listened to Fran's excited voice go on about her romantic moments with Denny, her times of recovering from family lose with Denny, and anything else that came out of Fran's mouth. She then realized that what she was about to do---it couldn't go on. She wasn't about to break up someone's marriage, even though she knew she shouldn't give Denny's worthless ass a second's worth of her time like that, she just couldn't be the one to bring rain on Fran's wedding day. Jill had to get out, she all of a sudden felt a wave sickness come across her as all this went through her mind. She quickly pushed back out the door, and stumbled along down the stairs out into the grass of land. She saw Claire's eyes follow along her as she crashed to her knees on the ground.
"Jill?"
She jerked forward and crawled quickly under the stairs and unable to hold the bile back longer she hurled until she couldn't take it any longer. Claire must have heard her get sick, because the next thing she knew the younger girl was pulling her out from under the stairs and lying her out on the grass.
"I can't tell them the truth", Jill groaned.
Claire's eyes fell slightly, "I understand that it's hard, but-"
"No you don't understand Claire. You weren't in there hearing that Fran woman go on and on about how happy she was to be with Denny and how glad she was that he had proposed to her at all. Ugh, Claire, I just can't bring someone that happy, down", Jill rubbed her temples, already knowing she was going to have an aching migraine.
"Well, we could always tell them something else happened", Claire said softly.
Jill pulled herself up, with the help of Claire, and both of them climbed back up the stairs slowly. When they reached the top they saw Denny sitting up rubbing the back of his skull and groaning in pain.
"Denny---", Claire whispered as if she were even surprised that the worm was up so fast.
"Damn, what happened?" He moaned.
"You were going at Jill like a hound, that's what. I brought a shovel to your head to cool you down, ya crazy fool. Do you know how upset Fran would be if she heard about this", Claire snapped at him.
"No, no! You wouldn't do that! She's, too happy about the marriage, you can't possibly think about breaking her heart like that!" Denny said in a horse voice.
The backdoor opened at once and Leon was now standing in the doorway staring at each of the three on the porch.
"What happened?" he asked, sensing some kind of trouble.
"Denny got hit in the head, he wasn't watching what he was doing and banged his head against one of the trees out there", Jill answered quickly.
Denny stared at her in disbelief. She'd lied for him, just to keep his sorry ass out of trouble with Fran and his relatives, and after what he did.
"Aw! Denny are you ok?!" Fran said in worry.
"Uh, yeah I'm fine, don't worry about it", Denny said trying to shrug Fran off his shoulders, starting to feel guilty.
Jill's eyes were on the floor boarding of the porch now, as if she were just plain bored. She didn't realize Chris had crept up on her. He put his arms around her waist from behind and whispered carefully into her ear.
"Are you alright Jill? I think that green in your face went to a guacamole shade of coloring now."
Jill looked up at him silently, her eyes began to sting with tears, and Chris's smile faltered. She was hurt.
"Don't worry, I'll get us out of here", he whispered back to her.
And as everyone made they're way back into the house, Fran cradling Denny extra carefully in her arms, Chris turned to Rick and tapped his shoulder. He whispered something into the man's ear and motioned his hand towards Jill. Rick shock his head "yes" in what seemed like a nano second prior to the comment. After that, Chris walked back over to Leon and said in a casual tone, "hey Leon, I'm taking the van. Jill and I are getting a hotel. When we get settled in, I'll bring the van back for you and Claire to go back to Rick's, alright?"
Leon cocked an eyebrow and smiled slyly at Chris, "Going a little far there aren't you Redfield?"
"Knock it off Leon, it's nothing like that, she's just a bit sick", Chris said, waving his hand at Leon's nonsense thoughts.
"Alright, alright. Just don't crash into anything you big ox", Leon laughed.
"Just fork over the keys already, Leo."
"Pht, here", Leon shoved the keys in Chris's hands. "Leo" always got him.
Chris walked back over to Jill finally and put his arms around her again. They both walked out to the front door and left for the van.
Chris opened the passenger's door for Jill and helped her in carefully, sure not to 'cause her anymore sickness or pain. When he shut the door he hustled quickly to the other side of the van, and hopped into his own seat, he revved up the vehicle and pulled out of the spot.
They drove along the road for awhile before turning to Jill and questioning what happened between her and Denny. She tried to convince him that she had told the story truthfully, but he knew it was a cover-up.
"What really happened Jill?"
"Denny and I got in an argument. He attacked me. Claire saw it. She grabbed a shovel and whacked him in the head with it. Knocked him unconscious", Jill sighed out.
It was kind of a relief to explain her stupid encounter with perv boy. Chris didn't say anything else as they drove to a particular hotel.
As they pulled up, Chris explained that he knew he wasn't going to last long, spending the night at someone else's home. Jill agreed with him, and they decided it was settled that they'd stay at the hotel for the rest of the time, while Leon and Claire stay at Rick's.
The both walked up to the counter of the hotel. The lobby was a bit small but no worries for them. Jill stared out into space and let her thoughts travel onto the events that occurred, while Chris paid for a single room.
As Jill stared out he window and noticed that it had started to rain again, she felt a soft tap on her shoulder and turned to see Chris jangling the keys for her to take notice in. She followed along with him through a hall, clueless as to where to find the room. Seems how she was never good with hotel-anything.
A shining elevator sat just on a left fork of the hallway and Chris pushed a button on the pad next to the door, that slid open to the sides for them at once.
Jill was a bit hesitant to get on. She'd been on one before with her father and she'd freaked out. Quite the scene she drew up for what was supposed to be "a quick, ten second ride". Jill noticed that she was starting to feel a little sick again.
"Chicken?" Chris teased.
That caught her attention enough to bring her on board.
"Hey can you hold that?!" Someone called from the hall, Chris stopped the door with his hand and held it open for the old woman who was now huffing and puffing from the run. The woman thanked him and stood off on the other side of the elevator.
As soon as it started to go up, Jill almost fell flat on her ass, but thanks to Chris for grabbing her arm and holding her to him tightly, she hadn't made a total fool of herself in front of the old lady who let out a small laugh at the scene. Her legs were much to weak to work correctly either way, so Jill hadn't much of a choice, except to keep herself pressed to him.
When the ride was over and Chris stepped out in front of Jill; into the new hallway, she realized she wanted him to hold onto her like that again. She had taken note that ever since the Spencer mansion went up into flames, she'd gotten a bit obsessed with having to be touching Chris in some form or fashion to feel any safety at all. She had admitted this to him not long after she noticed it herself, and he'd seemed cool about it by going ahead and hugging her often and this, that, and the other. Now it seemed it had become more than just a matter of feeling safe, but, maybe even wanting him. Though Jill and Chris had agreed long ago that they were attracted to each other for sure, but never wanted to get into a relationship that was just about the attraction, it was a bit of a bummer, but it was a good rule to live by, even though Jill constantly thought about Chris as her Romeo.
"Hey, stop dazing out. You're worrying me", Chris said snapping Jill's attention back onto the real world.
"Huh, oh. I just feel real sick", Jill groaned.
"Ok, just hang in there a little while longer", Chris said patting her back and directing her towards the room.
He quickly unlocked the door and let her in, with a quick look, Jill found the bathroom directly on the right as she entered, and rushed into there. Chris followed in closely and pushed Jill's hair back between her ears.
"You might wanna take a warm shower too", he said softly to her.
She was about to nod in reply, but she noticed the build up of saliva in her mouth and knew she was going to throw up again. Quickly enough, Jill spat out the extra mucus then leaned in and breathed deeply.
"It's alright Jill, just calm down, your getting worked up", he said as soothingly as before.
His voice warmed Jill's blood, and she calmed down like he said enough to finally throw up what was bothering her. Chris had grabbed up her hair in the nick of time. Coughing and sputtering, Jill tried to speak but she could only cry. She felt much better in the stomach now, but she was still shaken up.
"Are you going to be ok Jill?"
She nodded softly, making sure she didn't hurt herself further.
Chris climbed up to his feet and grabbed a wash cloth off the shower rack and held Jill's chin up softly as he cleaned her face. He leaned over her and flushed the toilet, while Jill lay against the wall.
"Come on. You'd rather sleep on the bed", Chris informed her like he were her conscious. It wasn't bothering to Jill, actually it was quite reassuring that he was picking her up now and carrying her carefully, then lying her out on the bed. He took the top covers out and placed them over her. Last of all, Chris remembered to kiss her on the forehead, and whisper to her that he was going to go and take Leon and Claire to Rick's home.
A soft nod was his reply from Jill.
"Rest well", Chris said before walking out the door and locking it behind him.
End of Chapter: Ooooooh many comments here! I really enjoyed writing this chapter now, I guess that's 'cause something really did happen. But let me go over the afterthought with ya's (which makes me so damn original in my crazy ickle world here). 1st Don't you just love how Claire falls over and that tells everyone to do something else? LOL 2nd I told you I had to have dawgs in my stories, and if you didn't know what that was before, you sure do now. 3rd yay! Finally something that's somewhat---erm---romantic! ^_^ Fun hm? Oooooh, now what will happen next!? Will Jill eventually tell the others what happened between her and Denny? Will Chris and Jill finally boof each other like bunny rabbits? Will Claire stop being the center of attention in almost everything that happens? Will Leon get a better part in the story? Well, for the last two I think it's safe to say "no", but we'll just see what happens here. ^_~ Enjoyed!? Didn't?! Who cares?! Review!