The grey car pulled up in front of Jill's apartment and she stepped out with light steps.

"You wanna stay for a coffee?" she asked bending forward, her diamond blue eyes set on him through the car window.

"Out of the question!" he said seriously, looking to the other side. Jill suddenly flinched with pain at his certainty.

"Chris! One more time… positive or negative?" she restlessly pulled the hood of her jacket over her hair as the rain slammed against their faces, pouring down from the window.

"Goddammit positive! Don't you trust your partner?" Chris smiled victoriously, slamming the car door as he got out. She felt her knees might have buckled at hearing that.

"You like rewarding people with their own sentences, don't you?" Jill said as she stepped ahead to reach the door. Chris followed her.

"There's a particular joy in that. Don't you think?"

"Depends on what the sentence tries to convey."

"Well, I trust you as my partner and I trust what you do. That's a crucial point to mention, eh?"

"I trust you too, Chris. That's why I was so sure you could take care of the Uroborus single-handedly."

"I couldn't make it without your info."

Soon after, the door appeared in their way high and mighty.

"Oh shit!" Jill said, frantically searching her pockets.

"Don't tell me you've forgotten your keys!" Chris said anxiously,

"I've exactly done that!" Jill said in frustration, stepping away from the door. Chris smiled brightly, an idea having just reached him.

"You have something on your mind?" Jill asked hopefully,

"Not the best option but… do you want us to kick it in?" Chris crossed his hands, totally confident.

"Chris! We can't kick the door everywhere we go! This is an apartment! I mean, what are the neighbors gonna think? Burglars breaking into this place?!"

"What other choice do we have? It's midnight and I bet none are awake."

"Wait, how come I forgot about my precious lock picking skills?! That's our spare key. "Jill smiled with such joy no one had ever seen before, quite excited to do that.

"It's pretty weird how we both forgot! Okay, you go ahead, I'll cover you, making sure no one will notice."

"Alright, here we go." She knelt near the lock, taking out her dear equipment and working on the lock with pinpoint accuracy. Meanwhile, Chris walked from side to side, checking the area to make sure no one's eyes unexpectedly ran across that scene.

"It's open." Jill said, pushing the door with the gentle pressure of a fingertip, "no need for heavy combat, soldier."

"I still think kicking the door would've saved us more time."

"Personal preferences." Jill smiled as they quietly got into the elevator, biding their time to get to the higher floors.

As Jill again did some lock picking with considerable stealth, they stepped inside, breathing a sigh of relief.

Jill gently took the coat off her shoulders,

"Thank you Chris, also thank Claire on my behalf for borrowing this." She said, carefully placing it on the sofa.

Chris sagged to the sofa, leaning back in a lazy fashion, lapsing to thought, bringing hands to his mouth to stifle the escaped yawn.

"So tea or coffee?" Jill asked from the counter, her hand on the state-of-the-art coffee maker, "I'd suggest tea, considering the bitter fact that we're both on duty tomorrow."

"Weren't you supposed to be catching a cold? Shouldn't be a problem for you." Chris answered from the sofa, just able to hear Jill's voice from behind.

"No, it shouldn't. T-virus didn't pull me down, you think a simple cold would?" she asked humorously.

"I'm really glad it won't, but there are times when people get terribly unlucky."

"I'll have to agree with that. Luck's never been in our vocabulary, not on missions at least." Jill said, swiftly pouring some tea into the tiny tea pot and let it brew freely.

"So tea at night and coffee in the morning, now that's a practical set! "Jill said as she pulled out some china cups from the cabinets.

"Yeah, definitely." Chris said, fatigue starting to engulf him.

Jill came and sat down on the other side of the sofa, crossing legs, hands clasped in front, eyes bearing down into his

"Jill…" Chris started, a bit of uncertainty hanging from his voice, "I'm sorry about the way I talked to you in the car, I honestly didn't mean it."

"It's okay," her words were a whisper warmer than her intoxicating eyes, "I know you're worried and I just want you to take it easy." Silence consumed her.

"Let's just see what's on TV tonight, you're not drowsy are you?" Jill asked casually to change the subject, much like a predefined exemplary behavior people showed in front of their guests. She stood up, pacing forward and reached up for the control on top of the TV, soon returning to her seat, albeit much closer to Chris. The TV buzzed and finally a news channel popped up, there was absolutely nothing mysterious about those headlines:

- Father's plea to kidnappers…

- Senator urges caution…

- Bomb blast wrecks bridge…

- Boost for new company stock …

- Measures to curb bioterrorism still continue…

"Couldn't make a day any worse." She said, tossing the control away after flipping through random channels.

"Sometimes I really can't stop thinking it's a dystopia we're livin' in." Jill said, slightly sighing. She buried her face in the heel of her hands, slightly rubbing her heavily fatigued eyes, sleep staring to devour her with a lasso.

"I reached that conclusion long ago." Chris smiled humorously, him too starting to lose his bars of energy.

Chris suddenly felt a weight on his shoulder, as light as feather. He realized that his steadfast partner had dozed off again, her lingering scent around him like a red magical aura, a scent solely entitled to her that seemed to attract everything around it, like a magnet. There was something really special about her; she could plunge into the considerable depths of issues which people seemed to ignore, standing on her ground like stainless steel and expressing opinions, those of hers and the unvoiced, high and unwavering. She was the one snowflake who could bring a winter on her own. But most of all, it was her honesty and how she put things into perspective that shimmered like a diamond in the rough. Jill went forward with her own tactics, her way of piecing things together. One way or another, Chris was fascinated by almost everything about her.


So, yay! I finally got myself to write! Even though it was really hard, and by really I mean really. Thank you all if you still have faith in me ;) Although I was such a brat these weeks.

Dear reviewers: Thanks again a trillion times! Reviews are the best gifts in the world, fresh magical gifts from heaven!

Dear Redfield Claire:

Here's the new chapter, dear. Hope you enjoyed it. I know I'm really slow at building the romance, but I think it's better than a to b stories that suddenly get you bored ;)

Dear wolverine23:

Wesker is absolutely a fascinating villain! Unmovable as you said!

Dear frozenheart7:

To be honest, I never thought they might argue but it was interesting to give it a try! The argument was more because of Chris being worried about Jill ;)

Dear abcacb1221:

Thanks dear!

Dear 1sotope:

You're totally right about this! I'd noticed that flaw and will try to improve it.

Dear wilburforcemoney:

We usually can't blame anyone in any story, even I won't blame Wesker, lol ;)

Dear Sali:

Thank you dear!

Dear klipity kluivert:

Sure thing, PTSD is not a feeling, it's kinda like a mental disorder. Sorry if I portrayed it the wrong way! And sorry about your grandfather. I share that opinion too, yeah Chris is like a really big lock but hopefully Jill will open it with her lock picking! About English, don't worry friend! I'm not a native one either: English is my second language so never be afraid of making mistakes, they're the most important steps to your success! And thank you very much for the wish, have a nice life too!

With special thanks to readers, reviewers, those who faved and followed and everyone else who is somehow involved in this.

So bad of me to make this chapter short and somewhat of cliffhanger, but please stay tuned!