Regeneration

Chapter 13: Christmas Day

Heavily edited. Disclaimers below.

DISCLAIMER: The idea for Piers' present to Chris was not solely my own. It is inspired by two images I found on the web. Here they are:

ht_tp:_/_/_castella_-_star_._deviantart_._com_/_art_/_sleepy_-_338813751 by castella-star from DeviantArt. Remove all of the '_' underscores and the link will work.

art/Put-me-down-Piers-338689318 by negurisasame on DeviantArt. Again, remove all the '_' underscores and the link will work.

Enjoy! —Chris

Chris Redfield

"You got me a present?" I asked, not able to resist smiling. Piers jumped a mile and twisted around. "Uhh...y-yeah..."

"Thanks, Piers! Can I have it?" I asked, smirking like a jackass at how nervous he looked.

"Well...it's, er, not with me right now."

"So where is it? Or is it not here yet?" I asked.

"It's...in my quarters..." Piers said, looking away from me.

"Great, let's go, and then you can have yours! We can see Jill and Claire afterwards." I said.

"Uh...actually, Chris, maybe it's better if we don't...it's not much of a present, and—"

"Come on! Just let me see it! It can't be any worse than what I got you!" I said, grinning, but at the same time feeling my gut lurch at the prospect of giving it to him. I hoped he'd like it.

"Chris, really, you don't want—"

"That's an order." I said, smirking. Peirss hung his head, and I felt a little guilty.

"Yes sir."

Leon Kennedy

"You seem to be doing well." a voice said from behind me. I turned around and saw a woman walking towards me. She was dressed in red, and there was a red flower in her brown, shoulder-length hair. She was wearing high heels.

"Ada?" I asked incredulously. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"Leon, you know it's wrong to curse on Christmas Day." she said, walking closer.

"Ada! How did you escape? You've got to hide!" I hissed, but she just smiled. "Leon, you should know. I was set free, released on all charges." she said. I just left my mouth open in shock. "That can't be possible." I said.

"See for yourself." she said, handing me a piece of paper, which turned out to be a letter, addressed to Ada's captors. It read:

To those of the United Kingdom Security and Associates of the Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance, North American Branch, and all others to whom it may concern,

It is hereby decided that all charges against Ada Wong are to be dropped, on request of consultant and plaintiff Piers Nivans. It has been received that all acts committed by Miss Wong, while working against various members of the B.S.A.A. and friends, were made in the good faith and to the benefit of others. Given her aid of individuals Ashley Graham and Leon Scott Kennedy, the latter of whom has seen and been aided by her actions multiple times and can vouch for her usefulness and morality, we have conferred with our foreign branches and associates within the United States Secret Service and Presidential Guard. It was agreed by six of the eleven founding members of the North American Branch that Miss Wong holds no intent to make further harm and should be released on request of Officer Nivans. Thank you for your patience.

Chris Redfield

Jill Valentine

Castor Williams

Jade Serenek

Camille Coren

Brandon Dgaref

Piers Nivans

After a few seconds of staring at the paper, I was able to speak. "I never vouched for you." I said simply. Ada put a hand on her hip. "Helena Harper vouched for me for you." she said, the grin growing wider.

"That's...this is just...this can't..." I said, the letter shaking in my hands. She took it away from me graciously and said "Merry Christmas, Leon." before walking away.

Damn, that woman always seems to come out on top.

Piers Nivans

We walked slowly to my quarters. Chris was holding a very large, wrapped box in his arms, and seemed to be trying to hide his face behind it, which was making walking without hitting everything around him a chore for him. The further I walked, the more I was convinced that I'd made a horrible decision in what to get Chris. I just knew he'd hate it, he'd try to laugh or smile, but inside he'd be thinking "What the hell, Piers?" He'd be creeped out. Even I was.

Meanwhile, I was still dumbfounded by the fact he'd bothered to do the same. Special case or not, you couldn't count on someone of Chris's position spending very hard-earned money on things as minute a matter as Christmas presents for co-soldiers.

But eventually, we made it back to my quarters. Slowly, torturously, I slid my key into the lock, turned it, and opened the door. Chris carefully spun his way in, and I closed the door. "Great! Now lemme see it, and then I'll give you yours." he said.

"Nope. You first." I asserted as he set the box down. Chris gave me a dull look.

"My house." I said, a grin growing on my face despite myself.

"A nd you're my soldier." he said. I felt a pang of awkward lust inside as I heard what he said. Strictly speaking...Chris was the head of the B.S.A.A. So if he said I was his...then I was his...

Careful, Piers. "I'm not giving it to you until you show me what's in that box."

"Gimme the present."

"Chris." I said, folding my arms.

"Fine." Chris said. "At least take me to where it is, and then I'll give you mine."

I guess this was okay. Gulping, I went back to my room and Chris followed me. I winced when I realized just how weird this could look to the Captain. I turned to him. "Okay, cough up."

Chris suddenly looked very nervous. "Well..."

"You said you would."

"I know, but...it's not exactly..."

"Not exactly what?"

Chris shut his eyes tight. "Just open it. I'm sorry."

Sighing, I got down on my knees and fiddled with the wrapping. When Chris bent down to help me with it, I waved him away. "I got it, I got it." I read the tag:

"Merry Christmas Piers! —From Chris"

Then, I ran one of my claws/fingers through the tape holding it together, and shredded the wrapping. Hastily, I opened the box. There was a lot of stuffing inside, so I pulled it all out, and reached inside.

"I tried to think of something that wasn't too...insensitive..." Chris said tentatively.

I gasped. My hands pulled out a long, sleek, sniper rifle. It was unlike anything I'd ever seen before. It was black and red, with a thick bullet hole end grafted onto the neck of the rifle by three small silver rods. There was a complex scope at the end, with two dials and a laser sight. It was just like my anti-material rifle, but sleeker and shinier. I looked it over, eyes wide. "What...how did you...where did you get this? What is it?" I asked, feeling dumbfounded.

"It's custom made." Chris said. "The guy I had craft it called it a "Splitter Rifle". If he did it like I asked, it should be just like your old one. I figured it'd...getcha in the mood to be out on the field."

"I love it."

"Well, you won't get to be back in the war for a while, and..." Chris trailed off.

"That doesn't matter." I assured him. "I swear I'll train with this, arm or no arm, every day until I can finally get back on the battlefield." I said.

"That's awesome, Piers. So can I have mine now?" he asked. I panicked. This gift was just too good. Mine had been bad before, now, in comparison to his, it was the worst possible idea I could have had. "Ah..." I stammered.

Chris raised an eyebrow. "It's under the bed, isn't it?"

"No!" I yelped, but too late, Chris was already on the ground reaching under my bed. I tried to stop him, but Chris was stronger than I was, and I couldn't bring myself to electrocute him. He wriggled out from under the mattress with the bag clutched in his hand. "Chris, stop!" I said, trying to get it away from him, but Piers was reaching into it. I slumped as he pulled out...

The teddy bear. My face flushed.

"Piers!" Chris said quietly, "Is this...supposed to be me?" he asked.

It was supposed to be him. I had dressed the bear in the exact same outfit Chris had worn on our mission in Lanshiang. It had blue eyes and a gruff face. A smile broke out on Chris's face as he reached for the button on the teddy's chest.

"Don't!"

"Put me down. That is an order."

Chris burst out laughing. Not an embarassing laugh either, a genuine one.

"This is hilarious! C'mon, tell me!" Chris said, gasping for breath and putting an arm around me, nearly hyperventilating from all the laughing he was doing. It wasn't making me feel better about it. I didn't know what 'come on, tell me' was supposed to mean, though.

"Am I your teddy bear, Piers?"

It was hissed into my ear, rough stubble grazing my cheek as he said it. The room was suddenly way too warm...

"Maybe." I whispered.

Chris pulled back and looked at me. We stared at each other for a few seconds.

"Merry Christmas, Piers."

"Merry Christmas, Chris."

No Author's Notes —Chris