Time for reader appreciation~ who is ready for a chapter chock full of cuteness ^v^/ I'm going to be separating this one out from the usual monthly counter since July is gonna have another important role that wouldn't really fit in the tone of this chapter lol.

Song Suggestion: Dear Future Husband by Meghan Trainer

Disclaimer: I own nothing. ovq but hey that's the fun part. Capcom please don't sue k thanks


Emma smiled as she packed up the day bag for Rose. They weren't going to be gone all Saturday, but she still wanted to make sure they had anything they might need.

"Rosey, are you ready?" Emma said to try and get the child's attention. Rose hurried over from the living room wearing only one shoe.

"Yesss," she said happily while making a grabbing motion to signal that she wanted to be picked up.

Oh boy... Emma leaned over to pick up Rose before walking over to the base of the stairs for the second floor. "Hey, Chris."

Chris jolted awake in his office chair as he heard this. "Yeah!" he replied to show he heard her while rubbing his eyes. He had sat down to check a few e-mails before they left for the day. Rose had been having trouble staying asleep at night, though, and the two were starting to run on empty.

"Did you put Rose's shoes on?" she asked, hoping he was going to say no and that Rose just managed to put one shoe on by herself.

"Yeah," he confirmed.

Uh oh... "She only has one..." Emma said to explain why she was asking.

Chris' expression dropped as he heard this. If it wasn't one thing it was another... He shook his head as he closed the laptop on his desk. He had hoped to get some work done before they left for the day, but it looked like he was going to be playing hide and seek for the next ten minutes. After locking up the study he made his way down the stairs.

"Kis!" Rose said, pointing at him then making a grabbing motion to show she wanted him to hold her instead.

"Very good, that's Chris," Emma said with a chuckle. Rose was continuing to grow and advance at an expedited rate, and she was closer to a 2-year-old in nature.

Chris accepted Rose from Emma after making his way over to the two. "Oookay, Tiny Terror, what did you do with your shoe?"

Rose simply stared, confused, since she didn't understand the question.

"Do you know where your shoe is?" Chris said, rephrasing the question. She shook her head no. "Of course not," he said as he moved to put her down. "It has to be down here somewhere, right?" he looked at Emma.

"She's figured out how to go upstairs last month," she reminded him.

"Right..." Well, that complicated things.

"She was in the living room before. It might be there. Can you watch her so we don't lose the other shoe while I go and check?" Emma requested.

"I can do that," he said, taking hold of Rose's hand so she didn't runoff.

"Thanks," Emma said as she headed back into the living room.

"Let's get you, in your car seat," he said as he led Rose to the garage. She was starting to get too heavy to expect to be held all the time. Even if he could handle it, Emma probably would be at her limit soon and he wanted to ween her off that expectation. He opened up the side of the car and helped her up into her seat to get her buckled in.

Before long, he heard a triumphant call from inside. "Found it!" Emma shouted as she pulled the shoe out of the toy box. She walked past Duke, resting in his usual place on the couch. "Watch the house, okay?" she said as she patted him on the head and got a small huff in response. Emma then headed over to the counter to pick up the packed day bag and smiled. In its own way, it was kind of cute. Rose was learning to put things away on her own even if she wasn't quite putting them in the right places. Once the day bag was over her shoulder, she headed back towards the stairs to find that Chris wasn't there.

"Where was it?" she heard him reply from the garage.

"Toy box," Emma stated, heading over to the garage as well and closing the door behind her. He chuckled at the answer and shook his head as Emma made her way over to the open car door to put the shoe back on the baby's foot. "There we go, much better," she said as she put the day bag down in the car so Chris could close the door.

"Are you good to navigate?" he asked as he got into the driver's side.

"Yep," Emma replied as she walked around the side of the car to enter the passenger seat. She pulled up the address and set the GPS so Chris was able to drive. It took a good hour, but they eventually made their way to the large very full parking lot. Half of it had been cut off to set up a summer carnival and flea market combo.

Emma smiled. She'd finally managed to convince Chris to let Rose be outside of the house for something that wasn't BSAA related. It wasn't exactly the social interaction she needed for development, but it was at least a start. Once the car was parked the two got out and worked on getting the day bag and Rose ready to go.

"It's been a while since we went to something like this," Chris said with a slight smile as Rose held both his and Emma's hand on their way over to the pop-up carnival.

"Yeah, for Halloween a few years ago," she said with a nod. "I think that was our first date?" Emma asked more than she said, which caused Chris to give a short chuckle.

"Was it?" Chris asked as he now started to invest some thought into the question. What was their first date?

"I don't know I'm asking you," Emma said, amused, as she didn't have an answer either.

"Well." He thought it over. They never really officially called anything a date. They just kind of…. Existed. So, it was hard to say.

"Wait..." Emma paused and started laughing "Oh my gosh, have we never gone on a date? We've been together for almost three years."

Chris hesitated, considering. "Officially?" Emma continued to laugh at this. "I mean birthdays count, right?"

"Sure, birthdays count," Emma agreed as she cuts the guy some slack and her laughing diminished to an occasional snicker. They probably had, they just never really made a big deal about it and treated it as spending time together. She knew that, but it was fun to tease him all the same.

Chris shook his head at this and walks into the carnival.

Rose looked around, observing all the new things with some level of curiosity. So many new sights and sounds with lots of flashing lights. A happy gasp escaped as she noticed a stand with a large pool of rubber ducks. "DUCKIES!" she announced as she lets go of the two to run over.

"Rosemary, get back here," Emma said, hurrying after the toddler.

Chris gives a tired sigh as he followed along. Maybe they should look into getting one of those kid backpacks that have a leash attached to it. She was growing more curious and willing to explore on her own. Maybe this was a mistake.

Rose tried to reach up, but the stand was much taller than it appeared to be back when she was standing by Chris and Emma.

"Afternoon ma'am," said the stand's owner. "Did your daughter wanna play a game? Every play is a winner," he explained, hoping to get a few bucks. "Five dollars a play."

Emma winced. That was pricey for a game, but she looked to Rose who was now jumping to try to reach. "Sure, one play should be okay," Emma agreed.

"Rose, you're not supposed to run off like that," Chris chided as he walked over. This went in one ear and out the other. Rose looked at him as gears started spinning between her ears. She made her usual grabbing motion to signal she wanted to be picked up. "Up, pease," she said as she stared at Chris. If she was up, then maybe she could reach the duckies.

Chris forced a frown as he watched Emma pay the stand owner. They were reinforcing bad behavior, but yeah, it was kind of cute that she was so excited... Defeated, he picked up the child and walked closer.

"Okay so red is a small prize, blue is a medium, and green is a large prize," the stand owner explained as they gesture to the different display ducks that had waterproof stickers on the bottom. Small looked like a cheap bulk ten cent plush, medium was maybe a slightly nicer bulk plush, and the large ones were actually pretty decent, so there was probably only one green duck in the pool of fifty. Overall, it was definitely a win for the stand owner and a rip-off for anyone that played.

Rose was already leaning while reaching out a waving arm to try and get closer and grab at the toys in the water.

"Careful," Chris said as he ended up having to use both hands to support her leaning. She eventually grabbed hold of one and held it up triumphantly. She did it! she acquired the duck.

"All right let's see what you got," the stall owner said with a smile as he take the rubber duck. "And that would be a blue, very nice that's a medium prize," they said as they put the duck back.

Rose gave a frustrated cry. "Nooo, I wan iit," she wailed while reaching for the rubber duck again. That wasn't fair she only just picked it up and they took it away. She wanted the duck.

The stall owner seemed used to this. He walked over and picked up a fluffy-looking duck plush toy and offered that to Rose. "What about this one?"

It was fluffy. Rose stared at it with starry eyes and quickly accepted the substitute.

"What do you say?" Emma asked Rose who continues to look over the plush toy with interest.

"Dank cue," she said as an answer to the question.

"You're very welcome," the stall owner said with a smile. They made $4.50 off the deal. "You three have a nice day."

"You too," Chris said as he moved to put Rose down so they could walk around more. To be honest, Rose was too young for all this still. She was too small to go on any rides and the games were either rigged or expensive. Still, Rose happily walked around exploring everything she could with her new fluffy friend.

They at least got to enjoy some of the usual carnival favorites as Rose had the addition of a bag of cotton candy to her collection of goodies while walking around and tiring herself out.

"We might actually get some sleep tonight," Emma said with a hopeful chuckle as she noticed that Rose was starting to slow down as they walked around the various flea market stands.

"Don't jinx it," Chris replied with a slight smile before going back to munching on the hot dog he got for dinner. If they were lucky, she was right. As they walked around, one stand in particular caught his attention.

Sticking out of a large cardboard box was the neck of a guitar.

"Em, hold up a second," he said to let her know he was going to check something out.

"Rosey, let's follow Chris, okay?" Emma said as she tried to herd the child.

"Kis," she parroted back while toddling to follow him.

Chris walked over to the box and picked up the acoustic guitar to look it over. It was certainly old, and it was missing a string but other than that it was cared for well enough and a fender to so a decent entry-level guitar. He gave what strings remained a light strum. Hmm. Out of tune too.

"You play?" asked the owner of the box.

"Used to," he admitted, "a lifetime ago."

Emma quietly smiled to herself as she watched over Rose while Chris looked at the instrument. Maybe this was a good idea after all, even if Rose was too young, she was having fun and Chris seemed to be relaxing too if he was considering old hobbies.

"I see. Well, if you're interested, I'd probably be willing to part with it for forty and I'll throw in a replacement string," the man offered as a sale price.

"Maybe thirty with the string." It was still an old guitar and had some decent scratches from being used.

"Hah. Nah, put it back. I got that thing for two hundred dollars. I can fix the string myself and sell it for more on eBay," the stand owner said as he waved off the attempt at haggling.

Chris shrugged and puts the guitar back. No skin off his teeth to keep the forty, bu—

"Do you take Venmo?" Emma asked while keeping an eye on Rose who was curiously digging through everything she could.

"Yeah, I can do that," the man said with a smile as he shifted how he was sitting in his foldable chair to take out his phone.

"Emma," Chris said with a frown. She wasn't serious, was she?

"Don't 'Emma' me. You haven't shown interest in a hobby that wasn't work-related in the four years that I've known you," Emma pointed out as she took out her phone. "Worst case scenario, it's not for you and it collects some dust in the basement, or Rosemary plays with it when she gets older. Get the guitar." Wait a second... "Rose don't touch that. it's not yours," Emma said as she quickly picked up Rose to move her away from a lamp she was poking at.

"Living up to her name of Tiny Terror as always," Chris said, amused, as he shook his head. Emma had a point though. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad. It was a ten-dollar difference.

"What's your number?" the guy asked, trying to see if he had a sale or not. Emma told him her phone number and rather quickly got the request for forty dollars.

"I can pay for it," Chris said, amused.

"I know," Emma replied as she clicked on her phone and paid for it anyway. "But we missed your birthday this year with everything going on with the move and such... There we go."

"Received," the man confirmed as he got up. He walked over and dug through another box to get a package that was labeled for a guitar string and offered that to Chris. "Enjoy the guitar." He was certainly going to be much happier with the forty bucks in his pocket.

Chris accepts the offered packet before looking back to the guitar and picks it up. "Thanks."

Rose started to rush off again even though Emma was trying to keep her out of trouble. The whining complaints were beginning. "Noooo," she said annoyed.

"Someone is getting cranky," Emma said, looking to Chris.

"Maybe we should head out," he suggested, and Emma nodded in agreement.

"Probably better to avoid a tantrum," she said and Chris scooped Rose up in his free arm. It would be easier to get her back to the car without causing a scene this way.

They managed to do so and buckled Rose in with her new fluffy friend and bag of cotton candy. Chris placed the guitar into the back with the day bag. By the time they got home, Chris and Emma looked back to find that Rose had clawed the thin plastic bag open and ate half of the contents before passing out, using her new stuffed animal as a pillow.

Emma chuckled. "I'll get her washed up and tucked in," she offered.

Chris nodded. "I'll clean out the car," he said as he got out to start cleaning up whatever mess Rose's cotton candy snack caused. Luckily it wasn't too bad. She only got some of it stuck on her car seat.

He eventually got the mess taken care of and brought the day bag and guitar into the house, placing the bag on the counter before heading over to take a seat on the couch and get started restringing the guitar. It took a few tries to get it just right, but he got it attached eventually.

Emma came back down the stairs and sat next to him on the couch. "The munchkin is sleeping," she said with a chuckle as she listened to him try to tune the guitar. It had been a while, so it was more difficult than he remembered.

"Hm, I should put this away for now, then. Wouldn't want to wake her," Chris said and Emma shook her head no.

"You're fine it's not that loud," she said, which caused a slight smile to cross his face.

Once the guitar was making sound about how he wanted it to, Chris started randomly plucking at strings to make a simple melody and get used to the instrument. Emma smiled as she closed her eyes and relaxed into the seat, humming along in an attempt to harmonize with the notes.

'*'*'*'*'

The weekend, while three days long because of the holiday, seemed to pass along quickly and before long Chris was back at work. It was another check-up day for Rose, so he had more free time which was appreciated. He made his way to the gym, carrying a clipboard, and found the rest of Hound Wolf squad waiting for him. "Hound Wolf Squad, round up," he called to get everyone's attention so they could go over the plan for the day.

"Shit man you look tired," Lobo said with a sympathetic laugh as he looked over.

"Is the kid still running you up a wall?" Umber Eye asked with slight amusement as he joined the lineup with the others.

"Yeah, but the vacation helped some," Chris admitted, rubbing his eyes.

"You went on a vacation?" Canine asked, surprised. That was sort of out of character for the guy, but good all the same.

"Yeah, nothing special. Just went to a flea market carnival thing with Emma and Rose. Anyway, we should go over the results from the last training exercises," he said as he looked over a few papers on the clipboard he was holding.

"Okay, so you went to some fair with the wife and kid... That's not a vacation. When was the last time you two were able to just… chill? You know?" Lobo asked as stretched out his shoulders.

"We're not married," Chris countered. He shouldn't have let them get distracted.

"And?" Lobo said in response as that didn't seem to convince him in the slightest.

"She's not my wife," Chris replied, annoyed that this was even a conversation. For heaven's sakes, they had work to do.

"Are you guys planning on splitting up?" Night Howl asked, surprised.

"What? No!" he said, further annoyed. How did this turn into rag on Alpha time? He didn't have a wife. He wasn't married. End of story.

"Did you guys start living together because you wanted to be able to spend more time together since being close to each other makes you irrationally happier?" Canine said while jokingly batting his eyelashes a few times to join in on the fun of picking on their tired leader.

"Now that doesn't me—" he started but was cut off as Tundra decided to throw in her two cents.

"Is she or is she not helping raise a kid that isn't hers without you even having to ask, after going through literal hell with you because of the whole war crime shit?" the woman pointed out with a confident smile. Granted, they all almost got handed over to the courts, but hey, the point was still valid. Emma deserved some respect for what she put up with. Tundra was okay with standing up for that.

That one got Chris to pause to try to think of an argument. "... Yeah"

Lobo smiled triumphantly thanks to the assists. "Thank you, I rest my case. My original point stands. You need a vacation man."

"Fine, you've had your fun, we have work to do," Chris said with a frown. He was pretty done with this. "Lobo you can start with giving me thirty laps since you want to derail training."

"Sure, sure." He shook his head and hurried off to do the laps.

Chris assigned the others their work and Umber Eye set up at the machine next to Chris'. It took a minute, but eventually he spoke. "He's not wrong you know; you've been looking a little run down lately. You really should take a break..."

"Oh, not you too," Chris said with a frown.

"Look, all I'm saying is if you need us, you can rely on us. We're all worried, you're taking on a lot on your own," Umber Eye said with a shrug. "Doesn't have to be anything major, just see if you can find a place for the weekend and get some sleep. It's going to start affecting your work before long," Umber Eye said, trying to communicate what Lobo was really trying to say better.

Oh my gosh have we never gone on a date? We've been together for almost three years.

Chris gave a defeated sigh. "All right. I'll look into it tonight," he agreed as he remembered his prior conversation with Emma. Even if they were both kind of joking, the realization did stick with him that they had never actually defined anything in their relationship. No titles or requirements. They just existed. He loved her, she was his Emma, He didn't really know what that meant but he was content. It was enough.

'*'*'*'*'

Emma stretched after getting dinner in the oven. What time was it? She took out her phone to check.

Tuesday, July 6th, 5:41 pm

Hmm, Chris probably wouldn't be home for another forty minutes or so... Emma looked around and went to get some cleaning supplies from under the sink. The house could use of work. Rose really did a number on it whenever they looked away. With the supplies placed on the counter, she dug her wireless earbuds out of her purse and put the, in before clicking through her phone until she found a playlist labeled [cleaning the house].

Emma got to work getting flung tidbits of snacks off the wall and picking up baby and dog toys alike to put in their respective bins. She happily sang along to her music as she cleaned and did a grapevine step to the side as she made her way back to the dog toy bin.

Duke watched as she did this and play bowed. She was hopping around. That meant play, right? Seeing this, Emma laughed and chased the pup around for before he flopped onto the couch as 'base' to show he was done.

She shook her head and got back to work, listening to different upbeat songs and cleaning up various messes that they'd let go over the weekend. A few songs and messes later a new catchy tune from her playlist started. She smiled at it; it was a fun one to sing along with. Chris and Rose were going to be home soon. Maybe just censor it just in case.

Chris gave a tired sigh as he pulled into the garage and turned off the car. What a long day. He rubbed his face for a second before looking into the rearview mirror to see that Rose was imitating him. A single short huff of laughter passed his lips before he shook his head and got out of the car to help Rose out of her seat.

"Okay, ready for dinner?" he asked and Rose nodded energetically before dramatically sliding out of her seat to get out of the car. What a goof. He closed the door once she was out of the way and held her hand to lead her into the house.

"You gotta know how to treat me like a lady, even when I'm acting crazy. Tell me everything's all right," Emma happily sang as she had moved on to sweeping. Duke's shedding was a crime in and of itself. "Hum huumhum huhumm. Here's a few things you'll need to know if you wanna be my one and only all my life."

Seeing this caused an amused smile to start to form on Chris' lips. She always seemed so much happier when she had those earbuds in. The smile on his face slowly started to fade. Music made her happy. Yet she gave that up and never held that choice over his head. Hell, she didn't even get to go skating as much as she used to. She'd been too busy helping him with Rose. Not a single complaint or pointed remark because of it.

"Hum huumhum huhumm. Make time for me, don't leave me lonely and no we'll never see your family more than mine," she continued, chuckling at that last bit as she happily made a not so tiny pile of floof.

He loved her. She was his Emma. He didn't really know what that meant. knew what that meant. He didn't have had a wife. He wasn't married yet. ... Goddamn Bitch Ass Hell Fuck Shit... Really? Really...

"I'll be sleeping on the left side of the bed, hey," Emma continued singing along as she nudged the floof pile into the dustpan. "Open doors for me and you might get some—"

Chris quickly moved to cover Rose's ears, knowing head rhymes with bed and he did not need the toddler parroting any part of that.

"Kisses," Emma sang and Chris' shoulders dropped from the unexpected word choice. "Don't have a dirty mind, just be a classy guy."

At this point, he let go of Rose, trying not to laugh since the goddamn song called him out. She didn't even know he was listening. "Emma," he called to get her attention. Luckily it worked.

Emma jolted slightly hearing him shout but looked over. "Oh, hey you're home. How was work?" she asked as she pocketed her earbuds. "Were you good today?" she asked looking at Rose in particular.

"Yes!" Rose confidently replied.

Emma looked at Chris who shrugged. She wasn't awful, but she was with the doctors most of the day so it was hard to say. "Very good, Rosey," Emma praised all the same. She'd take the kid's word for it if Chris didn't know.

Rose happily giggled before heading over to the box of toys and making a new mess.

Emma gave a tired sigh but tossed the mixture of dog hair and abandoned fruit loops in the trash.

Chris' partial smile from before returned as he walked over to hold her from behind and give her a peck. "Hey."

"Hey." She returned the affection as she smiled back at him.

"Do you want to go on a date?" Chris asked with amusement in his tone. It took him long enough to ask her that.

That surprised her. "Huh? Oh gosh, Chris I was joking about the date thing before," Emma said as her smile was replaced with concern. He didn't think she was actually upset about that did he? She was laughing. She thought he knew it was a joke... "I'm sorry, have you been worrying about that this whole time?"

"No that's not it," Chris said, still amused. "I was talking with Hound Wolf and they offered to watch Rose for the weekend so we could get out for a little and catch up on some sleep," he explained.

"Sleep does sound nice..." Emma admitted. Even with her happy cleaning, she was worn out. "I don't know. I mean it's nice of them to offer to watch Rose, but I'd still have to find someone to watch Duke."

"I'll just ask them to house sit then. Rose and Duke can stay here, and they can take shifts, so no one gets completely burnt out over the weekend," he suggested.

She thought it over before nodding. "Okay, I think that sounds like a good plan," she eventually agreed. They both needed the rest.

'*'*'*'*'

Saturday morning couldn't arrive quick enough. Chris ran it by Hound Wolf squad who all agreed that it sounded like a solid plan and that they didn't mind helping the two out. The gears had been set into motion, and the two would spend of time each night planning their mini vacation away from home.

"Try and make sure she's in bed at 9, but any earlier and she doesn't sleep through the night for some reason. I cubed up some apple slice ahead of time if she asks for a snack, they're in the fridge," Emma explained. "There are graham crackers in the pantry if she doesn't want the apples. Um. What else." Emma ran a hand through her hair. It was their first-time leaving Rose alone with someone else since they adopted her, so she was nervous.

"Relax, we'll be fine, right?" Umber Eye said as he looks at Rose who nodded.

"Yes," she chirped, though there was a good chance that was just a reaction to the question rather than a genuine answer since she didn't really know what was going on. She did recognize Umber Eye from going to the office with Chris every day, though, so it was nice to see her friend.

"If anything comes up just call," Chris said with a shrug.

Umber Eye nodded. "Can do," he agreed. "We'll see you guys tomorrow."

Wait what? Tomorrow? Rose looked between Umber Eye and Chris then at Emma as it started to set in that her caregivers were both leaving at the same time. That had never happened before. She quickly hurried over to cling to their legs. "I go too?"

Oh my heart. "Not this time Rosey, you get to have a sleepover with friends. Isn't that exciting?" Emma offered trying to make it sound fun and not scary.

A quiet whine was her response. Umber Eye picked up Rose who kicked her legs around trying to get away. "Noooo," she wailed with a pout while reaching out for one of them to hold her instead. She wanted to go too.

"She'll be fine, best you two head out. She'll just get more upset the longer you stay," Umber Eye pointed out as he gently shifted her so she couldn't kick as much.

Chris and Emma nodded before heading to the packed-up car.

Emma buckled in and bobbed her head. "Maybe we should take her with," she said, voicing her empathy for the now sobbing child in the house.

"Emma, no," Chris said, amused. "You keep saying we need to work on not having her be so dependent on us."

"No, I say we need to let her socialize with other people her age," Emma corrected with a slight frown.

"This is socializing. She's getting the chance to interact with people without us watching," he offered to try and give her some peace of mind.

She was not going to start this argument again before a vacation, so she dropped it for now. "Fine."

Chris shook his head, and with that, followed the directions towards the rental house, only for them to get stuck in traffic.

"The hell? It's a Saturday why is there this much traffic?" Chris asked rhetorically as he frowned at the car ahead of him. Luckily, they were leaving early, but still. He hadn't exactly planned on arriving at midnight just to sleep and drive back.

"Looks like there was an accident. It's backed up for two or three miles based on the map," Emma said while poking at her phone to check the GPS.

"Great..." Chris muttered with a tired sigh. At least it was only a few miles, but who's to say how long that would take?

Emma noticed Chris' hand move for the tiny box in the cupholder. Those things would be the death of him before a Bioweapon got to him at this rate. She put her hand over his and stopped him as she leaned over to give him a peck.

"Red light," she said as she returned to her seat.

The action surprised him at first until he remembered their game from before. It had been a while. He let the cigarette be and went back to focusing on driving. Any time they were stopped in traffic long enough, he'd lean over for a quick kiss to act as a substitute for the nicotine.

It definitely took longer than they initially planned, but they managed to make it to a cute little rental house in the historical district of the state a few hours away from home.

"Looks like we made it just in time to drop off our stuff and wander to look for lunch," Emma said with a smile. She was still worried about Rose, but she wanted to try to relax and enjoy their time together.

"Lunch sounds good," Chris agreed. He had forgotten to eat breakfast with all the hustle and bustle to get ready to leave. He turned off the car and got out.

Emma helped with getting the overnight bags into the house and looked around. It was definitely cute, but there were a lot of fragile knickknacks laying around that Rose would have broken if she got her hands on them. Maybe it was a good thing Chris insisted that they stick to the plan.

With the bags dropped off, Chris slipped an arm around her waist and gave Emma a kiss once more. "Ready?"

"Yep," Emma said with a smile as she walked out of the house with him so they could explore their new surroundings.

Lunch, wandering, visiting different historical markers, local shops, and taking lots of pictures took most of the day. After a nicer dinner at sunset, the two made their way to a little building with a sign that read 'The Drunken Palette.'

"I'm pretty sure this is going to be a disaster," Emma said with a relaxed smile. This was nice.

"Pretty sure that's the point," Chris pointed out with a slight smirk as she nudged him. "What?"

"Nothing," she replied, amused. They headed into the building to find the place was covered in clear plastic tarps. Couples stood in front of rows of plastic tables set up with various glasses and bottles of alcohol, canvases, easels, and plastic paint palettes with pre-measured paint dollops, though it looked like there were bottles of paint on the table too, in case more was required.

"Welcome," said a woman who walked over to greet the two. "Are you signed up for a class or walking in?"

"Signed up," Chris said in return. "Should be under Redfield."

The woman clicked around on a tablet before nodding. "Ah, yep there you are. You're at table 14. Your drinks are already there and waiting for you. Do you need smocks, or did you wear clothes that you don't mind messing up?"

"I'm fine," Emma said with a shrug before looking to Chris.

"Yeah, no. I knew what we signed up for," he said with a short laugh and the woman nodded again with a smile.

"All right. Well, you're all set then. Have a great time," she said and they thanked her before heading over to find table 14. Like the others, it was set up with two blank canvases, paint, and two empty glasses for alcohol as they had a bottle of wine and whiskey at their table.

"Are you sure this is a good idea? I'm going to absolutely mess you up," Emma jokingly taunted with a playful smile.

"I'm counting on it," Chris replied quietly as he gave her a peck and Emma nudged him.

"Okay class, welcome to the drunken palette, go ahead and make sure you have your drinks and all the supplies you need at your table. You might have noticed you don't have brushes. For this class, we encourage that you paint with your hands, mess with your partner's canvas, and in general have fun and make a mess," the teacher explained with a smile. She had the best job; drinking all day and teaching finger painting. "This is absolutely a hands-on class, so go ahead and throw around paint at your partner if they're okay with that. Exhibitionists, do try to keep the shows to a minimum till you get home."

The class chuckled at this.

"We recommend having an Uber or Lyft scheduled ahead of time to make sure you make it home safely. With that, let's get started," the teacher said as they started a painting which was displayed on a large screen. The teacher showed the process for painting an ocean sunset with a little boat in the distance.

It didn't take long for the two to start flicking paint at each other while enjoying their drinks.

Splat!

"Oh... oh no. Rose, how did you get into that," Lobo said. His chest sank when he found Rose had gotten out of bed and into the pantry when he wasn't looking. The child giggled happily in response. "Look at what you did, and the dog too?" He gestured to the large puddle she and Duke were standing in. She had managed to dump out an entire container of ketchup on Duke and the floor, which he happily rolled around in to make it much worse. Duke started to shake it off causing ketchup to splatter everywhere.

Lobo groaned before digging out his phone to take a picture. He made a new group chat with everyone, except Alpha, and sent the picture.

[Lobo] Guys help. I messed up.

[Night Howl] How?

[Canine] Is that tomato? Dude, don't let the dog eat that he'll get really sick.

[Tundra] You had the easiest shift. You just had to make sure she stayed in bed.

[Umber Eye] On my way. Come on guys.

[Tundra] Fine. My shift was in an hour or two anyway.

[Canine] Guess we're having a party at Alpha's then.

[Night Howl] Yeah this is definitely not going to get us in trouble.

[Lobo] Save me! Canine how do I keep the mutt from licking himself. He's covered in the shit and if I look away, she keeps smearing what's left on the walls

[Canine] Just try and hold on we're on our way.

Lobo pouted as he looked at the mess.

"Shit" Chris cursed as he looks over Emma's canvas, which now had a very large black handprint in the middle of it. The two were both covered in paint at this point, and he had attempted to reach over to pull her closer to him to give her a kiss but he lost his balance and ended up knocking over her canvas as he caught himself.

Emma pouted. The handprint covered up the tiny boat she had painted, and she had actually been pretty proud of how it turned out. She shook her head. No use crying over spilled milk. It wasn't that important. Instead, she looked at her own hands for a second. Let's see, his print was with the thumb facing down and fingers pointed to the right, so if I want to make one with the thumb up facing to the left, I would need...my left-hand. Okay cool. She dipped her own hand in some red paint and smacked that onto Chris' canvas in return.

"There, now they match," she said with a nod. "And they kind of look cool if you put them side by side like this." She moved them around, so the hands looked like they were reaching for each other.

"You're such a dork," Chris said as he sipped his drink.

"I'm the dork? You smooshed my boat," she joked as she took a drink too.

"I'm sorry about the boat," he said with a slight smile, shaking his head lightly.

"Okay, well, I forgive you." She gave him the kiss he was looking for earlier.

"Are you done painting on the walls yet, you goddamn gremlin?" Lobo asked the giggling child as he looked around at the mess. Alpha was going to kill him. Hearing the doorbell caused him to relax. The cavalry was here. "Oh, thank god."

He walked over while holding the messy child away from him, trying not be the next target of her sticky hands. As he got to the door, he realized he'd have to put her down to open it or risk getting Ketchup on himself. ... the house was already a mess, so he put Rose down to open the door.

"I see you're having fun," Night Howl said, amused, as he walked into the house.

"Ha ha. You're a riot," Lobo replied with a frown. "Just keep an eye on the kid while I try to keep the dog from licking things."

"Sure, man," Night Howl agreed as he walked in and closed the door behind him. "Hey, Rose."

"Hiiyee" she said with a giggle as he moved to sit by the door with her.

"Can you say Night Howl?"

"Nei owl," Rose parroted back, causing him to chuckle.

"Why is she behaving for you?!" Lobo asked, annoyed, from the other room.

Night Howl shrugged. "Guess I just have more of an air of authority than you."

Lobo frowned as tried to clean up the mess with paper towels. "You're full of sh—"

"Language!" Night Howl cut him off.

Lobo grumbled to himself and got back to work. Ugh. It was already starting to dry and stick. This wasn't good.

"Can you say Lobo?" Night Howl asked.

"NoNo," Rose parroted back.

Hearing this caused Night Howl to laugh. "Maybe that's why she doesn't like you. She thinks your name is nono."

Chris chuckled to himself as they walked back into the house they had rented for the night. They were finally able to just act like a couple for the first time since, what? January? Maybe December.

"I'm thinking a shower sounds nice," Emma said with a a smile. "Should probably wash off the paint before getting into bed."

"Fair enough," he agreed with a nod. There went that. She was thinking about sleep so…

"Are you going to join me?" she asked with a slight smirk, which got his attention.

Yeah, he could work with that. "Well, if you don't mind the company."

"I'm counting on it," she replied, quoting his earlier statement to show that she got his not-so-subtle hint as she walked away.

Nope, get back here, He thought as he followed and caught her waist to hold her close. He moved to kiss her while smiling. Affections continued to be exchanged as they undressed and made their way to the shower.

"Damn it, Duke, stop shaking," Canine grumbled while washing off the dog in the bath. "You guys know just because I'm the dog handler doesn't mean that you can leave me to do this by myself, right!" he called down the stairs to the rest of the house.

"We're busy," Lobo replied, annoyed. He was sleepily scrubbing ketchup off the floor while Umber Eye and Night Howl cleaned up the splatters on the furniture and walls. Tundra was tasked with giving the baby a bath in the master bath.

"How did one kid make this much of a mess?" Umber Eye asked as he used a paper towel to scrub at the cabinets.

"She had help from the mutt," Lobo said, annoyed.

"That's rude. Duke is a good boy," Canine called down. No one was calling a good boy a mutt when he was around.

"He's covered in ketchup. How good of a boy can he be?" Lobo shouted back. "He's an accomplice."

"Don't listen to him," Canine said to Duke while scrubbing the grumbling dog. "I know you're innocent." Duke continued to grumble. This was the worst day ever. He had to get a bath.

It took a while, but eventually Canine was able to get the ketchup stains out of Duke's fur and dry the pup off. Duke quickly ran out of the bathroom, down the stairs, and jumped onto the couch.

Fwomp.

Chris picked up Emma and carried her over to the bed from the shower as they continued their affections. The two clung to each other and enjoyed the sense of closeness that came from their embrace. Breathless words crossed their lips as racing hearts and gentle hands caressed and long-neglected desires were finally attended to. Grunts, moans, and shifting sheets led to pleasured cries and relief before the two finally fell asleep in each other's arms.

After a more proper shower in the morning they packed back up to head home.

"This was a good idea," Emma said with a smile as they headed out.

"This was a horrible idea," Lobo said through a tired groan as the group collapsed on the couch with Rose sleeping in Night Howl's arms.

"Thanks for suggesting this." Emma gave Chris a peck.

"Whose idea was this?" Lobo asked and Umber Eye raised a hand. "Never again."

"Now don't say that. They do this every day," Umber Eye pointed out.

"Both of you can it. I want to try and get at least an hour of sleep before they show up," Tundra said with a yawn.

Traffic wasn't nearly as bad on the way home, which pleased Chris and Emma.

"We're back," Chris said as he and Emma walked into the house through the garage door. It was almost noon, so he figured there was no reason for anyone to be asleep.

"Hey."

"'Sup."

"Ugh."

"How'd it go?"

"Shush, you're too loud."

Chris' expression shifted to concerned confusion. That was four more voices than he was expecting. He looked around more critically. The house seemed fine. "How did it go?" he asked with suspicion as he noticed Rose was still chilling with them on the couch.

Upon seeing him, Rose quickly got down from the couch. "Kis! kis!" she hurried over to cling to his leg.

"Fine," Umber Eye replied though he was clearly tired.

"Thanks for watching her you guys," Emma said as she headed over to the kitchen. "Have you had lunch? I can make something real quick," she offered while washing her hands. Huh. The paper towels were gone... weird. She walked over to the pantry to look for the pack she just recently bought to find it was gone too. What in the hell. "Hey Chris," she called over from the pantry.

"Hm?"

"What happened to the paper towels? I just got a pack of eight and I can't find them anywhere," Emma asked as she started moving things around. "Did you move them?"

Chris looked to the group sitting on the couch, who were now quickly moving to get up and head for the door.

"Of course, the frickin' card counter keeps a fawkin' mental inventory of her paper towels," Lobo grumbled under his breath as the others ditched him.

"What did you do?" Chris asked as he pinched the bridge of his nose while frowning.

Lobo patted Chris' shoulder as he walked past. "Just don't check the trash can. See you at work tomorrow." Lobo hurried away.

"Bhiye nono!" Rose said while still clinging to Chris' leg, which made it pretty much impossible for him to follow after the squad.


Phew, this was a fun one X'D even as an appreciation chapter we got some gears in motion that were fun. The more of the included ideas were key points that most comments focused on from other chapters so for the more of these there isn't one person to credit alone XD but for those that are curious, here are the prompts I dug up from your comments on the last 50 chapters. thanks for making them an awesome 50 and for all your support ^_^

Included Ideas:

Plenty of kisses, || A hint of role reversal and a bit of spice [just a pinch] || Crossed out text / Realization of feelings || Hound Wolf Squad Shinanigans and plenty of them || Something Calm and simple for a vacation / Revival of scrapped Drunk Painting date idea [Vahditar] || Rose officially being nicknamed tiny terror [DianaSeada] || Going to a carnival with Rose [DianaSeada] || Rose Bonding time

things to be included in future chapters:

Bastion's wedding || Heisenberg Hunt || Rebecca Cameo || Rose Meets the family/friends || Bastion continuing to prove he is the GOAT || Emma Vs BSAA || Summer being adorable || Father's day || Family Halloween costume || baby Redfield

.

Review Responses:

starrat - always happy to hear that you liked the chapter u

xLunaxNightingalexDuskx - Will do u i'm pretty excited for next chapter XD so i'll probably be BAMFing through that over the weekend to get that up quickly lol. I'm glad you're happy with the addition of some of the older characters u i wanna make sure i get in as many as i can XD Rebecca is going to be a fun one. Tiny Redfield will be around before you know it XD Rose will be the best older sister agreed