The Devil's Bargain

Twelve:

Better off Friends

Raccoon City, 1997

Jill tossed him the giant banana and straddled the bench across from him. She put her hands on his legs above his knees and rubbed. "Thanks for today. I can't remember having more fun."

"You bet."

"You mad that I won the banana?"

"I feel vaguely emasculated, yes. But I'll check to see if my ego can survive it."

Jill laughed and slapped his legs as she rose. She started by him and stopped. And then she dropped her hand, took his chin and turned his face up to her. She kissed him, eyes open.

Surely she was aware anyone they knew could be around them. She was aware. She just wasn't sure she cared like she should.

She said, quietly, "You had cheese on your mouth."

"Hmm. You get it?"

"Maybe. Maybe I missed it."

"Maybe you should try again."

"Probably not a bad idea." She skimmed her thumb over his mouth. He felt the thump of his heart in his chest. Damnit. "I'm thinking it's ferris wheel time."

"That ride is UBER boring. Why would we ride it?"

"Oh. Because I know how to make it fun."

She leaned down to whisper in his ear. And it was so utterly and completely dirty that he was hard before she even finished speaking. She rose, smiled, and headed toward the ferris wheel.

He waved to Claire and pointed. She was deep in conversation with some skinny guy with a big nose. She waved and gave him the thumbs up.

He didn't even finish his nachos as he raced after Jill. She was laughing as she ran away from him. She ducked into the funhouse and he jumped in after her.

He watched her laugh and run but it was a huge hall of mirrors so he wasn't entirely surely she was anywhere close to where he thought she was. He moved and shifted, turning in the semi darkness. She laughed again and poked out from between two mirrors.

"BOO!"

He backed her into the mirror and kissed her.

Her tummy fell out of her butt. She lifted her hands to cup his face. It didn't stay sweet. It never did with them. Chris was like standing too close to a burning building for her. She had to see how close she could get to the fire without going up in smoke.

He was sex and skin and encompassing greed. Jesus, she thought, as he stole her gasp into his mouth and speared his tongue into her mouth. Jesus.

Voices emerged into their little bubble. It sounded like Claire and possibly…Barry? Jill gasped and pulled back. He had one hand in her pants and was stroking her. She shivered and grabbed his wrist.

"Hey! Flag on the play there, Red. We are no longer ALONE in the funhouse."

He heard the voices too. And he thrust his middle finger into her anyway. She gasped and humped against him. Christ. He wondered if he'd ever get enough of her.

With a regret, he pulled his hands off her. She shivered and fixed her clothes. And along came Barry Burton and his two daughters. Not a moment too soon. Thank god. Or they'd have gotten an education in how babies were made.

They spent the whole day at the fair. They partnered with Barry and his family for awhile. Lost Claire to a handsome guy for a few hours. And tried to figure out how many ways they could get away with groping each other.

It was…was it a date?

It felt like a date. The date part scared her. This was the thing with him: freight train. Even here, even this...he was full steam ahead. She was going to end up in love with him if they didn't just apply some brakes here.

She was panicking a little bit because loving him meant losing him if something went wrong. She wasn't sure she'd survive that.

But it didn't stop her from climbing onto his lap on the ferris wheel. Fate or fortunate luck had the ride halting at the apex of the turn. She slid her panties to the side and tugged him out of his pants to mount him.

They covered each other's mouths to fuck like bunnies with her on top before the ride rolled forward again. His hands slid up her thighs and rolled her hips to help her take him. She could see all of Raccoon City out the side of the gondola, high above the city while she rode his body. They could have glanced at the incredible view, but they were too busy watching each other from inches away.

It was a good day. A great day. She was afraid what it meant if people found out they were together. Would it hurt his career? She was done hurting his career.

Claire had made a remark as Chris was getting hotdogs that lingered in Jill's brain. She'd said, off handedly, "Chris is an idiot sometimes about what's best for him. He has pretty shitty radar for making sound decisions."

Jill had looked over at her and the two had held eyes. There was something vaguely warning in the redhead's tone. Jill had simply nodded, getting the point.

Claire wanted her out of the picture. Could she blame her? Jill wasn't exactly girlfriend material.

When they rolled up to the house, Jill shifted in her seat a little. The rain had driven them away from the parade and the fair. It was steadily pouring again.

She stared out the windshield. And finally, she said, "Are we…dating?"

"Do you feel like we're dating?"

"This is gonna sound stupid but I don't think we should date."

He rolled in the seat to look at her. "Ok. Why?"

"Honestly? We just got REAMED at work for it. We keep up on doing this kind of thing and we're gonna get separated. I do NOT want to end up on Bravo."

"Me either."

"I would die if I got you fired for fucking me, Chris. I would never forgive myself."

"Jill...I can take care of myself. But I don't want you to feel like this is a risk. So if you want to take it easy, we can do that."

She shifted, shrugging once, "I don't want you to end up a joke like me...so maybe we cool it for awhile."

He lifted his brow at her. "Who said you were a joke? And are you breaking up with me?"

"No one. Not exactly...that would mean we were together to start with. Are we? Shit I'm so confused."

"Breathe, Jill. What are you saying here?"

"I would die if I lost you. I would die if this cost you your career...I don't know what to do here. But maybe…we just…"

I would die if I lost you, she said. What was she saying? In what way? He was a simple guy. Was she putting him back in the friendzone? He considered her face. And then he laughed. "You want to be secret sex buddies."

"…ok. Maybe. A little. I don't think we should go flaunting our shit around work anymore. I want you to do well at work, Chris. You deserve it."

"And what about you?"

"I'll never get promoted. We both know that." She started to open the car door and he stopped her.

"Hold on." He ran around in the rain and opened her door. And then he tucked her under his jacket to protect her from the pouring water and ran with her toward the house.

Gentleman.

On the porch, he shook off the water and wiped her face free of it. She grabbed his wrists and looked into his face. "You ok with that?"

"I meant it when I said whatever you want, Jill. Seriously. You need space, I'll give you that. I dig you. I'm not trying to choke you. And you not getting promoted? That's just a cop out because you're too afraid to try. Don't. Go for it. You are better than you give yourself credit for. Play the game, just a little, and you'll have Wesker and the rest of them? Eating out of your hand."

He opened the door and waited for her to pass by him into the house.

"Explain." She instructed as he hung up his wet jacket and moved into the kitchen to get a beer.

"It's diplomacy, darlin. And knowing how to play people. You got me to fuck you on that desk."

"That was just a beret and tits, Red. Not rocket science."

"Some. Yeah." He pictured the beret and the tits and was instantly ready to drill her on the desk again. He laughed a little at himself, "Some of it was just an innate ability to read people. You KNEW you could get me to do it. You have good instincts, Jill. Just use them. And you'll be on your way."

"…thank you."

He shrugged and popped the top on the beer. He offered it to her. She took it and he grabbed another one. He wasn't trying to do anything but speak to the truth to her. His no bullshit? It was perfect. He didn't waste energy flirting or making her feel like the prettiest girl in the room.

That was the trick with Chris. You just KNEW you were the prettiest girl in the room. He told you, straight up, that you were. He didn't have to do anything but just be himself. And that was more than enough to be everything.

Her brain said: You're in love with him.

She studied him as he ate a pickle standing there at the counter looking through the paper. Ok. So she kinda was. She kinda really was. And that was bad. She'd been afraid that would happen.

And he was right. They both wanted Wesker to respect them. They both wanted to do well at this job. It wouldn't work. It wouldn't happen if they kept falling in love with each other.

Claire wanted her out of the picture anyway. And Claire was his world. She couldn't stand there between them like that. She got it, she really did, Claire was just trying to protect her favorite guy in the world.

Could she blame her?

Maybe it was time to throttle it back a little.

"So maybe…maybe we just ease off the gas."

He lifted his eyes to her face. "Define "ease off"."

"I'm kinda afraid of where we're going here."

He tilted his head at her, "Meaning?"

"Like maybe we're getting exclusive? I get...I get the feeling you think I'm your girlfriend."

She was so afraid. He could almost smell it on her. Of what? Being loved. Being wanted. She came from ugly messy roots. He knew that. He knew she was afraid of commitment.

But he'd kinda thought she'd grow to love him anyway.

So he asked, "You want to take a break from this?"

She worried her lip, looking nervous. "Maybe? I don't want to hurt you. I think I might do that if we keep going down this road together."

Oh. He kept his face blank. But there was that drop kick in the heart Claire had mentioned. There it was. Open up chest; kick boot in fucking heart. Boom. Yep. It sucked.

"Ah."

"Don't do that." She lifted her hands a little. "I don't…want to get you in trouble anymore. Ya know?"

"Jill, I'm a big boy. I can decide what's good for me and what isn't."

"I know that. I do. But I couldn't stand it if they put you on Bravo and tanked your career. I want to be…friends ya know? Can we keep doing this and being friends?"

He hated that he kinda agreed with her on that.

"I think so. But if you don't, that's cool. I meant that too, Jill. This? Just you and me here. Doesn't have to be hard or weird. We'll lay off the gas here. And take it easy for awhile."

"Yeah?"

"Sure. No problem."

"Ok…cool. Thanks again for today. I'm gonna hit the sack."

"Awesome. Night."

"Night."

She went into her room and quietly closed the door. He rolled his tongue around his teeth and popped his neck. And then he went out into the garage to beat the shit out of the heavy bag. Someone had put a bug in her ear about him. Who?

Well the answer was easy there, definitely, and the culprit had his eyes.

C-Bear sticking her button nose in where it didn't belong. But that was ok. He could play in the friend zone while Jill bucked up the courage to be his girl. He was a patient guy.

He whoopied Jill at work Monday morning. In hindsight, she should have seen it coming. They were back to being buddies.

She should have been prepared.

It was Monday morning whoopie time. She went to inspect the board. She came back…whoopied. The flatulent fart filled the office and had Joseph laughing.

Brad giggled. Joseph shook his head. Barry said, "Why does that never get old?"

Jill pursed her lips. Chris shrugged.

Had she thought all the sweet lovemaking would soften him?

His eyes sparkled at her. Did she really want it to? No. They weren't together. They were…just pals. Or something.

Just two dudes hanging out. One of them just happened to be a girl.

So when he started to fall asleep reading reports, she kicked his chair. And down he went. He pinwheeled his arms and went over onto his back.

Yep. Just buddies.

At noon, she went to the mat. Chris came with her. She said, "I want you to really try to hit me. I keep losing to Wesker. I need to stop losing."

"I'm the wrong guy to help you. I can't even hit him. Why would I be able to help you do it?"

"You think there's anyone in the world good enough to fight him? No. But you're the best I've got. Until I find somebody better, you'll do. So, let's go."

"What a rousing endorsement, Valentine. Cheese and rice. Fine."

They sparred. He was faster than she'd given him credit for at first. He was good at knowing where she'd be. He caught her and threw her. She tucked back and rolled with it. She moved in a flurry of attacks. He blocked, reversed, ducked and didn't let her hit him.

Good, her mind said, GOOD.

At 2 p.m., Wesker came down to face her. Chris moved to the side and sat to watch. Great, Jill mused, now she had an audience.

Wesker rolled his arms. She rolled hers.

He moved. She moved. She spun low, he threw a kick over her head. She came up under his leg, drove a punch toward his groin and he hooked that leg around her head and threw her to the floor. She rolled through it, spun her body like a top, and took his other leg out from under him.

He went down, she rolled over the top of him and pinned him to the mat.

Impressed, he eyed her from the floor. "What do you fight for?"

She answered, quietly, "Me."

It was a good answer.

Wesker rolled up, grabbed her shirt, put a boot in her belly and kicked her out. She tucked into a front hand spring and rolled back to face him. He considered and cocked his head.

"Chris?"

"Sir?"

"I'd like you to come against Jill as well. Let's see how she does with two opponents."

Jill lifted a brow. Chris shrugged and flanked her.

"Now…" Wesker circled her. "What do you do when two opponents are against you? When one both are bigger and stronger. You are the weak link here. What do you do?"

Jill considered the situation. And she moved.

Later, Chris thought, he'd understand the drive behind her. She chose him first, which meant Wesker was the greater threat. She took out the underling first. He swung at her and she feinted left, deflected his arm, and drove a punch at his solar plexus. He blocked and she dropped down, put one ten foot leg straight into the air and kicked him clean in the face with the back of her heel. She spun back and took his legs, grabbed his arm and rolled him to his face on the mat.

Wesker grabbed her around the throat and she rotated, dropped an elbow, and used the heel of her hand toward his nose to drive him back. She elbow dropped onto Chris' back, which hurt like hell and stole his air, and rolled to her feet. She cartwheeled toward Wesker, ducked and rolled as he threw two fast kicks at her head, and she came up. She came up and kick flipped him right in the chest.

Wesker went back, flipped over, and came up nodding.

"Better. Better today. Why?"

But he knew. It was the other man. What else? Which meant she was still fighting for love. And it would only get you so far.

Fair enough, he thought, and turned to Chris. Wesker threw a kick at him. Surprised, Chris blocked it, spun back and hooked an arm around his neck. Had he been a literal opponent, it would have been the start of a reverse neck breaker. Always the brawler, Wesker mused, and drove an elbow into his sternum, drove two punches into his stomach, and hooked an ankle behind his. He dumped him on his face and Jill leapt on him from behind.

Surprised, Wesker went to all fours from the weight of her. She put him in a head lock. On their knees on the mat, Wesker was nodding.

She fought for her, true. But she'd found her strength for Chris Redfield. That was it. That was her trigger. She was loyal.

He tapped the mat.

He tapped the mat and gave up.

Jill rose, feeling the rush and roll of success. Oh god, she thought, had she won? Did that happen? Wesker turned to her.

"You have to remember, as you fight, that fighting for what's right or what is important will only get you so far. The things you face, the foes, won't always have a purpose for that fight. They will want to kill you. They will not stop, they absolutely will NOT stop until you are dead. They won't care about what you fight for. The only thing you can do, ever, is keep on fighting long after that thing is gone."

They watched him and he felt it. He felt their respect now. He felt their interest. They believed him. He inspired them. He considered them, "Your opponent may be stronger, faster, bigger and tougher. It doesn't matter. It won't matter. If you are BETTER. To be better, you have to let go of what you're fighting for. Remember it but don't dwell in it. In this job, you could be dead tomorrow. Will the fight stop because you are dead? No. It goes on. And you will go on. Or you will never win."

He held Jill's gaze now. "Tomorrow I will begin to teach you about movement and restraint. Are you ready to learn?"

"Yes. Yes sir."

"Good. Chris?"

"Sir?"

"I want you to shift your training. You have the strength, work on the speed. There will be times that strength is your weakness. Without a secondary set of skills, your strength will fail you. Learn to move when the time comes and not to dwell on being the strongest dog in the yard."

"Yes sir."

He moved toward the showers. "We have some intel regarding the witch murders to discuss. Meet me back in the bull pen in twenty minutes."

When he was in the showers, Jill turned back to Chris.

"I beat him."

"You kinda did."

"I BEAT him?"

"Seems that way."

She let out a whoop and jumped. He caught her, laughing. She wrapped around his front and kissed him. He put her down.

Remembering she'd been the one to put the brakes on, Jill stepped away coughing. "Sorry."

"No worries. Good work, Jill."

"Hey thanks."

She ran to the showers. He watched her run and chuckled. She showered off and went to grab her towel. It was full of holes.

Blinking, she wrapped it around herself with a snort.

Some of the other female officers were joking and laughing as she came out. One lifted her brows, "Valentine? It may be time for a new towel."

Jill, one breast clearly poking out of the holey towel, shrugged. "It's ventilated."

And they all laughed.

Chris was working on his shift report when Jill came into the bull pen. He grinned at her, she lifted a brow. He went to open his desk drawer. The handle? Well it shocked the shit out of him. He yelped and looked at her face.

She looked back, innocently.

She looked down in her seat for the whoopie cushion. Nothing. She sat down. They faced each other across the desks. She tilted her head, he tilted his head.

"So, it's like that?"

Chris smirked, "Hasn't it always been like that?"

"Game on, you little jerk."

He winked at her.

She felt better than she'd felt in days.

Wesker came into the office and moved to the board.

"There was a murder this morning."

They all turned their eyes to him. "Last night sometime between midnight three a.m., three bodies were found here and here and here." He gestured to the board, to the pattern. Jill glanced at Chris. "We're still trying to discern the nature of what ritual they are attempting to enact."

Jill kicked is chair and gestured with her head.

Chris cleared his throat, "Sir? If you don't mind? I have a theory."

Wesker nodded and stepped away from the board. Chris moved over and took his notes with him. And something happened. Jill watched him and saw something on him. It was…what was it? It was command. Or something.

She saw something flash across him like she could see into the future. He was going to lead men one day. She had no doubt about that. He commanded the room, gesturing, speaking concisely and clearly. He answered questions and engaged his audience.

And he had the answers.

Whatever Wesker threw at him. He HAD the answers.

"If we follow the shift in kills, in targets, we start to see that it's forming a specific pattern right? The pattern? It's the spell. They're doing a spell. Why? I think they're trying to summon a specific demon."

Brad snorted, "That's not even possible. Can they really be a threat if they're trying to do magic? Unless the rest of the Lord of the Rings shows up to help, are fake witches really a threat?"

Everyone looked at him. Jill thought he was must be kidding.

Nope.

He was that fucking stupid.

WHY was he on alpha team?!

Wesker said, quietly, "The spell isn't the threat, Brad. The terrorism BEHIND the spell is the threat. They are building toward a final and very bloody conclusion. We need to the know the WHY to know the way to defeat them."

Sheepish, Brad nodded, "Yes sir. Of course sir."

"I've called in contacts to consult with us on witchcraft and Satanism. They are arriving shortly. Meet in the conference room and bring what you have to contribute. Chris? This is EXCELLENT work. Bring anything you have regarding the demon in question."

"Yes sir. I will."

He moved out of the room and Joseph slapped Chris on the shoulder. "Brown noser! Good work." It was said without any rancor at all.

"Hey thanks."

Jill grinned at him as they moved toward the conference room. "You didn't tell me you had it ALL figured out."

"I may not. We won't know until these experts take a gander at it, I guess."

He was so fucking smart.

Naturally, after all, he was Chris Redfield.