So this is an odd chapter. it's kinda short... and we're kinda skipping July. I tried writing a chapter for it. aaaaand I hated it. with a passion. It wasn't fluff and went into filler territory and it's. yuck. No, I want to make sure what I'm posting for the story has movement not. whatever that ended up being. Maybe I'll use the idea in the future but it just. Nah. It was bad. So hey now this one is a chapter earlier than expected and Dang I have been excited to write it lol. so. here is a chapter with movement. Beautiful, cute, fluffy, happy, movement that might rival Chapter 11 in my mind. Heck, the next 5 chapters are looking to be really good and just -chef kiss- soon. gosh, it is a good thing it's almost the weekend.

Song Suggestion: I Hear a Symphony by Cody Fry

Disclaimer: I really hope I don't need these at this point. I don't own anything it's fan-fic. yatta yatta, don't sue.


July was a restful blur as routine returned. On Sundays, Emma would stop by to drop off the usual set of Tupperware that held Chris' lunches for the week. Chris would go to work, do paperwork, drills and occasionally look for clues to prove or disprove the claims of the woman who had stormed the building alone. Thursday would come along, and the two would practice Emma's self-defense drills. It was simple and good, but like all things with the BSAA, good things can't last forever, and fieldwork was once more required. The timing of it made Chris suspicious as he felt like he was getting close to a lead, only to be sent to Romania for another three weeks. more than enough time to re-bury anything he was close to digging up.

August had just about passed because of this, as he walked up the stairs at 7 pm on the 29th, a Wednesday night, only to notice something strange.

"What the hell?" he said quietly. More than half of the second floor was blocked off by caution tape, making it so he couldn't get to his apartment. With a concerned expression plastered to his face, he headed to Emma's door and knocked. To his relief, she answered it.

"Chris! You're home. Um. Okay so…" she started, clearly not sure how to address the bright yellow elephant in the room as she looked at the caution tape. "There was a slight problem while you were gone, and there's not an easy way to explain it but, well, your apartment got flooded..."

"What?" he replied with a stunned expression.

"We tried calling, but we couldn't reach you. It kept saying your number wasn't available..." Emma offered as further explanation while shaking her head. "Mr. Jacobs really should be the one telling you this... but please come in, I'll make you something to eat." She moved out of the way, and Chris walked in, leaving the bag by the door then taking a seat at the island.

"When did this happen? What happened?" he asked, still trying to process what he had been told.

"It was about two weeks ago. There was a pretty bad leak from the laundry room. It ended up spreading into your apartment and the Russo's," Emma said with a sympathetic tone. "It managed to spread from the living room into the bedroom and bathroom of both apartments before they were able to get the water to stop and control the spread," she added before walking away to the back of her apartment. When she returned, she carries a decent size cardboard box with her, which she placed on the island. "I hope it's okay, but I used the emergency key for your apartment to try and get some of your stuff out of the flooded area. It's not much but," she shrugged. "The kitchen and study were apparently untouched, but Mr. Jacobs had to cut off that half of the hall while repairs are going on..."

Chris' shoulders dropped slightly upon hearing this. That cheapskate. He'd brought up the laundry room with Mr. Jacobs over a year ago. The landlord knew this would happen eventually and just wanted to put off paying for it. Served him right that he had to pay for the repairs... but dang it all, his stuff. "How far are they into repairs?"

"Last I heard, it's going to take another week at least," Emma admitted with a slight frown. "They had to dry it out for five days before construction started, and it's seven rooms' worth of damage. Not including the hallways, and the apartments below us... so…"

"Right," Chris said with a frustrated sigh, his scowl deepening as he ran a hand through his hair.

"I know it's not ideal, but if you need a place to stay, I have a couch?" Emma offered with a hesitant smile.

Chris thought it over. It was late already, finding a hotel would be expensive, and he doubted the landlord would reimburse that long of a stay. "That would actually be great. If you don't mind."

"It's not a problem. In the morning I can try and pick up an air mattress or something more comfortable?" Emma offered in an attempt to be accommodating to Chris' situation, but Chris shook his head.

"The couch is fine," he confirmed. He would definitely owe her one for this. "I'm not really a great cook but do you want a slice of pizza?" he offered since he didn't feel right asking Emma to cook when he was going to be couch-surfing at her place for the next while. The question caused her to chuckle.

"Sure, I'd like that," she replied with a smile.

"Pizza it is then. I'll see if that one place from before delivers. What kind do you usually get?" Chris replied, taking out his phone to call in an order for a pizza.

"Just cheese is fine," Emma replied as she walked back towards her room to get a few spare supplies from her closet to set up the couch.

Chris nodded to show he heard even if she couldn't see it and placed an order for a half cheese and half ultimate pizza. Pizza was supposed to have toppings, but she could be wrong if she wanted to. "The pizza should be here in thirty," he said before getting out of his seat. "You said my study was safe, right?" the agent asked, hoping he didn't mishear that part. It was unnerving to know people had been in his apartment without him supervising, considering all the sensitive documents and equipment he kept at home...

"Yeah, I didn't really check though," she admitted as she walked back into the main living area with some blankets, a pillow, and a fitted sheet. "I mostly just moved things out of the way of the puddle and picked up anything that looked important, like electronics, to keep it safe."

"Thanks again," he said with a grateful expression. "I think I might see if I can salvage anything else while we wait..."

"Go for it. You can use my study to store as much as you can fit," Emma offered as she walked over to the longer of the two couches and started placing the fitted sheet over the cushions, so it would seem more mattress like.

Oh, thank heavens. He'd be able to get all those documents moved in that case. That would be much appreciated peace of mind. He'd have to do a full inventory to make sure nothing was missing too... This might take a while.

With that thought, Chris headed out past the tape, and into his apartment to look around. The place was an absolute mess. All of his furniture had been shoved over into the kitchen, which was completely inaccessible now. The area was deafeningly loud thanks to the many industrial fans left running to keep the place dry in case of any further leaks during the repairs. He silently made a note to be ready to argue with the landlord over his electric bill, because he was not paying for this. A tired sigh was muted by the loud equipment, but all the same, he made his way to his study and started collecting books and boxes to carry over to Emma's apartment for storage. It took several trips, but by the time the pizza has arrived, he'd moved over most of it and Emma had set up a place for him to rest.

"Thanks for the meal," Emma said as she took a slice from the box.

"I'm pretty sure I owe you more than a few slices of pizza at this point," he replied while taking his own slice from the box. "You saved me from a three-way argument with Mr. Jacobs and the insurance company over who's paying for a hotel."

"That would be entertaining to watch," Emma joked, snickering. "Who would win, the insurance adjuster, the landlord or the living tank?"

Chris gave her a gentle nudge in response, which caused her to laugh. The two ate their junk food meal and chatted before a question came to Emma's mind.

"Not to pry but, a week was an optimistic guess on my part," Emma started while trying to gentle approach the subject, "what do you think you're going to want to do about your clothes? Considering your room was affected, any clothes still in there might not be clean..."

"Ah...um," Chris frowned. He hadn't considered. "Hm. and the laundry room is out of the question."

"Yeaah," Emma replied with a nod as he seemed to start to understand the problem. "There's the laundry room on the third floor, but that's been crowded since it's the only access left for all twelve apartments... well, I guess it's more like nine since I think some of the downstairs neighbors left for the time being, and so did the Russos, but still."

Well shit... "I'll just sleep in this for now and see if I can figure something out after work. Maybe there's a laundry mat I can go to," he offered as a potential solution.

"That's kind of where I was going with this. I found a laundry mat a few blocks down, but you know how parking is around here," Emma replied and he nodded.

"Nonexistent, so you're better off walking," he replied, as this was just getting more and more complicated.

"Yep," Emma confirmed with a slight smile. "I've found it's better to go during the week. Weekends are always packed. So, if you want some help tomorrow, I can help with shuttling things around to get them washed up and stored away."

Chris bobbed his head while thinking it over. "I might take you up on that." He was going to have to wash everything, so having an extra set of hands would be helpful.

"'Kay, I'll wait to head out until you get back then," Emma replied before moving to walk away. "For now, I'm going to call it a night." She stretched. "Make sure to lock up once you're done moving things around?"

"Can do," he replied with a nod as he took another slice of pizza.

"See ya in the morning," she added before giving a short whistle, signaling for Duke to follow her into her room before she closed the door.

"See ya," he said with a short wave.

The agent did as she requested. Once he was finished moving around everything from his apartment, which included a pile of damp-smelling clothing, he locked up and put away the leftover pizza before heading over to the couch to settle in for the night as well.

Be-be-be-beep be-be-be-beep... be-be-be-beep be-be-be-beep... Chris lazily rolled over.

Emma's voice could be heard in the distance. "Your alarm is going off."

"I hear it," he replies sleepily and yawned.

"Mmkay," she replied simply.

As the smell of eggs finally registered, he picked up his phone and turns off the alarm. After a minute, he finally rolled off the couch to get up.

"Morning," Emma greeted with a smile as she poked at the contents of a frying pan with a spatula. She was already awake and ready for the day. She gave the contents a small flip before sliding them onto a plate next to her, making a neatly folded omelet. It looked like it was a simple spinach and cheese one. "Do you want one?" she offered, holding up the pan. Chris thought about it, debating between greasy leftover cold pizza and a warm breakfast.

"Sure," he said as he shuffled over to check the coffee maker. Yep, there was a pot already brewed. She didn't seem like it, but he guessed she was a morning person during the week.

Emma nodded and heads over to the fridge. "Let's see, I have some leftover Fajita chicken and some hamburger. I could probably break either of those up. There are some diced red and green peppers in the freezer, some onion, spinach, oregano, parsley… um oh right leftover pork roast— hmm, no actually, I'm going to save that for dinner. I can make burritos with that..." She listed off ingredients she had that could be included.

"Chicken with red and green peppers sounds good," Chris said.

With that, she got to work on the omelet. "Can do," she said, and before long the small, folded circle was plated and placed on the island. It was similar to their dinner routine but this time she put a plate next to his. She grabbed a bottle of ketchup from the fridge, then took the seat next to him.

"Ketchup on eggs?" he asked as she made a little squiggle down the omelet.

"Ketchup on omelets is normal, don't even," she replied with a shocked expression. "Would you rather that I put buffalo sauce on it?" Emma teased before shaking her head at the ridiculous idea.

"Actually," he said with a smile, getting up to go check the fridge for hot sauce.

"Christopher Redfield, you are not ruining the perfectly good food I just made you," Emma said in mock protest.

He turned around with a confused, but ultimately amused, expression. "Did you just mom voice me?" he asked, causing them both to start laughing.

"I will mom voice the heck out of you if you're going to disrespect my food like that," she half-heartedly threatened. In the meantime, Chris found what he was looking for and took his seat once more before making a similar squiggle on his own omelet. "Fine, see if I make you breakfast again," she said with a playful pout.

He ended up cutting off a piece of the thin egg loaf and offered her his fork. "Try a bite," he said with a smile as Emma shook her head no. "Seriously, it's good," he added with a laugh.

Emma thought it over. She really didn't want to eat that. "Okay fine, but only if you try a bite with ketchup since you mocked my omelet too."

"Deal," he replied.

Crap, I thought that would work... All the same, she cut off a piece of omelet with ketchup for him, and handed it over in exchange for the fork he offered her. She stared at it for before taking the bite and making a face. "UH-UH," she said with her mouth closed, shaking her head as she forced herself to finish it. A similarly less-than-happy coughing came from Chris after he chokes down the bite.

"Why is it sweet?" he asked, confused.

"Why is it so spicy? It's breakfast," she rebutted, and the two continued to laugh before returning to their own dishes.

I think I have feelings for her. The pesky thought returned. He could have sworn he had burned that one away. He tried to ignore it nonetheless, and before long the two had finished their meals. Chris got ready for work and opened the door to leave.

"I'm heading out," he called to make sure Emma know to lock up.

"Oh! wait a moment!" Emma said as she hurried back into the kitchen. Some rustling could be heard as she put something together before walking over to Chris to offer him a small padded lunch sack. "Have a good day at work," she said with a smile.

I think I have feelings for her.

Oh God Damn Bitch Ass Hell Fucking Shit...The first two words of the original thought fell away, the two words protecting him from having to really think about it. This was nice... all of this. Having someone to greet him when he leaves. Having someone to come back to. Having someone that would hear what he's saying even when he isn't actually saying anything at all. Someone that made him want to be better. Someone to argue with then laughs about it with after. Hell, someone to joke around with about eggs in the morning with. Just. All of it.

He took a breath. "Yeah. Thanks. You too," he replied, while accepting the offered lunch and continuing to process that thought. It kind of—

"And they are roommates," Bastion said quietly from the other side of the hallway while sipping at his morning tea.

"Bastion, good morning," Emma said, still smiling, though now pink in the cheeks. "Yeah, I guess we are roommates for now," she agreed with a chuckle before looking back to Chris. "Anyway, I should head out too. They're getting stricter about clocking in on time," Emma added before going back to the kitchen to get her own lunch. "See you later."

"Right, yeah. See you later," he agreed, then heads out. This was a cigarette moment... Unfortunately. Okay... So. The thought wasn't going away... He was going to have to do something about it. He could already feel the thought eating away at him. He should probably set up some personal ground rules for discussing this. Maybe that would help...

Ground rule number one. Not while I'm staying with her. That's an absolute no. How would that even sound? Hey, I spent one night on your couch, and now I think I love you. See?! Look at how irrationally that escalated. Absolutely not allowed.

Okay. Ground rule number two. It can't be during training... That one should be obvious. Training like that is an act of trust. She's willingly putting herself in a vulnerable position specifically because she trusts me not to take advantage of her.

Last one. Ground rule number three. I probably shouldn't bring this up while she's cooking. She'll just take it as a joke.

He nodded at this and then ended up frustrated. They didn't really spend any time together aside from that. Smoke left his mouth as he exhaled... This... was going to be more troublesome than he thought.

Even with the ground rules set, the thought was rather distracting throughout work. Not so much from excitement or jitters as much as annoyance with the timing. Of course, he had to have this lovely epiphany when he was going to be living with her for the next week or so. Now he'd have to try and pretend that everything was normal. It kind of was normal. It just wasn't, at the same time, which made it all the more frustrating.

Thoughts like this would continue to distract him as he finished his day at work and made his way back to Emma's apartment. He found himself staring at the door. Should he knock? He was staying here at this point. Did that mean it was okay to just walk in? In the end, he decided to be safe rather than sorry and knocked on the door.

Emma opens the door with a confused expression that turned to surprise. "Hm? Oh, hey Chris," she said in greeting and opened the door the rest of the way. "You don't need to knock while you're staying here. Do you still have the key for my place from the key share?"

He nodded as he walks into the apartment. "Yeah, I have it still. I just figured I shouldn't assume is all."

"Not a problem. Thanks for checking," she said in return. "For now, my home is your home, so you don't need to worry about that."

"All right," he replied.

Well, that's odd... He's being really quiet, Emma thought with a concerned frown. Maybe he had a rough day at work? "Did you still want to head over to the laundry mat?" she asked, figuring if he had a rough day, he might want to just wash a few things upstairs and call that good enough.

Crap right. "Yeah, I'm still all right to do that if you are," the agent confirmed.

"All right, I'll grab a basket then. Did you get your clothes moved to the study, or did you leave it in your room?" Emma asked as she headed back to her own room to get a large plastic laundry basket.

Chris followed but stayed in the small hallway for the back rooms. "I moved everything to the study, hopefully that's okay."

"Yeah, that's fine," Emma affirmed as she returned with the basket. "Let's see if we can get this taken care of."

Inside of the study, the large mound of clothes lay waiting next to a basket that was already full. Between the two of them, they managed to carry most of it and headed out to make their way down the street.

"I can head back to the apartment and pick up the rest of it if you're okay with watching the machines," Chris offered.

Emma nods. "Sure, I can do that."

He opened the door to the laundry mat. Emma smiled at the gesture and headed inside to find that the place was empty. Not too surprising for a Thursday night. "Oh my gosh, it's Thursday," she realized with a slight frown as she walked over to one of the tables to put down the basket she'd been carrying. "Darn, sorry, I completely blanked on that," she admitted. "I guess this means no training for today."

Oh, thank god. "It's not going to hurt to miss a week," he said in response with a shrug, blessing his luck for that one. He did not need to deal with close proximity while trying to figure out what was going on with his brain.

"I suppose," she agreed half-heartedly.

"You sound disappointed," he pointed out with mild amusement as he walked over to one of the machines to check the cost and make sure it was empty. He had definitely learned his lesson.

"I dunno, I guess I've started to look forward to it is all. I like getting to spend time with you," the woman said with a smile.

Was she trying to make this more difficult? Did she know? Was she just messing with him? "Isn't that what we're already doing?" he asked instead.

"Oh..." He had a point. Emma thought about it for a second. "Well yeah that's true. I guess I—" She stopped as she noticed him just throwing everything in at once. "What are you doing?" she asked with concerned amusement.

The question left him confused. "Washing my clothes?"

"You don't sort them out first?" Emma asked, chuckling.

"Are you judging me?" he asked with a slight smirk while getting the machine set up with soap.

"A bit, yeah," Emma teased in response. "That's such a typical bachelor move."

He closed the machine and paid for the cycle to start. "Who said I was one?" he asked with a shrug as he moved to stand next to her and lean against the table bolted into the floor.

Emma's expression quickly switched to one of embarrassment. "Oh gosh, sorry. I did kind of just assume that. My bad."

Well, that backfired. "That's… I'm not... I was joking," he offered as clarification as he covered his eyes with a hand in an attempt to hide his reddening face. Smooth move dumbass. What happened to no talking about this while staying with her? Huh?

"Oh," Emma replied, sounding relieved. That could have been awkward. "Well, it was a convincing joke, you had me fooled."

He rolled his eyes at that and gave her a slight nudge. "Sure," he replied as he relaxed once more. "I'll be right back. I should get the rest of the pile."

"'Kay, see you in a bit," she said, taking a seat.

The evening went on rather uneventfully for some time after that. Chris returned with the clothes. More of the washers were filled to try to save time, and before long, the dryers were chiming to alert them that the clothes were clean and dry.

The two each checked a different dryer. While Chris simply gathered armfuls of the clothes to toss into the basket, Emma took each piece out one at a time, folding them before gently putting them into the basket.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"Folding them. Don't tell me you're planning on leaving them in a pile in the middle of the study," she replied with a playful smile.

He rolled his eyes at that and picks up a stray sock from the dryer to toss at her in retaliation.

Emma laughed while making a face but picked up the abandoned sock and threw it back at him. "Don't pick a fight unless you want a war. They're your clothes, not mine," she pointed out.

Yeah, he did not need his underwear flying through the air. Those were in there somewhere, sooo... "I surrender," he quickly replied. "I'm just planning on folding them back at the apartment is all," he offered as further explanation. "It's getting late, and you probably should be getting back to take care of Duke, right?"

"True," Emma replied, shrugging and following his lead to empty out the dryer. "I can at least help carry this back in the meantime."

"Thanks again for the help, this was probably kind of boring for you," he said as he picked up his basket and the two headed out.

"Not at all. Like I said. I like spending time with you," she replied as they made their way down the sidewalk.

Chris smiled. "I like spending time with you too."


Well then, I'd say that some decent progress has been made here. An I think has been replaced with an I know. I had a little too much fun with that panic after the realization lol. I've seen so many fics where Chris is like. this mega chad and smooth as heck but. come on. no. uh-uh. The dude is 45 and single. There's no way with how much he works that he's some smooth mc groove lots of dating game guy when he's practically married to his work in-game.

Review Responses:

Ink Scribbles- Yee new baddie ahoy~. This one is going to be a doozy so I'm excited for this. we're going to get a tiny break for fluff but she's going to hit. hard.