The Devil's Bargain

Fourteen:

Taking Chances

At his desk, Chris was rolling a quarter in his palm. What shit was this now? What was she playing at here? What had Claire said? Bad news. Was she? Was Jill bad news?

Objectively, she was a mess. She was so scared of committing to anything she, instead, tried to sabotage her own life. He knew she was damaged. He'd learned that in the first ten minutes he'd known her. She was missing some part of her that was trying to be normal. She was kinda dark and twisty. She was no bullshit. So what was this?

Was she avoiding him?

His mind said: you ever think it ain't about you, Redfield? Maybe she legitimately just needs a break. She was RIGHT about taking a step back from each other at work. She was right about it fucking up the dynamic here if you got too deep on it.

So leave it the fuck alone.

He wanted her friendship. He wanted her in his life. He was going to make peace with that being as friends if that's what she wanted. They'd make it work.

Either way? It was out of his hands. So he went back to what he could fix. He went back to doing what he'd come here to do.

He put it away and went back to work.

Jill purchased a little blue VW bug. It was older and needed some work. But she knew what she was doing there. She felt like a million dollars as she drove it back to the station and parked.

She was on her way back to herself here. She'd kick Wesker's ass on the mat and she'd go back to being BFF's with Chris. She'd fix the sloppy pieces of her life and make it better. She was feeling pretty good about herself.

Before she went down to face Wesker on the mat that day, she even tossed the whoopie cushion into Chris' chair in the office. She was headed downstairs when she heard it go off. And the laughter that followed.

Wesker worked with her on movement. He showed her how to shift, how to lift, how to redirect. He taught her about control. Instead of diving, he taught her to time her roll. She followed him into various strikes and parries.

About twenty minutes into the exercise, she realized she kinda liked him. They weren't going to be friends or anything but he wasn't creepy to her anymore. He was dedicated. And clearly intelligent. She hadn't thought of him as creepy in weeks now. He had a drive that was not only admirable, it was amazing. He was…no bullshit.

And so she had to respect him.

When they finished up, she sipped her water and said, "Sir, I want to personally apologize for my actions in your office with Chris. That was stupid, it was juvenile and it was petty. I haven't done my job, sir, in the weeks since we started working together. I haven't given you the obedience or the loyalty you asked for in that interview. But you have it now, sir. Without question."

Impressed, breathing heavily, Wesker watched her for a moment. And he finally smiled a little. And it wasn't creepy at all. "Thank you. I will see you in the morning."

"Yes sir. I'm off to help with the prisoner escort."

"Good."

"Have a nice night, sir." She picked up her bag and went into the shower. Wesker nodded a little. Perfect. The break with Redfield had turned her focus back to the job and the purpose here. Good, let the end of that fester for awhile.

He needed their unquestioning loyalty. If their relationship was in the way of that, he would need it carefully disassembled and put on hold. It seems they'd done that themselves already.

Good.

Jill came into the house a little after seven from the prisoner transport. Chris was on the couch in his sleeping pants playing the zombie game. She gave him a head nod as she crossed through the living room.

"Sup."

"Sup."

She went into her room and closed the door.

Sighing, he leaned back on the couch and scratched his stomach. He hated this girl shit. Emotional landmines and what not. What did she want here?

She came back out in a little denim skirt, knee high boots, and a purple tube top. He blinked at her.

She said, "Wish me luck. Mama gots herself a hot date."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yup. Met him when I bought my new ride today. He's uber hot. Works at the pub downtown. Total sex on a stick." She put her fist out for him to bump it. "Don't forget to lock up before you rack out ok?"

"Yep. Not comin back tonight huh?"

"That's a negatory. See ya, Red."

"Yep."

He flopped back on the couch and listened to her little car pull away. Shit. So that's how it was. Just like that. In truth, he had this coming. He'd sorta implied he was sleeping with Gia.

He wasn't, but Jill clearly thought he was. So here they were...friends without benefits. A far fall from their beginning.

His fault? A little. Her fault? A little. It took two to fuck up a friendship.

He said, out loud, "Shit."

She not only didn't come back that night. She didn't come back home for three days. She was working with Bravo and he didn't see her. They were never in the house at the same time. He could tell she'd been there of course. She got clothes, she left. She fist bumped him when she found him in passing at the station.

He looked across at her empty desk and missed her. The whoopie cushion appeared in random locations. Which was always funny. He left off a stink bomb in her face through the cracked window of her car one day. She let the air out of his tires.

They continued to tease and prank each other. But where was she?

She just wasn't there. Was he? He kinda felt lost without her

She was in the lobby one day after work. He knew she was tits deep on working with Wesker. She was always training with him. If you couldn't find her, she was usually on the mat and learning.

But she was in the lobby laughing and wearing some kind of excuse for a dress. Her dark hair was glossy and sleek. The little green tube dress she wore barely covered anything and somehow covered everything.

She saw him coming and waved. "Hey! Hey, Chris this is Derek."

Derek looked like a turd. He was tall and muscular and polite. He shook hands like he was trying to reduce the other man to a puddle of piss on the floor. Chris returned the pressure, waited for the other man to flinch around the eyes with it, and let go of his hand when he did.

"So this is the guy getting all your time these days huh?"

"Yep." Jill grinned, happily, and put her head on Derek's shoulder. "Not exactly my type I know. But what I can say? He's so funny!"

Derek eyed him steadily. Chris lifted a brow. "Awesome. You ever plan on being home? Or you want me to rent your room out to someone else?"

Jill chuckled and shrugged. "I'm there when you aren't. Why? You want me to move out?"

Ok. Yeah. Enough of this shit, Chris thought, whatever game she was playing. He was done playing. If it was just friends again, then so be it. He wasn't chasing her around anymore trying to see her. Stupid girl, his mind admonished, your loss.

"Whatever you want right? See ya."

And he went on out into the rain.

Up until that point, he'd figured maybe she was just taking a breather or something. It was the first real time he'd discovered she was just done with him. Fine. No harm and no foul. He kinda felt stupid hanging around waiting for her. So it was time to just leave it be.

He was angry at her for moving on with her life. Which was stupid. Because she'd told him from the beginning not to get too attached.

It wasn't her fault he was still waiting around like a love sick idiot. She'd never made promises or asked him to do that. And there was no reason to be mad at her about it. Friends, she'd said once, that's all it was.

So that was all it would be. He wasn't the type of guy to hurt her for it or dwell on it. She was clearly done. So he would be too.

Better that way, he mused, everybody goes on with their business. So he'd let her do that and move on. It's just the type of guy he was.

So he wasn't sleeping Gia, but he figured it was time to start.

She came home around midnight and went into the kitchen to get a beer. She was popping the top when she heard him coming down the hallway. She turned and smiled and stopped.

Nope, she thought, not him. Gia the witch was moving toward the fridge. In his shirt. She was in his shirt. His RPD sweatshirt. Right.

Gia said, "Oh Jill! Good to see you. Do you mind?"

Jill shifted and Gia went into the fridge to get a beer. She smiled at her, "You look lovely."

Jill smiled back, "Thanks." And it almost choked her to say it.

"Well…good night."

She went back down the hallway.

Jill stood there with the beer half to her mouth. She blinked. She blinked again. She put the beer down on the counter untouched.

She went out into the garage and wrapped her hands. She set her purse down, rolled her shoulders and went to town on the heavy bag.

In the bedroom, Gia watched him move. She was feeling things in this house she was clearly on the outside of. She liked Chris, she did. But she didn't want to be his mistake.

She tilted her head at him and mused, "Is Jill your girlfriend?"

He shook his head. He pressed her back against the door and angled his mouth to her, but Gia touched a finger to his lips. "She's hurting. She's out in the garage and hurting. I don't want to be in the middle of your mess, Chris. I'll ask again...is Jill your girlfriend?"

He shook his head again and finally answered, "She's not. Not exactly."

"Ah." Gia patted his arm and pushed him away. "Go fix it. This house is full of negative energy. Until you fix it, I can't stay here."

"...wait. Just...stay here a second ok? I'll handle Jill." He paused at the door and added, "Sorry."

"No reason for that. We're just beginning. You need to end with Jill for that to happen."

Women. Sometimes they were way too perceptive for their own good.

She heard him come out into the garage. She kept on hitting the bag.

"Hey."

"Hey." She kept on hitting the bag.

"You left your beer."

"Keep it. I don't want it."

Chris leaned on the wall, watching her. "Where's the stupid boyfriend?"

Jill laughed a little, "He's not my boyfriend. And he's at work. He works nights."

"You want to talk about Gia?"

"Nope. Not my fucking business. Not even a little bit."

"Alrighty."

She hit the heavy bag so hard that it made her gasp. It rang down her arm and stole her breath.

"Hey," He said, "Take it easy, kid. You're gonna break your wrist."

Jill laughed, harshly, "Go away, Red. Please. I didn't ask you to come out here and lecture me on how to hit a punching bag. So just go fuck your girlfriend and leave me alone."

She hit the bag again and hurt herself. He saw it happen. She recoiled from it and grabbed the work bench behind her.

"Fucking Christ, Jill. I told you." He tried to take her hand to look at it and she pushed him away.

"Yeah! You told me. Good for you. You told me. Awesome. You're right again. Chris Redfield is always right isn't he? Never wrong."

"I have my moments."

"Go away. You fucking idiot. Just go away."

He watched her and tried to discern her moods. She was a mystery here. She was cool and she wasn't. She was jealous and she wasn't. What did she want here?

"I'm not a mind reader, Jill. Tell me what you want. You blow me off, you bring me back. You blow me off. I don't do games. We said no games remember? I'm holding up my end of the deal. Why aren't you?"

A fair question, Jill admitted, a fair question.

"I'm not playing games. I'm sorry. I'm just…I don't know what happened here." She looked at his face. "What happened here?"

"What do you mean?"

"We're best friends. We're lovers. We're best friends. We're not even friends any more. What happened?"

"I don't know. You've been a little fucking messy for me lately. I don't know what you want here."

"Really? Is it just me?"

And that was a fair question too. So he replied, "I don't know what you want here."

"I'm sorry. Shit." She leapt on the work bench. "Let's try this again. You like Gia huh? She's your type so that makes perfect sense."

"What's my type?"

"You know…leggy and tall. Big boobs. Smart."

He nodded a little. "Yeah. That's my type."

"Yup. I like her. She seems nice. Go back inside to her. I'm sorry for being a rag. I'll be nice about your stupid girlfriend."

He laughed a little. "She's not my girlfriend."

"Just taking a ride on the freight train huh?"

"It would seem that way. Tell me we're ok here, Jill. I don't want you to move out and I don't this weird here with us."

"We're good. Go nail the witch. I'm gonna take a walk and try to figure out what's swirling around in my head. I didn't want to get to this place with us. I should have stayed off you in that fucking Bronco that first time. I knew it would land me here."

"Where is here?"

"Lost. Trying to figure out how to be your friend and work with you and not get attached."

He studied her face. "Gimme a minute to get rid of the witch."

"No. No. Seriously don't do that. It's not her fault. Or yours. Go back inside and give her a free ride on the train. I'll be fine."

"Shut up, you idiot woman. Gimme a minute."

True to form, he came back after a couple minutes. They struck up some smokes and camped on the floor of the garage.

"Start talking, kid."

"You don't find this shit with us confusing?"

Chris took a slow drag on his cigarette. "Let me level with you here. I'm not confused. Not at all. Ok that's not true. Right now I'm fucking confused. You don't know what you want, Jill. Which is fine. Most of us don't. But don't be afraid to fucking talk to me about it. This? You and me? It's the best thing I've got going. Don't punish me for something I don't understand here. TALK to me."

Jill sighed a little and rolled onto her back on the dirty floor. He laid down beside her.

"I want to impress Wesker. Ya know? I want him to respect me. I can't do that if I've got my hands in your pants all the time."

Chris rolled to one arm to watch her and listen.

"So I figure, maybe we just take a break."

"Yeah, I got that part."

"One day?"

"What?"

"You waited ONE DAY to move on."

Oh. He blinked. He blinked again. Was it that simple? Really? "You jealous?"

"Yeah." Jill laughed, "Which sucks for me. I didn't WANT that, you know? I didn't want to think about you like that. So I figured…ok. Just..move on. So I did that. And then I show up here and there she is. And she's…your type. And she's perfect. She is. You deserve that. Guy like you? Who are we kidding here?"

"I don't even know what that means."

"You're a catch, dude. Ya know? You got this humor thing happening and you're a gentleman and you have a big dick. So that's like the trifecta of awesome. And she's smart and she clearly went to a good school and she's got money and she wears fancy expensive clothes. I bet she's kind and generous and loves babies."

Chris laughed a little bit.

"What am I? I'm the thief's daughter. I'm just a girl who lured you onto your boss' desk and nearly got you fired. So who can blame you here?"

"Save the pity party, Valentine. I didn't R.S.V.P. for it. I'm here. You're here. We're just two people in a garage. I'm not any better than you. We both put our pants on one leg at a time and take dumps. We're just people. So cut the shit, Jill. What do you want?"

That no bullshit of his sometimes could startle you. You had to prepare yourself for the lack of flowery speeches.

Jill shook her head and sat up. "Nope. No. What do YOU want? We always talk about me. It's always me calling the shots, laying down the rules, throwing down the sex. You? You show up, fuck me bowlegged and toss a whoopie cushion under my ass. What do you want, Chris? No more games, right? Out with it."

Chris stayed on the floor, looking up the at ceiling. "I want to be your guy."

"You ARE my guy."

"Then I'm happy."

She studied his face. "Idiot."

"…is that a compliment? You should work on your people skills a little."

Jill sighed. "Can you be serious? Ever?"

"Jill, I can be happy with whatever. I'm not that fucking complicated here. I can be your guy or be your friend or be your enemy. Whatever you want. I don't sit around worrying about shit I can't change. I don't chase girls who don't want me to catch them. I don't dwell in things I can't have. You don't want me? That's fine. It is. I'll get over it. And I'll still be your friend. I meant it. You're my best friend. It's that easy or that complicated. Your choice." He rolled to his feet.

She sighed a little again. And rose from the ground. "That's not an answer."

"It is. It's a good answer."

"It's a cop out. And you never once, ever, said what you wanted. You just told me what you thought I wanted to hear. That's not the same thing at all."

She walked into the house.

He paused, considered, and figured out she was fucking right. He'd just told her what she wanted to hear. He'd just spoon fed her the same shit he'd been feeding himself from the moment he met her.

Wow.

He was THAT guy.

He followed her into the house. So then it was time to NOT be that guy. Chris followed her into the bedroom.

She was unzipping her boots. "What?"

"Looks like we're both playing games here. I'm sorry."

Jill blinked. "Yeah?"

"Oh yeah. I wasn't doing it on purpose. Swear to god. But yeah, I've gotten into the habit of just being the guy who is laid back and shrugs. Safer that way? Something. But I just don't dwell on stuff. So I pretend it doesn't hurt. You rolled into bed with me, crying, and we connected. In some kind of serious way. A first for me. I admit it felt really good to have you. So I was cool. I was happy. You backpedaled and kicked me in the fucking heart."

She winced at the imagery of that. "...not on purpose."

He shook his head, "I know that. I do. But I was pissed. But I swallowed that too. I know you're a mess. I know you're twisty. I know you're not like any other woman I've ever met."

She hated hurting him. It nearly killed her. So she murmured, "I'm sorry."

He made a sound of frustration. Because he didn't want her to be ashamed. She hadn't done anything but be Jill. Whatever mess that was? He dug it.

"No. Don't be sorry. No more fucking sorry here, Jill. This is complicated with us. We wanted it easy and it wasn't. Ever." He rolled his neck a little. Throw down or go down, he thought, and threw down. "I'm in love with you."

"Chris…" It was a quiet gasp.

"I am. There. That's what I want. I want to get over those fucking walls you've got built so high around you that I can't even see the real you. I want you to let me in. It's scary. It is. But I absolutely will not fail you, Jill. Let me in. That's what I want."

Jill watched him in the darkness of the room. "What about work?"

"What about it? It doesn't have to have a damn thing to do with work. Letting me in? It comes with nothing but me. That's it. You get me. I'm not some idiot with long hair and a guitar. I'm pretty stupid and often have my foot in my mouth. But you get me. If you can't? I meant the other part too. That's ok. Just say it. And we can go back to being friends. Your choice."

"I told you not to fall in love with me."

"Well I was already in love with you then anyway. So l lied."

And now she laughed. She laughed and moved across the room. She wrapped her arms around his waist. "Idiot."

"I am."

"Fuck. This is what I fucking said would happen. This is all your fault."

"I'm ok with it." He grabbed her face and turned it up to him. "What's your answer?"

"Shit."

"…that's a terrible answer."

Jill laughed and rose on her tip toes. "I'm scared to lose you."

"Only fucking way you ever win is to take the risk of losing everything."

He was pretty wise for a big idiot. A big idiot that was kinda awesome. And kinda everything. "Ok. I love you."

"Yeah?"

"Oh yeah. I love you. Scares me stupid."

"Me too. So let's just get naked and I'll put my dick in you and you won't be scared anymore."

And now she was laughing as they leapt up on the bed together. He rolled atop her and scooped her hair from her face. "You wanna be my girl, Jill Valentine?"

"Shit."

"Is that a yes?"

"It's a yes. And a mess. What about the witch?"

"We hadn't got to the freight train yet. I was working on it. But you showed up in the nick of time and saved my dignity from her corruption."

"She was in your shirt."

"Yep. We were naked. We just weren't naked and porking."

"Chris Redfield….you are such a romantic soul."

"It's my curse on the world. What about the stupid boyfriend?"

"He never even got to see me naked."

He kissed her. It was deep, hot, and stole her breath. She gasped, grabbing his face. "I love you."

He kissed her again. She opened her legs and slid them around him. They shared the wet wonder of it for a long moment until they were both breathless.

He said, "Say it again."

"I love you."

He hiked up her dress and made her gasp. She slid her panties to the side and he shoved against her body. It was…it was something. It was something scary and brutal and real. She opened her legs wider and pushed his pants the rest of the way down his legs.

He stretched her with three fingers to get her slick and ready. Her hand moved to the nightstand like she'd get a rubber, but he just pushed her knee back toward her arm instead and fought the tight swell of her body bareback. She grabbed at his shoulders, thrilled and surprised.

When he was buried in her, they both were trembling with it. Of course, she thought, he'd stop looking for a condom. He was her guy. Isn't that what he said? He'd stop wearing one when he was her guy. He didn't even bother to ask her permission, he just laid claim to her.

His face, she thought desperately, his face was crazy for her. It scared her death and she coveted it like a drug. He was going to kill her fast or kill her slow or love her to death. And she wanted to know, for the first time ever, what that was like.

She clutched his ass in her hands, rolling him inside of her. "Good lord...how do you feel bigger without a rubber on?"

He laughed, easing out until she was almost empty of him before sliding back in. It was something, she thought madly, that enormous girth of his stretched you wide every time. She made a desperate little moan and widened her thighs to take more of it.

It was nearly a growl that asked her, "You like it?"

She gripped his ass so hard it made him grunt and thrust against her. Jill cried out, shaking, legs wrapping around his to hold him inside of her. Her body spasmed, sucking his dick like she'd take it with her. They both made small noises of pleasure.

Without the rubber, it felt it incredible. She whispered, breathless, "...I love it."

His voice was low and scratchy when he said, "Yeah. That's what I want. You're my Valentine. One way or another, that's how it is."

"...that was both corny and kinda awesome, Redfield." She pushed on him to roll him to his back and seated herself on him. Sharp, deep, it made her grab his wrists and slap them over his head to hold him down while her body adjusted.

He watched her face and whispered, "I'm yours too, Jill. What do you want?"

Her heart hammered as she confessed, "...everything. I want everything."

And Chris grumbled, "Me too."

Yep. They were in it now. She couldn't see how this ended well for either of them.

But she rolled her hips and started riding, gasping "Jesus. We are so fucking screwed."

And he laughed while they laid in the dark, lost in each other.