Chapter 24: Except For One

Author's note: Bonjour everyone! Hope you enjoy the chapter and please read on!

To Sheva Redfield: Good heavens, I hope they don't break up either! I'm sad the story is ending as well but it'll be a good ending :) Hope you like the chapter and see you next time!
To Justsomegirl17: Haha, 'I need my time machine, Jill!' I feel that's how she would react to pregnancy! Like she's fighting for the world to keep it safe and now she's bringing her own little baby :D. I loved that part and I was laughing while writing it! When Chris hit his head, it did look really painful :(. I like Ada better in the last game than the ones before, but I don't know. Carla reminds me of Excella kind of. It's peanut butter jelly time! Arrivederci, my dearest!
To Sivan IXXX: This story has gone really fast, I feel. But I'm happy with how the ending came out and I'm excited for you to read it :).

Much love and thanks, Sarai.

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the RE mention in this story. Capcom does.

Sheva was about to crawl under the covers of her bed and noticed Sophie already fast asleep on the other side of the bed. The small kitten was a ball of energy and would run and eat all day, with the occasional bathroom break. Sheva was grateful for the small feline's presence. She felt alone for the past day and a half, except for when she spent time with Claire. But when she would get home, everything was quiet and empty. Then Sophie and her happy attitude was so contagious it instantly brightened Sheva spirits.

After talking to Claire about Sheva's possible pregnancy, she felt her mood and conscious lighten. Even though she was still clueless as to what exactly was causing her illness, it felt good to talk to someone about it and even better to receive the support Claire offered. She still worried that she might be pregnant but did her best to push the idea to the back of her mind and relax like Claire had suggested.

Sheva rubbed her flat and toned stomach and thought for a moment. If she was pregnant, she'd keep the baby; that was decided immediately. Even though Sheva understood why some parents chose to place their child in adoption or some who aborted the baby, Sheva never considered either. She always wanted children and she wanted to raise them. She even thought about instead of having her own, she might just adopt. But now that there was a chance that she was having her own baby and with Chris as the father, she couldn't help but get excited.

Sheva was lost in thought when she heard Sophie give an annoyed meow, complaining at the electric ringing coming from the night stand. She looked to her phone and found that that's where the noise was coming from and answered.

"Alomar," she spoke in the receiver.

"Agent Alomar, this is Norman Harrison, you're boss."

"I know who you are Norman, what's going on?"

A sigh came from him, "All of the men in Alpha Team are gone, except for one."

Sheva stopped breathing and her heart came to a stop. Terrible thoughts and worries came quickly to her mind. She immediately worried for Chris and worked up the breath to ask her boss a question that she wasn't sure if she was ready for it to be answered.

Sheva shut her eyes tightly and asked, "Who survived?"

"Captain Redfield is the lone survivor. I had gotten word only an hour ago and he said to give you a call right away and that he'll speak with you soon."

Relief like she had never felt before washed over her. "Is he alright? Is he safe?" she asked rapidly.

"He is perfectly fine, just shaken up a bit. Like I said, he'll give you a call soon," Norman said, trying to reassure her. He wasn't completely sure about the relationship between Alomar and Redfield, but he had an idea. From the time Sheva had arrived in America, working for this branch, he swore something was going on between the two. He just never questioned them, not wanting to imply something he wasn't sure of.

"Can't you give me the number he's using? I want to talk to him," she said.

"Miss Alomar, he's too busy right now, he'll call you soon."

"Please Norman, you have to understand…"

Norman rubbed his temple while sitting in his chair at his office at HQ. From what he had heard about the mission in Lanshiang, it was a traumatic one. Captain Redfield had lost his entire team, again,and from what the headquarters in China told him, the last BOW that he fought was nothing to scoff at. Apparently it was huge, one of the biggest that the BSAA had ever seen. But he knew that maybe speaking with Sheva would help him cope, so he gave in and gave Sheva the number to China's HQ and to the base where Chris was staying.

"Thank you, Norman. This really means a lot," she said softly.

"Don't mention it kiddo. I'll talk with you soon, goodbye."

Sheva hung up and dialed the number immediately that her boss gave her to contact Chris. After a few calls and transfers with the base in China, she finally heard his voice.

"Redfield," he said in a low, emotionless voice.

"Chris? It's me. Are you alright? What happened? I wish I was there," she said without taking a breath.

"Calm down, Shev. I'm fine," was all he said.

"I've been worrying so much over here…then Norman, my boss, called me and told me that you were the only survivor. Chris, I'm so sorry."

"Don't be sorry, Sheva. It was my fault anyway. I dug their graves for them," he said even lower.

"Chris, honey, they went with you on their own free will and they did a good thing. They will be remembered greatly and missed much."

"Don't say that," he said sternly.

Sheva was confused by his attitude and choice of words. She knew that Chris always cared for his team and did his best to protect them, but he never sounded so withdrawn. "You did nothing wrong. It wasn't your fault."

"I was the one who wanted to abort the mission and hunt down Ada Wong. Of course it was my fucking fault and I got all of them killed! Just like Edonia," he shouted into the phone.

Sheva pulled the phone away from her ear, his yelling harshly banging in her eardrums. When she heard him calm down, she brought the phone back to her ear. "But it's not Edonia. Don't take the fault for their decisions. They could have backed out and went on with the original mission."

"It's exactly like Edonia. My men are dead and I'm left alone to deal with the fact that I killed them."

"Chris, it's—"

Chris interrupted her, "I've got to go, Sheva. I'll talk with you later."

Then nothing. He hung up and Sheva was left alone with the silence and even though she knew he couldn't hear, she softly spoke in the phone, "It's not your fault. I love you."

She dropped the phone to the floor and sat on the bed. She felt like she was nonexistent. Gone. She thought that maybe this was a way too realistic dream and that she will wake up any minute now.

How could Chris act that way? Why did he just hang up on her and not even say he loved her? Why wouldn't he talk to her?

"Wake up, Sheva. Wake up," she told to herself.

She jumped slightly when she felt Sophie's cold wet nose on her arm. She looked down to the cat and looked into her drowsy green eyes. In the dim light coming from only a lamp on the other side of the room, Sophie's eyes looked a dull olive hazel shade. The color reminded her of someone. She stared into the kittens eyes and gasped. The color was similar to another pair of eyes; eyes that she had looked into only a few days ago, now feeling like a lifetime. The eyes that were on her mind belonged to Piers Nivans.

Sheva shook her head in disbelief. Norman Harrison said that the only survivor of Alpha Team was Chris, so that meant…

"Oh, God…"

Sheva could feel the tears gathering in her eyes. Her vision was blurred and she let out a sob. And then another and another. She had only known Piers for a year, but he had become her colleague and friend. And now…now he was dead.

Sheva fell over onto the bed, lying on her side. She pulled a pillow to her chest and buried her face into the plush cotton, sobbing for a friend that she didn't want to accept was gone. She wept into the pillow, dousing it in salty tears that weren't stopping. Sheva was more than happy that her love, Chris, was still alive. But now she understood why he was acting so weird and distant on the phone. She remembered she asked Piers to look out for Chris and knowing him and how he kept his promises, he did…to the end.

Sheva woke in a dreary state. She was in the same position she was when she fell asleep and Sophie stayed next to her the whole night. Her head felt heavy and her eyes stung but she forced herself to sit up and lay her feet on the carpeted ground. She rubbed her temples and opened her eyes slightly, looking around the room. The sun was bright, but it wasn't shining directly into her room. So that meant it was afternoon.

She groaned and slowly stood, trying to wake up. She felt so sick and her emotions were haywire. She felt her stomach growling angrily and stood to walk to the kitchen. She thought what she felt like eating and oddly she had a craving for pickles and peanut butter. She searched the cabinets in her kitchen and found the jar peanut butter. She grabbed a spoon from a drawer and closed it with her hip. She popped off the lid on the jar and scooped some peanut butter and brought the spoon to her mouth. When she tasted the creamy food on her tongue she felt as if she could melt. She scooped more peanut butter and devoured it. She was about to get another spoonful when she stopped and realized what she was doing and what she was feeling.

"Cravings," she said in a defeated manner.

Great. First it was sickness and now she was having cravings. She put the lid back on the jar of peanut butter and put it back into the cabinet, as well as put the spoon in the sink. She rubbed her forehead and was not surprised to fell how cold and clammy her skin was. Her stomach was in knots and if she didn't know better, she knew that she would need to stay near a bucket or toilet. She went to her bathroom and started a hot bath. She needed to relax and think about what was happening in her life and how she was going to deal with it all.

She stripped her clothing off and stepped into the now full bathtub. If her body could talk, it'd be sighing in relief. She sunk into the water and laid back, feeling her bones and muscles relaxing as the hot water soothed her aching body.

She thought about Piers. She was going to miss her friend and mourn him often. He was so young and too brave for his own good. He always wanted to make everyone was happy and help as much as he could, even if it meant getting himself in trouble. She prayed to God that his death was fast and painless. She decided she didn't want to think about Piers or his death anymore.

Her mind went straight to the idea of being pregnant. She was sick and tired of thinking about it all the time, but how could she not? If there was a possibility of being pregnant, she'd need to prepare herself. She'd have to tell the BSAA and they'd give her time off before the baby came and she'd have to get an OB-GYN. She'd have to watch what she ate to make sure the baby was consuming only healthy and good things. But it wasn't like Sheva ate junk food all the time; just the occasional bag of chips and ice cream during that time of the month. She immediately thought of when her last period was and when the next one should start. She always started in the middle of the month, but now the month was about to end and she still hadn't gotten her period.

She rolled her head back onto the lip of the tub and sighed. 'It's obvious,' she thought to herself.

It was time to accept that she was more than likely pregnant. She was 26 and she was going to have her first child. She knew the baby was going to be beautiful. No matter the gender, her baby was going to be perfect. Deep down though, she hoped for a boy. She loved baby girls, but she always imagined having a boy first. So that when she had a girl and when they both grew up, her brother would be around to watch over for her.

She thought if she was in fact having a kid, what her son would look like. She'd imagine he'd have tan skin like her own and dark hair. He'd have brown eyes and have strong bone structure that made all the girls bat their eyelashes. He'd be tall and broad. He'd have a wonderful sense of humor and be a compassionate person.

"He'd be just like his father," she said aloud, not really realizing what she had just said.

She sat up in the tub and looked around. Her mind went straight to Chris and what he was doing over in China. She wanted to talk to him, but he's acting so weird and distant. The more she thought about her conversation with him the night before, the more she became irritated. Why the hell did her blow her off like that?

Sheva sighed angrily and stepped out of the bathtub. She wrapped a towel around her body and went to her bedroom to find her phone. She redialed the number she called last night and went through the same procedure to get to his phone line. After telling a few people Chris's name and her intentions were to talk with him, she finally was transferred to his line.

'Why on earth is it so hard to reach him?' she thought.

After the third ring he answered. "Redfield," he said in the same emotionless voice he had last night.

"Chris, when are you coming home?" she asked heatedly.

"Sheva? Are you alright? You sound angry."

She bit her lip to keep from yelling at him. "Why did you hang up on me last night?"

A sigh came from the other line, "I didn't hang up on you. I said goodbye, didn't I?"

"A really shitty goodbye."

Chris was surprised by her attitude. He had never heard her sound so mad. "Well, I'm sorry. I didn't want to talk at that moment. I was tired."

"Are you tired now?" she asked in a condescending tone.

"What—Sheva, what's wrong?"

"I'm perfectly fine. Now when are you coming home?"

All that was heard was silence. She was becoming impatient and could feel her hand tightening into a fist without her even realizing.

"I don't know yet," was all he said.

"What do you mean you don't know yet?"

"Why are you so angry? Did something happen?" he asked in a quiet voice.

'Did something happen,' she mouthed while rolling her eyes.

"I just want to know when you're coming home. I need to talk to you about something and it's too serious to talk about over the phone," she said quickly.

"What do you mean it's too serious? Shev, what's wrong?"

"I want to talk to you in person about it. So when are you coming home?"

Chris sighed again, "I don't know anymore."

"What don't you know anymore?"

"Nothing. I'll talk to you later."

Sheva could feel her blood boil. "Christopher Redfield, you are coming home. You get on the next flight to New York. No if's, and's or but's. You're coming home. Got it?"

"Got it," he said almost too quickly. "I'll get on the next flight."

Sheva smiled to herself. From the sound of his voice, Chris sounded surprised and possibly even slightly scared of Sheva's tone. She took a deep breath to calm her nerves.

"Good. I'll see you soon then," she said in a much more tame voice.

"Alright, Sheva, I'll see you soon too."

"And Chris?"

"Yeah?"

"I love you," she said gently.

She could her him sigh once more. "I love you, too, Shev."

Author's note: It was about time Sheva got stern with him. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and please comment, favorite, follow, whatever you feel like doing!

In the next chapter, Sheva needs solace. She can't take it any longer and buys a pregnancy test. She asks Claire to be with her and together the two discover the results. In all honesty, the next chapter is one of my favorites!

Talk to you guys on Tuesday, Sarai.