This is always a fun time to write when we enter the holiday season X'D I said I wanted this to not just be a court case chapter and I think I managed to get this to be a funny chapter. This one is another beefy boi. This is what was left. After cutting stuff out. forgive me. ovq
Song Suggestion: Lion by Hearts & Colors
Disclaimer: I own nothing~ Capcom owns Resident Evil I am a mere meager fanfiction writer vnv
November brought with it colder weather and shorter days. Chris had finally received news regarding the trial of the likely suspect for the break-in. So, naturally, when Emma's morning alarm went off for the day of the hearing on the 1st of November he was wide awake and got up with her to start his daily routine.
"You're fidgeting," Emma points out with a yawn as she watches him mess with the buttons of his dress blues.
"Well, I'm anxious so that tracks," he admits but stops messing with the buttons since she pointed it out. "This is a pretty big case." If the court was able to push them enough to agree to a plea deal then maybe they could figure out how Heisenberg was revived, monitor for future threats of a similar nature, and maybe even save Ethan... It would be hard giving Rose back at this point. As much as he didn't like admitting it he was growing fond of the tiny tot. Superpower mayhem and all.
Emma makes her way over and fixes his tie. "You'll do great, just tell the truth and the courts will do what's right," she offers to try and put him at ease.
Chris nods and gives her a peck on the forehead in return causing her to chuckle.
"Now, if you need a distraction from the jitters, Since we're inviting My parents over for the holiday, do you think we should invite Claire? It would be good to see her again." Emma offered with a gentle smile.
the agent thinks it over before nodding. "yeah, That sounds good." He agrees with an appreciative smile. "I'll call her when I get back."
"You might be in a bad mood if you wait," Emma points out as she heads for the door of their room. "I'll be back in a few minutes so you can head out, I just need to take care of Duke really quickly, then I'll be good to hold down the fort."
"Yeah, thanks for taking the day off," He says as he watches her walk to the door.
"Not a problem, why would I complain about a 3 day weekend," Emma says with a laugh. "Make sure you eat something okay?" she adds as a reminder before heading downstairs. Luckily Rose was still fast asleep and probably would be for another thirty or forty minutes. "Hey there Duke, ready for your walk?"
Duke perks up upon hearing the favorite word and flies off the couch to go to the front door where his leash was hanging on a wall hook. The woman walks over and puts her shoes and jacket on before hooking Duke to his leash. "There we go," she says and the two head out for a quick jog through the neighborhood.
It seemed like it was going to be the same routine like any other day until shouting got her attention and caused her to pause. before she could react a very naked man covering his gems with a pair of bunched-up boxers in his hand sprinted past her causing her confusion to compound. Emma tried looking around to figure out what was going on. Karen was arguing with her husband at the door of her home as the naked man hurried into a car on the other side of the street and drove away.
"Oh gosh," Emma quickly started heading home after this and quickly closes the door behind her to lock it.
"You're back early," Chris points out as he walks over. Not that it was a problem, he needed to head out anyways.
"Yeah, yeah. Um, I think I just saw more of a priest than I ever wanted to," She says while trying to mentally purge that image from her mind.
"What?" Chris asks confused.
"Um. Well. I think a naked priest just ran out of Karen's home. she's arguing with her husband so. safe to say I think he found out." Emma explains what she saw which causes Chris's shoulders to drop. of all the rotten timing.
"Oh no. do I need to go break up a fight?" Chris asks more concerned that someone might get physically hurt. it would suck if his uniform got messed up but hey that's why you just leave the jacket inside.
"No, no they were just shouting last I saw but I didn't exactly want to gawk." She replies while holding the side of her head.
"Okay well, thanks for the heads up, If it gets bad call the police okay?" He says and Emma nods.
"I'll keep the door locked," She confirms before attempting to smile. "Have a good day, good luck at the trial, you got this." She says as a last-minute peep talk.
a short chuckle escapes him. "Thanks... Oh, and that's a confirmed plus one for dinner. Claire's going to be showing up. Apparently, she's on the rocks again with Leon and could use the space."
Emma nods, "It will be good to have her with us." she confirms before giving him a peck on the cheek. "Now go before you're late."
"Alright," he says with a bit of a smile before moving to leave the house. Sure enough, shouting could be heard from a few houses down the road as the Culdesac had full view of the unfortunate display. Karen had been locked out of the house and was now pounding on the door screaming that it's not fair, he can't do this, she has rights. You name it. Meanwhile, objects and clothing were currently being thrown out the second-story window and onto the lawn.
One of the other neighbors were standing on the porch, watching while sipping at their coffee before making a small cheers motion to Chris who awkwardly waves back before heading on his way.
Rather than head to the BSAA headquarters he starts making his way to the Courthouse where the hearing was taking place. He patiently waits alongside a few others as the Attorneys did their jobs and the preliminary evidence was provided to the judge to confirm that a crime had in fact been committed and there was reason to believe that they found who did it.
"You're honor, on the night of April 6th, two individuals were caught trespassing. The area in question was off-limits and under the BSAA's protection due to hazardous materials." The BSAA lawyer starts. "We have evidence of the trespassing. one of an unidentified individual walking in and one with the same unidentified individual leaving the area with a secondary person of interest know as Karl Heisenberg, A known Bioweapon who had proven hostile and dangerous in the past during the Romanian outbreak incident know on record as The Village." the lawyer explains before continuing. "We believe the unidentified individual is one miss Charlotte Wiltse from the state of New York. We were able to confirm that she does own the same make and model of vehicle that was used to leave the area with mister Heisenberg. Furthermore, we confirm that Mr. Heisenberg has been living with her for some time after the incident." They say while flipping through slides that show the visual evidence as it is mentioned. "We further believe there is a reasonable motive for her to be the culprit due to the fact that the defendant was involved in The Village incident and resisted assistance from the BSAA. She would be aware of the Mold that was present at the Louisianna location, she'd be aware of Mister Heisenberg's existence. As such we are moving forward with accusations of Trespassing for the sake of unauthorized access of otherwise Illegal hazardous materials and public endangerment along with human trafficking."
The judge nods, "Would the plaintiff like to include anything else before the defense speaks and we move on to gathering testimonies?"
"That's all your honor," The judge nods, and the BSAA Attorney moves to take their seat again.
"Your Honor my Client has insisted that they are not guilty of the charges. Furthermore after seeing the evidence provided so far these accusations are based on conjecture and are circumstantial." The defense attorney says. "Should the testimonies fail to provide any form of substantial evidence I would urge for the case to be dismissed."
"There is enough to reasonably believe that a crime was committed and probable cause that the defendant could be involved. We'll continue with the testimonies." The judge replies before looking to the BSAA Attorney "Who are you calling as your first witness."
"While the evidence may be considered circumstantial if it was one or two pieces with no motive. We have more than enough reason to believe that the defense is in fact the culprit once you consider that she not only has a reasonable motive but she matches the Height of the culprit and has the same model of car," the attorney reminds. "As such, we'd like to ask Mr. Heisenberg to testify first since he was undeniably on the scene of the crime."
Chris watches as the man is led up to the stand and sworn in.
"State your name for the record," the judge requests.
"Karl Heisenberg," He says with a rather thick Romanian accent.
"What were you doing on the night of the incident?" The BSAA attorney asks.
"Can't say, I don't remember," He replies with a shrug.
"Can you clarify what you mean by that?" the Attorney requests.
"Not much more to explain. I don't know what happened after the Village incident," Karl admits as he relaxes in the chair. "The last thing I remember is dying in Romania. Then out of nowhere, I woke up on the side of a large road. Took a while but I found out that somehow I was actually in America."
"Do you remember where you woke up?" the attorney asks.
"I spent the more of my life undocumented in a village in Europe with no contact to the outside world. You think I know anything about American Geography?" Heisenberg points out. "Couldn't tell ya where I was but I knew where I needed to be and started hitchhiking to New York," The metal lord explained. "See you did get one thing right, Charlotte and I do know each other because of the Village. She showed up two years before the place got blown to pieces by the bolder punching asshole over there," Karl admits while making a vague gesture to the area where Chris was sitting. "We had plenty of time to 'bond over shared trama' or whatever you want to call it. Hell, she's the reason I even know English. During that time she mentioned she was from New York. Since I was alive I hoped maybe she was too and went to try and find her. She caught wind that I was looking for her and picked me up." Heisenberg explains while leaning back in his chair "so ask me as many times in as many ways as you want. but I can't say that the person in that photo is me. because I woke up on the side of a road, not in a swamp."
The attorney frowns but nods, "No further questions for the time being," He says before continuing. "We'd like to call Charlotte Wiltse to the stand."
Charlotte does as she is told and trades places with Heisenberg. she's sworn in and the same process continues. she states her name before the attorney speaks again.
"Where were you the night of April 6th," the attorney asks.
"I was at home resting," Charlotte replies.
"And for the sake of the record can you clarify where that is?" the attorney requests.
"I was at my home in new york," She replies before providing the exact address.
"And can you confirm that?" The attorney requests.
"If you'd like I can provide my bank statements?" Charlotte suggests. "As I said, I was resting. After two years of being in that village, I wanted some time to myself. I wasn't exactly interested in posting selfies or spending time with others."
"Can you confirm the statements made by Mister Heisenberg?" The attorney asks.
"I can to an extent. I found out he was looking for me and went to go get him," Charlotte confirms before speaking further. "I'm afraid I can't confirm if he died in Romania or not. I was held against my will by the BSAA at that time. Once I was left alone I ran for it and spent the next month with a friend before getting my papers back in order and heading back to America alone."
The attorney nods though they seem a bit frustrated. "who was this friend of yours and can they confirm the story."
"That would be me," says a voice from the back of the courtroom. A rather large rotund man in a messy suit raises a hand to confirm he was the one speaking.
"Can you confirm this is the person you were talking about?" the attorney asks.
"That is them," Charlotte confirms.
"Sir would you mind taking the stand to testify?" the Attorney requests.
"Oh, I'd be happy to help," the large man replies, "though I'm afraid moving is quite difficult for me. I'd need to speak from here,"
The attorney looks to the judge who does end up nodding "I'll allow it."
the man is sworn in and once more the usual request is made.
"State your name for the records," the attorney requests.
"I prefer to go by the name Duke on the record. I'm a businessman of many regards and a bit of an artist if I may say so myself," Duke says with a laugh. sure enough, it was in fact the merchantman from the village, while still as round as ever he looked as though he had been scaled down to fit the size of the room more properly.
What on earth was he doing here, and how did he find out about the trial... Chris stared with some level of confusion and concern but listened as the man spoke.
"I do recall the Village Incident as your calling it quite well. I was packing up to leave the area when I found Miss Wiltse in the woods with her arms tied up with zip ties. It seemed like a crime to leave her like that so I cut her free and gave her a ride to safety. After that, I continued to allow her to stay with me. I housed her for a month and gave her a few odds and end jobs to help her recover enough to leave the country and go home. That can be confirmed by the Receipt I gave her for an art piece as a parting gift. The assemblage of life. I figured the receipt would help her get through customs. and if it was broken she'd be able to make a claim."
"I'll admit I was rather surprised to hear that she ran into such trouble. As I recall, Charlotte spent the more of her time there working to improve the quality of living for the villagers. After having enough reason to believe she was a safe person to trust, I worked with Charlotte regarding how to get her into contact with someone that might be able to help."
"So you can confirm that Miss Wiltse is in fact the person that sent in the tip and therefore would have reason to know of the existence of the BSAA and to that extent could know about other areas under BSAA jurisdiction?" the attorney asks hoping he may have found something useful in all of this.
"Well I wouldn't know about that, I was the one that suggested the BSAA. That I'm aware, Charlotte didn't know about their existence until then. So it's unlikely she knows about any sort of secret area in America that was off-limits unless someone else told her about it. Even then she would have only had what, two weeks to plan the break-in of a guarded base she'd never seen before? If the plaintiff believes that's possible that it speaks poorly of their defensive capabilities."
"Well," the attorney says with a forced smile "Luckily we have reason to believe she could have known about this well before. thank you for your time." The attorney adds before looking to the judge. "We'd like to now call a Mister Christopher Redfield to the stand."
Chris gets up and makes his way over, goes through the usual process.
"State your name for the record," The Judge requests.
"Christopher Redfield," He replies.
"And your statement on the matter?" The judge adds.
"On January 18th, My team first came in contact with Charlotte." Chris explains, "During this time it's possible that she could have overheard my team mention it since she did help from time to time. The Mold in the village was related to the Louisianna case so it was mentioned quite a few times." He adds before continuing to speak. "While initially, she had been an asset until I rejected the idea of working with her and Heisenberg to fight Miranda using a large army of lesser Bioweapons. It's my job to remove threats of that kind not work with them." Chris points out. "she could have known about the Louisianna location months in advance of the break-in and she spent 2 years in an extremely hostile situation which is more than enough to suggest she could craft a way to get into the base if she was determined enough." The agent insists before moving on to prove his point. "While She is insisting she can't confirm that Heisenberg died, I can. I received a call that he was killed. The two of them have Mutually confirmed that they grew attached during their time in the village. If she is lying and she did know about the mold. this 'relation' would be room for motive. The whole village incident revolved around Miranda trying to bring back a child from the dead. Charlotte spent two years with this woman and working with her. if she knew how to bring him back, that relation is more than enough motive to find a new source of mold."
"There you have it, Full circle. Motive, cause, source of knowledge. and two rather blatant visual indicators that support that she is in fact the unidentified individual in the photos." the BSAA Attorney says before the defense attorney speaks up.
"The defense would like to call the Client back to the stand for her statement on this matter. a lot of this is conjecture on If she might know something. We should have her say on the matter of her own knowledge." the defense points out.
"Very well. Miss Wiltse, can you please return to the stand once more." the judge requests, and the two trade places.
"The witness is accusing that you overheard the location of this second mold site from their team. Is this statement accurate," the defense attorney asks.
"I don't recall hearing anything of the sort. I'm more than willing to comply with the court process though, and I can provide my phone and computer browsing history to confirm I would have no other way of knowing about this." Charlotte says calmly.
"The witness has further stated that you worked with them but turned on them after some time?" The defense attorney asks to continue the record.
"his slander is biased at best. I can confirm we first met on the 18th of January. Shortly after he and his team left the area without assisting the hostages I mentioned in my tip. He did not return until the 9th of February when the hostages were all dead with the exception of myself and Heisenberg. So the window he's suggesting I may have heard him and his team is much smaller than he'd have you believe." Charlotte clarifies which causes Chris to frown. "Even after I had to watch the entire village worth of people that I was trying to protect die needlessly, I continued to help him to the point of risking my own life to drag him out of a lake. in the middle of winter." She says with a sneer while rather clearly feeling ire towards Chris's behavior.
"And did you turn on him as he suggested?" the defense asks out of obligation to the record, knowing if he didn't the prosecutor would.
"I told him a piece of equipment was a metal-polymer though he seems to blame me for his own lack of understanding that a metal-polymer, by definition has metal in it," Charlotte says pointedly.
"you said it was reinforced plastic," Chris counters.
"I said it was a metal-polymer first and you asked if it was metal even though I already said it was a polymer. so said it was reinforced plastic to explain it. a polymer of plastic and metal. is reinforced plastic. It still has metal in it." just going off her tone this was far more annoying to her than the whole of the trial.
"Order in the court" The judge demands and repeatedly hits his gavel against its block. he looks to the recorder next "strike that last outburst between the two."
"You're honor, that this tangent regarding the village incident is not consequential to the case aside from confirming that Miss Wiltse does know Mr. Heisenberg. It confirms his story that the two had significant time to bond during the traumatic experience. The Hearing is regarding a break-in at Louisianna and is not regarding her connection to the village or what else happened there. This does not give any further credence to the idea she was there. She was home and has offered a significant amount of data to prove her claims. I would move to have the hearing closed unless the prosecution has any further evidence to provide."
"Does the Prosecution have any further evidence they wish to submit?" The judge asks.
"... None at this time your honor," the admit before sitting back down.
"Very well," The judge replies. "At this time I see no reason why the case should not be continued. The data Miss Wiltse has offered will be collected and provided to each of the attorneys and this case will continue to the next stage. The defense will be granted one week to submit a plea deal or agree to a bench trial due to the sensitive/classified information the case revolves around, should the defendant insist on being not guilty."
'*'*'*'*'
3 days pass since then and to say Chris was cranky would be, a slight understatement. From what he'd overheard, the defense attorney didn't even try to contact the BSAA legal team for a plea deal. Cocky sons of Bi-
"Chris?" Emma says to get his attention.
"hm?" Chris looks up from the book he was blankly staring at instead of actually reading.
"You didn't hear a word of what I said did you..." Emma says trying to force a frown. She knew he was worried and trying to hide it but he was doing a pretty bad job of it. that or she just had gotten to where she knew his tells well enough at this point.
"Sorry, just busy reading," He says as he put the book down.
the same page for the last 20 minutes. sure. "I was saying that Chel called earlier today, her family isn't doing anything for the holidays so she was inviting us over for thanksgiving."
"oh," Chris replies a bit confused. "It's a kind offer?" he says a bit confused.
"Yeah except we already have your sister coming and my parents visiting," Charlotte says and Chris nods.
Okay good, she didn't forget that. "True."
"I was thinking we could just reverse the invitation and invite Chel, Jack, and the girls over for thanksgiving instead?" Emma suggests as she moves to take a seat next to him on the couch. "It would be nice for Rose to get to see the girls again."
"Rose has been doing pretty well with her training..." Chris agrees while thinking it over. after a moment he nods. "alright as long as Rose keeps making progress for the month I don't see a problem with that. Just make sure that they understand that we might have to call it off if things go south."
Emma Shifts to quickly Give Chris a Kiss before getting up. "You're the best, I'll ask them to bring a side dish or two."
Chris smiles a bit at that and watches her walk off with an excited pep in her step. It would be good to let Emma see her friends as well...
With that thought, he picked his book back up and went to put it away on the shelf. With how much worrying he'd been doing it would be important for him to settle down a bit early or he'd risk triggering another night terror.
"Hey Emma," he Calls into the other room.
"Yeah," she calls back.
"I'm calling it a night," he says as he starts heading over to the stairs.
"kay, I'll join you in a bit," she replies.
Chris heads upstairs and over to their shared room to settle in for the night where he managed to drift off into a dreamless sleep.
His alarm welcomed Morning's arrival. He rather quickly turned off the alarm while he continued to lay in bed. Another Friday meant another weekend and a few days closer to the day that Emma's parents would be in town. The flights were a bit crazy to manage. While Claire wanted to arrive and leave a bit sooner, Emma's parents were looking to avoid the 'holiday tax' on flights So they'd be staying a few days before and leaving a few days after. Luckily they had a good amount of spare furniture in the basement from the apartments that they didn't get ride of which included a spare queen bed set so they'd be well equipped to have the two stay. It just made him a bit antsier. They'd be pretty solidly observing him before he asked for permission and if they said no there was a good chance they'd go straight to Emma and tell her he even brought the subject up in the first place.
"two more weeks," he says under his breath.
"What was that?" Emma asks while getting dressed.
shit that was out loud. quick. play dumb. "Hm?" He replies with a confused tone.
"huh... Sorry thought I heard you say something," Emma replies equally confused but goes with it. "Do you have Drills with the Wolf Pack today?"
"Yep, usually do at the end of the day," he replies as he shifts to get up.
"Well... I was doing a bit of thinking," Emma admits before shifting to face Chris. "You're going to be a bit outnumbered at the table, I'll have my parents and Chel's family and you'd just have your sister." She points out, "Did you want to check with the rest of Hound Wolf and invite them if they don't already have plans?" Emma offers before continuing to speak. "If they can make it that just means we'd be extra prepared if anything happens with Rose."
"Not a bad point," he admits, this would be Rose's first meeting with Emma's parents and the first time meeting Claire, and the first time seeing Chelsea's kids after her outburst. that's a lot of firsts in one day. being a little extra prepared wouldn't hurt. And it had been a while since he spent time with the squad away from the office... He smiles a bit as he thought about the offer. "Actually, Yeah. I think I'd like that. Thank you," he admits as he moves to get up and walk over to Emma to give her a quick kiss. "I'll talk to them during drills and let you know what they say.
"Sounds like a plan Stan," She says with a playful smile as Chris wraps his arms around her.
"Now who the hell is Stan and am I going to have to have a word with him?" Chris jokingly asks
"Chris," Emma says with an amused chuckle before getting another peck.
"There's my name," He says continuing his joke... Wait, that didn't count as a dad joke right? ... Nah he was overthinking it.
"You are ridiculous sometimes you know that?" Emma says while still clearly amused. She gives him a quick kiss in return before moving to leave. "Alright well, I need to get started for the day, in case we don't get to talk before you and rose head out, Have a good day at work," She says while heading over to the door.
"Thanks," He replies and gets ready for work. The day bag was packed, the family was fed and the 3 all left for the day.
Another morning of sifting through Emails went by uneventfully, with lunch in the afternoon before making his way to the gym for drills.
Oddly enough he was the first one there for once and slowly, one by one each member made their way into the gym.
Canine was the last one to enter the gym causing him to look around confused before looking at the clock on the wall. "Did I get the wrong time? Alpha never gets here before me."
"First time for everything," Chris replies with a short chuckle "you can figure out how to move faster when you're doing laps later."
"Great..."Canine says with a tired sigh.
"Hound Wolf Squad line up," Chris shouts.
"Sir Yes Sir," the squad replies in unison before doing as they were told.
"We're on a holding pattern for the next two months because of the trial no missions for the foreseeable future while that's getting squared away," Chris explains and while the group doesn't react since they were information a slight smile could be seen on their faces. no missions for 2 months meant they would actually be home for the holidays, guaranteed. "Don't get too excited that could change pretty quickly. they want us on hold in case they draw out the court case. they haven't set an official date yet."
"They're sure taking their sweet time on that," Lobo points out with a frown.
"They're kinda weird. they're not even taking the bail option..." Night Howl points out. "They're still on site."
"Yeah well, we already knew they were a couple of nut cases. I wouldn't be surprised if they're just trying to get used to prison life ahead of time," Chris says shaking his head. He'd be lying if he said he didn't think it was suspicious too but after looking into it to see if anything fishy was on the record he found nothing. From what he understood they were being 'model citizens'.
"Until we're deployed again we're going to need to stay ready. At the minimum, we now know it's possible to revive the lords from the village. there's no telling who else knows this and who else will try the same thing,"
"God I wish necromancy would just stay in science fiction," Lobo says under his breath causing the others to chuckle.
"Don't we all," Chris replies with a nod. "Now for the drills here's today's schedule," he says and starts listing off different exercises for each person.
One hour passed then two and by the third hour, it was time to call it a day.
"Friday!" Cheered Canine while stretching after finishing his last set.
"Hey, Before everyone heads out, Round up real quick," Chris requests and sure enough everyone does so, recognizing the more casual gathering call for what it was.
"Sup boss?" "Yeah, what's up?" "you okay?" "oh boy, who broke something,"
"Nothing serious, Just passing on a message is all," Chris says. "Emma wanted me to check and see if you guys had plans for the holidays and offer to let you join us if you don't."
"She wants to try and feed hound wolf on her own this time? brave lady." Night Howl says jokingly. "Yeah if you guys don't mind, I'd take that offer."
"Same actually, maybe we can play a few rounds of poker after, it's been way too long," Lobo suggests with a laughing smile.
"Just make sure you behave. Her parents are going to be flying in too." he requests while he noted the beginning of a headache already.
"Oh shit, no kidding? and she's okay with us being there too?" Tundra asks a bit surprised.
Chris shrugs "she suggested it so yeah I don't think she minds."
"Well if it's a chance to embarrass you in front of her folks count me in," Canine says with a laughing smile.
"Please don't, I'm trying to get permission to marry her during all this, I need them to like me," He says with a tired frown, if they kept this up he was retracting the offer.
"Yoo," "Took you long enough," "No way," "About time,"
"Congrats, any big plans so far or still working on that?" Umber eye asks with an amused smile.
"I dunno, I was just thinking we'd talk it out? Go over the pros and cons of it all and see if that's what's right for us," Chris admits with a shrug.
"uhuh... yeah that would go great with some PowerPoint slides." Night howl says while trying to keep a straight face.
"and if you look here at this graph" Canine adds while openly laughing.
"I can not let you do this to yourself. I mean sure. Talk about it before asking and stuff but don't make that the proposal. You're smarter than this," Lobo says with an expression halfway between mortified and absolutely about to die of laughter.
"You know I'd have your back any second of the day but... I kinda have to agree with them." Umber Eye hesitantly admits.
"What? I mean it's just kinda, how we do things. It's what we did when it came to talking about moving in together. Other than that we just kinda. Exist. So I figured actually talking about this would be a good change of pace," Chris explains with a frown.
"Bless that woman and her patience," Tundra says with a tired sigh. "Puts up with BSAA bullshit for what, 4 years now and you think a bullet point conversation is a proposal for the love of all that is holy I hope she dumps your ass if you do that."
"Well that's harsh," Chris says as he looks over to Tundra. "and it's 3 years in December."
"As the Female representative of the council, No it's not, and 3 years of dating does not mean 3 years of BSAA nonsense cause she knew you longer than that," Tundra readily countered. "Allow me to remind you, the first thing anyone is going to ask when they find out she said yes will be 'how did he ask.' You will be judged. Harshly. "
"... Fuck." he replies quietly as he realizes she's kinda right.
"Look it doesn't have to be anything huge. If simple works for you guys that's what works, it's not really for us to say if you're doing this right or wrong. You know her best after all " Umber eye says with a shrug, "Just make sure it's a gesture and not an afterthought. Worked with my wife."
everyone paused and looked at Umber eye.
"Hold the fucking phone you're married?" Canine says shocked.
"I." Lobo paused as for once he seemed so stunned he didn't have anything smart to say. "H-No. you. WHen?"
Umber eye shrugs. "well before I met you guys. Two kids too."
"I cant. I just- I can't" Lobo moves to walk away.
"How did that never come up?" Night howl asks stunned "you come with us for all the events we've done. we used to do poker night regularly and you never mentioned this?"
"because I knew this," he makes a vague gesture to the group. "Would be what I got and I'm smart enough to keep my mouth shut. As for the meet-ups. I'd just ask and she'd be fine with it as long as it didn't conflict. rarely ever did."
"You think you know a guy after spending a year in a desert with him," Tundra says equally stunned.
A quiet sigh crossed his lips. The cat was out of the bag but at least he was able to help get some of the heat off Chris. "All that is to say, we have your back if you need it. but do what works for you Alpha." Umber eye says as he gives Chris a solid pat on the back, "And count me in for dinner. Someone needs to help wrangle in the squad."
"Thanks," Chris replies with a slight smile.
'*'*'*'*'
A little over a week had passed since then and it was now well into the evening of Sunday the 14th. 8 days left.
Chris sat on the living room couch and plucked at the strings of the guitar that he got back at that flea market while mentally puzzling over what to do about the conundrum that the squad pointed out. As much as he wished he could have stayed ignorant to it, Tundra had a point when she said that he'd probably end up being judged for however he went about this. Where was the balance of 'living up to social expectations' and 'staying genuine to how he'd actually express himself'.
"Hey Em," Chris says while Plucking at the guitar, "Did you hear from Bastion recently?" he asks the woman in the other room who was typing away at her computer.
"hmm, not recently. have you?" Emma asks in return.
"Yeah, earlier today," He admits before wincing at a sour note and moves to adjust the string. "He was asking about movie night, but you're folks are going to be in town for the usual week," Chris points out.
"Oh shoot." Emma says as if that caused her to only just realize the same problem. "well that stinks I really miss those guys."
"... 2 more couldn't hurt. We could just invite them for thanksgiving?" He suggests as he tests the string again and it sounds much better.
"Sure that sounds great, let me know what they say" Emma agrees with a smile "and maybe ask them to bring a bottle of wine or two to share."
"Can do," Chris agrees while going back to plucking a simple melody.
Rose made her way over to the couch and moved to sit next to him as he played the random medley of notes.
The agent tries to push back a smile as he notices the child start to sway slightly and kick her feet a little bit while listening quietly. " In a tree in the middle of the City there was a" he pauses and looks at Rose.
Rose was confused at first but eventually speaks up. "Monkey."
Chris openly smiled now and continued. "His name was" he paused once more and looked to Rose.
Rose paused for a while. did Monkeys usually have names? what kind of names did monkeys usually have? was this a trick question? "...Monkey"
Chris Chuckled while continuing to play the guitar and Rose chuckled with him. "And his job was to,"
"Swing in the tree," Rose answered without having to think too much this time since she was starting to get used to the game. At this point, Emma started making her way over as well.
"To Swing in the tree?" Chris asks a bit confused as Emma leans forward to rest her elbows on the back of the couch so she could watch the two.
" Yeah," Rose confirms with a nod while Chris continued to pluck at the guitar.
He nods at this before continuing. "One day there was a storm and the Monkey," he paused and looks over to Rose.
Storms okay she could do that. Monkey. outside. in a tree in a storm. inside is safe outside is bad. "... Is dead."
Emma's gentle smile quickly shifted to shock while Chris wheezed out a laugh. That took a turn, but he probably should have expected that since she was kind of afraid of storms. he thought maybe she'd go with something like the monkey was scared, or the monkey was excited. Not jump straight to death. Who taught her that?
"Are you sure?" Chris asks with a mixture of confusion and concern.
Rose thinks it over and nods while giggling. Of course, she was going to keep her answer, it made him laugh there for it was silly, and silly is good.
"Okay well it's time for this little monkey to go to bed," Emma says which causes Rose to grumble and whine complaints. "No buts, you have classes tomorrow remember?"
"I don wanna," Rose complains as her hair starts to fluff up.
Emma's eyes widen and she looked at Chris nervously. While she didn't blame Rose for what happen Her tantrums still made Emma nervous.
"Rose, If you throw a fit then it means you have to stay in classes longer. Keep it together," he says and the effort was rejected as Rose only grew more upset. "Fine, I guess Summer, Maurie and Annie can't come over," He says in a last-ditch effort to get her to behave without going to 'bioweapon' tactics. he really could not afford to replace all the windows in the living room again.
a quiet gasp was heard as the tantrum rather quickly stopped and the little girl's hair fell back into place. "Noo they can play." she counters.
"You need to behave and do what you're told then. It's time for bed," Chris says with a stern frown.
Rose Grumbles and gets off the couch. "bedtime story?" she asks while looking at Chris.
Normally Emma would take care of that but if she was about to have a fit then... "Alright," he agrees and puts the guitar down so he could get up and walk with her to her room.
Rose hurries over to the short bookshelf by her bed and looks over the collection of books and takes out the biggest one she could find and offers that to Chris.
Chris accepts the hardcover book and looks it over. It was pretty heavy and looked rather old. He waits for Rose to get into bed and makes sure she's covered before sitting down. "The village of Shadows," he reads the cover. That seemed a bit dark as far as the title for a kid's book but. it was in her room so. couldn't be that bad.
It was an illustrated book though so it was in his mind a kid's book. As he read and flipped through the pages it seems like a pretty standard, brother's grime sort of little red riding hood story.
"Then the Bat Lord appeared! He greeted her warmly and" Chris paused as he read the rest of the page. What the hell was this book? "offered her some berry juice to drink." bats ate fruit more than blood anyways... He continued reading the book and grew a bit more concerned with each page.
"Then a Dark Weaver appeared, and with a click of his fingers, crafted mist into a beautiful dress." Why was this feeling more and more familiar...
"Then the Fish King appeared and offered," again the story grew dark. Why was this in her room? "offered Her some fish crackers."
"Then an Iron Steed appeared, bearing a beautiful, golden gear." Images flashed through Chris's mind of the 4 insignias of the village lords. That's not possible.
"Suddenly, a witch appeared – dark, yet regal. 'Gifts we gave, but more you took,' she snarled" Chris read as the images of the insignias were replaced with Miranda and her various forms. While part of him was screaming at himself to stop reading, the remainder wanted to see this rabbit hole through to the end to confirm his fears or wash them away. "Her parents, though, had searched all day and, at last, arrived."
Chris pauses and reads the last few pages in silence...
But the Witch was strong and Father yelled, "Save our daughter!"
Watch over her, Teach her to be strong
So Mother bore their child to safety as the forest was consumed.
Goodbye Rosemary
Even now, the burnt forest is a grim reminder of Father's sacrifice.
The memory of the explosion that destroyed the forest plagued his mind.
"Kris?" Rose says which breaks his trance.
"And they all live happily ever after," Chris says before closing the book. "Get some sleep."
"Okay," she agrees and lays down. "gudnight" she says with a yawn.
"Good night," he says and gets up taking the book with him before turning off the light for Rose's room, closing the door, and heads to his study to lock up the book to make sure that it did not see the light of day again.
While Rose slept peacefully, Chris had another fit of Night Terrors.
'*'*'*'*'
Another Week, 3 days left, and finally, the court date was set. December 3rd
The frustrated agent pulled onto the road for the culdesac only to find a large moving truck outside of the house a few doors down. Well. can't say he didn't see that coming. Chris shakes his head at that thought before pulling the car into the garage and shutting it down so he could get out and help rose out of her seat as well.
The two make their way over to the door and open it to head inside. "We're home!" he calls.
"Welcome home!" Emma calls back.
He took in a deep breath and smiled. There was something comforting about coming back to a house that smelled like a freshly prepared meal that never got old. Chris took off his shoes and put them away and rose followed his lead before they made their way into the dining/kitchen area. "How was your day?" he asks while moving to take a seat at the Island counter. Rose, however, was not as interested in small talk and went to go play with her toys while waiting for dinner to be ready.
"Not bad, some drama about page counts not printing properly but, what can you do when you have an 800-page novella, somethings going to go wrong with the first print," She says with a chuckle.
"What about you? anything interesting?" Emma asks curiously while poking at a frying pan of diced and breaded lemon chicken bites. bite-size food was easier to fed rose so just cut it up ahead of time for everyone. it made cooking go a little faster too so, win-win.
"Well, I finally got a date on that court case I've been chasing around for the last half a year," He says in return.
"Oh, the one from the hearing earlier this month? when's that?" Emma asks with continued interest.
"December 3rd, so, I'm probably not going to be much help that day," He admits quietly.
"Not a problem, i'll just take the day off again. It's a well timed reason to take a break every so often." Emma says patiently.
"Speaking of well-timed," Chris adds quietly. "It looks like Karen is officially moved out."
"Yeah, I noticed that on my way in..." Emma admits. "The poor guy. So close to the holidays and with three kids... that must be rough..."
"Yeah," Chris Sympathetically agrees.
"...Maybe we should invite him over too?" Emma suggests which caught Chris's attention.
"Emma we said we weren't going to get involved," He points out with a slight frown, she meant well and he knew that but it still felt like poking their noses where they didn't belong.
"I know, but why let a neighbor starve when you have plenty?" She points out in return. "It's his first holiday on his own and he's probably got a lot on his plate and it was so sudden I doubt he has plans."
Chris shakes his head. She had a bleeding heart and he knew it. "Alright. Fine. It can't hurt to offer if he needs the help. I'll stop by tomorrow morning but if no one answers the door we drop it."
"Deal," She agrees with a smile. "probably best to do that in the morning anyways I'll be going over my shopping list by tomorrow afternoon."
"Alright," He confirms.
With that, the routine continued. Dinner was served. the three spent the evening relaxing before bed. Duke's needs were cared for and the 3 all went to bed.
The next morning Chris did what he promised and went a few doors down to knock on the neighbor's door. The moving truck was gone so hopefully that meant Karen was too.
Sure enough, a very tired-looking man around Chris's age answered the door.
"Who are you?" the guy asks lethargically. "If you're looking for my wi- for Karen she isn't here."
Chris was able to feel more genuine Sympathy at this point. "Um, no actually I think I'm looking for you. I'm your neighbor a few houses down. My w-Emma And I were wondering If you and the Kids would like to come over for thanksgiving." god damn Freudian slip almost got him.
"Oh... That. Yeah, that sounds nice." the man replies with stunned surprise. "I don't think I caught your name. I'm Arthur by the way." the man says and offers a hand.
"Chris," He replies and accepts the offered hand. Even that seemed fragile. Yeah. Okay, Emma was right he could admit as much at this point. "If you need anything just stop by. Emma's pretty good with kids."
"Might take you up on that. thanks again." Authur replies.
"Not a problem, see you on the 25th, around 4 pm? I think we're starting a bit early to give the kids more time to calm down before bed because of all the desserts." Chris offers as an explanation. He wasn't sure why that was the time Emma picked but he was willing to guess that it was something like that.
"That's very considerate. see you then," Authur says with a nod.
"Bye," Chris says with a short wave before heading out. He was not great with first-time social interactions but, that went, decently enough for what it was.
The agent made his way back home where Emma was definitely not pacing around only moments before and occasionally checking out of the window to make sure nothing happened.
"He says he'd be happy to join us," Chris says which causes the previously antsy woman to relax.
"Excellent, it will be great to have him at the table," Emma says with a smile before sitting down to get started on her list. first thing's first. make a list of everyone... attending...
Emma checked the list.
then checked it again.
"Chris," she called over to the other room where Chris was just sat down with a book.
"Yeah?" he asks as he recognizes the hint of panic in her tone.
"I just realized we're going to have 22 people in this house for thanksgiving and we do not have enough seats."
he almost gasps but instead chokes on air instead. "twenty-t- how did. oh gosh." he moves to lean back on the couch while holding his face. Oh, they screwed up...
Emma quickly reached for her phone and started dialing. "Heeeey dad, so I kinda messed up and now I need to figure out how to make enough thanksgiving dinner to feed 22 people...Do you mind coming out of retirement for a day while you're visiting and helping me cook?"
Emma's father cackled after hearing the panicked greeting and request. "You are definitely my daughter. Sure kiddo. I'll help with the cooking."
'*'*'*'*'
0 days left.
Chris tapped his thumb of his free hand against the side of his leg while he held Rose's hand in the other. He had originally figured if he went to pick them up that he'd be able to talk to them alone but. he looked over at Rose who was rocking on her heels and toes. He kinda miscalculated. Talking to them in front of Rose would be a recipe for disaster. She would still parrot things that she heard from time to time and her concept of a 'secret' was not very strong at this point.
Now arriving, Incoming flight 01x0122
That's them. Why on earth was he this nervous. The agent reminded himself for the umpteenth time that it made no sense for him to be this nervous when he'd basically fight eldritch horrors on a regular basis. This is comparatively easy.
"Is that him over there?" "I think so,"
"Chris hey!" Says the voice of a happy-go-lucky man. Chris looks over and sure enough, finds Emma's Mother and Father walking over toward him.
Emmas' mom happily gasps. "And is this Rose? Oh hello, there sweetie,"
Rose was not sure about this and as usual, moved to hide behind Chris.
"It's okay," Chris affirms which did help slightly.
"A bit on the Shy side I see," Eugene says with a short chuckle before moving to kneel down to be at Rose's eye level. "Hey there, Nice to meet you. What's your name?"
"Rosemary," Rose says giving her full name.
"Rosemary, that's a very pretty name," Eugene replies with a smile.
"She's adorable," Emily cooed happily before the distraction of 'cute tiny human' wore off and she finally noticed her own child was missing. "Wheres Emma?"
"She's probably at the house by now, The airport is on the way home from work so, figured I'd save her a trip," Chris explains in return.
"I see, Thanks again for letting us visit for a while, it will be so good to catch up with our little girl," Emily says with a smile.
"They're coming with us?" Rose asks while looking up at Chris confused. Their little girl? that doesn't make sense. She was the only little girl she knew about. New people. stranger danger. Please don't take me away from my Chris and Emma.
Eugene smiles a bit at that, "Is it okay if we come with?" he asks looking at Rose for permission since he was able to pick up on the fact that the child was becoming anxious.
Rose once more looks to Chris with a silent question of what to do. Chris chuckles a bit and nods. If her Chris said it was okay then it was probably safe. Rose looked back to Emma's father and nods as well.
With permission granted by the tiny tot, bags were collected and loaded into the car. Emma's parents continued to fawn over Rose the whole way home asking her different questions. What's her favorite food? Nuggets. What's her favorite color? green. what's her favorite animal? Monkeys. What do you wanna be when you grow up? Ballerina princess. Each question answered garnered a positive response from the older couple and Rose slowly became more comfortable with the new guests. They were silly and silly was good.
The drive went by quickly and Chris was unable to find a way to bring up the subject like he had hoped. but. he still had 7 days to find a way. He's got this. Probably. "We're home," Chris calls into the house as he opened the door to let everyone in.
"Welcome home," Emma replies from her place at the table where she was currently working over how to manage this nightmare of a meal she promised to an additional 17 people from their original plan.
"Oh wow, this is a lovely home," Emily compliments as she makes sure to take off her shoes and put them away before wandering in. "Emma," Her mother says happily before hurrying over to give her child a hug. "Aww honey, Eugune, look she made a little seating chart and everything. I'm so proud of her," the retired event planner says.
"Yep, that's our little girl," Eugene praised as he walks over Ruffled Emma's hair causing her to chuckle.
Rose watches this with a perplexed expression. They meant Emma before? it was a good thing they weren't going to try and take rose away but. "but Em-a's not little," Rose says to voice her confusion. Emma was a grown-up, she's not little.
"Well, Emma's our daughter. So to use, she'll always be Little," Eugene tried to explain.
"Oh." that didn't really explain anything but she'd accept the answer. The mystery continued.
'*'*'*'*'
Time of departure. 3 days. Emma's parents had been here for 4 days already and he had nothing. Thanksgiving day arrived faster than he could have imagined. A frustrated sigh crossed his lips as he thought this over while helping Emily re-arrange the furniture to get the tables and chairs to fit. Luckily, since they kept all of the extra furniture from both of their apartments, they only needed 1 more table and 6 chairs to give everyone a place to sit. the problem was, finding a place for it all.
"Hey, Chris? What if we move the couches to that front entry area. It's a decent size space and it's pretty empty otherwise." Claire suggests. Luckily for Chris, Claire arrived early that day to help with setting up after finding out about the extended invitation issue of way too many people.
"That is an excellent idea Claire," Emily agrees as she was in the middle of cleaning up the various toys strewn about the room.
"Let's give it a try then. Mind grabbing the other end?" Chris asks as he walks over to the couch and grabs a side to pick it up.
"1, 2,3" Claire says and the two start moving the couch while Emily and Eugene were hard at work buzzing around the kitchen.
"How is the dough looking for the rolls?" Eugene asks while working over a pot of mashed potatoes.
"Just about doubled in size should be ready for shaping in about 10 minutes," Emma says as she worked on moving around finished and in-process meals so they could keep up.
"Check the green beans, if they're done move them to the back burner so we can start on the gravy," Eugene instructs.
"Yes Chef," Emma says with a nod which causes the man to pause a second and laugh as he put an arm around his child to give her a hug.
"Thought you would have forgotten that by now." He admits despite the proud smile on his face.
"Nonsense, always show respect to the lead chef and show that you heard instructions. Basic rules of team cooking," Emma says with a chuckle.
Rose watched everyone hustle around, she wasn't sure what was going on but it seemed important.
As Chris and Claire put down the first couch Claire notices Rose watching them and smiles. In her hurry to help her brother she'd forgotten to say hi to the newest addition to the family. Claire walks over and Kneels down "Hey there, You're Rose right?"
Rose nods in response.
"My name is Claire," she says with a smile. As much as she wanted to go on to say I'm you're aunt, Chris made it pretty clear that they were avoiding family terms for now until Rose was old enough to understand what happened to her real parents and choose if that was what she wanted.
"Hi Claire," Rose says parroting the name back.
Claire smiled and words fail her, with the lack of familial terms she wasn't really sure what else to say to the child in greeting. "Are you excited for today?"
"I dunno," Rose admits as she was still very confused.
"Well, today lots of people are getting together to have a very big meal." that was probably about as much as a three-and-a-half-year-old would understand. "there's going to be lots of yummy food and desserts."
"Dat sounds awesome," Rose admits happily. lots of people meant lots of attention and she liked yummy food and she definitely liked desserts.
"Hey rose?" Chris calls over.
"yeah?" Rose replies.
"We're going to be moving around lots of heavy stuff, can you go play in your room?" Chris requests. they still had a full living room worth of furniture to move and 3 tables so the last thing he needed was a toddler underfoot.
"...Okay," Rose agreed. she wanted to see her friends so she needed to behave and do what she was told. With that, the little girl made her way up the stairs to her room to wait and play with her toys.
For Rose time moved slowly in an agonizing crawl while waiting for friends to show up.
For the adults, it was moving way too fast. Move the furniture. set up the tables. put this in the oven take that out, check this. where's that. Who's at the door? Oh gosh, it's time.
Bastion and Travis were the first to arrive and brought two bottles of wine with them as a gift for the table to share.
Authur and his three kids arrived shortly after that and provided a dish of sweet potato Casserole.
One by one, members of Hound Wolf squad arrived. Umber eye was the first as he prepared to intercept and wrangle the team to keep them in check. followed by Canine, Lobo, Night howl then Tundra.
"Holy Hell this place is packed, why didn't you tell us it was a party I would have brought something," Tundra points out as she looks at the large gathering.
"I think we both just kinda got carried away and didn't realize," Chris admits with a nervous laugh, "There's still a few more people on the way."
"I've said it before and I'll say it again. bless that woman, "Tundra says with a tired sigh. "I'm gonna go see if they need he-" she starts heading over only to be shooed away.
"Name's Eugene, nice to meet you, stay out of the kitchen." He says before going back to work.
"Okay then," Tundra says before heading back to go hang up her coat and start chatting with everyone else.
Sometime later the doorbell rang once more announcing the arrival of the last of the guests.
"Rose! Summer, Maurie, and Annie are here!" Chel calls up the stairs.
Rose gasps and picks up her doll to hurry down the stairs and join them.
"Oh wow!" Summer says surprised. "you got taller!"
"I did?" Rose says surprised and Summer nods.
"Yeah you're almost taller than Annie now," Summer says amazed. "that's so cool," she adds with a smile.
Hearing the praise of the older child causes her to smile. she had been dubbed Cool by a big kid.
While the girls talked Chelsea made her way into the other room. "Gracious you've got quite the gathering huh?" she says with a laughing smile. "Feeling nostalgic for our old party days?"
"Not in the slightest," Emma says with a laugh. "If I have to put jack's shoulder back in its socket again it would be too soon and it's been over 20 years."
"Oh gosh, it's been that long... when did we get so old?" Chelsea says with a laugh.
"Now don't go and start with that," Emma says with a joking warning tone. "Can you help me gather everyone up? I think we're ready now that you're here."
Two tables had been set up and pushed together to seat 14 of the adults. Chris and Emma sat next to each other near the middle of the table so they'd be able to talk with everyone else around them with ease. Claire sat to the left of Chris and Emma's father sat to the right of Emma. Umber eye took the head of one end of the table with canine to his left and Lobo to his right so he'd be able to keep a closer eye on the two trouble makers who were conveniently as far away from Emma's dad as possible and the others filled the remaining seats.
Meanwhile next to it was a good size folding table with extra chairs where the 7 Children sat. Emma's Mother volunteered to sit at the head of the kid's table to keep an eye on the munchkins. She did love getting to spend time with Chelsea's kids after all since she saw them as grandbabies and now there was an additional grandbaby to boot.
Dishes were passed, plates were filled, Glasses of wine and soda were poured and lively conversation filled the air.
Eugene pats his daughter on the back. "you did good kid," he says with a still ever proud smile.
"Thanks Dad," Emma says with a smile before nudging the guy.
Rose perked up. that word again. That's right! Summer's here, she could ask now!
"Misses Grandma" Summer says which causes Emma's mother to laugh a bit.
"What is it dear?" She asks still happy as could be.
"I finished my food. can I go play?" Summer requests.
This brought about a new issue. Emily looked to her daughter. "Emma dear should the kids go in the backyard to run around or the basement?" those were kinda the only two options they had at this point.
Emma winced a bit. the basement was a bit messy and that's where her parents were staying. how cold was it outside? Emma checks her phone for the weather really quick. "They should be fine outside if they wear a jacket." She felt bad throwing them outside like that but they really didn't have that much space.
"Wohoo!" Summer quickly got up to go and get her jacket and goes outside.
Rose watched curiously and poked at her food. "I'm all done," she says with a smile. she was still kinda hungry but she'd rather go play.
"Are you sure?" Emma's mother asks concerned but Rose nods. "Okay,"
"I can go outside too?" Rose requests.
"of course sweetpea, go have fun, make sure you put on your coat. do you need help?" Emma's mother replied and rose shook her head no.
"I can do it," she replies and quickly got up to hurry over to get her coat than out the sliding glass door with the help of Bastion who leaned back from his seat to reach the door and open it for her.
Rose hurries over to summer who was running around the yard trying to crunch leaves, and tugs on the sleeve of her coat to get her attention.
"Hm? Oh hey Rose," Summer says with a smile. "Do you wanna stomp leaves too?"
Rose shakes her head no. "Whats a dad?"
Summer seemed surprised by the question but puffed up proudly. she was more than happy to share her wealth of knowledge and be the super cool smart one. "That's Easy." she says tooting her own horn. "a dad is a boy parent."
Rose stared at summer confused. "... what's a parent."
"Hmm," Summer thinks it over. "a parent is someone that loves you very very much and gives you hugs when you're scared and gives your booboos kisses" Summer replies with a nod. "If it's a boy parent then it's a dad. if it's a girl parent it's a mom. Most people have two. but some of my friends have four. and a large group of people that take care of each other is called a family."
Rose nods as she was starting to understand a bit better. "... Do I have parents?"
again the question surprised Summer. "Of course you do silly." Summer says with a wide grin. "You have Uncle Chris and Auntie Emmy." Summer confirmed. "Well. they're my uncle and Auntie. but they're your Dad and Mom. Just like how my mom and dad are your uncle and Auntie." the older child says with a confident nod. she was so smart. "So we're a family."
"I thought we were friends," Rose asks with a sad tone.
"We are." Summer confirms "you can be friends with your family."
"Oh," Rose replies and thinks it over. this was all really confusing but at least she kinda understood.
Summer moves to give Rose a hug. "Come on, the leaves are blowing away," she announces. "maybe we'll find frog under one."
"Okay!" Rose says and follows behind summer and copies what she's doing to stomp on as many crunchy leaves as she can.
as the day went one more of the kids made their way out to the yard and started to play as well.
"This was nice," Claire says with a smile as the room started to get a bit quieter with the absence of the kids.
"Yeah," Bastion agrees with a smile.
"Oh!" Claire says as a thought comes to mine. "Hey Emma, do you think there's a way to get everyone in a picture?"
"That would be lovely," Emma's mother concurs upon overhearing the suggestion.
the others chime in with their own approval of the idea.
"Sure, why not. we'll just need to move the tables a bit or use the other room where the couches are set up." Emma offers.
"I can take the picture," Aurthur offers.
"Sounds like we have a plan then. we should get the kids in here too," Eugene says with a smile.
"I got this," Travis says as he moves to get up and goes over to the sliding door. "If you want dessert you have to come inside and sit still for a picture!" he announces.
"Dessert?" "I like sweets" "PIE!" "I think I saw cake too!" "Me first!"
With that, the stamped of children hurried back into the home. Mission accomplished.
"Alright everyone let's head over to the other room then," Emma's mother coached and put her prior event planning experience to work. "Let's get Chris and Emma towards the middle here, Claire to Chris's side. Rose." Emma's mother looks to Chris. "Are you okay with holding her for the picture?"
"Yeah, I can handle it." He agrees.
"Okay, we'll do that in a second. Jack Chelsea can you stand over here on Emma's side with the girls and hold Annie and Marie to save a bit of space. Umm, you 5 the um wolf squad let's have you over on Chris's side. Eugene and I will stand on Emma's side and then let's have bastion and Travis over with Eugene and myself on Emma's side. That would be 6 adults on each side." Emma's mother instructs and everyone takes their places for the picture.
Rose was picked up by Chris and Emma helped support her back. She had parents. A mom and a dad. It meant that they loved her very much and wanted to keep her safe. A big toothy grin formed as the thought made her giddy. she didn't know there was a word for someone like that but now she knew and it made her happy.
Click!
'*'*'*'*'
The date of departure arrived. Still no answer. Well, it didn't help that the question had never been asked but this time he had it. it was going to work. Chris takes out his phone to check the time.
Sunday, November 28th, 2:41 pm
"Mom, come on you're going to be late," Emma calls down to the basement before looking over to Chris "are you sure you're okay with taking them to the Airport? I can do it."
"Nah I don't mind, I need to run to the office and get some papers anyways," he says with an attempt at a smile. this was a lie but it was the best excuse he could think of to get some time alone with Emma's parents before they left.
"Okay, well. I'll see if I can't at least get their bags in the car," she says with a tired sigh.
"Will you please rest?" Chris says with a chuckle. "You've been working none stop because of the holidays."
"Alright," Emma says after a moment and gives him a peck. "if anything comes up though just call."
"Will do," he agrees purely to appease her worrying.
With that Emma finally went to go and sit down in the freshly reassembled living room.
"Do we have everything?" Emma's mother asks while carrying her bag over to the car.
"We're not going to have a flight if you keep double-checking," Eugene says nervously.
"Mom it's okay if you forgot something I'll just mail it to you," Emma calls from the other room.
"Ooh alright," the woman relents before looking to Chris. "thank you again for the ride and for having us it's been lovely to see you both again."
"Not a problem," Chris says and motions that they should head out. "I'll be back later."
"Go," Emma replies with laughing amusement. How many times did it need to be said that they were going to be late? as much as she loved her parents she wanted peace and quiet. or as much of that as she could get with an almost 4-year-old running around.
"Well you heard the lady," Eugene says and quickly heads out the door with the others.
The 3 started on their way to the Airport and it really was going to be a close call at this rate. looks like he was going to have to go with the 'elevator pitch' approach.
Chris looked to the tiny box of Cigarettes in the cupholder and resisted the tempting call to relieve his stress. "So while I have you guys I was hoping to bring something up."
"Sure son, what's up?" Eugene asks casually which did not help Chris's nerves.
"It's been a bit of a hectic year and all between the house and the addition of rose and well it can, put things into a different perspective," Why was this more terrifying than the idea of having this same conversation with Emma. "That is. Um. Well, this all kind of happened out of order but. I was thinking it over and wanted to see if you'd be okay with me marrying Emma and tying up that loose end..." That didn't sound good oh gosh words. "And there's a matter of wanting to make sure that they're cared for, If something happened to me I wouldn't want Emma to have to fight to keep Rose or the house and it would help make sure that would be easier for her." he's making it worse just shut up. stop.
"Sounds like you put some thought into this," Eugene says with a gentle but genuine smile "I see no reason to reject the idea." He'd been in this position and knew how nerve-wracking it could be so he went easy on the agent.
"mhm mhm mhm," Emma's mother confirms while nodding. "you absolutely have our blessings." She sounded thrilled.
A wave of relief washed over him. well. one step down. one to go?
Tadah~ that was a fun chapter if not a bit stressful x'D Hope it was worth the wait and read time! I'm really sorry if you wanted to read the rest of the trial but I had to spilt it X'D otherwise, the chapter would have been waaaay too long. and it's already really long. Oh my gosh, I had to cut so much X'D but hey, it just gives me more room for a collection of filler one-shots if I ever end up deciding to do that. probably won't be for a while X'D I still have plenty to write here and I am pretty hyped for it. We're not done with Bioweapon mayhem. and I'm not talking about Rose.
Also, credit to ballingerfamily on Tiktok x'D the guitar scene with rose was inspired by one of their videos. if I could link it I would but alas the editor/site will not allow for it. I tried to change it up a bit to avoid copy-pasting it but it was way too cute not to reference at the least because it fit so well.
