Chapter 3: Rebuilding the Bridge

"In every conceivable manner, the family is a link to our past, the bridge to the future." – Alex Haley

Chris motioned to it and grabbed Piers' attention from the book. "W-what's that?"

Piers looked to where he was pointing and sighed, closing his book and turning back to Chris. "It's… it's a memory of something I used to see."

Chris squinted his eyes at the object across the room once more wondering what it could possibly mean to this man and started scratching at a headful of dark brown hair as he lazily switched his gaze back to Piers. "A memory?"

Piers nodded to Chris again, barely able to break his eyes away from the shemagh that had haunted his memories for years. He wasn't willing to talk about it, especially not after how long he's kept it in. Subtly brushing off the subject, Piers looked back into his book and shrugged, "It was a long time ago, it'll probably bore you to death anyways."

"No, I'll be glad to hear it." Chris stared at Piers a little too intensely for a moment and then looked down at the bed, tracing odd little pictures through the creases of the blanket. "Besides, how bad could it be?"

*Worse than you think.* Piers thought sourly, keeping his gaze out of Chris' wandering eyes. When he didn't respond, Chris looked towards the other and frowned lightly, brown irises searching the younger face near him.

"You're not gonna tell me, are you?" Chris was looking at the younger man with a bit of sadness in his eyes.

Piers looked over towards the older man next to him, keeping his vision anywhere other than the man's eyes. "No… not to someone I don't know."

Chris actually felt a little hurt at that, almost inching away from the other man. "Well… maybe I could get to know you then?"

Piers grumbled to himself and closed his book, finally shifting his gaze up to meet the other man's eyes. "So tell me why exactly someone like you would want to get to know someone like me?"

Chris smiled nervously. "Because I for one know that there is always more to someone than what they do in life. What people don't know about someone is more telling than what they do know."

Piers flared his nostrils. "So what makes you think I would actually tell you something more than you already know?"

Chris raised his hands up in mock defeat. "Nothing, I was just hoping you might want to share it with someone else."

Piers stopped his conversation for a moment, turning away from Chris and looking once at the shemagh lying on the desk, and then out of the window. The day was just starting to light up, the sun rising in the distance behind a thick layer of gray clouds giving a depressing look to the scenery lurking right outside Piers' bedroom window. Piers let his thoughts run away for a moment, and was suddenly taken back to past events like it was yesterday.

oOoOoOoOo

Jill came over again, trying to get Piers to talk. She walked in like always, and Piers would just be sitting at a window staring off into nowhere. Jill always had to force Piers to eat something so he wouldn't starve himself to death. Today was different though, when Jill walked in through the door she almost had a heart attack at how different the scene was playing out before her.

Piers had a small fire lit in the fireplace, and he was sitting nearby eating something, although it wasn't much. Jill saw that Piers had turned the television on and was watching the news. She grimaced inwardly to herself at what he was watching, and became curious as to how something like this could snap him out of his depressed stupor.

Jill walked over cautiously; resting a hand on the top of the seat Piers was sitting on. "Hey, Piers, how's it going today?"

Piers shrugged his shoulders, keeping his eyes glued onto the television. "Not much I guess, I decided to turn on the T.V. for once and saw this… this is what you and my dad were working to stop right?"

Jill sighed to herself, turning her vision to the television and seeing a civilian news report with updates on the most recent outbreak from a virus. "Yeah… but turn that off you shouldn't be watching something like that."

Piers' eyebrows narrowed for a moment before he answered her, turning back to watch the news playing. "Jill, I have to know about this sooner or later. This is why my dad went missing, isn't it?"

Jill sighed, biting her bottom lip before deciding to answer. "Yeah… but did anyone ever tell you why he went missing?"

Piers nodded his head in resignation, nobody had ever bothered to tell him anything other than the fact that his father has gone missing during a mission. "Well… I was with him on that mission… along with a few other people…"

Jill had Piers' attention now, if only for a moment, focused on her instead of the television. "What?! You were with him?! What happened to him Jill?!"

Jill sighed again. "Your dad was providing cover for us while we were making our escape with some vital Intel. Me and my partner got separated, and your dad was the one who brought us back together. I don't know what happened to him after that Piers, nobody does. He looked at us and told us to get out while he went back into the hot zone looking for something."

Piers looked down for a moment in thought. "So then… he might not actually be dead?"

Jill shrugged her shoulders and moved around the couch to sit down next to Piers. "I don't know, nobody has heard so much as a single word from him since it happened."

Piers looked to the television again. "So… who was this partner of yours that my dad risked his life to help?"

Piers looked back over to Jill who was smiling slightly with a far off look in her eyes. She looked towards Piers and still had the same happy look on her face, although now it was tinged with a sharp sting of sadness. Piers dropped his gaze for a moment before shifting it back up. Piers watched as Jill began to open her mouth, and then the scenery around him began to dissolve.

oOoOoOoOo

"No! Jill, Jill who was it?! Jill!" Piers was shaking, clawing at the fading pieces of a vivid memory he had pushed to the back of his mind.

Piers was shaking, almost violently, as he tried to remember the conversation he had all but pushed to the deepest parts of his mind. There were tears running down his face as he began sobbing, trying to remember things Jill had once told him. Piers buried his head in his hands for a moment to let everything run its course, but then he suddenly felt a warm touch on his shoulder, wrapping around his back.

"Hey… what's wrong?" It was Chris, and he had moved over next to Piers to throw an arm around his shoulder and started rubbing it.

Piers didn't lift his gaze to meet Chris'. "Just… things that I thought were buried…"

Chris smiled down at him, although Piers still couldn't see it. "Hey now, don't bury the past. Sometimes the past is what can lead you to a new future."

Piers slowly stopped sobbing, the sounds of them being replaced by the occasional shuddering breath. "I doubt my past could lead to anything good as far as my future is concerned, I've gone so far from it that I don't think I could ever get back."

Chris started stroking Piers' shoulder in a hopefully reassuring way, ignoring the awkwardness that happened when Chris woke up from his sleep. "Everyone can come back from even the deepest depths of the shit they've gotten into. You seem like someone that could be beaten down to nothing and then get back up and say *Try again.*"

Piers smiled wryly. "I used to be… not anymore…"

Chris frowned slightly. "Oh, and why is that?"

Piers narrowed his eyes for a moment. "Still trying to get there huh?"

Chris smiled sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah… I can be pretty stubborn…"

Piers actually laughed which had Chris returning that notion with a smile. "I'll say, you sure you aren't still messed up on everything from that spiked drink you had?"

Chris raised an eyebrow. "No… do you want me to be?"

Piers tapped his finger to his chin in thought for a moment. "I… no, I guess not."

Chris smiled and pulled Piers in closer to him from the shoulder he was still gripping. "That's great. So… why did you start uh… stripping…?"

Piers sighed; this was something he had thought over himself time and time again. "Well… I guess it's just that for that little bit of time… everything just kind of melts away, seems like people… you know, look at me like I'm not broken, not try to figure out why I'm the way I am. Before that I mean."

Piers finished that with a rather quick remark and rubbed the back of his head, turning red while looking slightly at Chris who just chuckled. "It's alright, you aren't broken, or not that I can see at least. Really though, I am only trying to ask because I feel like… I don't know, you are someone worth getting to know?"

Piers leaned his head back against Chris' shoulder and closed his eyes, smiling genuinely. "Thanks… you're the first person to care at all since Ms. Valentine came by to tell me the news a few years ago… and even then I tried to ignore her as much as I could and haven't seen her since…"

Chris tried to process those words for a moment, brow furrowing and face frowning in concentration. "Ms. Valentine… as in Jill Valentine?"

Piers opened one eye and looked at Chris confused. "Uh yeah… why?"

Chris broke into a huge grin when Piers said yes. "I happen to know Jill that's why, so you're the kid she took some time off for a few years ago?"

Piers grunted in a slight bit of annoyance. "I'm not a kid anymore, so please don't call me that."

Chris chuckled a little in response to his annoyance. "What should I call you then?"

The corners of Piers' mouth turned up in a slight smirk. "Piers, forget already Mister Redfield?"

"Okay then Piers, so how long has it been since you've seen Jill?"

Piers' head dropped slightly although it still rested on Chris' shoulder. "A few years… I don't think she ever found out what happened to me after I snapped at her and told her to leave me alone…"

Chris laughed loudly and received a confused face from Piers. "What's so funny?"

Chris quieted himself down. "Nothing, just that I think Jill might be happy to find out you're… okay?"

Piers raised an eyebrow as Chris finished that statement out in a questioning way. "Yeah… I'm fine; just don't tell her what I do?"

Chris nodded in understanding. "Alright well, I think I will head on out of here, I have some asses that need to be taught a lesson."

Piers chuckled. "Have fun with that."

Chris nodded and shook Piers' hand, getting up and dressing himself since he was still embarrassingly naked. Chris headed on out the door after he got dressed, leaving Piers with nothing more than a shake of the hand and a halfhearted goodbye. Chris started up his truck, which thankfully someone had decided to bring to Piers' house and Chris had to start up his GPS so he could get home. Pulling into his driveway Chris began to mull over the awkward conversation he had had during the day in his head. Some things were unclear, and some were very clear, but one thing was for sure, Chris wanted to show Piers that he was worth something to someone. Chris brought out his phone and decided to talk to Jill about Piers.

*Ring ring… ring ring…* "Hello? This is Jill."

Chris smiled to himself and wondered how much he was about to surprise her. "Hey Jill, I got a question for you."

"Ha ha, what do you want you old bear?"

Chris chuckled into the phone. "Well, you remember that kid you took some time off for a few years ago?"

Chris waited as he heard Jill pondering something through the phone. "Yeah… a little bit, why?"

"Well… I just happened to meet him today, and wanted to know what he used to like to do."

Chris could hear the curious tone in her voice. "Oh really, how is he doing, and why do you want to know what he liked to do?"

Chris rubbed the back of his head sheepishly even though Jill couldn't see him. "Well um… he is kind of in a bad… place I want to say? Figured doing something he enjoys might make him realize people can still give a shit about someone these days."

Jill giggled into the phone. "Ok Chris, just tell him I said hi and I know he used to love bowling or anything that really had to do with some kind of aim."

Chris smiled. "Alright thanks Jill, cya Monday."

"Cya you old bear." Then Jill hit the end call button and the conversation was ended.

Chris started mulling that conversation over to himself. "Bowling huh… this should be fun…"