Welcome back~ Let's get into the nitty-gritty ^U^ This one is gonna be an interesting chapter. Plots are getting put into motion =v= fair warning cuteness and drama are abundant in the chapter lmao X'D be prepared with tissues if you're a weeper.
Song Suggestion: Play With Fire by Sam Tinnesz feat. Yacht Money
Disclaimer: I own nothing~ I'm just relaxing and having a grand ole time writing about cool characters that need more BG development X'D
Chris walked down the halls of the BSAA holding Rose's hand. This was her third trip to the bathroom and the day had barely started. Potty training had begun, and it was eating away at his time.
"Thank god it's Friday," he grumbled as they walked.
"Dank gawd," Rose parroted. Chris winced. Whoops.
"Don't say that," Chris said with a slight frown.
"Otay," she said in return, though there was room for debate whether she really understood or not. As they made their way back to his office, he found the director's secretary looking around outside.
"Ah there you are," she said before smiling at Rose. "Hi Rose," she cooed.
"Hwello," Rose replied with a slight wave.
"The director was trying to call you. He said he wanted to talk to you about the request you put in," the secretary explained and Chris nodded. Might as well head over then.
"All right," he agreed and followed the woman over to the director's office. "Rose stay out here with the nice lady, okay?"
"Otay," she said and took hold of the secretary's hand instead.
"Don't cause trouble," he said while pointing at her.
"I didn't," she whined, clearly annoyed. She didn't even do anything.
"She'll be fine," the secretary said with a chuckle.
Chris nodded and headed inside, closing the door behind him.
"Redfield, good to see you," the director replied with a slight smile. Chris only nodded and took a seat. Chris had been much more compliant ever since he got back from the whole Romania fiasco, which made the director's life so much easier. Maybe they should have put Chris in charge of a kid sooner.
"What do you want?" Chris asked with a calm, even tone.
"About the request you sent in," the director said as he picked up a file. "Consider it approved. I'll admit I'm surprised that you're volunteering for surveillance."
Chris looked away at that. "Not total surveillance."
"Right, no that would be a waste of resources," the director oddly enough agreed with him. It was a weird day. "Your personal residence will be under 24-hour surveillance while you're on missions so Rose can be left with a caretaker in a less stressful environment to avoid agitating her condition. This will be conducted by a small team of three that will keep an eye on area she travels to and enters should it be public property." The director gave more complete details on what he was approving.
"…Thank you," Chris said, which caused the director to raise an eyebrow. It really was a cold day in hell.
"At this point, it's just going to be a matter of assigning a team, right now our stateside units are already up to their eyes in work," the director said as he put the file down to fill out a few remaining sections of the paperwork.
Chris thought it over as a whisper was heard in the back of his mind.
"Nah I haven't really gotten to do many high-profile missions or anything. Mostly just assisting with the recon teams."
Well... Guess it's his lucky day. "What about that Gary guy from the Recon team?"
"There's a Gary in recon?" the director asked, confused.
"Yeah, apparently he was on the Baker mission. He was asking before about moving to a different section within the BSAA," Chris relayed.
The director nodded and wrote that down.
"I'll look into it. You have a mission coming up in a few weeks. We'll try and get this squared away by then so the unit is available for mobilization when needed," the director said as he closed the folder. Having a team dedicated to watching a troublemaker and for said troublemaker to request it personally was a blessing he was not going to pass up. "That will be all," the director added and motioned that Chris could leave.
Chris got up and closed the door gently behind him to avoid startling Rose. The director gave a content sigh. This was much better.
"Kris!" Rose exclaimed excitedly as he came out of the office. She quickly hurried over and took his hand then picked up her feet to dangle in the air. He had to quickly adjust his hold to keep from dropping her but managed to do so in time, causing the kid to giggle.
"All right, Tiny Terror. Use your feet," Chris said and she begrudgingly stood on her own again. "Thanks for watching her," he added and the secretary nodded.
"Not a problem. Have a good day Captain Redfield," the secretary said, waving to Rose.
"Buh-byes," Rose replied while waving as she walked away with Chris.
The rest of the day went pretty well. He got a rather quickly written 'thank you' email from Gary and before long it was time to head home. As he was driving home, he quickly dialed Emma's number.
"Hey," he said in greeting.
"Hey what's up?" she asked, surprised.
"I'm on my way home. I was thinking pizza sounds pretty good."
"PIZZA!" Rose cheered from her car seat.
"Actually, that would be amazing," Emma agreed. "If I order it, can you pick it up?"
"Yeah, I can do that."
"Okay, half cheese half ultimate but no mushrooms?" Emma said to make sure he was okay with the usual order.
"Sounds good," he agreed with a smile.
"See you soon then... OH!" Emma said as she remembered something. "The Amazon package came in."
"Huh, that was fast. I thought it wasn't supposed to arrive until the 24th?" Chris said, confused.
"You mean tomorrow?" Emma said, amused.
"Ah. Lost track of time," he admitted.
"Okay, well, it's here now and waiting on the counter for when you get home," she explained.
"Good to know. See you soon."
"See you then," she replied, and they both hung up.
Getting home took longer than normal thanks to having to stop along the way but that didn't really bother him. "We're home!" he called into the house as Rose hurries inside. "Ah, Rose, your shoes," he chided, and Rose turned around to stop at a little shoe tree and put her shoes away before heading into the house again.
"Welcome home!" Emma called from the living room as she got up.
"Pizza!" Rose said as she tried to climb into a chair and wait for the food to be placed on the table.
"Careful Rosey, it's hot," Emma said as she got some plates from the cabinets along with a knife and fork so she could cut up pieces for Rose to pick up. As she walked back to set the table, she noticed the now open box on the table was already missing a slice that was nowhere to be seen. "Chris," she said, amused as she stared at him with a 'Really?' expression.
Rose giggled as Chris looked away while whistling to himself. Emma shook her head and chuckled as she finished setting the table. Chris picked up another topping heavy slice, while Emma pulled a plain slice over onto her plate and started cutting it up for Rose. While Emma did this, he walked over to the counter to check the box that was waiting for him. It was a decent size, maybe a foot and a half by two-foot box and the label showed it weighed around 26 pounds.
Chris dug out his pocketknife and held the box in place with his elbow to slice the tape and open it. Inside were two large heavy blankets with neatly designed labels that happily proclaimed 'Weighted Blanket. Sleep better, reduce stress, reduce anxiety, and reduce tiredness through deep touch pressure. Proven to increase Serotonin and Melatonin while decreasing Cortisol.' One was marked as 10 pounds the other was marked as 15 pounds.
It took a while, but they did finally get around to doing some research on what could help with his fits. They had luckily seemed to start decreasing in frequency now that he was under a little bit less stress, but it was better to look into preventing them further.
"Hey Em, I'm gonna go set these up," Chris said, taking another bite of pizza.
"Finish your food and wash your hands first. Those are hard to wash, and we don't need the bed smelling like pizza grease," Emma pointed out as she swapped plates with Rose who quickly started picking up pieces and eating them.
"'Kay," he said and quickly finished the rest of the slice before washing his hand and taking the box upstairs. It took him a little while, but he set up the larger 15-pound blanket first then puts the smaller 10-pound blanket over it on only his side. The two had talked it over and figured this would make it so they each be comfortable, and they could still sleep next to each other without being divided. Both would be way too much for Emma and 15 was not enough for him based on the charts. It would make it easier to wash, too, by breaking out the weight like this. He smiled as he finished setting up the be. Hopefully, this would end up working and at least restrain him enough to not hurt anyone if he started flailing.
'*'*'*'*'
It was hard to say if the blanket was working or not but, he actually felt decently well-rested the next morning. He yawned and stretched from under the weight of the blankets before rolling over to give Emma a peck. "Hey."
"Morning," she said groggily.
He chuckled. "I'm going to try and catch up on a few emails," he said and she nodded.
"Mkay, I'll keep an eye on Rose." She gave him a peck in return then got up and dressed for the day before heading over to Rose's room.
"Rosey," Emma quietly cooed causing the child to slowly wake up. "Rose, it's time for breakfast."
The child grumbled in response, but slowly pushed herself to get up and toddle over. Breakfast on Saturdays meant cartoons. She didn't get to watch those during breakfast during the week since she had to go with Chris to work.
Emma watched over Rose as she ate a bowl of cereal then hurried over to the couch to watch TV. While Rose was preoccupied, Emma tried to start cleaning around the house. This lasted for maybe twenty minutes before Rose toddled over and tugged on Emma's jeans.
"I can pway?" Rose asked.
"You want to play?" Emma repeated to make sure she understood correctly.
"Yeah," Rose confirmed.
"What do you want to play?" Emma asked curiously.
Rose remained quiet. She seemed very deep in thought. There were so many options.
"Do you want to play with your toys?" Emma asked figuring that maybe if she narrowed it down that might help. Rose shook her head no. "Do you want to play a game?" Emma asked and Rose nodded.
"Pwriness?" she asked with big doe-eyes.
"You want to play princess?" Emma asksed, amused. This adorable child, dang it all. It had been a little less than a month since they went to the carnival yet, she was growing so fast. She was acting more like a two-and-a-half-year-old now and starting to better understand the concept of make-believe games and playing with others.
Rose nodded.
"Okay, how do we play?" Emma asked, figuring she should try to foster that little imagination of hers and have her make up the game.
Rose paused and thought. "Kris Pways too?"
"You want Chris to play too?" Emma asked and Rose nodded again to confirm. He said he wanted to work... "Well. He might play if we make him a costume. Do you want to help me?" Emma asked and Rose nodded with an ear-to-ear grin. This would at least keep Rose busy long enough to give Chris time to check his emails.
"Let's go get some supplies," Emma said and led the way.
"Otay." Rose followed Emma around the house. Together they get the abandoned and empty pizza box, Amazon box, some empty cereal boxes, a paper towel roll, a toilet paper roll, some tin foil, string, and a hot glue gun. Emma put all of that down on the table and Rose took a seat. Emma came back with markers for Rose and a pair of scissors for herself.
"Well, first off, a princess should have a princess hat," Emma said and Rose giggled as Emma cut into a cereal box and uses the thin cardboard to make a cone. before gluing it, she handed the flat cardboard to Rose. "Do you want to draw on your hat?"
"Yeah!" Rose said happily as she picked up the markers to start drawing on the cardboard. Emma smiled for a second before getting to work with the rest of the supplies.
She cut the outer flaps off the Amazon box and made two larger panels from the remaining cardboard then added two shoulder straps made from the thick twine-like string. She then glued down some tinfoil to the cardboard to make it look metallic. Not bad-looking armor. Emma added some string to the sides as well so the panels wouldn't flap around as Chris walked, assuming he even bothered putting on the very cheesy cardboard costume.
She did the same thing to the paper towel roll and glued tinfoil to that. Using some of the leftover amazon boxes, she cut out a circle and glued the tinfoil-covered tube to one end and the toilet paper tube to the other to make a sword. The clean half of the pizza box was fashioned into a shield using long strips of cereal box cardboard as the straps.
"There we go," Emma said, looking over to find Rose had sufficiently scribbled all over the cardboard and the table. "What a pretty hat!" she said happily, which caused Rose to giggle. Emma took the cardboard and glued it to make sure it would hold its shape before adding string to it as a chin strap to hold it on Rose's head. "We need to let that cool for a moment. do you want to go ask Chris to play?" Emma suggested.
"Yes," Rose said as she quickly got up and hurried over to the stairs to go up and find her Kris. Emma followed along behind her with her arms full of cardboard props to find Rose jumping to try and reach the doorknob for the study. She pouted as she realized she couldn't reach before looking over at Emma.
"I wanna gib it," Rose said, making grabby hands for the pile of cardboard.
"It's too big for you to hold," Emma said, watching the child sulk. What harm could it do? It's cardboard. "Okay, hold your hands up over your head," Emma said, and Rose did so. Emma placed the cardboard in her hands. "Hold on to it, I'll open the door." Rose did as she was told then scurried into the room as the door opened.
"Kris, pway pwease?" Rose asked as she tried to look up at him, which caused the sword to roll back and off the pile of cardboard.
"Play?" he asked, confused as he looked to Emma who was trying not to laugh.
"Hewre," Rose said as she nudged him with the cardboard pieces. "Kris pway too," she insisted.
"She wants you to play princess with her," Emma explained and gestures to the costume she'd rather quickly thrown together over the course of what was maybe an hour.
Chris' shoulders dropped slightly. That sounded like torture, to be honest. "Uh. I don't know."
"PWEEEAAASE," Rose begged loudly while pouting and nudging him again with the cardboard.
He internally winced and gave a defeated sigh. "Fine, I'll be right down." Emma smiled approvingly.
"YAY!" Rose cheered as she left the cardboard pile on his lap and hurried out of the room to go downstairs and wait.
"Try not to take too long," Emma said as she follows Rose downstairs.
Chris stared at the pile. A shield, a sword, and some tinfoil armor. He put on the costume before making his way down the stairs to find Rose happily running around wearing her very colorful hat and giggling.
"So, what are you supposed to be?" he asked, raising an eyebrow and looking at Emma who was costume less.
"Hmm." Emma paused and thought it over before heading over to the living room and picking up a blanket to drape over her shoulders. "I do believe I'm a big scary dragon," she said with a laugh, "and I'm going to gobble up the princess," while making a silly voice and hurrying after Rose, who squealed and laughed while toddling to get away.
Chris watched the two, confused about what he was supposed to do at this point. Emma eventually caught up with Rose and scooped her up. Rose was getting too heavy for this, but one time wouldn't hurt. Emma spun around while holding the child, who giggled and laughed as she peppered the little girl with kisses on the cheek, nose, and forehead.
"Oh nooo," Rose said through laughs. "Kris hewp!"
Emma chuckled. "What are you going to do, Mr. Knight?" she asked with a playful smile.
Chris shook his head and walked over to lightly bop Emma on the head with the 'sword.' The echoing bonk sound from the paper towel roll caused Rose to laugh again.
"Uhgh, I've been vanquished," Emma said dramatically while collapsing to the ground with Rose, letting go of her as she lay on the ground to 'play dead.'
Now that she was free, Rose hurried over to Chris. "Yay Kris!" Rose exclaimed as she hugged his leg.
A slight chuckle crossed his lips. The game continued for a bit longer. Emma would come back as a "different dragon" and chase Rose around only to swoop her up and give her cuddles before Chris would walk over and bop the 'dragon' to defeat it and free Rose. Another round had started. Emma scooped up Rose once more and nuzzled the child.
Chris smiled as he watched the two laugh. This was what he wanted. He was about to open his mouth to continue their little game when his phone cut him off.
Saturday, July 24th, 10:11 AM
[INCOMING CALL - BSAA HQ]
He exhaled. Great... He answered the phone. "Chris speaking," he said as Emma walked away with Rose to sit on the couch and play patty cake while they wait for him to finish his phone call.
"Hey Alpha," said one of the many workers of the BSAA. "Good news, we got a hit on your BOLO" There was a pause. "Kind of."
"How do you kind of get a lead?" Chris asked, confused.
"We looked into that Charlotte Mayweather you were asking about but didn't find anything. Tundra mentioned that it was the person that sent in the original tip regarding the village? It took some digging around since the tip wasn't filed properly, but we were eventually able to get the info. It was a paper document mailed in with no return address but there was a phone number attached to it."
Shit, that's right. There was a phone number. He'd forgotten about that since it was mostly unused. The line was never on when they called it and he only used it once to confirm the tipster's identity. He held his face in his hands, feeling scatterbrained for not thinking of that sooner. "Okay, so you did a reverse lookup?"
"Yeah, the number doesn't belong to a Charlotte Mayweather, though. It appears to be a New York Number. it's assigned to a Charlotte Wiltse, and the building address its tied to is some business high rise in the city," the worker explained. "We don't really have any evidence to point to her being in Louisiana, though, other than your request to check on her." There was a clicking sound in the background. The worker was likely at a computer. "The only thing that seems kind of odd after digging around in her data, is that she made a couple of thousand-dollar purchase at a suit store a few months ago. Maybe a week or so after the Louisiana break-in."
It had to be her. There was no one else that would have known about the Lords and Louisiana. The fact that she was alive in and of itself was suspicious to him. How has she survived the blast? She ran off before she could be taken back to the states for questioning too. "You're sure we have nothing?" he asked, annoyed.
"Well, for right now, yeah. We only just got her name and location a few hours ago," the worker said in return. "It's going to take a while to get permission to dig any further than her info for the BOLO. Even then it was a struggle to get what we already have since we don't have any supporting evidence that she was on location."
"What about the car? We found footage at the dock that they put him in a car and drove off." That had to link back.
"Yeah, we tried that. The license wasn't picking up properly in any of the footage we found. We tailed it through security cameras onto the highway, and after that, we lost track of it," the worker explained. "And before you ask, yes, we checked going backwards in time as well. Same results. Can't place it," the worker said. "There was that other person on the docks but he's not much help. The best he was able to give us was a name, Marieanne, but the guy said he was drunk at the time and doesn't remember what the person looked like. They did confirm that the person was a woman, though." The worker clicked away at their computer. "Whoever this was, they're smart. Covered their tracks pretty damn well."
Chris pinched the brow of his nose. God damn it... He frowned before he looks over to Rose and Emma. He paused and thought it over. "I want to be on the first flight out Monday morning."
Emma smiled upon hearing that. He chose to stay with her and Rose and keep work during workdays. That was a first.
"Kind of figured you'd say as much," the worker said. "Ran it by the Director just in case, and he approved the trip. Asked me to pass along the message 'Try not to cause too much trouble, but if you find anything, call it in immediately. Your request is set to go first thing on Monday,'" the worker said, and Chris nodded. "Oh, he also said to try and be back by Tuesday since he can only supply a one-person team right now. Whatever that means."
"Got it," Chris replied. "Well, thanks for the update."
"Not a problem, over and out," the worker said before hanging up.
Emma gets up and walks over as Chris puts his phone away. "Work?" she asks though she knew the answer.
"Yeah, we got a lead," he said in return. "I'll be gone until Tuesday; Will you be okay on your own with Rose?"
Emma chuckled at this. Was he starting to trust her? She stood on her toes to give him a quick kiss. "Go kick their ass," she said with a smile.
"I'll do what I can," he said, amused by her vote of confidence.
'*'*'*'*'
Chris frowned as he looks up at a large skyscraper near the middle of New York City. From what the intel said, this should be where he could find her. Why her phone was tied to an office building instead of a residence was beyond him. Chris walked in and over to a receptionist's desk. He attempted to wait for the woman to address him, but she seemed quite content ignoring him.
"Hey," he said to get her attention, only for the woman to hold up a finger as she continued typing with her other hand. It took another moment, but she eventually stopped.
"How can I help you?" the receptionist asked.
"I'm looking for a Charlotte Wiltse," Chris said in return. The receptionist gives a short laugh as if he told a joke.
"Okay," she said, amused while looking at him with an expression of 'And who are you?' "Do you have an appointment?"
"No," he replied, confused. Who the hell was she...?
"My apologies, sir. I'm sure whatever business venture you'd like to get funded is absolutely stellar, but the director has a very busy schedule. She can't just meet with people who walk in," she explained, seemingly used to dealing with starry-eyed dreamers that barely did any research on who they'd actually needed to talk to. "Now, I can get you scheduled for a funding review with the correct department for a future date if you'd like."
Chris frowned as he took out his badge and showed that. He should have just led with that. "She can make time." Fucking rich people. How did this always lead back to them?
The receptionist seemed stunned. "Right away sir," she said. She didn't get paid enough to do much more than what she already did. If he was a problem, the police could deal with him. She walked over to the elevator and pressed her finger against a sensor to get it to activate.
Chris followed the receptionist onto the elevator and watched as she selected one of the upper floors of the building. Eventually, the elevator stopped, and the doors opened.
"Follow me," she said and led Chris through several halls to an office with glass walls that looked out over the city. The receptionist opened the office for him and motioned for him to take a seat. "I'll let Miss Wiltse know you're here. It might take a few minutes. I believe she's currently in a meeting with HR."
"Let her know it's urgent," he said as he walked over and took a seat. He wanted answers.
"Yes sir." The receptionist walked away, leaving him to wait for a good ten or so minutes.
Eventually, Chris heard the door open and a voice from behind him. "Mr. Redfield, was it?" the effeminate voice said in greeting. He turned slightly with a scowl on his face so he could see her and found a well-dressed businesswoman, roughly in her mid-thirties. Ever-relaxed, rather than go straight to her desk she stopped at the drink cabinet to the side of the office and was in toyed with a stemless wine glass and a bottle.
"Mayweather," he said in return. "Or do you prefer Wiltse?" he added in a more accusatory tone.
"Well, I don't see why I wouldn't prefer my own name," the woman, presumably named Charlotte, replied in return as she poured herself a half glass of white wine. "Can I get you anything?"
"Yeah, I want answers," Chris said shortly. This bitch had some nerve being this relaxed.
"Hm, answers. Well, suppose that would require questions first, wouldn't it?" Charlotte asked, bobbing her head slightly. "I'm surprised you'd travel so far to see me. I'm flattered really." She said as she finally walked over to take her seat at her desk and crossed her leg and got comfortable in her chair. "If it's a matter of apologizing, this really could have been an email. The extra effort is appreciated though, so I'll hear you out."
"If anyone should be apologizing it's you," he said with a note of disgust.
His response only seemed to amuse her. "Oh, a 'no you' response. Hardly clever, but that's all right. I'll blame it on the jet lag. I can imagine that the flight back from Romania was difficult for you with the weight of a guilty conscience," she replied before taking a sip of her drink.
He had to hold himself back from reaching out to grab her and throw her. This attitude from the woman that aided in Ethan's death was unbelievable. "Your bad information killed an innocent man," Chris venomously accused.
"And your incompetence killed hundreds," Charlotte quipped back as he managed to strike a nerve in return. Her playful amusement was quickly replaced with anger as her posture became more ridgid.
"I sent that tip about the village looking for help. There were hundreds, of innocent people that needed you," Charlotte fired back in return. "And you left us. You knew we were there. I told you everything I knew, and that wasn't enough for you to care."
Chris rolled his jaw and bit his tongue. He hadn't had a choice. He wasn't prepared for that large of an evacuation. He had to focus on his mission. She cleared her throat. "So, forgive me if I'm hardly sympathetic for your loss of one life. I had to protect the only person I had left. It shouldn't surprise me that your priorities are skewed to only care about yourself and what impacts you," she said before looking down at the glass in her hand.
"That's rich coming from you," he said with a frown. "What were you doing in Louisiana? How did you get past our defenses?"
She took a moment and put her glass down on the desk before looking at him again. "Hm. I'll grant you this, that is an interesting question... However, I'm afraid I can't help you with it." Charlotte returns to her original condescending tone. "Though do humor me. What reason would I have to be in the middle of bum fuck nowhere after escaping a death cult I was trapped in for two years?"
"Cut the shit, I know it was you," he accused as stood up and put the pictures of the intruder and Heisenberg down on the table. She had a soft spot for the metal lord, he knew that much. She'd tried to convince him that they should work together. She was able to get him into the factory. It would be difficult to say it was her from the photos alone, but if he convinced her he knew it was her, maybe she'd confess.
She paused as she looked at the photos before looking back to him. "Well, that's an odd way to ask for my help. If you're so sure, then why are you here?" She called his bluff. "If you're so sure"—she leaned forward—"then get a warrant," she said quietly before sitting properly once more.
Chris stared her down in seething anger. He knew it was her. He just needed her to break. She was the reason Ethan was dead, she told him that stupid tank was immune to Heisenberg's control. The rest of her information proved correct. She saved him from drowning when Moreau knocked him out, which got him into the factory. He thought he could trust her. Rose was an orphan because of HER. If she hadn't lied to him, then he wouldn't have had the confidence to send Ethan out there like that, and he wouldn't have been murdered by Miranda.
"Now then, I believe that marks this conversation finished." Charlotte folded her hands. "There are two ways you can leave my office. On your own two feet or escorted out," she replied in a bored tone, though she stared him down with similar anger in her eyes. "Your choice, Mr. Redfield."
He continued to glare her with a scowl and picked up the photos. "This isn't over."
Charlotte stared back at him with a dead expression before a tired sigh escaped her. "Would it make you feel better if I pretended to be intimidated?"
Chris forced a neutral expression as he turns to leave, throwing the door open as he stormed out of the glass-walled office. He would be back and with a warrant, and she was going to pay for what she did.
'*'*'*'*'
Having to watch Rose for a day was unusual, but luckily everyone at work seemed okay with it. Rose mostly stayed out of trouble, and she was often left to doodle in a coloring book, play with her toys, or wander off to bother the receptionist for a piece of candy.
"Okay, thanks again you guys," Emma said, waving goodbye to her co-workers. "Ready to go?" Emma asked and Rose nodded as she took Emma's hand and followed her to the car. Emma got Rose into her car seat before getting in herself. "We need to make a quick stop at the grocery store, okay?"
"Otay," Rose said in return. "Cwookies?"
Emma chuckled. "If you're really good," she said in return.
"Am good," she confirmed. Emma chuckled and started making her way to the grocery store... That's odd, she thought as she checked the rear-view mirror. That car had been following them since they left the office... She could feel fear start to set in as the car trailed them into the grocery store parking lot.
Relax. Breathe. It's okay. It's just a coincidence, she coached herself as she got Rose out of the car and walked her over to a cart so she could hoist Rose into the basket seat.
Emma wanted to try and forget about the weird car that had followed them, but as she went through different aisles, she continued to have the sense that she was being followed. The same man with graying hair wearing sunglasses and a suit was in each aisle, no matter what. It was really starting to freak her out. Maybe Chris had been right to worry about leaving her and Rose alone... She'd talk to him about it when she got back. For now, she needed a plan.
She made her way down another aisle. This one held an assortment of soaps, trash bags, paper products and cleaning supplies. As she walked slowly, she looked for anything heavy she could use to fend off whoever this was that was following them. She picked up a broom from the wall and looked that over. It was cheap and didn't look like much but what would she expect from a grocery store broom.
Rose was picking up on the fact that Emma was nervous and grew upset as well, causing her to whine as a tell that she was about to cry.
"Sssh. What's wrong Rosey?" Emma asked, unaware that the child picked up on her fear.
"Hey," said a voice from behind her.
Emma turned to find the gray-haired man and yelped as she quickly beaned him in the head with the broom. She cracked it over the back of his skull as he leaned forward to hold his nose. She smacked him once more to try and push him away and keep some distance between whoever this was and Rose.
"Stay the hell away from us," Emma hissed while holding the broom defensively and looking around to make sure no one else was moving in.
"Fucking hell. I think you just broke my nose," the guy said while holding his face in one hand and digging through his pocket with the other to pull out a badge that read BSAA.
Her expression dropped from fear and anger to confusion. "Wait..." She started processing this and moved to hold her face "Goddamn it Chris." He didn't trust her...
"Gawd dawmit Kris" Rose parroted.
Oh gosh. "Rosey, don't repeat what I said okay?" Emma said as she realized that the kid had overheard.
"Otay," Rose agreed. She'd probably repeat it anyway.
"You're with the BSAA?" Emma asked as her confusion shifted to annoyance.
"Yeah, Gary Barnes. Surveillance team Gamma Fox," he said, still holding his face.
"Sorry about that, Gary," Emma said as she put the broom in the cart. She was going to have to buy it now. It was bent. "I didn't realize I was on surveillance," she admitted, still annoyed. She was going to be talking to Chris about this once he was home. "Here, let me take a look at it," she requested and waited as he moved his hand out of the way to find that his nose was starting to bruise and was definitely bleeding. Emma winced.
"Yeah, that looks pretty bad. Okay, here's the plan. Since I know you're here now, walk with us, and let's see if they have a first aid kit at the front desk," Emma said as her shoulders relaxed now that she knew they weren't in danger.
Gary nodded in return and followed the two to the customer service desk where the employees quickly provided a first aid kit.
"So how long has this been going on?" Emma asked as she opened the first aid kit and Gary took a seat on the bench by the front desk.
"First day," he admitted.
Oh good. Well, that was kind of a relief. "Rough first day then," she said as she got a cleaning swab ready. "This might sting," she warned before cleaning up the injury. Gary winced, but the sting wore off. Once his nose was cleaned up, she puts a bandage over the bruise to cover it . "There we go. Good news, I don't think it's broken, just bruised. You should still get it checked though... I can't really see if there's any damage from the other hit. Are you going to be okay to drive?" Emma asked, frowning.
"I'll be fine," Gary said, a little embarrassed that Emma managed to get the drop on him enough to beat the crap out of his face.
"Okay," she said with a sigh. "I still need to finish shopping. Can you walk with me instead of following behind me please?"
Gary did as Emma requested. She finished up shopping, went home, and even brought a plate of food out to the car for dinner as an olive branch after smacking him in the face. It wasn't his fault that Chris, hopefully, had just forgotten to tell her.
'*'*'*'*'
Chris made it back to the BSAA HQ on Tuesday as scheduled and put in his shift before heading back home for the evening.
"I'm home," he said as he walked in.
"Kris!" Rose said happily and hurried over to see him.
"Welcome home," Emma said, though her voice seemed off.
"Is everything okay?" he asked with a raised eyebrow. He reached down and ruffled Rose's hair as she clung to his leg while he walked over. It made walking difficult, but he was learning how to manage to move around with the toddler clinging to him.
"Yeah, no everything's fine," Emma said with a forced neutral expression. "I met your coworker. Gary Barnes." Emma hoped maybe that would be enough to confirm whether he forgot or just didn't know.
"Gary—oh." At this moment, he knew. He fucked up.
"Yeah, great guy. Really sweet. Ended up beaning him in the head three times with a broom in the middle of a grocery store," Emma informed him, annoyed.
"You beat him with a broom?" Chris asked, amused, as he put his bag down by the kitchen counter. "Well, he wasn't doing his job very well if he got close enough for you to hit him."
"That's not funny. I thought someone was trying to kidnap us," Emma snapped.
"Right, sorry," Chris replied with more humility.
"You knew?" she asked as what Chris said registered.
He winced at that. He knew that tone, Emma was ready to throw down and fight with him. "Hey Rose?" he said, looking at the toddler still clinging to him.
"Hmm?" she replied, looking up at him in confusion.
"Can you go play in your room for a bit?" Chris asked and she nodded in response.
"Otay," she said as she let go and wandered off.
Once he was sure she was out of earshot, he spoke again. "Look, part of surveillance is that you're not supposed to know they're there. I figured if I told you, it would freak you out more."
"I'm kind of freaking out now," she replied, still frustrated, as she crossed her arms to hold herself. "Why are we on surveillance?"
"It's just when I'm gone," Chris offered, trying to appease her, but it didn't work.
"That's not better," Emma pointed out. "Why didn't you tell me if you knew?"
"I had to do something. Part of the reason I was allowed to keep her was because I would be watching her. If I'm gone, someone else from the BSAA has to monitor her. Those are the rules. I didn't make them," Chris replied with a vague gesture before allowing his hand to fall to his side with a slight pat on his leg. "I thought this would be the less disruptive option."
Emma shifted to hold her face with one hand while resting her other on her hip. She thought about it for a second before walking over and poking a knuckle against his ribs. "That's not an apology."
"I said I was sorry," Chris protested, surprised.
"You said you were sorry about laughing, not for hiding this from me." She left her knuckle in place. "There are things you can't tell me, and I get that, but that should not have been one of them. It directly involved me."
He paused at that and nodded. "All right," he moved to hold her and gave her a peck on the forehead. "I'm sorry,"
"For?" she pressed, still irritated.
"I'm sorry I didn't communicate properly about what was going to be required for us to keep Rose, and that the surveillance thing ended up freaking you out." He held back any extra remarks of 'I was doing what I had to' or 'I just wanted to make sure you were safe.' Even if it was true, it was better to keep the peace.
Emma's frown lessened slightly, and she gave him a peck in return as she removed the knuckle from his side. She was still mad at him, but she'd accept the apology and move on.
So, you're... what? The live-in nanny or…?
It was certainly starting to feel like she was... Emma shook off the thought and went back to the pan she was working with before. "Rose's birthday is coming up," she said, figuring she could use this time to bring that up since the child was upstairs and out of hearing range.
"Right. that's in a few days. Monday, right?" Chris sat at the kitchen island and looked at the little metal hut that hadn't been used in some time. It was still a nice decoration, at least.
"Yep," Emma said while focusing on her cooking.
"We'll have to see what we can do about getting her some gifts over the weekend."
Emma smiled at that. We. That sounded nice. "I was thinking it might be nice to invite Chelsea and the girls over,"
"Absolutely not," Chris said with a frown.
"Chris," Emma said, annoyed at how quickly he'd shut that down.
"We've gone over this," he said with a weary expression. Why did this keep coming up?
"And you're not listening to me," she pointed out in return. "Kids need to socialize. It's how they develop; you're worried about her not being able to integrate into society but you won't let her live in it."
"She's a Bioweapon," he started once more, but Emma cut him off.
"She is a CHILD," Emma corrected as she vented her frustration. "You are being so stubborn about this." Did he really not get that he wasn't isolating Rose by acting like this?
"Because I have to be."
"You don't though!" Emma countered. "YOU are doing this. You're the one making these extra rules that she can't be around people unless you approve it. The BSAA just wants to make sure someone is watching, not that she's isolated. It's horrible!" Her voice rose. Her patience with this argument was very well spent after so many months of being forced to isolate as well. Just when she thought things were going to go back to normal... "I will not be forced to be the Madame Tremaine of this Cinderella story because you can't figure out how to handle this!"
"What exactly are we supposed to tell people? She ages too quickly for anyone to not notice," Chris said, annoyed at how combative Emma was being. He was already in a crap mood after how his mission went.
"They're going to notice anyway," Emma said, annoyed. God, that whole apology before was just lip service wasn't it! He didn't care that he wasn't communicating with her about this. "The neighbors are already watching. Do you think they're just going to turn a blind eye and not ask questions?" Emma pointed out.
"Then I guess we'll just have to move somewhere else," he said in return as a quick off-the-cuff solution.
"Seriously?" Emma exclaimed, further frustrated by this. "Why are you digging your heels in on this? I'm just saying she should be allowed to have friends. To meet people and build up social skills, so she knows how to control whatever powers she gets when she's inevitably alone. We're not always going to be able to protect her."
"This isn't up for debate. I said no. She's not your responsibility," he said and regretted the words had passed his lips when he noticed her hurt expression.
Emma shook her head and rolled her jaw before turning on her heels to go back to her pan again. She really was just the nanny. "Fine." It wasn't.
Chris plunked down with a tired sigh. He didn't even realize he had stood back up. Real smooth. "What's for dinner? It smells good." He tried to change the subject to anything else.
It was not the best subject to pick. Emma already felt like the 'nanny' and that just added to it. She quietly moved to get a plate from the table and put enough on there for Rose and herself to share before taking the pan to the trash and dumping the rest. "Whatever you end up making for yourself," she said as she put the pan down on the stove and turned it off. She picked up the plate of food along with a fork and spoon before walking up to Rose's room. They could eat up there.
Chris rested his elbows on the table while holding his face. Well, this was a fine mess he'd made for himself... It took him a few minutes, but he eventually got up and started cleaning up around the house. Washing the dishes from whatever meal he didn't get to eat and putting them away before getting a protein bar from the cabinets and eating that.
He kept waiting for Emma to come back downstairs and she never did. He looked over to the small worry hut and dug around the cabinets. When did they run out of paper for this thing? He settled for ripping off a portion of a sticky note and writing on that, placing the note in the house before lighting it on fire.
I REALLY messed up this time...
He watched the flames burn away the message. He said he wanted to be better, but that was difficult. He was still making mistakes... He didn't know what he was doing. He knew how to deal with Bioweapons. She understood how to raise kids. But what did they do when this kid was both? This wasn't like watching Summer for a weekend. If the wrong people found out about Rose, they weren't just going to lovingly move Emma out of the way to get to her. They would kill her.
Once the flames died out, he went upstairs and got ready for bed, laying down with a book to wait there instead. She'd eventually have to join him.
Emma put Rose to bed and gave the child a peck on the head. "Good night," she said as she got up and walked over to the dresser where she'd left the plate and silverware.
"Ni'night," Rose replied as she snuggled into her bed.
Emma turned off the light, walked out, and took a breath as she headed downstairs. Oh, thank God, he wasn't down there. She walked over to the kitchen to start collecting the dishes she left only to find that they were gone. Confused, she looked around. Even the dishwasher was emptied. She put the dirty dishes into the washer and shook her head. Why did she smell smoke? She looked around to find fresh ashes under the little worry hut on the counter. Serves him right...
A tired sigh escaped her as she walked over and looked through the drawers for paper and found half a sticky note. She looked at it and put it back. She wasn't okay with just burning this one away and pretending it wasn't a problem. With the paper abandoned she headed upstairs to find that she wasn't able to completely avoid him as Chris was reading a book while lying on his side of the bed.
Say something. Ask to talk, he thought, though he remained mute as she gave him half a glance before heading over to her closet to gather her clothes and a pillow from the bed and heading for the door.
"Are you going somewhere?" he asked, confused.
"I thought socializing was not allowed, Alpha," she said, spite evident in the way she used his nickname before walking out and closing the door behind her.
That went well, he thought as he closed his book and gave himself a moment. How was he going to fix this? It took a minute, but he eventually got out of bed and went to go and check on her. As he made his way into the living room, he found her lying on the couch under a few throw blankets.
"What are you doing?" he asked to let her know he was there.
Emma picked up her head to see him better. "I'm trying to sleep," she replied before making a shooing gesture with her hand. "Shoo."
"Really?" He tried to push down his annoyance at her attitude.
"Yep. You made your point loud and clear. We're not equals, and I don't get a say," she replied. "I'm not going to tell you where to sleep but I can still pick where I do." She laid back down and rolled over to face the back of the couch.
Chris pinched the bridge of his nose, "That's not what I meant."
Seriously? Emma shifted to sit up and looked over her shoulder to glare at him with a clear, silent message of 'yes, it is and you know it,' before moving to lay down again.
A tired sigh escaped him. He really messed this up. He walked over to the pile of throw blankets and grabbed a few to lay on the floor next to the couch, then settled in.
Good lord, just leave me alone. She rolled back over to find Chris laying on the ground next to the couch. "What are you doing," she asked irritated.
"Sleeping," he answered.
"Chris, you don't have to sleep on the floor just because I'm mad at you. Go to bed," she said as her irritation lessened and was left with just… weariness.
"Can we talk about this?"
Oh, now he wants to talk? "I thought it wasn't up for debate," she quietly replied while fighting with herself. Talking was what she wanted. To be heard. So, why was she acting like this?
She really wasn't going to budge an inch. He covered his eyes with one hand as he spoke. "Look, I get it. I messed up. I said some really stupid shit," he admitted, hoping maybe she was listening. "I just… I don't know how to do this and protect you," he said hesitantly, speaking the words he couldn't bring himself to before. "I get that she's a kid, but she is a Bioweapon too, and one that people are willing to go great lengths to get their hands on." He tried to put together his thoughts from before, to show he had listened, but explain his own concerns too. They both needed to listen. "I can't leave you to be the only person standing in the way. They're not going to care that you're a civilian. They'll kill you." The agent paused for a moment. "I don't know where the balance is, and it's hard to want to test that even slightly when one misstep could mean I'll lose everything."
He waited and heard no reply except a slight shuffling next to him before he felt a light weight on his chest. He allowed himself to check and found that Emma had moved to lay on the floor next to him and rest her head on him.
"Can we at least try to trust the people we already know?" she asked in return. "I can't keep avoiding them. We've been here for three months now. I knew the risk even when I told you to bring her home. And I was okay with that so long as we were doing this together..." Emma said quietly. "Chel has been asking to see the house and I keep having to turn down seeing the girls. Bastion wanted to stop by too. I haven't been able to tell my family anything. I keep avoiding the neighbors because I don't know what to say to them about Rose because we haven't agreed on what to say if anyone asks about her. You're not just isolating her. You still have Hound Wolf... I can't do this alone..."
He listened this time and took the time to hear her.
Emma took a breath and shifted to get comfortable. Well, as comfortable as possible on the floor. "You want to protect us, and that's okay, but right now you're kind of strangling both of us, not shielding us. We want her to be a person, right?"
"Right," he agreed.
"People have the chance to do what we're doing. Talking, learning, messing up, and growing. It's so important," Emma said.
Chris nodded. "We can't just let her loose in public when we don't know what her powers are, though. It's not just about protecting her..." Chris said quietly, not upset, just wanting to be heard.
"If she even ends up having any," Emma pointed out.
Again, he nodded. "We can call Chelsea and Jack in the morning. If they're okay with letting the girls be around Rose. when they know the risk. Then maybe it's okay if they stop by and meet Rose."
Emma smiled. "That seems fair to me."
Chris shifted to hold her closer to him so he could kiss her, which she returned. "Emma," he said quietly.
"Hm?" she replied, now exhausted from being upset for so long.
"I am sorry about what I said..." he said with more humility than his initial frustrated confession.
She gave him another quick peck in return to accepted the apology. The two continued their gentle, loving exchange as soft steps could be heard. They laughed as Duke flopped over to lay across them both and join their cuddle pile of blankets on the floor.
The crossover has officially begun~ and with that so does the hunt for Heisenberg =v= who will find who first. I'm not sure what will happen first at this rate, Capcom releasing any form of detail about the DLC or Me writing 16 more chapters. Place your bets XD
Also X'D because it's probably not the clearest cameo, Gary is my attempt at adding that guy from the end scene when teen Rose was visiting Ethan's grave. He doesn't have a canon name [yet] so I've decided to name him Gary.
Review Responses:
starrat - always happy to hear it ^v^ next one should be a cute one
xLunaxNightingalexDuskx - Rose is a beast X'D the power of cuteness can end even the strongest of enemies lolol
