Chapter 11: Reconstruction

"Love is when the other person's happiness is more important than your own." – H. Jackson Brown, Jr

Walking away from the table grumbling to himself, Chris couldn't help but wonder what else he could possibly mess up tonight. Walking to the bathroom, Chris' eyes followed the trail of blood that was slowly following him as it fell from the open wounds in his hand. Chris opened the bathroom door, ignoring the slight squeak that it gave as he did so, and pulled out tweezers, alcohol, and some gauze while sitting on the edge of the tub.

Chris grabbed the tweezers first, slowly pulling out a single shard of glass, wincing at the sudden tinge of pain that course through his nerves. Chris dropped the glass onto the nearby sink listening to the *clink clink* sound as it settled in. A small rivulet of blood started to slowly pour out into the tub from Chris' outstretched hand. Chris tried to strain his hearing and was able to barely hear the hint of a few angry voices from the dining room. Chris heard a knock on the door a couple minutes later and turned around. Mrs. Nivans was in the doorway with an apologetic and fearful look on her face, both at the same time. Chris winced as he looked at her, pulling out another shard of glass, dropping it into the sink with yet another *clink*.

"Can I help you with something?" Chris asked gruffly, although receiving no immediate reply.

oOoOoOoOo

Chris stalked off toward the bathroom in a stupor, seemingly untouched by the large number of glass shards in his hand, a trail of blood following his every step. Mrs. Nivans scowled at her husband, receiving a grimace in return. Mrs. Nivans was definitely NOT someone you wanted to piss off.

"Look what you've done now!" Mrs. Nivans still had her husband affixed with a venomous glare.

Mr. Nivans tried to raise his hands in a halfhearted defense. "How was I supposed to know he would react like that?!"

"Because." Mrs. Nivans hissed, "He's a captain in the B.S.A.A. for crying out loud, how dull can you be?!"

Mr. Nivans looked at his food ashamed. "Well… I mean… he wasn't that Captain, was he…?"

They both looked to Piers who shifted his gaze away, turning red with embarrassment. "Yeah… he was…"

Mr. Nivans shifted his gaze back down to his food and Mrs. Nivans gave her son a sympathetic look. "I'm going to go talk to him. Honey," Mrs. Nivans began again, giving her husband another glare. "if you say anything else to be an ass, WE. ARE. LEAVING. Do I make myself clear?"

Mr. Nivans muttered an apologetic *yes* as Mrs. Nivans got up to go talk to Chris.

She slid out of her seat slowly, listening to the slight screech that the chair made as she did so. Giving the mister another venomous glare, Mrs. Nivans turned to Piers and offered another apologetic smile. She walked away and began following the trail of blood that had fallen onto the carpet. It wasn't a very bad mess, but it was quite noticeable, almost looking like someone had been stabbed, which of course Chris somewhat had been. She felt a lone pair of eyes on her as she walked away, and she smiled slightly because she knew who it was that was watching her. Following the trail down the hall, Mrs. Nivans came to a simple white wood door, hearing the ever so often grunts from behind it.

Knocking on the door Mrs. Nivans slowly pushed the door open, hearing the slight creak, and taking in the scene before her eyes. Chris was sitting on the edge of the tub, tweezers in hand, and blood pooling slightly in the tub next to him. Mrs. Nivans' breath slowed slightly when Chris locked his gaze with hers. So many emotions were flying through Chris' eyes like the center of a tempest. Sadness, anger, fear, happiness, doubt, and still a swirling hurricane of other emotions were in there that Mrs. Nivans just couldn't identify.

Mrs. Nivans was so distracted she didn't even hear it when Chris asked her a question. Snapping out of her thoughts as Chris asked again, Mrs. Nivans blinked twice and shifted uncomfortably.

"Sorry, what did you say, Mr. Redfield?"

Chris chuckled to himself slightly, shifting his eyes back to his hand. "I said, do you need something?"

Mrs. Nivans cleared her throat and her gaze softened just a little bit. "Yes, I do, but first, you need to get that hand of yours fixed up."

Mrs. Nivans took two steps forward and balanced down on the balls of her feet next to Chris, who looked at her for a moment before mumbling a puzzling question. "Why do you want to help me?"

Mrs. Nivans shifted back for a moment and pursed her lips. "What do you mean Mr. Redfield?"

Chris looked back to her, grunting as he pulled out another piece of glass. "What I mean is why do you want to help me? Your husband obviously doesn't like this one little bit."

Mrs. Nivans scowled to herself. "Jeff can be an idiot, and I just think that he forgot for a moment that you were actually a B.S.A.A. captain before he decided to go off and say something that he really had no place in saying to begin with."

Mrs. Nivans frowned when she thought she heard Chris mutter something but decided not to push it. Instead, she moved closer, still balancing on the balls of her feet, and gently took the tweezers from Chris' hand. He looked at her questioningly with a frown on his face and she just smiled at him in response. Mrs. Nivans slowly began pulling out glass shards from Chris' hand. She pulled the next one out and another small spurt of blood came out. She quickly grabbed a towel to put under Chris' hand and decided to work from one end of his hand to the other.

"So." Mrs. Nivans began slowly. "How exactly do you know Piers?"

Chris cleared his throat nervously. "Well… I know Piers through the B.S.A.A…"

Mrs. Nivans smiled to herself while she pulled out a few small shards of glass, dropping them into the sink. "I know that Mr. Redfield, what I mean is how you know him from the B.S.A.A."

Chris shifted nervously on the edge of the tub. When Mrs. Nivans looked up Chris had a faraway look in his eyes. As she watched, a sole tear fell down Chris' face, making Mrs. Nivans almost gasp at the sight. Mrs. Nivans snapped her fingers in front of Chris' face and he came back. Chris masked a lot of things, but the look of regret from Chris was something nobody would be able to mask within themselves.

"I um…" Chris began scratching at the back of his head. "… worked alongside Piers…"

Mrs. Nivans sighed, shaking her head and covering her face with her hand. "Mr. Redfield I-"

"Chris." He snapped back quickly. "Just… just call me Chris."

Mrs. Nivans smiled warmly in response. "Ok, Chris, I already know how you worked with Piers because he told us. I want to hear it in more detail from you."

Chris sighed and muttered something under his breath. He looked away from Mrs. Nivans and stared at his reflection in the mirror. He'd changed a lot over the past few weeks. The stress was obviously getting to him. His stubble had grown out and it was staring to get scraggly, while the circles under his eyes were getting darker with every passing day. Chris looked like he hadn't slept in days, and he might as well hadn't with the small amount he was actually getting. Mrs. Nivans snapped her fingers in front of his face again, and Chris was brought back to the conversation once again, something Chris was beginning to admire.

Finally, Chris sighed and began telling the story. "I… was his Captain. We lost some men in Edonia, and I couldn't cope with it very well. Piers he…" Chris swallowed thickly. "He spent six months tracking me down to set me straight, something everybody else had probably all but given up on. There was a woman that caused those deaths in Edonia. I saw her again in China and my mind went red. I wanted to bring her in… no that's a lie, I wanted to kill her for what she had done."

Chris took a moment to breath. Mrs. Nivans plunked a few more shards of glass into the sink. A couple more slices in Chris' hand started to bleed slowly, and most of the other wounds had stopped bleeding all together. Mrs. Nivans put her hand onto Chris' non bleeding one softly, trying to urge him to continue.

Chris sighed again. "He tried to turn me back, make me see reason but… I wouldn't. Eventually we had to go save the only hope we had for a vaccine against the C-Virus. Piers he… his arm got messed up really bad. I was about to die and he… he injected himself… for me. I tried to get him to leave with me and we got to the escape pods. Piers… pushed me in and hit the eject button. The only thing I could think of when I flew away in that pod was Why Me? What made me so special when Piers had so much more to live for?"

Mrs. Nivans smiled as Chris finished his telling of what happened. That was her son, someone who would go to the ends of the world to save someone he loved. She finished pulling the last of the glass out, dropping the final shards of some twenty to thirty pieces into the sink. Mrs. Nivans grabbed the alcohol and rag, using them to clean Chris' hand, who winced at the sting the alcohol brought along with it.

"Chris," Mrs. Nivans said as calmly as she could. "Why do you think Piers did that?"

Chris looked at her for a moment with a neutral expression on his face. "… He said he did it for the B.S.A.A… for the future. Those were his words."

Mrs. Nivans chuckled slightly. "Chris, I'm sure you know there was probably more to that than what he said."
Chris had a small smile start playing at the corners of his mouth. "…yeah… but things don't really seem to be going that well lately."

It was Mrs. Nivans' turn to be surprised. "What do you mean Chris?"

Chris grimaced and looked down. "Well… earlier today, well really early this morning, I woke up to a friend of ours knocking. We couldn't find Piers but found the note he left for me. He was at the base's shooting range and I kind of snapped and asked why he didn't wake me up and ask me to take him there. That pissed him off but everything he said was right, and I just left. We haven't exactly spoken to each other since then…"

Mrs. Nivans thought for a moment and smiled apologetically. "That might be partly our fault because we can be very… headstrong, I guess you would say, in our family. But as far as I can guess, he didn't want to bother you. It's obvious to me that you are very protective of Piers. Just try to let him do things on his own or he will never be back to the way he was."

Chris looked up and smiled again, and this time he didn't drop hs gaze. "Thanks that… that means a lot to me."

Mrs. Nivans patted Chris lightly on the shoulder and grabbed some gauze to wrap his hand. "You know Chris… he wouldn't have done that if he didn't care for you. It may be hard sometimes but I can tell that he loves you more than anyone else in the world."

Chris nodded and looked down at his now bandaged hand and tried to move it, wincing at the sudden surge of pain. "I know… sometimes I just wish it had been me instead of him. But then I just start to wonder. What if it had been me, would we be where we are now?"

Mrs. Nivans pulled Chris in for a hug. "Everything happens for a reason, sometimes you just need the will and the reason to understand why it happened the way it did. I know you love Piers and he loves you, just try to show him how much by doing the things you guys used to do together."

Chris sighed happily, resting his elbows on his knees. "Thanks, do you really think it will help?"

Mrs. Nivans smiled brighter than ever at Chris. "I know it will Chris, you just have to give it everything you have."

Chris smiled back, still holding her gaze. "I will, should we go back to dinner now?"

Mrs. Nivans laughed. "Only if you think you're ready."

Chris nodded back to Mrs. Nivans. "Let's go then."