XX. The Beginning of Something


"When did the future switch from being a promise to being a threat?" — Chuck Palahniuk, 'Invisible Monsters'


It had been two weeks since Sheva had gotten news about Josh's injuries and things were going much better. She had called him every day to make sure he was getting good rest and healing well. After the first week, he was claiming he was completely fine and ready to go back to work, but Sheva knew from just hearing his voice and talking with his fiancée, Katie, that he needed more time to rest. Overall, Sheva was just thankful that he was okay and she still had her big brother in her life.

During these two weeks, Sheva had been talking a lot to Lewis King about Piers' application into Alpha team. Once going through an interview, surveys and other small things, Piers was accepted and as of yesterday, an official member of Alpha team. Despite being excited for him, Piers was much more professional than Sheva about his admission to the team. She tried to get him more cheerful about it, but he stayed calm and thanked her for her help. He wasn't at all impersonal, just calm.

"So, how do you like it?" Sheva inquired as she sat in the leather chair in front of Piers' new desk. Once he got the spot on Alpha, he got his own office on the same floor as Sheva and she had come to visit him on his first day occupying the room.

Looking around his new space, Piers shrugged. "It's…spacious." When she gave him a funny look, he explained. "Well in the NYC branch I had my own desk along with all the other soldiers. This is my first time having an entire office to myself. Now I'm trying to get used to it."

As Sheva was about to respond, a man knocked on the door, opened it slightly and told Piers he was all done painting his name on the door. Piers thanked him and waved him off. Sheva stood and walked around the space, scrutinizing the blank walls.

"Are you going to put pictures up?"

Piers stood from his desk and stood beside her in front of the largest wall. "I don't know what pictures to put up."

"Hmm," she hummed, thinking to herself. "You could put photos up of your family and friends. Or you know, your girlfriend's picture."

Slightly shocked, Piers looked to her with a small smirk. He didn't stop the laugh when he realized she was serious. "Seriously? Is this your way of asking if I have a girlfriend?"

"I'm not asking," she declared, slightly embarrassed. "I'm implying."

"Well, you're implying the wrong thing. I don't have a girlfriend, Sheva. Or a wife, in case you imply again."

Not being able to stop the relieved smile, Sheva tucked hair behind her ear and gave his office another glance. "Well, now that that's out of the way. Are you going to celebrate?"

As he thought about it, he wasn't sure how to celebrate. It had been a while since he actually let lose or just took some time for himself. He either buried himself in work or family matters. Though as of recently, his family matters seemed to be taking up most of his attention than anything else.

"Well," Sheva broke the silence. "How about we go out for drinks?" She was surprised by her confidence in this department. She just openly asked him out and she wasn't feeling too scared yet.

Well this was definitely a new side of her he was seeing. They had been going out to lunch often lately, but she had never outright asked him out for something more intimate like drinks. "Yeah, I'd like that."

She beamed as she looked to her feet in modesty. "Tonight then?" Thank goodness it was Friday so she could go on this "date" sooner. She was excited and she wasn't feeling nervous.

"Tonight," he told her, grabbing ahold of her hand. She was the first to wrap her tiny fingers around his hand as they stayed silent for a moment. "Just so I don't get surprise news, you don't have a boyfriend, right?" he questioned.

She shook her head. "No, I'm single."

When he intertwined their fingers together, she had the urge to kiss him. Not knowing if it was a good idea, she stood taller, laying her free hand on his cheek and beckoning him forward. And he did as she hinted and lowered himself a little lower until their faces were almost leveled. Leaning in a little, Sheva pressed her lips to the corner of his mouth and planted a gentle kiss there. His other hand found her lower back and pulled her closer, wanting another kiss. Piers was the one to go in for the kill this time and fully kissed her lips, holding there as she responded to him softly. Their lips moved together in unison, meshing and locking. The heat of her skin radiated onto him and drove him more to deepen the kiss. After a long minute, Sheva was the first to pull away and sigh sweetly.

"I've been wanting to do that for a while now," he admitted freely.

"Me too," she confessed to him with a breathy voice.

They didn't say anything but stood close to one another, holding hands with Pier's hand still on her back. Sheva's fingers played with his collar, stalling time until she had to get back to work. This new found romance was beginning to take up her thoughts, making her slightly sluggish with work. But there was no worry, because the reason she was a tad slow lately was a reason she was going to pursue, even if she had to work overtime for a small while. She was willing to move forward with him and it made her question if he was willing to do the same. However, she was not going to ask him, for she didn't want this to end so soon.

When he kissed her forehead, she was brought out of her contemplative trance. She looked up to him and smiled, knowing that she just needed to trust her instincts with this. As time passed, she knew it was time to go back to her office. Moving towards the door, she asked Piers about his plans for the next major holiday: Christmas.

"Oh yeah," he mumbled with furrowed brows. "Christmas is almost here. I'm still hung over on Thanksgiving."

She laughed lightly. "Christmas is upon us. But I'm just asking because I'm having a Christmas dinner at my home and thought maybe you wanted to come."

Déjà vu. Piers held back a thoughtful sigh. "You know, Mrs. Coen-Chambers asked me the same thing two days ago."

"What? Becca?" He nodded, slightly amused by her shocked expression. "Oh, Rebecca. Always one step ahead of everyone."

"She's on top of everything it seems," he thought aloud. "I need to see some family, but I'll try to stop by."

As Sheva was almost to the door, Piers walked over to her and kissed her one more time before she left. He could get used to this. Kissing her hello, goodbye, and a few times in between. The thought that she wanted him with her on the holiday actually brightened his spirits considerably. As for Rebecca, well, he had respect for the small woman but he also knew what she was up to. It wasn't often that Piers had someone trying to set him up, but it was easy to see no matter how rare of an occurrence it was. He could just tell that Mrs. Coen-Chambers had a few tricks up her sleeve and she was going to use them all.

He'd try to make it to Sheva's dinner, but he had priorities at the moment. It wasn't work, but his only family member left. It took a lot of time to work up the courage to visit this person that Piers cherished much and even though he wanted to spend more time with Sheva, his attention was needed elsewhere at the moment.


Lightly biting at her lip, Sheva was looking through her files as she walked down the hall. Her attention wasn't really on the files, but the tingle in her lips. She could feel they were slightly swollen and sensitive, making her smile every time she brushed her fingertips on the pinkish skin. She was so engrossed while fantasizing over Piers that she had no clue she was about to bump into a familiar blonde.

"Oof!" Jill huffed, looking down at the phone she had just dropped. She was typing away on her cellular, not bothering to look where she was going when she suddenly collided with Sheva, who seemed to be just as absent minded as she was at that moment.

"Oh, sorry, Jill," Sheva apologized gently, sorting the files out in her hands that had scattered slightly. "I didn't look where I was going."

"It's okay. Neither was I." She bent to retrieve her phone, checking to see if she had gotten a response on her text and sure enough, she had. A modest smile rose to her lips as her eyes moved along a small column of words on the screen of her phone.

"That must be a pretty good message," Sheva guessed, feeling Jill's smile rub off onto her as a small grin pulled at the corner of her lips.

"Huh? Oh, uh, yeah. You can say that." Jill thought for a second, wanting to talk to someone and spill her thoughts out at the moment. Looking around for a small second, she motioned with a nod to her office for Sheva to follow. The brunette followed suit with an arched brow, somewhat confused.

"What is it, Jill?" she questioned as they made it into the other woman's office.

Jill closed the door behind her and turned to Sheva with bright eyes that Sheva had never seen on her before. "It's Carlos."

Oh no, Sheva thought. The mixed feelings were arising as Jill waited for a reply. It was an accomplishment to know that Jill felt comfortable to talk to her about it, but then again, Sheva no longer wanted to be in the middle. It was as Jill's eyes seemed to flicker into insecurity when Sheva decided to worry about it later and urged Jill to go on.

"It's just he's been really caring lately. Well, he's always been caring, but he's really going out of his way to go slow with me."

"That's wonderful, Jill," Sheva replied, feeling uneasy at the idea that Jill was moving forward with Carlos. It left her wondering what would happen to her and Chris. "Have you two been going out a lot?" she asked, referring to Carl.

"Like once or twice a week. Nothing intimate like dinner or anything like that. Most of the time we just go for walks and talk. Something's different this time, Sheva. I don't know why that is."

"Why do you feel it's different?"

"Carl has always been confident and out there. He's never been scared of what people think of him and how he acts. But now, I don't know. He's just so considerate of everything. And even though I appreciate that he's being gentle with me, I don't want him to change. I love how he's always been carefree and forward."

"Maybe he's really trying to make an impression this time," Sheva fathomed. "Maybe he realized he lost you in the first place because he lost track of your relationship, so now he's putting his full effort into it. Trying to show you that he does care and that he'll make better decisions."

At that, Jill seemed to beam with light from the inside out. She brought her hand to her lips and tried to hide the smile, but failing as she let out a soft sigh. "You really think so? I don't want him to change for me, but to know that he's trying so hard is kind of heartwarming."

"I think so. Have you two kissed yet?"

Quickly, Jill shook her head with rosy cheeks. This was the most emotional and colored Sheva had seen of Jill in person. She had known her ever since her time under Wesker's power, so all she knew Jill to be was quiet, orderly, and metaphorically grey in appearance. It was rather enlightening to see such a change in the blonde.

"No, no," she repeated. "The most he's done is hold my hand or touch my cheek. Like I said, he's taking everything so slow." It was quiet for a moment as both women thought to their selves. Jill was the first to break the silence with a small voice. "Do you think Chris knows anything about this?"

Oh, there was the bad part of involving herself with these types of situations with Jill or Chris; going between both of them to dodge bullets, answer questions, and survive the awkward moments. She gave Jill an answer with a shrug. "I don't know. That's something you need to face him with."

Wrapping her arms around her torso, Jill nodded with defeat. Pursing her lips, she looked to Sheva with curious eyes. "If Chris talked to you about it, you'd tell me, right?"

"Jill," Sheva said her name with disapproval. "That's not my part. Even if he did, I couldn't say because that's something he'd trust me with. It's like me telling him our conversations. I can't do that."

Eyeing her with skepticism, Jill agreed. She understood that it wasn't right what she had just asked of Sheva, but it made her question if Chris had talked to her about it. How much did he know? Did he hate her? Was he angry? Pushing the viscous thoughts away, she looked to the African beauty standing across from her.

"I heard about Josh. Is he all right? Was he hurt badly?"

Sheva fidgeted with her white blouse, feeling a tad ill at ease with where the conversation had gone. "He's doing much better. It wasn't that bad to begin with, so he says. But a few more days of rest and he should be up and running around again. Thank you for asking."

"I'm glad to hear he's okay." The silence made its appearance again, filling every corner of the room. Jill knew that she was the one to start it and she felt guilty for it. "I'm sorry to make you uncomfortable. I'm nervous about this all. I don't know what's going on or what's going to happen."

"It's okay, Jill. Just take baby steps and focus on what you need right now, okay? Take things slow with Carlos and think about talking to Chris. Will you do that?"

Her shoulders slumped with a heaviness of stress mixed with gratitude. Feeling spontaneous, Jill pulled Sheva into a tight hug and held her for a moment, just thanking her for being there. Sheva returned the gesture and told Jill she would always be there for her. It was a growing of a friendship that Sheva never thought she would gain, but here she was, becoming friends with Jill Valentine who was the girlfriend of the man she had had an affair with long ago. Life was funny in many ways, but it was also deceptive and no one had a clue what it had in store for them.


Author's note: Doesn't this chapter seem so short because there's no flashback?

HolleringHawk65: I never actually watched a proper soap opera. Well, I have but it was in Spanish and I couldn't understand a word they were saying other than 'yes' and 'milk'. But soap operas always drag out the affairs of their characters, don't they? I won't drag it out too long, but at least we'll have Piers along the way! :D
mrssherrymuller: Yes! Like a marriage pact to have a companion but not a lover. That's what Jill and Chris are doing, minus the marriage. Haha, gosh, if Claire was there then everything would have ended different probably. Claire can be a bit of an overkill, right? Thank you! And of course I look forward to your updates and I'll do my best to leave review on your next update. :)
wolfspiritqueen: Really? Well I hope it was worth the wait. :)
borismortys: Aw, thanks! I like that you said Piers was the safe choice for Sheva, because really he is. I don't want to make it seem like she's using him, but she sticks with him because it's less complicated than with Chris and it distracts her from Chris and their past. Poor Piers. We all know his fate, but at least it's an honorable fate, right? And I'm really glad you understand Jill's choice. I was nervous about writing that part, but it seems it's come across well. I think I might have acted the same way Jill did if I were in her situation. But let's be honest, everything would have been better if she had called up Carlos and they got back together then!
toby7400: No, I agree. The flashbacks needed to end and I felt they were dragging on maybe just a little. But thanks. I'm glad that both Jill's and Chris's choice was understandable, because I don't know about you, but I know I probably would have acted the same way they did. Haha, oh my. Josh actually dying? I have to admit, it'd be an interesting plot addition.
JustSomeGirl17: It's okay! You don't need to explain, I completely understand. :) Are the ratings down? I wouldn't know, but it makes me wanna watch some soap operas pronto! Ugh, right? Those boys need like 24/7 surveillance after all the destruction they do. Better safe than sorry indeed. Though Jill and Chris are really sorry they chose what they did now! And I'm sorry for them. :P Arrivederci, my cute rose!

I'm quite excited for the next chapter for many reasons. It'll be Christmas Day and we learn about this family member that has Piers so concerned, and something else happens that's not to do with Piers that I must keep tight lipped about. Can't wait!

-Sarai