Hooo boy this one was difficult to write. not because it was emotionally stressful or anything, I just completely ran out of script after my 10 chapter marathon x'D Took me a minute but I fixed up another script to pull from so hopefully that helps with future chapters too.

Song Suggestions: FRIENDS by Marshmello & Anne-Marie

Disclaimer: I don't own crap I just write crappy fan fiction about an older emotionally unavailable dude from Capcom out of sheer boredom, please don't sue me.


Another year and another Valentine's Day spent alone. Emma shook her head at that thought as she finished her day of work. It might as well just be another Wednesday. Oh well. At least chocolate is usually on sale the day after, she thought as she got up and packed up her things to head home. However, to her surprise once she made it back to her apartment, she found a decent size box sitting in front of her door.

"Hm? Hello. What are you?" Emma quietly asked under her breath as she picked up the box. She didn't remember ordering anything... All the same, she unlocked her door and made her way into her apartment with it. "Duke, I'm home," she called, and the dog lazily stretched to get off the couch and greet her.

After closing the door behind her, she leaned over to pick up the pile of mail on the floor and carry it all over to the kitchen counter. "Let's figure out what I bought at three in the morning and forgot about," she said with a laugh, getting a pair of scissors to cut the tape that held the box shut.

Inside was a nice vase, a bundle of bright, colorful flowers and a red envelope. "Oh wow, these are gorgeous," Emma said, surprised, as she quickly got the vase out and set up with water before putting it next to the tiny metal hut on her island counter. She used the scissors to trim back the stems before putting them into the vase. "Let's see here. What secrets do you hold little envelope?" Emma asked as she opened it to find a rather cute-looking card. Inside it had a simple printed message. "Happy Valentine's Day. Your secret admirer."

"Aw, Chel." Emma smiled as she set the card next to the flowers before taking out her phone to take a picture of the flowers and send it to Chelsea.

[Emma] -Picture of flowers- You're too sweet, thanks so much! They're beautiful.

Emma put her phone away and got to work on heating up one of her premade dinners. She had just finished reheating the plate of food when her phone went off again, alerting her of a response.

[Chelsea] AHAHAHA. Oooh gosh. Honey, no. I didn't send those.

[Emma] Wait, what? Then who did?

[Chelsea] How should I know? Lmao. Let me know when you figure out who it is, 'cause something tells me we're going to have other things to talk about too.

Emma rolled her eyes at that. Well, whoever it was they didn't want to put their name on the gesture, so she'd respect that for what it was and just appreciate the thought.

...Maybe it was Mom, Emma thought while munching on her food. Hm. That would be a first though, and she would have called three times by now to make sure that it arrived on time. The mystery remained as she washed her dishes, fed and walked Duke then went to get ready to head out to the park for the evening.

Around 7 pm there was a knock at her door, which caused Duke to start barking. "Shush, go get your stuffy," Emma said, and the dog reluctantly complied. Once the pup was busy, she unlocked and opened the door.

"Tanner?" Emma said, surprised. "Hey, I was just getting ready to head out."

"Hey to you too. I managed to get out of the lab early for once, so I figured I'd stop by and see if we could walk to the park together," he explained with a shrug and sheepish smile.

"Wow. Well, that is a rare surprise. Usually, it's a text saying you're going to be late or can't make it," she teased in response. "Come on in, I just need to get my bag and coat."

"'Kay," he said and walked in, closing the door behind him while Emma headed back to her room to get the aforementioned items.

Tanner put his bag down by the door and looks around. "You have a nice place," he complimented before noticing the flowers on the island and smiling. He walked over to the island and picked up the tiny metal house held up by four little metal legs, only to wince as the roof fell off and ashes poured onto the tray. "What is this thing?" he asked with an amused laugh as he tried to put it back together.

"What's what?" Emma walked out of her room now wearing her coat and carrying her bag over her shoulder to find Tanner messing with the tiny metal structure. "Oh! The worry hut. Isn't it cute?" she asked with a smile.

"It's certainly... unique," he replied. It wasn't his style, but he'd be nice since it was something she seemed to like.

"I think that's part of its charm," she admitted as she fondly looked at it. "It was a holiday gift from one of my neighbors."

"Ah." And now he hated it. "The neighbor who stopped by the rink last month?" he raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, that one," she confirmed. Wait. How did he know Chris was her neighbor? She'd never mentioned that...

"Well, speaking of holiday gifts, thanks again for yours. I got it set up on my desk at work." He smiled as he looked over the metal box with holes for a second longer before putting it back on its tray.

"Not a problem, you made it rather easy on me to be honest," she replied with a laugh. "I'm surprised you only just got it set up. You've mentioned how boring and plain your desk is and how you want to put up some pictures every time we've met up for at least the last year."

"Well, I had to find the right pictures first... and in my defense, white walls, white jackets, and white desks make for a pretty bland work environment," he said while rubbing at the back of his neck. "Speaking of colorful, though, the flowers look nice," he said to try and shift the topic back to what he had initially hoped they'd talk about.

"Thanks," Emma said with a thoughtful smile. "They just arrived today. No idea who sent them though. It's a shame," she admitted as she shifted her attention to the brightly colored arrangement.

Her response caused his shoulders to drop. "No idea? At all?" Come on, how hard is it to guess?

"Not a clue," she confirmed with a confused frown as she looked from the flowers to Tanner. "I asked Chel, and it wasn't her."

He gave a defeated sigh. "It was me," the scientist admitted. He'd hoped that the secret admirer part would make it obvious, but supposed he should have known better...

"Wait really?" Emma asked, surprised, which just made him crankier.

"Well yeah," he said, trying to keep his sullenness out of his voice. "Who else would they be from, the neighbors?"

"You never know. They are quite thoughtful. All of them," Emma said with a chuckle. "I don't think I've ever had neighbors who did a gift exchange before or got together for New Years to make sure no one was alone." She thanked her lucky stars that she had such sweet neighbors.

"Yeah, I'm sure they're real friendly," he said with an attempt at a smile.

Oh gosh, right. I should say something about the gift. Stop getting distracted. "That was really sweet of you to send those. It made my day." Emma gave him a quick hug. "You're such a good friend to think of me during the holidays," she added, still as happy as could be. It was a nice gift, but it would be rude to make assumptions. If it was anything else, he'd say so.

Well, that stung. "Not a problem," Tanner replied as he returned the hug, keeping an arm over her shoulder to signal they should go. "Come on, we should head out before the slots fill up. We'll need one to practice."

"True, they fill up quickly on Wednesdays for some reason," Emma agreed with a nod as she walks out of the apartment with him then locked up the place. "Thanks for suggesting meeting up today. This is going to be fun."

"Not a problem," he replied and returns the smile.

'*'*'*'*'

That first day of January was the last day of peace Chris had. The next morning, he got a call to pack up and head back to the infection site to look for more clues on where the strain came from and who was producing it. Five days getting clues, debrief for a day, seven days in Romania, two days to debrief. Then back to Louisiana for five days for mold samples. Debrief. Back to the virus outbreak center. Debrief. Louisiana. Debrief. It felt like it was never going to end. He was gone until the second week of February.

Lobo flew the chopper back to base as the rest of the tired group sat and waited.

"So, five bucks says they send us right back to Louisiana," Canine said, earning him a hard stare from the whole group.

"Don't even joke about that," Tundra hissed with a weary sigh as she put a cigarette in her mouth and attempted to light it.

"AH! Not in my chopper, you'll mess up the electronics," Lobo shouted as he heard the familiar clicking of a lighter through the communication headset.

"Jerk," Tundra said quietly.

"I heard that," Lobo rebutted.

"Look, we're all tired. We'll get back to the barracks and get some rest," Umber Eye said in an attempt to cut off the arguing.

"I don't even know what day it is anymore," Night Howl admitted as he leaned back in his chair to try to get some sleep. "How long do you think they're gonna have us running like this?"

"Could still be a while." Chris leaned forward to rest his elbows on his knees. "We're not any closer to finding whoever is behind either incident."

"Maybe call up that sister of yours, see if she has any leads?" Tundra suggested.

"Nah, she's still pissed that I didn't make it out to Sonido de Tortuga to help her back in '14," Chris replied.

"That's right, the Mojave Desert mission. I heard about that one. Good times I'm sure," Night Howl said, shaking his head.

"It was a fuckin' nightmare," Chris grumbled with a frown.

"BSAA HQ inbound. Welcome home people," Lobo announced, resulting in a collective sigh of relief.

It took two days, but they were eventually released with an on-call order to be ready to leave within three hours of notice. "Why even let us unpack?" Chris grumbled as he walked through the parking lot with his personal bag slung over his shoulder.

He eventually remembered where he parked and unlocked the car to throw his bag in the back seat before getting into the driver's seat and slamming the door shut. As he got buckled in and started the car, he looked over at the cup holder and saw a half-empty pack of cigarettes. He picked it up and shook out one. After getting the cigarette lit, he put the car in gear and headed out, listening to the radio to try to drown out his own thoughts.

The sun was down by the time they released the team, as usual. What time is it? he thought as he glanced at the clock. 8:23 pm. "Fuckin' hell," he said while trying to keep the cigarette in his mouth.

It took another half hour, but he eventually pulled into the parking garage by the apartment and found a spot. He waited a moment to take a breather and contemplated a second cigarette before shaking his head, getting out of the vehicle to grab his bag, and heading in. He walked up the stairs to the second floor and looked over at his door before taking a turn and stopping short to knock on Emma's door.

'*'*'*'*'

"I'll tell you a story, before it tells itself," Emma sang quietly before switching to humming as she swept up around her apartment. Duke was shedding as usual, and it always made a mess of the place. "We've all got expectations, and sometimes they go wrong. But no one listens to me, so I'll put it in this song," she sang along while cleaning, only to hear a beat that didn't fit with the music. That got her attention as she looked around, confused, before taking out one of her earbuds.

"What was that...?" she wondered as she checked her phone.

Ring: Alert, motion detected

Huh... she checked the app to find Chris standing outside. Upon seeing that, she quickly locked the screen and put the phone back in her pocket as she walked over to the door to open it. "Hey, stranger." She greeted him with a smile, only to notice he didn't seem to find that funny. Her smile relaxed into a concerned expression. "Could you use a bite to eat?" she offered and received a nod in response. Upon seeing that, she moved out of the doorway and let him in.

Chris quietly walked over to his usual seat at the island. It smelled like cinnamon and vanilla... Sitting on the Island was a familiar tiny metal house with a few cold but fresh embers. What actually caught his attention, though, was a new vase with flowers in it and a card sitting next to it... her life really did keep moving even when he wasn't around... What day is it? He finally bothered to check. February 16th. That explains that.

After locking the door, Emma walked over to the kitchen and started the usual ritual by getting him a glass of water. "How was your trip?" she asked as she put the glass down on the Island then went to the fridge to see what she had to work with.

Curiosity got to him as he picked up the card to check it. Happy Valentine's Day. Your secret admirer. "Hell," he muttered in response as he put the card back, causing Emma's to look at him, her expression to immediately shifting to one of concern.

She didn't know how to respond to that answer... he'd never said anything besides 'it was work' before, even when he was about to collapse. It caused her to ache. It feels like he was saying 'help', but she didn't know what to do. She looked from him to the open fridge before closing it. She had to at least try something. She walked over to her purse and picked it up.

"Let's go then," she said as she walks to the door and put on her shoes then her coat.

"What?" he asked, confused, as he watched her walk over to the door.

"Leave your bag here. We're going for a walk," Emma replied with a nod, trying to seem confident. In all honesty, she had no idea what she was doing.

He was tired, and he didn't want to get up, but there was a fire in her eyes. Chris gave a weary sigh and pushed himself to stand. "All right." He joined her by the door. "Where are we going?".

"I don't know," she admitted as they walked out, and she locked the door behind them. "But we'll know when we're there." She gave another short nod before walking with him out of the building.

That. sounded like a waste of energy that he already didn't have. All the same, Chris went along with the instructions and followed Emma.

Where to go... He was hungry, that was usually why he stopped by. Most of the restaurants seemed to be closed, though, as the two walked down the main road. Closed. Closed. Also closed... Open!

"There," Emma said with a smile as Chris raised an eyebrow. She pointed at some mom-and-pop place called 'Bite & Slice.'

He paused to examine it before looking at her with a quizzical expression. "You're sure?" he asked and she rolled her eyes before taking his arm.

"Yep," she confirmed and walked in with him to find a small place that was empty aside from the staff behind the counter. The narrow location had a few booths off to the side set up for customers.

"Take a seat dearies, we'll be right with you," said a woman's voice from the back.

Chris walked over to a booth with Emma and they took a seat opposite to each other, taking off their coats to keep from getting too warm. Once he was settled in, he quietly rested with his eyes shut for a moment. "I've played along. What are we doing here?" he asked before opening one eye to look at Emma.

The question was reasonable, but she didn't know how to answer. After a pause, the woman finally spoke. "Sometimes when life gives you hell, the best thing you can do is go somewhere you've never been before, so it can't find you for a bit," Emma answered with a sheepish smile.

Chris stared at her, surprised, before closing his eyes again, this time with the small beginnings of a smile as he relaxed. "...Bull shit. You just made that up because you don't know why we're here."

"Guilty as charged," she admitted, which caused him to chuckle and shake his head. She was trying though. He couldn't fault her for it. He opened his eyes again to find her examining the menu, so he picked up one as well to look it over. What even was this place? After looking over the menu it seemed like it was mostly a pizza place, but they made a bit of everything. That usually wasn't a great sign for food quality, but he let it go.

"A burger sounds good," he said quietly.

"Yum," Emma replied with a short chuckle. "I think I'll get a slice of pizza."

"Original," he said with a smirk.

"Oh hush, it's a pizza place," she said with an amused smile. This was good. Was this working?

A waitress eventually walked over, putting down two clear red, thick plastic cups of ice water along with two straws. "What can I get you?" she asked, clearly ready to clock out for the night.

"I'll get a cheeseburger with buffalo sauce and a beer. Whatever you have is fine," he said and puts the menu back behind the napkin holder.

"A slice of pepperoni pizza with a coffee," Emma said and the woman nodded.

"Anything else?" she asked and they both shook their heads. Upon seeing that, the waitress walked away.

"Buffalo sauce on a burger?" Emma asked with a jokingly judgmental stare.

"Hey don't knock it until you try it, Miss Frito chicken," he said and received a shrug in response. Emma picked up a straw and peeled off one end of the wrapper. With a swift breath of air, the remaining wrapper flew across the booth and hit Chris the shoulder. "Really?" he asked, amused. Emma laughed. Hearing that was cathartic. He picked up his own straw and mimicked the motion, only for the wrapper to hit her in the neck.

"Brutal, mine was nonlethal," Emma said, faking disbelief.

"Then don't pick a fight," he responded with a shrug. The two went back and forth, asking random questions before one in particular came to Chris' mind. "So, how long have you been skating?"

"Oh gosh... Since I was around eight?" Emma said after thinking it over.

"A while then... How long have you been skating with that Penmark guy then?" he asked, fiddling with a straw wrapper.

"Hmm. About four years," she replied. "It's part of why I was interested in that apartment to be honest. It's closer to work and the rink, and the roller-skating rink is nearby as well, so I could practice during the summer too."

He nodded as she spoke to show he was listening. Lord above, why did he have to ask that? It just made him cranky again.

"Here's your burger," said the waitress as she put down a plate in front of him and a cheap beer shortly after. "And your pizza," she added, placing a greasy paper plate in front of Emma along with a coffee. "Cream and sugar are next to the ketchup. Can I get you another water?" she asked out of habit and both reject the offer. "All right, well, if you need anything else let me know. Otherwise, you can pay at the counter when you're done." She walked away, kind of hinting for them to finish up, even though the window sign showed the place was open until 1 AM.

"That smells pretty good," Chris admitted, gesturing to the pizza before picking up his burger to take a bite. He needed this. He didn't know how she knew it, but he did.

Emma smiled then took a rolled set of silverware and opened it to get the fork and knife before cutting off a piece of the slice, which she placed on Chris' plate. "There," she said before picking up the remaining slice and taking a bite. The two enjoyed their food in silence for a few minutes before Emma spoke up again. "Mind if I try a bite?" she asked, gesturing to the burger.

"Vulture. You should have got your own," he joked as he motioned to shoo her away.

"I shared my pizza," Emma exclaimed with mock shock.

"Well, that was your mistake then." He snickered as Emma made a face and went back to eating her food. He'd been around her enough to know she wasn't actually upset and was trying to get a reaction out of him. He eventually rolled his eyes and handed over the burger. She accepted it and turned it around to take a bite from the side he hadn't been eating from.

Emma smiled and handed the burger back. "Okay, you win. That's pretty good," she admitted, causing Chris to laugh.

"Thank you. Now was that so hard?" he asked, taking it back so he could finish off the last few bites of his meal.

"Yeah, it was, since I had to fight you to get you to let me try it. Stingy." She put the last bite of crust in her mouth. "I'll be right back," she added, getting up to head over to the counter and pay for the food.

Chris finished the burger in the meantime and took a last swig of beer from the can... Maybe this is working too well...

With their meals finished and paid for, they both put their coats back on and headed outside. "I think Hell's starting to catch up," he quietly said, which got Emma's attention.

"I guess we better get running then," she suggested with a smile before looking around. "This way." She grabbed the sleave of his coat and led the way again. They walked for a while. It was getting close to 10:30 and everything was closing up at that point, but they eventually found the only other building still open.

The smell of popcorn wafted out from the brick walls of the theater. "Wanna see what's playing?" Emma suggested as an option to get out of the cold.

"It's worth a look," he agreed with a shrug.

Two tickets later, and they were on their way to watch some old re-run about a crazy inventor and his magical car. About thirty minutes into the movie, Chris felt a weight against his shoulder, only to find Emma had fallen asleep. He frowned and thought for a few moments. She was trying pretty hard to help him feel better. It would be rude to wake her up. Besides, it wasn't not like he could blame her. It was a kind of boring movie. He moved the cup holder back and shifted closer, so she could rest more comfortably. It was maybe another ten minutes before he falls asleep as well.

An hour and a half later, he felt someone nudge his shoulder. "Hey man, the movie is over," one of the workers said, causing Chris to startle awake. How long was I out? He blinked a few times as Emma started waking up as well.

"Oops..." she said with a yawn that caused him to quietly chuckle.

"Oops," he agreed and got up. "We should head back," he added, and she nodded.

"Yeah," she agreed as she got up as well and walked out of the room with him. They made it back into the main hall of the theater when she noticed something that caused her to smile.

"One last thing," she said, leading the way again.

"Emma, you passed out thirty minutes in," Chris pointed out, even though he hadn't done much better.

"Trust me," she said, looking back at him before stopping in front of one of those chintzy-looking photo booths that spat out strips of three pictures.

"You're joking," he exclaimed, crossing his arms as she kneeled down to put a few stray quarters from her purse into the machine.

"Nope," she replied with a laugh. "I do this every time I go to the theater. You can stay outside if you want." She shrugged before going into the booth.

He waited a few seconds, then rolled his eyes and got in. The machine recognized that there were two faces and showed suggested poses for them to mimic.

Eventually, the machine started printing as they walked out. Emma picked up the glossy papers, then handed one of the photo sets to Chris. Two tired, smiling faces, then Emma, making a goofy face as Chris raised an eyebrow. The last one showed both of them cracking up. "See? Now was that so hard?" she jokingly asked as they walked out of the theater.

"Suppose not," he replied with a shrug, as the two started making their way back to the apartment. Down the street, past the pizza place locking up, and across the road from the park. The two were walking up to the apartment when Chris felt his phone go off. Please no... He answered it all the same. "Tundra, what's up?"

"We got a lead," she answered, her frown evident through the phone. "HQ wants us at the barracks ASAP to leave first thing in the morning."

"Fuck," he groaned in annoyance. "Well, it's a good thing I didn't unpack."

"Sorry about that, Cap. See you soon," she said before hanging up.

"Work?" Emma asked with a sympathetic attempt at a smile while waiting for him by the door of the building.

Chris nodded. "Yeah, we're heading out first thing in the morning," he said with a scowl.

"Well... we gave it a good try," she said as they walked into the building and up the stairs to the second floor. "I'll get your bag," she said and unlocked her door, heading into her apartment before returning with the large olive drab bag. "It was good to see you."

Chris nodded before looking into the apartment and seeing the flowers and the card on the island.

"Yeah... Good to see you too," he replied as he shouldered the bag. Her life would keep going on without him. "See you around," he added before heading back to the main door of the building.

A sad frown crossed Emma's face as she watched him leave, waiting for the door to close before heading back into her own apartment and closed the door behind her. She walked over to the island, took out a tiny scrap of paper, wrote on it, and put it in the house before watching it burn.

I don't know if he'll be okay.

"Come on, Duke... bedtime," she said once the embers cooled. The dog followed her, and she turned out the lights.


I'm not crying you're crying hush your face. Welp time for crap to hit the fan. this next chapter is going to be fun. I promise I'll do my best to make it worth it.

Review Responses:

InkScribbles- I shall join in with your cackling. glad you enjoyed the last chapter :)