How's everyone holding up? doing okay? Welcome back stress-sensitive folks. The hard-core crazy stuff is pretty done at this point. We're going back into fluffy cute stuff so you should probably be okay now.
Song Suggestion: How To Be A Heartbreaker by Marina and the Diamonds
Disclaimer: I own nothing~ CapCom please don't sue k thanks
Beep ... Beep ... Beep
What is that sound? Emma thought as she inhaled. When did she fall asleep? The soft beeping continued as she tried to will herself to wake up. She was tired... Where was she? This didn't feel like her bed. She winced as she opened her eyes. It was bright, wherever it was. Eventually, her eyes adjusted and she found herself in what appeared to be a patient's room. A hospital?
She felt stiff. How long had she been here? She reached up to rub her face, only to feel a plastic oxygen mask covering her mouth and nose. What the... What. Happened? Slowly as she woke up her memories came back of the aerosol spray that Veronica had her use, how she snatched it back then used it on herself and turned into… whatever that was. Running around the empty office and fire. Right. Right, she set the building on fire. She must have inhaled too much smoke... Great.
She looked down at her hand that had been sprayed with the same chemical as Veronica. Still no change. Chris said she'd be fine, but why didn't it have the same effect on her? It was weird... maybe it wasn't the aerosol can? Wow, that would suck if she spent that long in a burning building just to get the wrong evidence...
Eventually, she shifted to be more comfortable and tried looking around the room to find Chris sitting in an uncomfortable-looking plastic chair, slouched to lean back and rest his head against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest. A weak smile crossed her face. He was asleep. That couldn't be comfortable. How long had he been waiting for her to wake up?
"Chris?" she said, which came out hoarse and scratchy. She needed water. It took another attempt, but he eventually woke and got up to stretch before standing by her bedside.
"Hey, how are you feeling?" he asked with a weary smile.
"Like I got hit by a truck," Emma said with a tired laugh.
"That might have been gentler," he joked, shaking his head. A few minor fractures, some stitches, a potential concussion, and pretty severe smoke inhalation. Not a fun combo.
Emma gave a weak chuckle in response as her memory became clearer. "What time is it?" she asked, hoping he'd know. Chris stopped to check his watch before answering.
"It's Friday, November first, around eight forty-five am," he replied, which caused Emma's eyes to widen.
"Duke. Oh gosh. I need to get home," she said, looking around for her clothes. "I'm supposed to watch the girls for Chelsea toni—" She stopped short and winced. That hurt. Nope. Moving was bad.
Chris placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. "Try not to move too much. I called Bastion. He's looking after Duke," Chris said, which made Emma relax again. "I'll see if I have Chelsea's number."
Emma nodded.
"There's probably something else I should tell you now that you're safe and calmed down ," he added which caused Emma to raise an eyebrow.
That was not a good sign. "Okay," she replied, curiosity mingling with concern. Last time he had 'something he should tell her,' it was not great news. Was she missing a toe, a foot... a leg? She wiggled her toes to check. It felt like she had all of them.
"Remember roughly two years ago, back when you hurt your ankle and I gave you that medicine that you said looked like an epi-pen," Chris asked first.
Oh boy. "I vaguely remember that yeah," Emma replied, still tired and hoarse.
"So, it was medicine for rapid recovery, but it's meant to be used on short notice when… fighting Bioweapons. So it has the vaccine mixed in with it."
"Chris," Emma said in a tone that said, 'are you kidding me'?
"It slipped my mind to mention it when the BSAA stuff came up. It had been a while since then," Chris said with a wince.
She gave a tired sigh. "Well, I suppose I should thank you for that. It saved my skin. Literally," Emma said in a slightly annoyed tone. "I'll admit I should have asked what it was before I let you stick me with a needle, but I was kind of in the 'empty skull' phase of having a crush, so that slipped my mind," she grumbled, then looked at him, "but dang it all, can we agree that was messed up?"
"Yeah, that was pretty messed up. Sorry." Chris rubbed the back of his neck and looked away before completely processing what she said. "Wait, what was that last part again?"
"That it was messed up. Which it was," Emma repeated.
"Yeah, the part before that," Chris clarified as a twinge of a smile pulled at his lips.
You add one explanation detail and suddenly they think they're hot shit. "That I should have asked what it was before letting you use it," Emma replied as she scrunched her mouth , trying not to smile as well. Dang it all.
"The part in between," Chris pressed, amused.
"No, uh-uh. You're in trouble, mister. You're not allowed to get cheeky and be distracted by that," Emma said, failing to fight back a smile as her cheeks turned a light pink. She tried not to chuckle since it did kind of hurt.
"You had a crush on me back then?" he asked as the smile shifted to a smirk.
"Nope, not in the slightest, I meant someone else. I thought you were the biggest dick," Emma replied causing Chris to laugh and mumble to himself before leaning over the guard rail of the bed to gently hold the side of Emma's face. He gave her a peck on the forehead since her mouth was covered.
"I'm just glad you're going to be okay," he said with a weak smile.
Emma smiled back, unable to reciprocate the affection. Instead, she leaned forward to gently presses her forehead to his.
The sound of his phone got Chris' attention, causing him to release her and correct his posture before digging it out of his pocket to check the alert. "I have a meeting in ten minutes. I should go."
"Don't be late," Emma said, her eyelids fluttering. Sleep was starting to sound good again.
Chris nodded and headed out to find Jill waiting outside. "Oh, hey," he said as he closed the door. Jill smiled.
"I thought I'd find you here," she said with a short chuckle. "Come on, the director gets cranky if anyone besides him is late."
The two walked together. "So, when are you heading out?" Chris asked curiously.
"Around noon. One of the BSAA choppers is heading that way anyway. So I figured that would be my best bet," Jill explained with a shrug.
"Try not to wait ten years to stop by again, okay?" Chris said with a smile.
"I sent you a card each year for a while, would it have killed you to write back?" Jill pointed out, shaking her head.
"There just… wasn't much to write about," he admitted. "Wake up, go to work, go home, sleep. Go on the next missions."
Hearing that caused Jill to give a short, tired sigh. "And that's why I gave up..." she said quietly which causes Chris to raise an eyebrow. "We had our moments back in the day, whatever you want to consider them, but nothing came of it because it was always just on to the next mission for you."
Chris frowned but nodded. He wasn't oblivious to what she meant. He'd spent three years trying to find her, knowing with every fiber of his being that she was alive, but even after that he just went on to the next mission and by the time he got back, she was gone.
"I'll send you a card for the holidays. Can you try and write back this time?" Jill asked hesitantly.
Again he nodded. "Yeah, I can do that," he agreed.
"Good," Jill said with a smile before giving him a nudge, and a hesitant smile returns. "She's cute. I like her." Jill chuckled.
Chris shook his head. "So, you did go through my desk."
That caused Jill to laugh. "Well you stopped telling me what was going on in your life, so I had to figure things out on my own since I wasn't sure if we'd actually get to see each other."
Chris gave her a nudge back. "You made your point already. I'll write you back."
Jill chuckled at that.
They were late for the meeting and got chewed out for it by the director, but ultimately, it was good news. They were able to shut down the state-side labs thanks to the final pieces of evidence. It probably helped that the dagger over the director's head was removed. With Veronica gone, so was her threat, and he had no problem approving the raids of the last labs that they knew about. It would probably take another eight months but it was going to be a closed case.
Noon eventually arrived, Chris walked Jill to the airfield gave her a hug before she left, and said goodbye properly this time. He felt lighter, like a weight he forgot he was carrying had been lifted.
As he walked back to his office, he scrolled through his phone to try and find the right set of numbers and dial them.
"Chris? Hey, I'm glad you called. I haven't been able to get ahold of Emma. Do you know where she is? I'm really worried" Chelsea asked quickly upon answering the phone.
Chris winced slightly. "She's not feeling well," Chris said, which caused Chelsea to give a quiet sigh. He wasn't sure how much to say. If he told her about the fire, she'd want to see Emma but he couldn't get away with bringing the whole squad to see Emma. That was out of the question. "It'll probably be a few days..."
"Well, shit... okay, um, maybe I can call in and get my shift moved," Chelsea said clearly torn; she was worried, but this also kind of screwed her over since she relied on Emma during the holidays.
"She mentioned that she was supposed to watch the girls. If you want, I'll fill in," Chris offered. While Chelsea was silent, he could sense her shock over the phone.
"Really? Are you sure? She was going to watch them overnight..." she asked, finally voicing her surprise.
"Emma was pretty upset she wasn't going to be able to. I don't mind," he said in response.
"You're a saint. Thank you," Chelsea said gratefully. "I usually stop by around six thirty, is that okay?"
"That's fine," he agreed with a nod.
"Thanks again. I'll see you then. Tell Emma I hope she feels better and to check her darn phone," Chelsea said with a laugh.
"I'll pass on the message. Bye," Chris replied, waiting for a 'bye' from Chelsea before hanging up. He didn't really consider himself a babysitter but, eh, last time didn't go so badly when Emma brought them over.
He continued on with his day only to get a few messages.
[Tundra] TGIF
[Lobo] For real, though. Looking forward to drinks later.
Well crap... He forgot about that with the stress of everything that was going on. Hound Squad was out of Quarantine starting today, and they'd agreed to get drinks at seven...
[Alpha] Might have accidentally double-booked.
[Canine] Really?
[Alpha] Sorry. Emma's down and out. I blanked when I offered to watch her nieces for her while she's resting.
[Night Howl] Well shit...
[Umber Eye] That's not so bad. We can probably make that work. We can just go somewhere else instead of the bar?
[Canine] Yeah true.
[Lobo] Dave N Busters? Heard the one down the road just had one of those VR rooms installed where you work in teams.
[Tundra] We'd be able to get a drink that way too, twice the cost though.
[Canine] You say that like we're ever home long enough to do anything with our paychecks.
[Lobo] Too real, my dude. Too real.
[Alpha] Let me check if that's okay first.
Chris quickly sent a few texts to Chelsea and she ultimately agreed since her options were to not work and be short the money to pay the holiday bills or agree to let Chris watch them and take them to an arcade.
[Alpha] Looks like we're golden. See you guys there.
A wave of excited messages came in after. Chris spent lunch with Emma and gave her an update to let her know he'd be watching the girls for the night. Before long the end of the day arrived and he went back to the apartment, picked up the three tots, and away he went to the Dave N Busters.
"It's my friends!" Summer cried happily and Maurie squealed before running over to Umber Eye.
"I can go up please?" Maurie asked with a big ear-to-ear grin as she remembered being carried by the hands like a tiny grocery bag.
Umber Eye shook his head. "Nah, I think you're too big for that now. You got taller since last time."
Maurie pouted at that but nodded. She did get taller, and she was happy about that.
"We really need to try and get together more often than once a year," Canine said, shaking his head.
"That would be easier if we weren't still in time-out at work" Night Howl pointed out as he crossed his arms.
"Hopefully that will go back to normal now that we got things squared away with that latest mess," Chris said then shrugged. They couldn't really talk about it since they were in public, but the group nodded.
"Ya'll need to lighten up. We're here now, right? Let's have some fun," Lobo said with a grin. "We should try that VR thing before we get too wasted."
"Can I play too?" Summer asked, starry-eyed as she was getting old enough to understand things like video games.
"We got a tiny boss here. Yeah kid, let's go," Lobo agreed without waiting for Chris to say anything. "Rest of you guys in?"
Lobo got nods and agreements from most of the group.
"Nah that shit makes me motion sick. Besides, pretty sure it's a max of six players anyway," Tundra said, shaking her head. "I'll hang back and watch Maurie and Annie," she offered, waving the rest of the group off. "You have fun."
Maurie giggled at that. "Shit!" she shouted, causing Tundra's expression to drop. Whoops.
"Maurie, no. That's a dad word. You're not supposed to say that," Summer chided with a knowing nod. She was a big kid now, so she knew the rules.
"Oh..." Maurie replied, confused but nodding all the same.
"We'll be back in fifteen," Chris said as Tundra nodded. How hard could that be?
The group of six eventually made it to the front desk of the VR room and got squared away to play.
"All right, this game is a game of tower defense. You'll be paired up into teams Red, Yellow, and Blue," the guy explained.
Summer raised her hand. "I wanna be on Uncle Chris' team," she announced with a grin.
"Uncle Chris?" Lobo asked with a smirk and Chris shrugged. "How long has that been a thing?"
"Started seeing Emma back in December," Chris admitted.
"It's been almost a year and you didn't say anything?" Lobo said with mock offense. "Here I thought I still had a chance."
"Pay attention," Chris said as they returned their attention to the explanation of the game.
The guy held up a controller shaped vaguely like a gun. "Once you get in there and have your mask on make sure you don't actually run around. Stay in place. If you want to move around the room, point where you want to be and use this button on the side here to jump. Hit here to reload and pull the trigger to fire."
Summer nodded while listening to the instructions intently. She wanted to do well.
They were eventually let into the room and hooked up, Night Howl and Lobo as Red team, Umber Eye and Canine as Yellow team, leaving Chris and Summer as Blue team.
The game started up and they all hurried around. Chris found a hiding place while Summer wandered. This was going to be a pretty bad handicap. Umber Eye went to find a high point to snipe from while Lobo smiled and tried taking the easy shot at Summer who was still wandering around trying to find someone.
"You shot me?" Summer said sadly. "Why would you do that?" she asked, distracting Lobo.
"Oh uh sorr—hey!" he started to apologize only to get KO-ed by Chris, who smiled while Summer giggled at the turn of events. This could work. Sure enough, it did. The easy target was hard to ignore making it easy for Chris to figure out where the others would most likely be and pick them off as they approached.
"To your right," Chris said and Summer whipped around with a surprised squeak to see Canine and end up getting a KO.
"I DID IT!" she cheered, jumping around happily and laughing excitedly.
Hearing how excited she was caused Canine to laugh as well. "Not bad kid," he said as he waited to load back in.
"We got a lil soldier in the making here. We're getting massacred," Lobo added as he looked up at the score with blue team in the lead by a wide margin. Granted most of that was Chris picking off the others and the fact no one was willing to really shoot at Summer.
The game eventually came to an end. BLUE TEAM WINS displayed on the screens.
"Yay!" Summer cheered and waited for an employee to help her get out of the headset. "We kicked their butts," Summer went on through laughs with a smug cheeky smile, knowing that 'butt' was one of the gray area words that wasn't a dad word, but she could still get in trouble for it.
"Pretty sure you're not supposed to say that," Chris pointed out as the group walked out and started heading back.
"Nah-uh, Mama says I can say butts but I can't say ass," Summer corrected, which caused the group to laugh since she still technically broke the 'rules' anyway.
"Okay you're the boss," Chris said, shaking his head as they made it back to Tundra.
Tundra handed Annie over to Chris. "Take her. I'm out," she said with a laugh. "She keeps trying to grab everything and put it in her mouth."
Chris took Annie back and nodded. That was probably going to get old quick, but he signed up for this.
The group walked around, occasionally playing games while most of them had drinks. Chris stayed sober since he'd be driving back with three kids in the car. He'd risk his own neck driving buzzed but not someone else's.
"Alpha, let me borrow the baby," Lobo said quickly as he repeatedly patted Chris' arm with the back of his hand.
"What?" Chris asked, surprised.
"Let me borrow the baby," Lobo repeated and motioned for Chris to hand him Annie.
"Why?" he rebutted as his surprise turns to confusion.
"Babies are chick magnets," Lobo said with a cheeky grin. "It makes you look sensitive and emotionally available." He placed a hand over his heart.
Chris rolled his eyes but handed over Annie. It would be nice to have a break and stretch.
Lobo's attempt to go to the bar and flirt went about as well as anyone could expect. Meaning, it didn't really work, but there was an attempt.
Chris ended up having to call it early, around nine to get back home before ten since Annie and Maurie were starting to get cranky. He walked up to the second floor of the apartment building before looking between the two doors and dug out his keys to unlock Emma's apartment. They were used to sleeping there and Emma had space for them since she had that guest room. Once they were set up, he turned out the light.
"G'night, Uncle Chris," Summer said, which Maurie copied.
"Good night," he replied closing the door before walking to the couch, nudging Duke to get off, and settling in for the night.
After the last few chapters, I figured I owe you guys something cute X'D So have some cutes and the adorable suggestion from ViperinePoem to have Summer and Chris completely massacring HWS in Laser tag.
