"Chris?"
Jill wakes up at almost 2 AM, Chris is not there with her. She finds a little note from him: he's outside. That note put a smile on her face. Still being sleepy she tucks the blanket up and she closes her eyes. Her brain is keeping processing thoughts about the day, the psychiatric visit, the future. Her stomach feels tight and the heartbeat is a little faster. Worry thoughts, anxiety but, somehow, hope too. That body of hers felt like a cage since her staying at the BSAA medical facility, her mind has been alternating moments of exhaustion, sadness, despair but also happiness, love, strenght. The healing process is still at its beginning. Luckily, she's not alone in this process since there's her trusted companion. How bad it was not being able to get up from that bed, that forced rest has been a pain in the ass. Her hands are posed on her chest, right on the injured skin covered by the bandage. Her fingers tap there and it seems less painful to touch, her hands go down until the lung biopsy surgery's cutted area, then lower to her abs where she was cut for the other biopsy. The painkillers she's taking are numbing her pain, by now she's already used to that burning sensation down to her hand veins. A sigh of tiredness comes out from her mouth. "Everything will be alright" she says in her mind. A little smile, thinking about how lucky they are, how lucky is she with so many people taking care of her. That experience in Africa seemed unjust, unfair right from the beginning but that though was slowly fading. It could be some kind of self defence mechanism but she simply didn't thought that much anymore about that traumatic period of her life. Maybe it's also the physical discomfort that is overshadowing that past. She thinks about when she was saved. Her sweet smile is showing relief. How many things she has been living since the first zombie outbreak, she's still alive against all odds. The door opens, it must be him. Footsteps coming closer, the sound of grocery bags being left on the floor, that leather jacket rustling, his audible breath breaking the silence together with the machines beeps. She barely sees him, it looks like he's reclining the armchair before sleeping on it.
"Hey..." Her hand is trying to reach him, her voice is weak from the sleepiness.
"Are you still awake Jill?" Soft spoken, Chris goes close to her kissing her cheek.
"Can you sleep here by my side?"
"It's not enough for two people. We're not going to sleep well."
"I'll make room for you, come on."
"What if something happens to you?"
"Just stay here for a while and then you'll sleep on the armchair."
Chris lays by her side under the blanket, sharing the same pillow. He sees the profile of her face slightly illuminated by fieble lights. He's holding himself from falling down by wrapping his arms around her waist.
"I'm so tired but I'm glad I did that walk. I needed to just think about nothing for a while."
"Yeah Chris, bought something good?"
"I did. Tomorrow you'll see."
Jill carefully lies to the side, their faces are close, her arm grabs his waist to keep him more firm. She pulls him closer, stroking his cheeks covered by the growing beard. Their breaths are in synch.
"Chris..."
"Yeah?"
"I want to do something but you have to promise that you're not going to hate me."
"I'll promise after."
Her hand on his nape, she kisses his lips. He doesn't stop, she keeps going for a while.
That kiss, one of those between teens. Sweet, gentle, kind, full of love.
He grabs her waist closer to him, slow caresses up and down to her back. Wires and tubes all around but who cares. Still going with a slow pace and a lot of intimacy. Their friendship, their partnership, their emotional closeness, their melancholy, their fears, everything inside of them comes out in that kiss. So light yet so powerful and meaningful. Jill slowly stops the kiss, moving a little back to look at him. Chris strokes her straight and soft hair.
"Are you going to hate me?" Her voice is tender and caring.
"No." He's smiling. "Lay back, it must be uncomfortable to lay on your side."
"I'm ok Chris. Don't worry."
Chris is still cuddling her. What did just happen? She kissed him. His heart beats fast. Lots of thoughts wander in his head, that kiss felt so familiar yet it shocked him. Something inside of him just burst. Streams of new feelings towards her are flowing inside of him. Love is growing more and more. What about her? Red cheeks, too dark to even notice but easy to imagine. Hers are warm as well when he touches her face.
"Jill, want some more?" Her heartbeat raised its pace again, lucky for him he wasn't monitored as she is.
She grabs him closer to tell him to go but he makes her lay on her back. He climbs over her, his hands gently wrapped around her waist to feel her heartbeat under his fingers then he gives her one short light kiss on her lips.
"Chris..." She wished it was longer.
"Wait for tomorrow, it's past 3 AM. Time to sleep."
Chris lays on his armchair, a kiss on her cheek, one arm around her.
"Goodnight Chris, I..."
"Yeah I love you too, goodnight."
They both laugh before falling asleep almost immediately.

Rain is pouring outside, thunder and bolts wake her up around 6 AM.
Outside is dark grey. Jill stares at the white ceiling while thinking about what happened some hours before. She loves him and there was no way to contain it anymore. How crazy was she with that kiss? They were probably to sleepy to think about stuff. That was was she wanted, same thing for him. There was no reason to think about it that much. He kept her waiting for "some more", is he going to kiss her again? She doesn't feel comfortable without the darkness, it's not easy to feel beautiful in that state. Blonde hair, not her favourite choice but they weren't that bad. Those gave her some confidence but she couldn't wait to come back to her natural chestnut color. She slowly turns towards Chris to see him, he's covered by his blanket up to his nose facing her with one hand still on hers. It's not so easy to move but she manages to brush his hair with her fingers. Nurses enter in the room, she greets them and they proceed to clean and medicate her wounds. They lower her garments down to her hips, every bandage is removed and disinfectant is applied to every wound. It burns. She closes her eyes tightly because of the pain but the nurses comfort her tenderly. The healing ointments is spread before covering the wounds with new bandages. They tell her that the wounds are healing, the chest injury is much lighter as well. She's quite self conscious about that one even though it's also a kind of military badge that reminds her that she survived. The nurses take off her neck brace and change it with another one that is already clean, then they help her to stand on her feet towards the bathroom where she tries to wash herself alone. She sees her reflection in the mirror: pale, wounded, blonde, too thin, blue eyes. A mess but still not bad. She wears her clean white scrubs and goes back to her bed, once again helped by the nurses that also put the oxygen tube in her nose and connect all the wires to her. Once they're gone Jill decides to take another nap for a bunch of hours out of boredom.

Minutes before 8 AM, Chris wakes up.
He goes straight to the shower and changes his clothes with those extra ones he brought. His reflction on the mirror, he thinks about that kiss and he's not able to avoid a tender smile. That gesture of hers just left him happy. Back to the room he looks at her for a while, so lucky to have her. He then goes near the window to look at the outside storm. Before the office opens he goes downstairs to bring his laptop to the room in order to continue the Uroboros report while she sleeps. His excitement has boosted his productivity. He's still not ready to work full time, his mind has yet to recover before having to deal with other biohazards or other missions. Chris loves his job, he loves to save the world but after the last mission he just feels tired. He gave it all of his physical and mental strenght since the beginning in '98. Too many things happened, too many things he saw, his life, his sister and his partners lives have been under threat, too many friends didn't make it, betrayals as well. He did that much for the humankind and he feels the pressure of keep doing it. He's still a human being though, not an invincible steel superhero. Thank God he has Jill and Claire too. Without them he couldn't last that long. He starts writing the report while listening to some good old rock music with his earphones to set his mood.
Time's flying, he already wrote a lot. Chris is giving it all after he has been listening to Queen, Green Day, Bon Jovi. It's almost 10 AM.
Jill wakes up from the nap, she notices that he's too focused to care about the outside world. The music coming out from the earphones is that loud that can be heard in distance as well. She calls him, vainly with no response. Her hand strokes his arm, he puts off his earphones.
"Hey Jill, did you called me before? Sorry if I didn't notice."
"Don't worry my dear."
Chris closes his laptop, he puts it away on a small table. He's in his bed now, grabbing her face softly and kissing her. He kept his word. Jill hugs him tighly pushing him towards her. Charming, captivating kiss on her plumpy bottom lip. Their breaths are slighltly heavy, both trying to contain it. Their lips together, like two opposed magnets. He moves away from her, his gaze observing her beautiful face and her blue eyes. She looks down and smiles feeling a little bit uncomfortable, he cannot believe he kissed her as well. Suddendly she's crying, Chris just hugs her tenderly.
"Jilly, what's wrong?"
"It's just too beautiful to me, all of this."
"Don't make me cry too. A lot is happening, I need to organize thoughts in my head."
"Yeah, same with me. Oh gosh..."
"Am I dreaming? A blonde Jill kissed me. Are you for real?"
"Chris, you're my boyfriend now." She says in a high-pitched ironic voice.
"I'm your life partner, just let's stick with that."
"Yeah, agree. Life partner."
"How could a Texan like you ignore my massive biceps?"
"Shut up Chris, this stereotype related joke is out of my taste."
They laugh like they often do. Having fun since the old days.
"Oh yeah, I forgot. You are more Frenchie than Texan."
"Neither, but both at the same time. I'm much more French since I've lived with my dad."
"I know. Most of your culture is very French. I remember when you listened to those old rock songs in french while you drive your car."
"Yeah, Johnny Hallyday. My dad missed his land, he never found his luck in the States. He barely spoke in english, even with me. All the beers were French, the food was French: Pot-au-feu, boudin, ratatouille on the side. I often prepared this stuff by myself. Same with the music as you said, he used to listen to some sixties french music that sometimes sounded very sad..."
"I love when you tell me your stories."
Chris makes her smile, he cuddles her for some time. Her past has always been to fascinating to him. With a such troubled childhood, her criminal activities influenced by his dad, her reckless life, the change of mind she had when she decided to work with justice instead of working against it. She has been giving him big lessons of life and she helped him to understand the criminal's mind as well, which is useful in their field. Nobody is born criminal, lack of possibilities in life leads people to become criminals. When Barry gave her the chance to change her life entirely she accepted: no more robbing from that day on. Lots of training, hard work but the chance of living a clean life. Even though it came in handy to use her old tricks which gave her the "Master of unlocking" title. That amazes him. Jill suddendly freezes.
"Damn Chris, something is drippin'. I'm sure I've just got my period."
"Should I call the nurses?"
"I saw some pads in the bathroom's cabinet."
Chris takes one of her panties, rushing to the bathroom he opens one pad placing it on the panties. He runs to her and gives it to her. Jill struggles to completely slide her panties off.
"Do you need help?"
"Yeah please, but don't watch."
Chris slides her panties off and puts the clean ones with the pad down to her knees, then she lifts them all the way up.
"I'm trowing those in the laudry basket."
"Thanks, sorry for this."
"There's no problem with that. I used to do this all the time when Claire was a kid. I knew nothing but eventually some high school friends told me stuff and I've learned. Those girls talked with Claire on the phone to tell her what to do. " He laughs making Jill laugh as well.
"She was lucky, I knew nothing. One day I saw my panties stained in blood and I didn't know what to do. It was during the summer, I told my dad about what was happening. He told me that I was growing up fast. We went to a supermarket and he stole one box of pads hiding it under his jacket."
Chris laughs in shock, but he knows that it was normal in her household.
"That's crazy Jill, how many pads boxes did you stole?"
"I never bought pads until my twenties. After some years from my first period I switched to tampons so it was even easier to stole those."
"They never caught you, never."
"I stole cellphones, watches, cash from cash registers, clothes, cheap jewellery, everything. But I look like an angel so they never caught me."
"You are under arrest Jill Valentine." Chris jokes.
"Too many years have passed, I've paid my dues through my job."
"Yeah, I know well. Let's eat something, I'm hungry."
"Same here, I'm curious about what you bought yesterday."
He brings stuff from the grocery bag: soft puffy bread, water canned tuna and mayonnaise single-dose bags. He prepares sandwiches for both. The drink of the day is Coca Cola. Sodas are quite hated by Chris because of the sugar levels but sometimes is allowed to cheat. The two eat their meal.
"It's good, isn't it?"
"Yummy. I like simple meals like this. Thanks."
"I've got something else after you finish."
Time to finish and he brings a pack of chocolate chip cookies to her.
"That's the stuff I like Chris!"
"I love these too, I've been avoiding sweets for a long time."
After the little snack Chris plays his guitar. Some good eighties and nineties rock music that he played since high school. Songs of their childhood, early teen years. Nirvana, RHCP, Smashing Pumpkins, Oasis, Queen, everything they love. They're chilling and having a good time, Chris is letting himself off by playing those chords quickly, Jill is just there enjoying. After more than hour he says goodbye to her and goes to his home to clean his clothes and to put his stuff at place. For the evening he's going to come back to her. Jill turns on the TV and watches some cartoons at the children's channel. Everything is going better. Animes from the eighties were broadcasted and she remembers about the times she saw them as a little kid, precious moments. Chris, from his home, prepares the diinner and the lunch for the next day while he waits for the washing machine to finish cleaning his clothes. After that he takes a warm long shower, he wears warmer clothes for the evening and takes some time to relax on his sofa while watching the TV as well.
6 PM, Chris gets up. Everything he has to bring to Jill is in his backpack, other than food there's also his change of clothes, their photo album they have since '96, a Polaroid camera and a blank notebook for her. He's out and ready to catch the bus to the BSAA.
Chris enters her room and they greet each other.
He shows her the things he brought for her, making her super happy. With a Polaroid in his hands he gets closer to her taking a picture of her eyes, she doesn't want to be portraited but he has this artistic inspiration to fulfil. A close zoom of her eyes, both of her hands covering her face up to the nose. He waits for the picture to emerge, he takes a black permanent marker and writes there: "Jill, my lifetime partner." with a little heart on the side. She has been looking at all the pictures of the thick photobook with him in the meantime. Every picture had its caption, they're first picture together was taken when she just arrived in the S.T.A.R.S. team, the following ones were capturing them chilling after work or during weekends. Eating out, going to cinemas, concerts, marksmanship training sessions, their travels. The last picture: 2006 new year's eve. She was wearing gold glasses shaped in a 2006's shape, both were drinking champagne. Her elegant sequined blue dress was covered by a green sweater he had. Chris was wearing a simple white shirt. Once the Polaroid was ready he attaches it on a new page's adhesive side. With a pen he writes under "Day 5 at the BSAA lab. Jill Valentine kissed me and now she's my girlfr... lifetime partner!"
They just outburst in laughs, Chris kisses her. After a while they eat dinner: tacos with smoked salmon and veggies. They enjoy their dinner and talk about the afternoon. Jill tells him how she enjoyed binge-viewing old cartoons, she finds out than, other than doing the laundry and cooking, he chilled on the sofa looking at the TV. Nothing interesting. Dinner is over, they cuddle and kiss. Their eyes are glowing, they whisper about how much they love each other. Happiness is all over the sky, they feel more alive than ever. In TV they find out a cool movie is going to be broadcasted: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. The two watch the movie until the end having fun and laughing. It's 9.33 PM, the movie is over. Chris helps Jill to get up and together go to the bathroom to brush their teeth before going to sleep. He brought a comfy pajama to wear, Jill takes her sweater and wears it helped by Chris. They're both back in the room, she's on her bed, he's on the armchair ready to sleep, quite tired.
"What a crazy day, right Jill?"
"Yeah, an amazing crazy day with my boyfr...lifetime partner."
"I mean, nothing really changes between us. We're just closer now."
"Our relationship has always been perfect to me, there's nothing to change."
"I love you Jill, that's actually an understatement. You are my life."
"Well...it's the same for me too."
"I always loved you, now I love you even more."
"I love you even more since 2005."
"Seriously? I thank you that you waited until now. I couldn't bare to know that after loosing you."
"Yeah Chris, I can imagine."
"I will never forget when you saved my life, almost killing yourself."
"I didn't thought, I saw you close to death and I just ran."
"I owe you everything."
"Don't even say that Chris. You just owe me a bunch of bullets."
"Consider it already done. By the way, let's sleep now."
"Yeah Chris, let's sleep. Goodnight my lifetime partner."
"Goodnight to you, my lifetime partner."