The night crept by me slowly and I barely managed to get a bit of a nap. I was so tired but my mind was too active to allow me any peace. There's been too much going on, too much to think about. I was so tired, I just wanted to stop thinking. I wished for my brain to reach critical and shut down again but it wouldn't. I thought about asking if I could get a special delivery of some form of sleeping aid but figured maybe that wasn't a good idea. I just needed a little more time to adapt to this and I would be fine.

I groaned and sat up in bed, not accustomed to lazing around all day. I glared at my surroundings as I came to the realization that I once again had nothing to do today. I was so used to a routine and so much work to be done or a mission to set off on but here, there was absolutely nothing to do and it was already driving me nuts. There was the matter of that letter to address but that was a load I hadn't finished sifting through last night and I really wasn't in the mood to continue.

I decided on a quick workout in my room and a shower. I went to make coffee but stopped at the last second and decided on a bottle of water from the fridge instead, figuring I didn't need to give my body another reason to stay up. Was I actually hoping for a nap? Not really but I was already exhausted and anxious, I didn't need to add onto that. While I was in the kitchen, my stomach ached and I tried to think back to the last time I ate though I wasn't able to recall. I searched through all the food and though there was plenty to eat and I liked most of it, I just didn't have an appetite so I decided I could wait a little longer.

About to head back to my room, I glanced over to Wesker's cell door and decided to let him out in case I wasn't back out for the rest of the day. Once I unlocked and opened his door, his eyes turned to me expectantly from his bed. I was momentarily confused before remembering he said we could talk in the morning if I wanted to. Maybe he thought that's what I was here for. I did want to, just not now, I was too exhausted. To show this without having to speak to him, I simply turned to walk away.

"Chris." he called after me so I stopped with a sigh and turned back to face him as he sat up in bed. "Did you not want to discuss my letter?" he asked almost hesitantly and I rubbed at my eyes in annoyance. Usually he was so good at picking up on every little thing and I was sure he got the message so why was he second guessing it?

"Maybe later." I started to turn but was again stopped.

"May I have it back then?" he looked a little more stern like I wasn't allowed to refuse.

"Fine, whatever." I snapped, not in the mood for his intimidation tactics. They didn't work on a normal day and being in a bad mood meant that all it did was piss me off more. I was finally allowed to turn around and head back to my room though I heard his footsteps on the hardwood floor following me. I groaned in irritation but decided it was fine since it saved me a trip back to his cell. I unlocked my door and stepped in, looking back to make sure he stopped at the door which he did. He glanced in and looked around a bit as I grabbed the papers from my desk, walking back over to hand them to the blonde. He took them and made sure all three pages were there as if I would try to keep any of them and I rolled my eyes.

"Have you gotten any sleep?" he asked before I could shut the door and I glared at him for continuing to interact with me. Even if I had gotten sleep, I still didn't want to interact with him right now so being in a shit mood was definitely not helping.

"No." I growled, hoping that would be the end of it.

"Have you eaten?"

"Don't interrogate me!" I shouted before slamming my door in his face and locking it. I was glad that he didn't try to talk to me through the door so I threw myself into bed. I just wanted to be left alone but of course that's when he chooses to play mother hen. As if he actually cared. He probably saw it was the best way to piss me off more right now and wanted to mess with me, as per usual. And it was working.

… … …

I was lucky that sleep did find me, though not enough as I was still tired when I woke up. I didn't feel as irritable though so that was good. Instead of getting up, I rolled over and closed my eyes again. It's not like I had a reason to get up so maybe it would be fine to be lazy for now. But then panic arose in my chest when I realized I smelled smoke and something burning. I shot out of bed, taking a moment to retrieve my gun from the safe before rushing out of my room. Wesker was in the kitchen standing by the stove and I raised my gun to him.

"Wesker!" I shouted as he turned to see me though he didn't appear to be worried.

"Chris." he greeted casually before turning back to what he was doing. I could see now that he had something in a pan which was on fire and he held it up to the vent above the stove. Was he trying to cook and set the poor food on fire? Though I'd never actually seen the man cook before, it was hard to imagine that he could fail so spectacularly at anything. I stepped closer without lowering my gun.

"What are you doing?" I asked carefully as I tried to peer up at what was in the pan but it was raised too high for me to see.

"Burning the letter I gave to you last night." he answered simply and I let out a tense breath as I finally let my gun drop to my side. He wasn't trying to set the prison on fire or anything so I could handle this without it.

"Why?" my voice was still tired and maybe I spoke too soon about no longer being grumpy, that or Wesker was bringing it on again.

"Nothing of what I give to you will survive." he looked at me with a smirk. "Best get used to this." given the nature of his letters, I could see why he would want to destroy them so I tried to put it out of mind. Still I was sure he was enjoying the panic it put me in. I sighed again and tucked my weapon into the waistline of the front of my pants so it would be less accessible to Wesker just in case.

"I have a lighter and there's a metal trash can in your cell." I told him. "Instead of ruining the new pans, how about you ask me if there's another way first?" I stepped up to him, accidentally brushing shoulders with him as I reached up to snatch the pan from him. I turned on the water in the sink and put out the fire before brushing away the tiny remnants of the paper before cleaning the pan. I heard a click and figured Wesker had turned off the stove. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him lean back against the counter and fold his arms. He was watching me. "So do you want to talk about it now?"

"I was under the impression you didn't want to." he was messing with me again so I rolled my eyes in an irritated huff.

"You know I was tired and in a bad mood." I corrected him. "I said later and it's later."

"Very well. Where would you like to start?"

"I already know about Project W, there was plenty of information about it scattered around the mansion." I finished with the pan and grabbed a paper towel to dry it off.

"Do you pity me?" he asked and I looked at him like he had just grown a second head.

"No." I stated harshly. "What happened to you when you were young doesn't justify anything you did." The pan was dry so I put it away and threw the paper towel in the trash. "But it did fill in some gaps." I removed my gun from its temporary spot, wordlessly walked back to my room to put it away, returned to the kitchen to see Wesker hadn't moved, and mimicked his stance to get comfortable. "I don't think you're a god." I continued as I shook my head. "You're an egotistical superhuman, that's for sure, but you being a god sounds like something that came out of a comic book." I couldn't help but chuckle which seemed to sour Wesker's mood slightly as he was now glaring at me. I cleared my throat and got back on topic. "I think I picked up that you decided you aren't a god either…" I trailed off in question and with a sigh that bordered on regret, the blond nodded. "I'm glad." I said with a subtle nod of my own. I glanced at him to see he had a brow raised and realized what I just said. "I mean, if you thought you were some kind of god, it would be more trouble for the rest of the world. Who knows what you would do?" I rushed to explain and he seemed to think about it, bringing a hand to his chin as he looked at the ground.

"Spencer spoke of creating a new world of a more worthy race. Perhaps I could have done so myself to prove I was the worthy god." he stated and I frowned as something in my chest ached at his admission.

"And you said killing Spencer was your first act of free will. Even if you were the god instead of him, how would making his vision a reality be your will?" I asked softly and his inhuman eyes snapped to mine with a look as if I had solved some impossible problem he had been working on. I looked away as I scratched the back of my neck. I didn't want him to call me out on the sadness I spoke with or the fact that it made it sound like I cared about what he did with his newfound free will so I continued talking. "Anyway, I also just wanted to say… thanks… again, I guess." I stood straighter. "I'm sure you're probably just bullshitting about sparing me back then but you did save Jill." he didn't say anything so I cleared my throat and took an awkward breath. "I'm going back to my room now." he simply nodded and let me go. He continued to stand there as I made my way back to my room, still thinking over what I had said though I didn't fully understand what that impossible problem of his was.

I laid back in bed though I was far too awake now and my mind was back at it. Honestly when I read the implication that he didn't want to kill me back in the mansion, I instantly called bullshit. But then I started thinking back on our past encounters and all the times he definitely could have killed me but didn't, always seeming more interested in messing with me instead. Sure I tried my best not to make it easy for him but there were no doubt plenty of opportunities for him to just end me before I even realized he was there. Like on Rockford Island when I went to rescue Claire, I didn't even know for sure that he was still alive. He appeared behind me in a room and called out to me when he could have just shot me in the back of the head and been done with it. Or even as far back as the original betrayal, he had his gun pointed at me and it was part of his mission to kill me but instead he wanted to so his little show and tell thing. At the time I wrote it off as wanting to test his creation he was so proud of, especially after the offended glare he set on me when I laughed at him over it. But I wasn't the only one there to test it on, he used Barry, locked Jill up, and even shot Rebecca when they all could have been put against it too. I was the last one to face him yet I was the one he chose to reveal it to, he even said he was proud of me. So that begged the question… why me?

My head was hurting again so I decided to leave it at that for now. I got up to turn on the tv though I continued to lay in bed. I was only idly watching whatever was on, gratefully that my mind was finally slipping into a hazy zone between consciousness and sleep as I spaced out. Perhaps I was finally going critical and would be able to get some real sleep. Then there was a knock at my door. I groaned but didn't move, my hatred for Wesker suddenly intensifying. It was like he knew I was finally calming down and purposefully came to interrupt. He better hope he just has the worst timing.

"I'll leave these here." Wesker's voice called through the door before there was nothing. Guess he was giving me another letter. I tried to ignore it for now, telling myself I would read it later. I tried… and failed. Curiosity won out and I got up to retrieve them, unlocking and opening my door to find a few torn out pages at my feet. I picked them up and looked around for Wesker but didn't see him. From my door I could see into his cell, I could see his bathroom and the dresser and part of the bed but not the desk so that's where I assumed he was. It was still early but I didn't think I would be back out so I went to lock him in for the night. "Chris." I peeked in to find that he was indeed at his desk writing again. "You really should eat something." he advised without looking at me. I rolled my eyes.

"What about you? I haven't seen you eat since you've been here." I retorted but he still didn't turn.

"I don't require sustenance as often as you do." he informed me and I huffed before shutting and locking his door. Despite wanting to ignore him, now that he mentioned food my stomach was hurting again. It really had been some time since I had anything to eat. I went rummaging through the food again but found that I was still lacking an appetite. Before long I was heading back to my room with a bag of chips. I swore to myself that I would eat a real meal tomorrow… at the very least, I'd make some toast and maybe some eggs.

I sat in bed with my chips, a new water bottle, and Wesker's letter. This one had 'Jill's Birthday' written at the top and I think I knew what it was going to be about. Jill had split up with another boyfriend just shy of her birthday and she was feeling pretty down, she didn't even want to do anything for her special day. Being her best friend, I couldn't allow that. So I got the team together to throw her a massive party at the office since our local cop bar would probably be too crowded to do it there. I had to plead with Wesker all week to allow it which was a whole process of slowly breaking him down by never letting up even when he finally yelled at me. I almost laughed at the memory because I had never seen the man look so utterly defeated by the time he finally agreed.

~ ... ~ ... ~ ... ~

There was a hurried knock on my door and I called for whoever it was to come in. Looking up from my work, I watched my pointman rush in as he looked around behind him before closing the door. I raised a brow at this but waited for the young man to approach my desk and tell me what was going on.

"Okay don't say no but-"

"No." I cut him off in irritation before turning back to the report on my desk. No doubt Chris was up to some scheme again and wanted my approval to do something reckless. The first time I had blindly granted him permission to anything, he wanted access to the roof. I figured he just wanted somewhere to smoke that was more to himself only to later discover that he, Joseph, and Forest had been dropping water balloons onto unsuspecting pedestrians. I learned better than to make assumptions about his motives behind anything after that. Whenever he approached me with a request, I had to factor in many different things before I eventually found a pattern in his shenanigans. He was at least efficient when there was work to be done so I found I could trust something he needed more during busy times. However, if we had a lull in cases and not much to do, he got bored and found annoying ways to entertain himself. This was such a time so I knew better than to play into his tomfoolery.

"But Captain-"

"I'm sure there is some extra work I can find for you if you're feeling bored Chris." I interrupted his whining. "I still have plenty of work to do so I'm in no mood to listen to your whims. Now, if you would." I gestured behind him to the door which he spared a glance at before his eyes found mine again as he shook his head.

"No, no, I've still got work." he quickly corrected me and I raised my brow. "Jill's birthday is next week and she's feeling pretty down about some stuff." he explained and I sighed as I folded my arms and leaned back in my chair. He was going to talk whether I wanted to listen or not. "I want to throw a big party for her to cheer her up but the bar is too small and none of our places would be a good place for it." Chris wore a sheepish look though he smiled innocently.

"You want me to approve the use of the office for this party." it was a statement, not a question.

"Yes." his smile widened.

"No." I told him again and took a small amount of joy in the way he deflated.

"But it's Jill's birthday." he argued weakly.

"I have no intention of allowing you all to wreck our workspace." my team was tactical and professional on the job but after hours, they all seemed to change. I always found it best to avoid their get togethers to avoid a headache.

"We won't." the younger man tried to reassure me but I was no fool.

"There will be alcohol, yes?"

"Well, yeah, I mean it's a birthday party and we're all adults." he scratched at his neck, seeming to know where this was going.

"Who's going to be responsible for supervising you lot when you're reduced to staggering children? And don't say you will as we've been down that road before."

"Barry." it was a readied answer.

"Has he agreed to that?" knowing the man my own age liked to be more involved in such occasions, I found it difficult to believe he would be any better at supervising than any of the others. Even if he likely would be more sober as he had a family to go home to, he enjoyed the 'American pastime' of destroying things more than I was comfortable with. There was an incident with a can of first aid spray and a lighter… we don't speak of it.

"I'll talk to him." Chris was too hesitant on that answer so I knew he was second guessing his choice as well.

"My answer is still no."

"Come on, don't be like that." he pouted. "I'm just trying to help Jill out."

"No Chris, that's final. Have your party elsewhere." I stated with authority and the brunet visibly slouched. "Now get back to work." I told him as I got back to it myself.

"What if-"

"Goodbye Redfield." he huffed in disappointment and left my office.

I thought that would be the end of it but I was sorely mistaken. The next day after I returned from running an errand, there was a cup of coffee sitting on my desk with a sticky note attached to it. 'Saturday night?' I exhaled heavily and tossed the note away. I still drank the coffee, attaching a new note that simply read 'NO' before leaving the empty cup on his desk as I happened to be passing. I heard him groan as I walked away.

Each day was something new accompanied by his persistent pleading. Whether he challenged me at the shooting range, attempted to bribe me, or simply annoyed me into giving in. He picked a rather bad moment on the fourth day because I had just left a meeting with Chief Irons and the repulsive man had me in a foul mood. After Chris had brought the subject up once more, I yelled at him and even threatened his job if he so much as spoke another word. He left immediately. I almost felt regretful until he dared to step into my office again about an hour later with a fresh cup of coffee and a donut.

"Chris." my voice was a low warning as I held my head in my hand. Why wouldn't he just give up already?

"I'm not here for that, promise." he spoke quickly as he sat in the chair on the other side of my desk, placing the items he carried onto the surface. "I wanted to apologize. I should've been more considerate and not pushed so hard." I stared at him with an accusing gaze as he fidgeted in his seat but said no more. I sighed and accepted the coffee though I made no move for the treat as I wasn't inclined to sweets.

"You're stubborn, especially when it concerns those you care about. I already knew this about you." I said as I sipped the hot drink.

"Yeah, you say it's one of my bad traits." Chris chuckled lightly to himself as he scratched at his neck, an all too obvious nervous habit.

"Not always." I corrected and he looked at me in confusion. "Stubbornness can be viewed as determination and that's one of your best qualities." he only seemed more confused.

"So then is pestering you about the party a… good or bad thing?" I sighed deeply again at his mention and placed my head onto the cool surface of my desk where there weren't papers in the way.

"Chris if I say yes to your party idea, will you leave me alone about it forever?" now I was the one pleading which really seemed to brighten his day, though I'm sure only due to my affirmative answer. I didn't hear a response from him so I lifted my head to see he was nodding happily.

"Um- I mean, yes sir, you won't hear another peep outta me!" he smiled broadly and saluted me as he stood.

"Dismissed." I waved him away before rubbing at my temples. He left me, possibly to start- or more likely to finish planning with the others.

Of course I ended up attending the party Saturday night along with the whole of STARS to be the watchful eye. Chris lured Jill in with false information about a case. When the pair walked into the darkened office, Chris flipped on the light and everyone shouted 'happy birthday'. I remained in the corner of the room and kept to myself. Jill was shocked and happy, hugging everyone in thanks though shook my hand. After a few drinks she was bold enough to tease Chris about what he had to do to get me to agree to this. The man's face went red and his gaze turned to me sharply before quickly returning to glare at her, it brought a playful smirk to my face at least.

I must say that the whole night went rather smoothly, I only had to intervene on a few dangerous bets and stop Joseph from smashing his computer as he yelled 'fuck the system'. I was tempted to force the party to an early close after that but Chris found his way to my side and gently nudged me with his arm.

"Thank you for letting us do this. Jill seems much happier now." he smiled in the woman's direction who was laughing over something with Barry and Richard. I had learned over the week that my lockpick had broken it off with her boyfriend which was why she was upset. Though I hadn't actually noticed, I was glad to see her enjoying herself.

"Yes, I hear heartbreak can be rather stressful." I spoke coldly, remembering William's beginning attempts at courting an uninterested Annette.

"You've never been in love?" Chris asked and I scoffed.

"No. I don't have time for such nonsense." I stated which seemed to give the younger man some thought. Jill called for the marksman's attention and he motioned to her that he would be there in a moment.

"Well maybe you just haven't found the right person yet." he moved so he was standing in front of me, lifting himself just slightly to press his lips to my cheek. It was quick and reeked of booze but his face was redder than it had been a moment ago. "Maybe someday you'll change your mind." he turned and joined up with Jill and the others after that. I stared at him for a while after that in utter astonishment. Me? In love? I had better things to do with my time than waste it on another person. But it didn't feel so bad with him at my side.


Alright we're finally really getting into it now. Hope Everyone is enjoying the story so far and I have a bit of a favor to ask. So when I first thought of doing the whole Wesker letter thing at the end of each chapter/day I had tons of ideas that I either forgot to jot down or simply forgot where I did so. I'm sure I can rethink plenty of things to fill them and still have some though some I can't use until later days. So anyway, I figured if anyone had any suggestions or something they wanted to see, I'd put it in where I could and of course shout out the person it came from. It can be anything from memories of STARS, childhood, recent happenings, his opinion on things, whatever- as long as it fits in the story and aligns with how I portray Wesker. I guess this could also extend to the two's captivity... meh whatever. So hit me up if you got anything for me you'd be willing to share! Thanks and I'll see everyone in the next chapter!