well then surprise surprise. we're in November once more. I considered writing another Halloween chapter but I felt like it might be a bit repetitive? so we're on to the next month. I'm probably going to do the same thing with Thanksgiving and kind of gloss over that one to give it a bit of resting time before bringing that up again as a story plot.
Song Suggestion: Kiss Me More - Doja Cat & SZA [Clean version] (That's the one I personally prefer, the explicit version got its rating for a reason, but to each their own?)
Disclaimer: say it with me Fan-Natic doesn't work with CapCom or have any connection to the Biohazard/Resident Evil franchise. She is a no-good fanfiction writer.
Chris looked at his watch as he walked into work. Thursday, November 1st and he was just barely on time. As he walked to the break room to drop off his lunch, thoughts of past conversations came to mind.
Once we get these cases more under control, Hound Wolf Squad will be reinstated in full.
"Bunch of bullshit," Chris muttered under his breath. While he had been promised that the two smaller teams would likely be able to see each other at the office, their mission and home times rarely, if ever, overlapped, making it near impossible to see or talk to each other. They were being punished for talking back about their orders.
"'Ey yo, Alpha," a familiar voice called as he was putting away his lunch. That got Chris' attention as he turned to see Umber Eye, Tundra, and Lobo walk in. Each of them was sporting a very nice new tan. "Thought we'd catch you here this time of day. Did you put on a few pounds?" he joked with a laugh.
"You wanna put your money where your mouth is and try sparring later?" he asks in response, which caused the others to laugh as Lobo quickly nope-ed out of that one.
"Nah-ah, I like my neck unbroken you suplexing maniac," Lobo quickly answers then shakes his head before taking a more serious tone. "It's good to see you."
"Good to see you too, all of you," Chris replied, then sent Night Howl and Canine a quick text to let them know that the other half of the team was around. "How have you guys been?"
"Uuugh, don't even get me started on it. We've been hopping all around Europe and the Middle East for the last few months. They keep moving," Tundra complained with a tired frown. "We're going to be heading out again in two weeks for Louisiana, so we get to go from hot and dry to hot and muggy. It's been great," she went on, clearly being sarcastic.
"Don't let the director hear you say that," Umber Eye warned quietly. It seemed he'd picked up on the punishment as well.
"We're going to be heading out in three weeks," Chris admitted, which caused a collective sigh as Night Howl and Canine joined them. Seemed they weren't too far behind the rest of the group.
"Well, look what the cat dragged in," Canine remarked with a smile as he walked over and gave Lobo a solid hug, and Night Howl did the same with Umber Eye and Tundra.
"Good to see you guys again," Night Howl greeted, beyond excited to see his friends. "So, are we training together till you guys have to head out?"
"I'm afraid we're scheduled for the gym at different times," Umber Eye explained with a frown.
"Jerks," Canine muttered quietly.
"Careful," Chris warned.
"Right," Canine acknowledged with a frown. "So, we're at least going to meet up during the downtime before you guys have to head outright?"
"Abso-fawking-lutely," Lobo said with an ear-to-ear grin. "All in favor of crashing Alpha's place after work, say aye."
"Ha! No." Chris quickly cut down that idea. "The place only just got renovated, the last thing I need is you guys trashing it."
"Ooh very fancy," Tundra said with a slight smirk. "What's the occasion?"
"Water damage during a mission," Chris grumbled with a scowl.
"Ye-ouch. Rough luck." Lobo winced at the thought of how much that would suck.
"I dunno. Cap seemed pretty happy about it," Canine said with a snicker, which earned him a glare.
Lobo pointed at Canine. "We're going to catch up later, for sure."
Hearing this caused Umber Eye to shake his head. "All right we need to get to work before we get into trouble. If anyone has an idea about what we should do, use the group chat. We're all stateside and on desk duty, so it should work now."
Everyone nodded before dispersing. As good as it was that everyone was back, the limited interactions were pretty annoying, if not even more frustrating, than not being able to talk to each other at all. Chris went through the motions of the day and finished up his work. Once that was done, he made his way back home, where he ate a quick dinner before taking his phone out.
[Chris] Hey I'm home when you're ready.
[Emma] KK I'll be over in a bit.
Emma put her phone down as she looked at her computer screen. This was it. All of her work for the last month had led up to this. Late nights, long hours. She really believed in this one, which made it all the harder to press the final button. This would send out the EP to all the contacts she had worked so hard to curate for this release. The favors she called in and meetings she attended to make sure that the email wouldn't be ignored. In all honesty, it still could end up being disregarded. She shook her head. She couldn't think like that. She had done everything she could. Chris was waiting for her.
Send.
She closed the laptop after making sure that the email safely made it to her outbox then got up. "I'll be back in an hour or so, Duke," she said to the dog who gave a quiet huff in response as if he was trying to say, 'Yeah right.' Emma shook her head and headed out, locking the door as always before knocking on Chris' door.
"Door's unlocked," he called and Emma let herself in to see him finishing up his dinner.
"Hey, how was your day?" Emma asked, even though she already knew the answer, and closed the door behind her.
"Good," he said, which surprised her. "I got to talk with Hound Wolf squad as a whole for the first time in"—he paused to do the math—"half a year?" he said as he put down his fork.
Emma stared at him as he headed over to the couch to get the mat. That was not the answer she was expecting. "Who are you and what did you do with Chris? He never has a good day." She chuckled before going back to the routine and moving the table out of the way for him.
Hearing her accusation caused him to give a short laugh. "That's not true, I have good days." As of lately, most of them were days when she was around. All the same, as he put out the mat, she walked over and gently held the back of his neck in one hand, while placing the back of her other hand against his forehead.
"Hmm, no fever. I guess you're telling the truth," she said, chuckling at her own joke and letting him go.
Not during training, rang through Chris' mind.
"You should tell me about your good days more. It's nice to hear that things aren't all bad for you at work," Emma requested with a small smile. What was that? Why was I so comfortable with just reaching out and holding him like that...? To be honest, she hadn't really been great about personal space had she? Memories of the various times she'd held onto his arm, like when they went through the haunted fair, came to mind. I think I have feelings for him. It wasn't something that mattered. Besides, they were friends. That was enough.
"Fair enough," Chris replied with a chuckle. "Ready?"
"Yeah," Emma replied and got into a ready stance.
Punch, kick, kick, punch, punch, kick. The rhythm began as the two started their training. While it had been over a year at this point and Emma was proficient enough that she'd probably be fine, the lessons continued. Neither one wanted to bring up that the condition for this was that the lessons would end once she was confidently competent. To be fair, even if she was proficient, she'd need to practice, to keep that proficiency, right? That was the story they silently seemed to agree on.
Hold, break, pin, break, hold, break, pin, break, hold, break, pin, break. It had been about forty minutes. The two stood up to go through another drill, going from a standing hold to a floor pin. Thinking proactively, Emma shifted her weight as he went into the pin. To his surprise, she managed to reverse it as she hooked his leg while falling and shifting her weight. He stared up at the ceiling and at Emma, who was smiling down at him.
NOT DURING TRAINING, he had to remind himself more adamantly as he suppressed the urge to reach up and grab the back of her neck to pull her closer to him.
Emma gave his face a gentle pat before getting up. "You're going easy on me today," she accused before getting into a ready stance.
"I'm just distracted is all," he admitted as he got up as well. That got Emma's attention, and she dropped her ready stance.
"Oh? What's on your mind?" she asked, only to get pulled into a hold.
"Stay focused. We're still training," he countered in an attempt to avoid the question.
"That's cheating," she protested, but eventually broke the hold. "Seriously, though. If something's bothering you, I'm all ears if you need me."
They continue going through the motions as they talked.
"Nothing's bothering me per se," he said, considering how to proceed. "I'm just trying to think of something the squad could do together while everyone's available." He had been thinking about that, but it wasn't what had distracted him.
"Oh," Emma replied breaking the hold to land in a new one. "Well, why don't you guys come with Chel, Jack, and I to the orchards next weekend? We could use the extra hands," Emma offered as a potential solution. "It's only fair. I crashed your parties twice now, so you can crash one of mine. I organized it, so I get to say who goes."
Hold. Break. Pin.
"That could work," Chris agreed, thinking it over. "I'll run it by them."
"Sounds good. They're nice, it would be fun to see them again," Emma said with a chuckle.
Break. Hold. Break. Pin. Break.
Another twenty minutes had passed when they eventually got up to get their drinks. As of late, Emma had switched to water after training instead of coffee. Something about needing to cut back on caffeine before bed. As they relaxed and chatted, Chris sent a text to the group.
[Alpha] Hound Wolf Squad, we got an invite to go to the orchards next weekend with Emma.
[Lobo] I'm down.
[Tundra] Aw I miss her. Sure, that sounds fun.
[Umber Eye] I think I can make that work.
[Night Howl] Sure.
[Canine] You're certain she's not just trying to invite you, Alpha?
[Lobo] LMFAO. He speaks the truth. 6_6 do you really want us crashing your date?
[Alpha] Hey if you have any better ideas, I'm all ears, but you guys haven't sent shit.
[Canine] Fine, fair. Just thought I'd check.
[Umber Eye] He kind of has a point. It's fair enough to check.
[Alpha] Et tu brute?
[Umber Eye] -shrugging gif-
Chris tried not to laugh as he read the messages. "They're in. What time?"
Emma smiled upon hearing that. It would be nice to see them all again. "I'll text you the address, we're meeting there at 1 pm," she said, quickly sending over the address before switching to a different contact.
[Emma] Hey, I'm bringing some friends too.
[Chel] Sounds like a plan. Hope they don't mind kids because mine will be all over them lmao.
[Emma] Something tells me they're used to it.
'*'*'*'*'
The weekend of the orchard trip eventually arrived, and Chris waited at the entryway for Hound Wolf squad while Emma went ahead with Chel, Jack and the girls who were excited to see the fluffy animals in the petting zoo. One by one, the squad eventually started gathering at the meeting point.
"Hey boss," said Night Howl with a wave as he was the last one to make it since he lived the furthest away.
"Do you think they have anything to drink here?" Lobo asked curiously.
"Already checked, it's mostly just fruity shit," Chris replied with a shrug, which caused Lobo to make a face.
"Hm," he hummed through his frown. "Probably should have expected that."
"And it's probably for the best. We're going to have to drive during rush hour on the way back," Umber Eye pointed out.
"Hey, I'll take traffic over another flight back to Europe. That shit messes up my ears every time," Tundra remarked as the group started walking into the main outdoor section of the orchard.
"We'll have to talk later when we're out of the office. There is something weird is going on," Chris explained. Night Howl and Canine nodded in agreement since they already knew what he meant.
Before long, Emma could be seen with a small group of people. The oldest of the kids standing next to her was reaching her hand through to the petting zoo to try to befriend a sheep. Emma was the first to notice the large group walking towards her. She turned to look at them and smiled as she gave a short wave. "Hey guys! Good to see you again."
Hearing this caused Summer to look over and see Chris with his group. Summer's eyes went wide as she beamed. Lots of friends. The sheep was no longer interesting as she hurried over and introduced herself with a big ole smile that showed a missing front tooth. "Hi. I'm Summer," said the now six-year-old child. Maurie followed her big sister and tried copying her as usual.
"Hyi 'm marree," said the toddler who had picked up how to introduce herself properly. They grew up so fast.
"What's your names?" Summer asked curiously. There was some hesitation, but the squad answered with their usual nicknames.
"Night Howl."
"Canine."
"Umber Eye."
"Lobo."
"Tundra."
"You know this kid, Alpha?" Tundra asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Silly. His name's Chris, not Alpha," Summer said with a nod. She was so smart. "Chris is my friend," she explained with a big smile as she reached up to get his hand and tug on it. "Come on, Auntie Emmy 'n mama are this way."
Maurie walked over to Umber Eye and jumped a few times to try and get his hand. "Dis way, Dis way."
Umber Eye watched her try a few times before leaning down enough for her to get a good hold and just carrying her along with him by the hand as he walked, to avoid breaking his back while trying to appease the child.
"So, when'd you take up babysitting?" Lobo asked with a teasing smirk, causing Summer to turn and look at him.
"I'm NOT a baby. I'm six," she corrected in an indignant tone, turning her nose up at him before going back to leading the group.
Lobo held up his hands with an 'oh shit' expression while the others laughed.
"You got told," Canine said.
"I like this kid," Tundra added with a chuckle.
The two groups met up as Jack joined in with a few empty bushels to hold whatever they could pick. Chel did not seem impressed when she saw that the 'friends' Emma mentioned turned out to be Emma's neighbor and other strangers. She still wasn't super thrilled after finding out how little Chris was willing to share about himself. In her mind the guy might have saved her kids, but he was a walking talking red flag that was way too close to her friend who she treated like a sister. The introduction of the rest of his team, who used their code names for the sake of ease, did not make her feel any better.
Hound Wolf squad got their own bushels and before long the large group of twelve people boarded the train-like cart that carried visitors out into the fields for picking. They were dropped off at an intersection between two kinds of apples, pumpkins, and fall raspberries. Every so often a much smaller cart would drive by offering hot cider, coffee, and tea along with various baked goods to help keep people warm as they picked their fill.
After a good two and a half hours of running around in the fields, looking for tasty morsels, Emma got a coffee and a pack of a dozen doughnuts from the snack cart to share with the group. They walked back to the picnic bench that they claimed for ditching their bags. Chris was already there sipping his own coffee, while Tundra and Lobo were sitting on the other side of the table. The group had taken to sitting on the benches backwards, so they could rest their backs against the table.
"Doughnuts if you want one. They're apparently apple cider-flavored," Emma said as she put down the box on the table and grabbed one before sitting next to Chris in a similar fashion with her back against the table.
"Tired?" Chris asked causing Emma to chuckle.
"Exhausted," Emma replied with a weary smile. "There's only so many times I can play 'fire rescue' and save Summer from a tree that she's absolutely able to get out of on her own," she admitted, but her tone was amused tone all the same. "But this has been fun. Thanks for coming with us."
"Not a problem. It's probably not the first thing I would have thought to do on a weekend, but it's been fun," he agreed with a chuckle as he watched the rest of Hound Wolf running around trying to see who could find the biggest pumpkin to smash later.
"They can look all they want, but no one is gonna take down Bertha," Lobo said, resting his feet on an admittedly large pumpkin.
"You know you're going to have to pay an arm and a leg for taking that, right?" Tundra pointed out and Lobo shrugged.
"Worth it for the win," he said with a nod before sipping at his coffee.
[INCOMING CALL - WORK]
Emma frowned and ignored the call.
[INCOMING CALL - WORK]
She gave an exasperated sigh. "Sorry, I have to take this," she said, rising to pace around as she talked. "Emma Swanson, how can I—"
She stopped short.
"Shut up," she said as a smile spread across her face and she started to chuckle. "You're joking... Really? Oh. Oh my gosh, that's… YEAH! Of course, I… That would be great," she stammered as only half the conversation could be heard. This got Tundra and Lobo to turn and join Chris in watching her pace around. Whatever this was about, it sounded good? Maybe?
"Yes sir. I'll talk to you then. Bye." She hung up and beamed at the phone before jumping and dancing around and giving a cheer. "YES! Ohhh my gosh, ahahahaha." She turned and noticed the others staring, so she held up her index finger. "The results are in for the week. Number one on the rock charts. 20th overall..." Emma exclaimed with a proud grin. Lobo and Tundra had no idea what she was talking about, but Chris did.
"That's awesome," he replied as she nodded.
"And to top it off, guess who got a promotion to Senior Marketing Manager?" she proudly added. "It apparently outranked the pop album from one of our main idols. She practically owns the label as it is, and it released at the same time," Emma further explained, clearly over the moon about all of this and so in her own world that she didn't notice Chris had gotten up and walked over to her.
The agent hooked one arm behind her upper thighs as his other supported her back, so he could pick her and gave a small spin. The motion caused her to laugh and lean forward, putting her arms around his neck and resting her forehead against his to try and keep from falling backward.
It took them a moment to realize how close they'd gotten. This keeps happening, doesn't it? Emma thought. This was comfortable, being close to him.
I think I have feelings for him.
Her eyes almost drifted shut as the thought to lean forward crossed her mind, but a voice pulled her back to reality. "EM! I heard shouting. Are you okay?" Chelsea called from a distance, causing Emma to look over to the woman, now pink in the face.
"Y-yeah, everything's fine! I'll be right there," she called back before looking at Chris again. "Sorry, I think I made her worry. Can you put me down?" she requested and Chris complied.
"Yeah," he said, trying to keep a neutral expression. "You should tell her the good news too."
"Thanks," she said before giving him a quick hug and running off to join Chelsea, who had been staring down Chris the whole time.
"That's rough, buddy," Lobo said as Chris took his seat once more. "Wasn't there a Spice Girls song about this sort of scenario?"
"Can it," Chris growled before sipping his drink. Tundra chuckled, but she didn't comment, which was worse in its own way.
Another hour or two later, and the two groups finally made their way back to the main entrance of the orchard, where they said their goodbyes. Traffic was as awful as Umber Eye predicted it would be, but another hour later it was roughly 7 pm and two vehicles pulled into the parking garage. Out walked Chris and Emma, the latter of whom was holding a half-full bushel of apples.
Do you want to stop by for a cup of coffee?
He knew what he had to say. He thought the words over and over as they walked up the stairs. As they made it to Emma's door, he spoke up. "Do you want to stop by for a cup of coffee?" he offered cautiously.
Emma smiled at this. "Don't you think you've had enough coffee today? I think we both had like four cups at the orchard," Emma pointed out with a chuckle. He was being such a goofball today, but the joke was appreciated.
Right, that offer really only works if you didn't just drink a half-gallon of the stuff. "Fair enough. Another time then. Have a good night," he replied in an attempt to save his bruised ego.
"Thanks, you too," she said, smiling as she headed into her apartment. He was really sweet.
another barrier down. two solid acknowledgments of emotion all that's left is for the right moment to take a leap. next chapter though -looks at notes- boi get ready cause it's a good one. I am starting to run slightly dry on ideas but I have enough for like 4 more chapters so I'll hopefully think of more as I write. but if you have any suggestions of what you want to see please let me know and I'll try and work it in.
I'm just realizing the accidental parallel. Chris has Hound Wolf Squad as his found family which is 5 people. Emma has Chel/Jack and the kids as her found family which is 5 people. gonna pretend I planned that.
Review Response:
Ink Scribble - lol if it is an addiction then it's two-fold because I am having way too much fun writing all this. I'm having a tone of fun practicing with writing out believable emotional responses and pacing so it makes me really happy to get to chat with you and here was is resonating :) Chris is definitely going through his processes.
HairyLlama - I'm glad that you're enjoying the story vUv hopefully the wait for the chapter was worth it.
