Swallowed by Pain, As He Slowly Fell Apart

Title comes from 45 by Shinedown. I really need to stop licking Shinedown's arse...

Thank you to the reviewers or should I say, muchas gracias!

Enjoy!

Chris sat slouched in a questioning room of the RPD. He'd seen them plenty of times before, but when sitting in the suspect's seat, it seemed different. The walls were bleaker and captivated no emotion whatsoever. He began to tap his fingertips against the table. He had been waiting at least fifteen minutes, apparently waiting for Chief Brian Irons to become free. Although it was unusual for a Chief to question a suspect, Irons himself requested he partake in the interrogation since it involved one of his officers.

Chris wasn't overjoyed that Irons was controlling the questioning, he was neither a caring nor tolerant man. Regardless of the suspect brought in, Irons would refuse to believe them. He always said that everyone has something to hide.

The door to the room opened and Irons entered adjusting his shirt and tie, closely followed by the young officer who had brought Chris in originally. Chris immediately straightened up and removed his hands from the table. Irons sat down opposite him on the other side of the table and signalled for the officer to join him.

"Redfield, this is Officer Vickers and I presume you know already know who I am." Irons said, glaring over the table towards him.

"How could I forget?" Chris replied. Irons rolled his eyes and switched on the tape recording.

"I don't need to go into the details, the interrogation is being recorded – you know the drill." Irons said uninterested. Chris nodded meekly.

"Valuable evidence disappeared in the early hours of this morning. Your key card was used to enter the RPD building around that time." Irons stated.

"I didn't use my card last night. I was nowhere near the building and even if I had have used it, that does not make me prime suspect. Surely there were guards on night duty..."

"The guards don't have access to the rooms holding the evidence, and the officer on night shift didn't have access either. The only card used to enter the building in the time space was yours." Irons said leaning closer to Chris from across the table.

"What evidence was it, how do you not know it just got misplaced?" Chris asked biting his bottom lip. The future didn't look good for him, he knew he was innocent but if his card was the only one used, he could be taken down without a shadow of a doubt.

"Evidence on a case being led by Officer Burton." Chris looked away; he knew what the evidence was, but he also knew he had nothing to do with the taking of it. Irons asked, "So do you have your card, or do you believe someone has stolen it? If you say you didn't take it."

"I still have it, but you have to believe me, I didn't take the evidence."

"So someone got into your house, took your card, stole the evidence, and then kindly returned the card to its rightful owner?" Irons asked sarcastically.

"Look I don't know what happened, Irons. But I did not take that evidence, I'm a good officer I would never do that." Chris pleaded, but Irons remained glaring dubiously towards him. "Don't you have the CCTV footage? Then you can see it isn't me."

"Yes we do actually." Chris breathed a sigh of relief. Irons plucked out pictures from the footage from an envelope in front of Officer Vickers. He glanced at them himself, and then turned them around so Chris could see.

Chris examined the photos, the person's face was hidden by a baseball cap, but from what he could see the person was quite short,

"Is that a female?" He asked squinting at the rather unclear pictures.

"Looks like it, doesn't it?"

"Well then it isn't me, clearly." Chris said, relaxing slightly more into the chair. Irons, however, remained tense and staring at Chris.

"Don't get too high and mighty, Redfield. That doesn't take you off the hook. It still doesn't explain how you still have the card."

"Who's side are you on, Irons? Shouldn't you believe me? There's no evidence against me. How many times do I have to tell you I didn't do it. Unless I had a sex change, stole the pictures, then had another sex change, the person who took them isn't me!" Chris began to get agitated at Irons accusations. He thought that perhaps Irons would attempt to defend his men; it seemed Irons didn't give a rat's ass about anybody.

"Who else could it be, then? Who had access to your house and card?" Irons asked.

"Just family and friends, but..." Chris hadn't thought of the idea of someone framing him. And only those closest to him would be able to get into his apartment.

"If it wasn't you, then I would rethink who you call your friends, Redfield." Irons placed doubt in his head, it made him question the honesty of those Chris loved.

"We will have to do a search of your house. And until this case of the missing evidence is solved, I have to put you on temporary suspension." Iron's spoke without any remorse or sympathy. He would be perfectly happy with removing Chris completely.

"What? Irons, come on, you can't suspend me?" Chris was devastated. Surprisingly he loved his job and never wanted to lose it.

"For the mean time it is just temporary, Chris. Hand in your badge and gun, and wait until you hear further information from us." Irons stood from his seat, swiftly followed by Vickers, and casually left the room.

Chris had time to think when the two had left. He had time to actually study what had happened. The woman in the photo was a female, and Irons was right it must be someone who has access to Chris's stuff.

Paranoia began to bubble within the young man; he hadn't spoken of the pictures to anyone. So the only person he knew who would know about them would be Sheva. But she has her own card, and why would she want them? Claire was living with him, she could have easily had access to the card, but then how would she know there was evidence. And then there was Jill. The woman he loved, but also the only person affected personally by the photos. She had reason to want rid of them, and was in Chris's apartment. But he thought the love was two ways; he thought she could never do that to him. Chris was thoroughly confused and was getting nowhere with his inner investigation. He sighed, rose and thrashed his anger, hurt and suspicion at the chair, throwing it across the room.

"Claire?" Jill ran into the younger Redfield's room, attempting to wake her restful form.

"Wake up!" Jill tugged off the sheets, and rustled her arms.

"Uh?" Claire pushed her away, and rubbed at her eyes, "What do you want, Jill?"

"Chris has been taken to the station. Come on, we have to go get him." Jill urged, rummaging through Claire's clothes and chucking jeans and t-shirt onto her bed.

"What? Why?" Claire shot upwards at Jill's revelation, and immediately started changing into the clothes Jill had thrown.

"Something to do with evidence, I'll tell you on the way," Jill turned to talk to her, "And whoa! Wait until I leave the room to change, please."

Jill covered her eyes, and stepped out of the room.

Claire's mind started to race, she began to worry that Chris had been arrested. It was obviously something to do with his card being used. She glanced to her bag which contained the stolen goods, with a heavy heart she sighed, and left the bag where it was joining Jill.

Chris stepped out the RPD, a scowl plastered over his face with shoulders slumped. He was greeted with the faces of the two he loved most. Yet not even their faces could produce a smile on his lips.

Jill ran over and grasped his shoulders tightly,

"Is everything okay?" Jill asked.

"No, not really. I'm suspended until the missing evidence is found..." Chris admitted, clearly saddened by his words.

Jill wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him closely. She knew how much he loved the work, and she could tell how heartbroken he was. Chris didn't return the hug; he just stared at the floor intently.

"What's going to happen now, Chris?" Claire piped up, and Jill pulled away from him.

"They have to search my apartment, and if they don't find anything then I guess I'm alright." Chris said. He made a weak smile for Claire's sake, "But don't worry about me, kiddo, It'll be okay. They won't find anything."

"...Yeah." Claire whispered.

"Do you want to go for a walk, Chris? You can tell us what happened." Jill asked in an attempt to cheer him up. He ran his hand through his hair, and nodded.

"You guys go on ahead. I don't want to be a third wheel. I'm just going to go home, and I might pop out later..." Claire said.

"You sure?"

"Yeah, have fun, use protection!" Claire said happily while walking back towards his apartment. Chris and Jill both beamed red. The moment Claire turned from them, her happiness disappeared, she had to get home and retrieve the photos before the police decided to conduct their search.

"So it was a woman who stole your card?" Jill asked after Chris had explained all that had happened in the questioning. They had parked themselves down on a bench, in a deserted area of the park.

"Yeah, and only so many people can have access to my card."He said almost judgingly towards her.

"You mean, you think someone you know did it?" Jill asked slightly taken aback by the cold nature he had shown her since he came out. She shrugged his lack of affection off, thinking that it was due to his suspension.

"How else could they have got into my apartment both times?" Chris said. He looked at her deeply, trying to sense any hesitation. He needed to know who did it, and unfortunately on the top of his list of suspects was Jill. "There are only so many people it could be..."

"What are you trying to imply?" She frowned, and retracted her hand from his lap.

"I'm just saying, I only know so many females who were in my apartment last night."

...

"...You think it was me? Don't you?" Jill asked in disbelief.

"No, I never said that. It's just it has to be someone I know... And you do have reason to want those photos." Chris regretted speaking when he saw the look she gave him. She looked completely heartbroken; she couldn't comprehend that he would accuse her of such a thing. Her heartbreak soon moulded into anger.

"I can't believe this, Chris. You actually think I would do that?"

"No, Jill..." Chris sighed in defeat and placed his head into his hands.

Jill stood up beginning to leave, until Chris instinctively grabbed her hand.

"Please..." She stopped and looked at him, "I'm sorry, but I don't understand. I can't take it. Someone stole from me, and attempted to frame me! I'm confused, Jill... I'm not trying to take it out on you, I just...I love my job, and now I'm going to have a bad record."

"Yeah, I understand, Chris. And it must be hard for you." Jill said almost bitterly towards him, and began to leave once more.

"Stay, please..." He pleaded with her.

"Call me when you actually trust me." She slipped her hand out of his, and walked away. Chris buried his head into hands, rubbing soothingly at his temples.

"Hey, Steve, I don't want to sound too forward, but is there any chance I could come around to yours? I just can't be in the house, at the moment..." Claire asked over the phone, biting frantically at her nails. She didn't want to seem over the top or presumptuous, she had only recently met Steve, but she had few friends. Few people she could fully confide in, she was a strong woman, but she did depend on other people, perhaps more than she should have.

"Um... Yeah, that's fine, Claire. You can come round now." The voice on the other side replied.

"Okay." Claire sighed and hung up the phone. She grabbed her backpack containing the photos, and jumped on her Harley to meet Steve.

Steve welcomed Claire into the house he shared with his parents. He led her into their nicely spaced living room, and took the time to admire her back assets.

"Steve?" Claire snapped, turning around and noticing his wandering gaze. The young man beamed, and attempted to hide his face with his hands.

"...So? Why did you have to get out of the house?" He asked trying to change the topic away from his raging, teenage hormones.

"Just needed a friend." She said, plonking herself down on his settee.

"Well, glad to be of assistance, but you'll be disappointed if you always depend on others. I would know..." He placed himself beside her.

"Why do you say that?" Claire was taken aback by his words.

"My parents are never around; I couldn't count on them if my life depended on it. Especially my dad, I mean I'm close to him, but he'll always put work first in front of us." He sighed and glanced to the photo of himself, his father and mother, all looking overly happy, "I'm just saying, be careful who you trust."

"I'm sorry, Steve." Claire placed her hand gently on his lap, to which he tensed in response. "Well, it's just me and Chris, but he's always promised to look after me."

"Let's hope he sticks to his promises. It's good you have someone you can trust and they, in turn, trust you."

"Yeah..." Steve was right, Chris trusted her. Yet she had destroyed that trust by stealing his card, and hadn't told him. She resumed biting the little nail that was now left on her fingers.

"Is everything okay, Claire?"

She shook her head, and hesitated before pulling out the photos she had hidden in her bag.

"Look..." She showed him the photos, and went on to spill all the details of what had happened.

A tall, muscular man walked into the RPD office, placing himself next to Barry.

"Leon, tell me you got something?" Barry asked to the man who had just appeared. Barry was trying to recover and pick up the case of the prostitution ring, even without any evidence. It was proving more difficult than he had believed, and Irons had sent in the young, but highly experienced, Officer Kennedy to give him assistance.

"When do I ever disappoint?" Leon said with a cocky smile on his face, "Obviously we don't have the photos, but before they went, you sent it to the recognition scanner. Good choice, we've hit gold. Both men's faces were undetectable, weren't clear enough..."

"So, where's the gold in this?" Barry quizzed.

"Hang on, I'm getting there. The woman, well, we found a match on the database. Her name is Ada Wong apparently." He lifted out various sheets of information on her from his folder, and handed them to Barry. "She was brought in a good few years ago on suspicion of aiding an assassination, actually. But with no evidence, she was let go and the case was closed. We haven't heard a peep out of her, till now."

"Damn. You're good Rookie, I'll give you that." Barry chuckled.

"So we get to her, she may be able to give us details on the man we believe to be the leader. With or without those photos, we're back in the running with this case..." Leon said, stretching and relaxing into the chair.

"Have they got anywhere with finding out who took the evidence?" Leon asked, rummaging through the various photos and sheets on Barry's desk.

"I don't think so. But Chris has been suspended, I don't know the full details." He replied.

"Refield?" Barry nodded, "Damn! Didn't think he had it in him."

"No neither do I. I highly doubt Chris has actually done it. He's a good friend of mine, at a guess I would think Irons is just being an asshole."

"Typical Irons, then." Leon scoffed.

"Claire. You have to tell Chris." Steve pleaded with her. After telling the whole story, Claire had broken down into tears, she had keep in all the secrets and lies for a long time, and it was a relief for her to finally tell someone.

"How? He's going to kill me. And then, he'll ask why I did it, and..." She started to sob again. Steve, instinctively, brought his arm around her back and rubbed gently to calm her.

"Tell all of it. Tell him Wesker made you do it. He's not going to hold it against you when you were defending him." Steve proposed, but she covered her face with her hands again.

"But then, what about Wesker? He'll get me...What have I done..."

"No, he won't get you. From what I've heard Chris is a good guy, you said it yourself he'll always look after you." Steve said soothingly.

"Yeah, and you said not everyone sticks to their promises." She whined.

"Well, maybe Chris is different. Look, you have to tell him what happened, and you have to do it sooner rather than later." Claire nodded and looked up, "I'll come with you, okay?"

"Okay. Thank you." She wiped away the excess tears, and brought Steve into a warm embrace. A slight hint of red appeared on his youthful features.

Claire and Steve barged into Chris's apartment. He was sitting on his sofa, surrounded with pictures, and the whole apartment itself had random pieces splattered across it. It did look like an elephant had just run riot in the Redfield apartment.

"Wow, Chris what happened?" Claire was shocked, she ran beside to sit next to her broken brother.

"Well, they conducted their search, and funny enough, didn't find anything. Where were you?" He snapped at her.

"I was just with Steve." She moved slightly, so Chris could catch a glimpse of the boy, "He's my friend."

"Okay." Chris said, and resumed his intent studying of the floor. Claire was surprised, usually Chris would quiz her never endingly if she brought home a boy, instead it seemed he didn't care.

"Where's Jill?" She asked, hoping that bringing up his favourite topic would cheer him up.

"God only knows." He shrugged.

"What's wrong, Chris? What happened?" She clutched her hand comfortingly on his arm.

"Where do I start? I'm suspended from my job. They searched my apartment to no avail, and it's now in a mess. No one trusts me at the RPD. I pushed away Jill. And now, I can't trust anyone, because I think everyone is a suspect. I don't have a baldy notion who stole my damn card; all I can do is presume and blame the ones that I love..." Chris's voice began to crack. Claire realised that the end of his rant was clearly to do with his argument with Jill. She felt terrible; Chris obviously blamed Jill for stealing the card. She never wanted this, she didn't want to hurt anyone, and now she had ruined everything.

Chris brought his palms to his face, and attempted to rub away the uninvited moisture that had begun to form around his eyes.

"I have something to tell you..." Claire started.

And you'll just have to wait to see what happens next, because I'm tired! I'll try to update as soon as I can, but I'll warn you the next couple of updates could be scarce...

If you can, be a dear and pop in a review, makes me happy! :D

Artichoke,

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