A/N: I don't own anyone but Alex….The rest belong to Capcom (Though Alex will argue Chris and Piers are hers)

I am sorry about this delay but life has thrown its version of a J'avo at me aka a divorce so please don't be too harsh in the reviews….And next chapter is when the angst and drama flies. I am wanting to show how Chris was before the City Hall events where he was a respected leader and how Alex is dealing with his deployment stateside along with a little angsty memory…..


The snow had intensified as Alex sat with a blanket wrapped around her. Claire had brought her home refusing to leave her alone. The kettle brewed on the stove as two mugs with tea bags sat waiting.

"How ya feeling?" Alex looked up at her friend who passed a bowl of soup in her direction.

"Better now," she nodded. As she started to take the first taste a look crossed her face as she had a thought. Her hand stayed half way between her mouth and bowl while the deep lines of lament aged her features. "You know today's Christmas Eve."

"That's right!" Claire grinned. "And it's snowing!"

Alex smiled sadly and placed the bowl down. Tomorrow was Christmas Day and Chris wasn't there. The holidays were always the hardest on her as she didn't have any family and her grandparents had passed away when she was in college. They had raised her since she was a baby, her mom and dad had been killed in a horrific train crash when she was only weeks old. When she had gone off to college they had moved out of Raccoon City but she kept an apartment in town. But that was before the outbreak and the subsequent missile that obliterated the cosmopolitan community. God how she hated the holidays sometimes.

"Alex," Claire wrapped an arm around her friend's waist and rested her head on her shoulder. "I know it's another holiday without Chris but you have me."

Alex let out a short laugh. Claire always seemed to find the light in the storm that was her life.

"Yeah you're right," Alex turned and took her friend in a tight hug. "I guess I'm a glutton for punishment huh?"

"No," Claire shook her head. "You're strong that's what you are. I mean all the women that threw themselves at Chris's feet were in love with the uniform and not the man who wore it. But you fell in love with the man who wears the uniform."

Alex felt the grin cracking her face and couldn't but help to smile. Claire had hit it head on: Alex peeled away the uniform and uncovered the man beneath it. Sure the allure of the B.S.A.A. was in the background but even if Chris had not been a part of the agency she wouldn't have loved him any less. She had survived the Italy deployment and his expedition into Africa where he confronted Wesker once and for all. But the strain of his obsession in finding Jill and Wesker had nearly destroyed that bond between them.

"Until you get your priorities figured out I'm staying with Claire. I can't compete with Jill and Wesker. What's gonna happen if she is gone? Are you going to continue your blind vengeance against Wesker? Chris it's not worth it! You have to decide what you want to hold on to and what has to go."

Chris had stared dumbly at her as she hurled the bag on the bed and tossed everything in her drawers and in the closet. She was leaving him.

"I've been patient and stood by you when no one else would. But damn it Chris you're losing everyone around you! Is it worth losing me too? Does this hunch hold so control over you that you are going to risk destroying it all?"

"Lexi it's not that easy….." Chris's plea was pathetic as it fell flatly in her ears.

"Save it," she harshly cut him off. The anger bit her tongue as it stung Chris. "I don't want to hear another word."

"Lexi, wait," Chris closed the bag and pushed it aside. "Please, don't….don't go."

"And why not?" Alex felt her chest tighten as her throat began to burn. "Why should I stay? You made it quite clear you were taking the mission, everyone else be damned! This is the 23rd mission you have been on since the Mansion! I don't think you were this concerned about me when I was under Wesker's control!"

"Now that's not fair!" Chris shot up. "I searched every corner of the world for you!"

"Then why do I feel like you're more concerned with Jill? Why is it Chris? Are you in love with her?" The single tear stained her cheek as she stood there shaking.

"NO!" Chris was sick. He didn't love Jill as Alex was insinuating. She was his sister in arms! Sure he had tried to ask her out or made a pass once or twice but she wasn't interested. Jill had been one their biggest cheerleaders! "I don't love her! God, look Lex," Chris sat down but his mouth refused to move.

Alex felt her patience eroding as Chris ran his fingers through his unruly hair then wrung his hands out of anxiety.

"You know what, go! Go on your wild goose chase! But when you get back," she jerked the bag from the bed and slung it over her shoulder. The pain was evident in her eyes. "I won't be."

Chris hung his head as she stormed out leaving him behind. If this obsession, this vendetta was so much more fucking important that anything else then fine! But she wasn't going to sit in the backseat while he continued chasing ghosts.

Alex stormed down the hall towards the front door, feeling the burning heat of her tears as they stung her skin like acid. She felt her resolve crumble away with every step she took towards the door. Chris had made his decision but it burned like acid on her soul.

She paused but fought the temptation to look over her shoulder towards the only room that was lit. No, she couldn't bow as Chris had make his wishes known. Alex looked down at the ring that sat on her finger. The diamond was petite but perfect in her eyes. Its resting place was a band of silver. Her right thumb and forefinger twirled it around for a few mindless moments feeling the urge to run right back.

"No," she whispered with sorrow. "I can't do this anymore."

Her feet continued for the door with hand outstretched for the handle. Her heart pummeled her chest as she swallowed down the solid lump. With fingers clawed around the brass knob her wrist flicked to the right.

As the door pulled towards her it was suddenly slammed shut.

"No," Chris shook his head. "I'm not letting you leave."

Alex's heart froze.

"I can't let you walk out the door. I won't go on the mission. I'll let another unit take my place. Please…"

His hand grabbed the strap of her bag relieving her shoulder of the increasing ache. Her ears perked at the waves in his voice as he struggled to maintain control.

"Please," he tilted her chin upward. "Please don't go. I'm sorry."

Alex sighed and turned the rest of the way around. The bag collapsed at her feet as she brushed past Chris and into the living room. Her face was written with the strained emotion that racked her mind and soul. Her finger mindlessly toyed with the ring.

"I know Jill's important to you Chris," she began. Alex held her gaze at the carpet or the coffee table. "But there comes a point when you have to accept certain things in life. I know you want to believe she's alive. I want to think that too and so does everyone else. But Chris, it's been four years. This is eating you alive but you just don't want to acknowledge it."

Alex's words carved like a hunting knife into his heart. Chris had been globetrotting for nearly four years, taking advantage of her patience and heart. Now it was about to implode before his very eyes and one of the few people he loved was about to vanish from his life too.

They all seem to disappear from my life…

"No," Chris muttered beneath his breath.

"What?" Alex finally pointed her eyes towards him.

"No," he repeated again but louder. "I've lost too many people; too many friends and co-workers. Too much blood and death….."

Chris pivoted around, spreading his arms around Alex who gasped in surprise. Her arms were pinned to her sides as he squeezed her smaller body fiercely to his.

"You're right," he admitted. "I've let this control me for too long. I lost sight of the ones I love; you and Claire. I don't want to lose you too."

"Just this once, please….Stay. You know the B.S.A.A. won't keep you in the dark."

He closed his eyes and nodded slowly. It was agonizing to the half of him that wanted to keep looking, to continue scouring every corner and acre of land on the planet. But the other half, the part of him that wielded the voice of reason, won out.

"I'll stay….I'll stay….."


"Christ that was close!"

Chris helped Finn and Piers from the overturned Humvee. The choppers flew overhead but Alpha team was on their own. The J'avo were positioned around and along them. Some had laser guided rifles while others were armed with a hand gun or nothing at all.

"HQ this is Alpha Team! We're taking fire at the Two of Hearts!"

"Alpha team this is Echo. We're stretched thin out here! You're gonna have to take control on your own until I can get support."

"Jesus these things are everywhere!" Chris continued firing at the approaching things. "These are the new species that HQ was warning us about!"

With each one he took out three more took their fallen comrade's place.

"Captain!" Piers was taking heavy fire from a group of B.O.W.'s that had gathered in an abandoned apartment building. Chris rushed through the whizzing bullets and heavy machine fire as his partner remained frozen behind a slender stack of brick and mortar. His protection eroded away with each hit and gathered around his boots.

"Shit," the younger marksman went rigid against the icy surface. Chris charged from behind the armored vehicle while the rest of the team had secured strategic positions. A metal gate with splinters that passed as boards haphazardly plastered against it blocked their way out. Carl and the others covered Finn as he set the charges around the perimeter.

"Captain I need more time!"

"Carl, Ben, I need you to keep Finn covered!" Chris shouted into his earpiece. He couldn't pick up the response from Carl as the cracking and popping drowned out the man's voice. A bullet grazed the back of his vest, ripping the layer of synthetic material off Kevlar. His heart was pumping adrenaline into his veins, fueling his body and mind. He had to make it through this! He had to keep them alive! He had to get back to her! No one was going to die under his watch!

"About time you got here," Piers hollered as he popped the oncoming J'avo in the center of their mutated wrinkled heads. One averted to the right keeping clear of the bullet meant for it. In its hand was a long blade coated with dried blood. Chris spun around with his trigger finger continuing its barrage of gunfire. The knife slashed air missing Piers' head by millimeters before sailing back then to the soiled coat of white.

"Alpha Team this is HQ! You're sitting ducks out there! Get inside that building!"

"You okay?" Piers nodded and realized he had been holding his breath.

"Yeah Captain I'm alright," he forced the cold air into his lungs which shocked the warm spongy tissue and cells. The sharp sting reinvigorated his senses.

"Damn things just keep coming!" Chris overheard the oncoming wave of J'avo. Their tongues wagged in Croatian or whatever fucking language they spoke. To Chris they all sounded the same. Piers covered his captain as the B.O.W.'s fell to his MP-AF. Mutation or not the super hyped mutations were falling like flies. He couldn't but help to smirk as the last one fell and burned into a pile of flesh and cloth. They may be smarter than him but they couldn't out gun him.

"Piers," Chris waved his hand as he had reached the door that would get them back towards the rest of the squad. He rushed across the small walkway about to kick in the door.

As his boot smashed against solid metal, ground beneath and around their feet started to rattle. The pair halted and listened intensely. There was a low rumble that followed making Piers think of that movie Jurassic Park. It was the scene when the T-Rex was coming. Piers suspected it wasn't a T-Rex that was making that sound.

"What the Hell is that?" Chris spun around scanning the street as Piers raised his gun. The J'avo were clear of the immediate area. The buildings diagonal to their position were shaking, breaking and cracking from the hard vibrations. The shock waves forced the two men to fight for balance as the bulbous organ bounced between the buildings. The fluid sack bobbed up and down then left to right as the rest of the thing came into view.

"What the…." Piers raised his sniper rifle as the monstrosity emerged from the narrow street. Its roar was that of a bear but its grotesque physical features were not that of a bear.

"Shit…." Chris muttered. The thing let out a horrific howl when it attempted to cross a few live wires. What the fuck was that thing?!

"Alpha Team! Large bogey approaching your position!"

Piers had opened fire, pumping the B.O.W. with bullets. But it wasn't fazed and seemed to grow enraged over the thousands of stings penetrating its bod. It howled again as Chris aimed for the mouth, literally feeding it his firepower.

"Damn it!" He switched to the high powered rifle but the ammunition was as effective as his other weapon. Then he saw the throbbing appendage on the back. Suddenly he got an idea. "Piers! Cover me!"

Piers took position behind a sturdy concrete wall as Chris ducked and dodged the massive fists that hurled down to flatten the agent. More J'avo arrived as backup, taking shots at the two agents. Piers aimed for the gaping jaw of the creature, earning a deep anguished howl for his efforts. It lowered its upper body with fists crushing stone and brick. The ground quaked as Chris ran up the creature's arm.

"Alpha Team this is HQ! Echo Team is unable to land until those anti aircraft artillery are taken out."

Piers caught sight of the heavy firepower on the roof of a building a short distance away.

"Finn, we need those charges finished!"

"Almost done sir!"

Chris wrapped his thick arms around the bony pin in the center of its head, feeling a shower of crimson warmth splashing his suit and arms. The creature shook and resisted but the B.S.S.A. agent held tight. The blood rushed like a geyser from the open crater making the spongy surface even harder to navigate. Chris pinned his feet as steady as he could while driving the sharp point into the pulsing organ. The thing howled and rolled towards the street threatening to flatten Chris. Chris felt the momentum turning the other way, pushing off the opposite way and landing in a tuck roll onto the alleyway.

The thing let out a pathetic deep howl as embers sparked within the gelatinous fibers that were crushed together, spreading out of control until the towering beast was engulfed in flames.

"Finn I need your status!"

"Two more hostiles remaining! Detonating the first two now!"

The town center was rocked with a series of rolling vibrations which were instantly drowned out with the stronger sharper waves that followed. Gunpowder and flesh clogged the air as Finn's charges succeeded in their mission. The charred flesh and bone hurled down towards the group, landing around them with hard wet smacks.

"Sounds like Finn succeeded," Piers ducked his head as the arm sailed towards him.

The final two artillery pieces erupted into a pair of fiery balls.

Finn rushed from a side street along with Carl and Ben. The rookie was quite pleased with his efforts.

"Great work Finn," Chris clasped his hand on the younger man's shoulder.

"Alpha Team this is HQ. Echo Team will be arriving in several minutes. Proceed towards the City Hall."

"Fall out!" Chris took lead as the others fell in and followed their captain down a quiet street. Everyone took advantage of the lapse in fighting to gather their breath. Finn was more confident at this point, walking a little taller as they continued on. Chris was confident he would make a damn fine agent once the green was off his skin.

They scoured the buildings and stairwells, practicing restraint when approaching a corner or dark corridor. Piers rushed out taking lead as Chris searched back. The echoes of footsteps treaded across their ears. Immediately they assumed battle ready stances with guns raised at the growing shadows across the wall. One was female and the other male.

"Sherry Birkin- National Security!"

A petite slender woman with short layered hair came from the south. She was clad in a white hooded coat with fur trim and tight pants that hugged her legs. Her stride was confident and calm as her badge was flashed like it would protect her from gunfire. Her companion was a male, Caucasian with shaved red hair and a distinct scar along his left cheek. But it was the eyes that snared Chris. They looked….familiar in a way.

"What?" The man caught Chris's curious stare.

"Nothing," he shook off the sensation but it clung to his mind.

"Captain," Piers stepped forward, "That man's a wanted criminal." The insignia of the rebel group blared on his sleeve.

"Yes he's a mercenary but he's under the protection of the US Government. He's not a threat to anyone," Sherry intervened before Piers could move closer.

"Not unless someone pays me to be," the man flicked a snowflake off his jacket.

"What did you just say?" Piers went for the mercenary but Chris pulled him back.

"Piers," Chris barked his name.

"Alpha Team this is HQ! A second large bogey is headed your direction! It's over you right now!"

Everyone jerked their heads up to see the massive chopper hauling a bundle of flesh that had a metallic probe waving from its head. It beat in sync with its heart or whatever it was that kept it alive. It knocked down an old town home as the impressive frame collided with weak stone and decayed wood. The harness that held it strained and whitened from the pressure of the cumbersome weight. The beast was unceremoniously dropped in the middle of the street then rose upon its clawed feet and stocky legs. The belly protruded outward like it eaten a large boulder.

"Not again," Chris took aim. "Sherry, take cover! We'll talk later!"

"Alpha Team, there is a metallic probe on the organ that is keeping this thing alive. Take it out!"

"Ben and Finn go right! Carl and Andy to right!"

Chris, Piers, the stranger, and Sherry charged through the building behind them. Chris remembered the way the other creature reacted when it was stabbed through the protruding organ. Piers took position in front as Sherry and the stranger fell behind.

"Son of a bitch." Piers opened fire first enraging the thing. It went for the marksman, curling its constricting hold around the center of his torso.

"Piers!" Chris shot at the thing's chest and shoulders as his marksman struggled and fought for every breath.

I am not losing him! I made a promise!

Sherry and the mercenary took aim, careful not to strike the human writhing in the bone crushing grip. The bullets vanished into the bulk of flesh and skin distracting it long enough for Piers to slip from certain death and towards safety. He rolled to the right as its foot slammed down to the street missing its target.

"Not today," he muttered.


Alex dozed lightly on the couch as Claire had departed for home. She promised to be back tomorrow with her gift before dragging her out to Jill's for dinner. Alex didn't want to go anywhere as Chris could be back at base camp any time and she would miss him. Her gift for him sat on the dresser; a Saint Michael's medallion. He was the patron saint of military and law enforcement and she knew he would love it.

As she slept in the secure warmth, the scope was trained on the balcony.

"She's alone," the man relayed over the phone.

"Remain on standby. Right now the orders are to observe."

"Roger that," he pushed the button killing the connection. His partner stayed frozen along the roof, fixed on the balcony in the center of the building.

"The boss says to keep observing until orders come down."

The other one remained silent. He wondered if the man ever took the helmet and mask off. His body was masked by the uniform and bulletproof vest. His partner was a man of few words though his actions spoke more than what was necessary. His record in Raccoon City was impressive as he had procured the G-Virus from the late Dr. Birkin and now was perched across from the residence of one of their worst enemies.