It's me! Again so soon mwahaha. I caught a new writing bug it seems and I'm starting to catch a bit of a break which will give me to write in the new year. I feel kinda bad for neglecting Bond Polarity but like ovq I've been waiting so long to write this that I kinda want to treat my self and focus on this for a bit. Hopefully, that's okay for those that read both.
Song Suggestion: Love is Gone by Slander ft Dylan Matthew
Disclaimer: I own nothing~ RE belongs to Capcom I am but a humble bean who basks in their glorious plot holes.
The day Chris had been waiting so impatiently for finally arrived. Mechanical whirling and buzzing and the smell of melting plastic and plaster filled the air as a medical saw cut through the last of the cast on Chris's leg. "And that should about do it." The doctor says as they move the last chunk of cast off the medical cot.
Thank heavens, Chris thought with a sigh of relief.
"Now you will still need crutches to get around while you're getting your strength back. Physical therapy will help you become less dependent on it," The doctor explains while continuing to clean up. "Once you're done with that you'll be cleared to drive again."
Fuck. "And how long will that take?" Chris asks with an annoyed sneer.
"Oh probably a few months," the doctor says in return. "You'll be expected to visit once every two weeks, Each session will take about an hour."
That is not what he wanted to hear. "Is there a fast track option for this? You said something before about chemical treatments."
"Unfortunately no," the doctor replies. "As I mentioned before you've already received several rounds of chemical treatments and it's thanks to that you're alive and healed as quickly you have so far. Those chemical treatments put a significant amount of stress on the body's natural healing mechanisms by putting them into over drive and are meant as a last ditch effort to avoid fatal injuries. Too much can start negatively affecting your health instead."
Blah blah blah, at this point the agent started to tune out the doctors talking. A simple No would have been enough. So, no driving for another few months. That kinda put a kink in his overall goal, but he's options at this point were, deal with it or bitch about it to deaf ears.
"Chris?" the doctor says while looking at him confused. Oh shit, right he was talking.
"Yeah?" Chris says hoping to pretend he was paying attention.
A tired sigh crossed the doctor's lips. "I was asking if you have any other questions? I'm assuming that's a no?"
"None," Chris confirms.
"Very well, I'll be back in a moment with your crutches," The doctor requests as he walks over to a small counter where a laptop was set up and picks that up before heading out and closed the door behind him. Sitting in chairs along the wall in the hallway he found the rest of the family waiting for a verdict.
Emma looked over as she heard the door close and moves to stand up. "How did it go?" she asks with cautious curiosity.
"He behaved well enough. Not as much complaining as last month with his check-out tests. He's going to be a bit more mobile now. But considering he somehow managed to walk around while in a leg cast I'm going to guess it won't be any more than usual." The doctor says with a short laugh. "If he starts giving you trouble just call, and we'll do what we can to help." He adds before handing over a business card with his office number on it.
"Right, thank you," Emma says while accepting the card then stows it away in her purse.
"His first session of physical therapy will be on the 18th. Is 3pm alright?" The man asks while he was at it since Emma was Chris's main source of transportation.
"That's fine, we'll make it work," Emma confirms with a slight frown.
"Excellent, I'll be right back with a set of crutches for him, and you'll be good to go," the doctor replies.
"Thank you again," Emma replies though she honestly just wanted to get out of here.
The doctor nods and walks away. As he said, he returned with a set of Crutches and the family was set to leave. The walk through the halls was taken at a slower pace so Chris could keep up with them and required a bit of patience as he figured out how to move with the metal poles. However, patience was a virtue that the mental equivalent of a 7 and a half year old child did not possess. Rose would often run ahead of them and wait at the next door or intersecting hallway when she heard the adults chide her for running off.
This burst of energy stayed with her the whole way home as the child quickly ran into the house as well.
"Gracious you are hyper today," Emma says as she walks in behind Chris. Part of her wanted to make sure he kept his balance, but she didn't really know how she'd help since she had to carry the baby.
"We were sitting there for five forever," Rose says as she hurried over to the toy box in the living room to find something to play with.
It did kinda take a while but that just went back into the entire babysitter conundrum that she'd already hashed out with Chris a dozen times now. It didn't seem right to ignore his opposition to it just because he didn't remember there was a problem. That meant no babysitters and no dance classes. Rose continued to shift through the toy box as Emma and Chris made their way to the living room as well.
Emma put Piers down in his swing while Chris sat down with a tired plop in his usual seat. The fact the couch was starting to form a dent annoyed him to no end. At least he could sleep in his bed while he figured out what he was going to do. Chris winced as a few random scenes flashed through his mind. Screams of terror. Shouts of anger, betrayal and disbelief at a man behind a desk. Wait, did he go to Europe? Did he know French? Oui oui, bonjour... Baguette. Yeah, no he didn't know French. Why did he specifically remember being in Paris then?
"Did you want to help me with dinner?" Emma asks Rose who was continuing to throw toys onto the floor in her indecisive attempt to find something to do.
"Hmm," Rose bobs her head and thinks about it. "Okay."
Emma smiles at this and walks with Rose out of the living room and over to the kitchen. Having heard one of his favorite words, the elderly pooch made his way off his spot on the couch by the window to supervise the dinner preparations hoping to get a morsel or two as a treat. "Let's see, something quick," Emma quietly pondered while looking through the fridge. Thanks to Chris's appointment at the BSAA it was much later in the evening than normal, giving less time for cooking if they wanted to eat at a decent hour.
"Pizza!" Rose cheers with a smile.
Ah Pizza, the universally adored open face sandwich. Emma smiled a bit at this before digging around. Sure enough there were a few peel to open tubes of premade pizza dough in the door of the fridge alongside the biscuit dough. It was actually a pretty good option for their limited time. "Alright, you've convinced me. Pizza it is," Emma agrees receiving some excited cheers in return.
The oven was set to preheat as the two worked on opening the airtight packaging that made a loud pop. Once both containers were opened Emma and Rose pressed the dough out, one roll of dough per pan. By the time they were done the oven was properly warmed enough to prebake the dough, so the two disks shaped pans were placed in side to start baking.
"And now we wait," Emma says as she works on setting a timer on her phone.
"Jam time?" Rose asks with a smile.
She did have a lot of energy today. That actually might help her fall asleep if she got the wiggles out. "Sure," Emma says with a slight chuckle as the child cheered happily once again before hurrying upstairs determined to grab something before the music started. Emma continued to poke at her phone screen. Before she got too distracted she needed to send a text to Charlotte.
[Emma] Hey, I'm really sorry for the short notice but we won't be able to make it this month... Chris got pretty messed up during his last mission, and he's lost his memories. I need to stay home to take care of him. I'm sorry.
Hopefully she wouldn't be too upset but, family always comes first. If Charlotte did end up being upset, then Emma would just have to find a way to deal with it. With that taken care of Emma walked over to the phone dock that was shaped like an old fashion radio. She was about to bring up a playlist when the functioning knobs and switches caught her attention. Maybe listening to the radio would be fun.
Emma flipped a switch to turn on the Radio, flipped another to set it to FM then messed with the knobs to try and get one of the stations she'd listen to in the car. Radio static filled the air causing Chris to wince. He remembered a frozen mountain side and an odd white building.
"How are we looking?" he could hear himself asking.
"So far so good, seems our plan is working. This lab is still active." another voice replied through the radio static.
As quickly as the memory started to form it fell apart once Emma got the radio properly tuned and the static disappeared. "Your favorite restaurants now deliver with door dash," a smooth feminine voice confidently states while trumpets play in the background and Rose hurries back into the dining area between the living room and kitchen. "It doesn't matter where you are, it doesn't matter what you're hungry for, It doesn't even matter how many you are. Restaurants come to you. Delicious at your door, Download Door Dash. First order? One dollar delivery fee." The ad continued.
"Ugh ads" Emma says with a tired sigh. Maybe this was why she preferred playlists now. While she waited for the ads to finish up she went to the closet and pulled out the broom and dust pan. She might as well clean while waiting for the dough to finish baking. Eventually, the Radio host returned.
"Welcome back to throw back Thursday! We got a great hour of music coming up for you all with all the classics from the 80s, 90's and oddies," the DJ announced. "Let's get this power hour started with a 90's staple, Bitter sweet Symphony by the Verve."
"I wanna do spinnies," Rose says as she moves to put on a pair of soft pink ballet slippers that she collected from her room. While classes were not in the cards, the two guardians didn't see a problem with letting Rose dream a bit and have the Christmas gift she asked for. Point shoes were definitely out of the question without proper training but the softer satin shoe seemed harmless enough.
Emma looked up from her sweeping and chuckled as she watched the child try and dance along to the violin playing in the song. Her attempts at spinning were mostly just her hopping around in a circle. Emma made her way over while standing on her toe and attempted to emulate what she remembered as far as ballet went, Any sweeping she managed to do during that was completely inefficient, but it made her feel a bit better about goofing off. Tiptoe larger step for momentum and spin in place.
Rose watched with starry eyes all the same. "I wanna do that too!" she announced happily.
"Okay okay," Emma says and moves to put the broom down by leaning it against the table. "Can you stand on your toes?" Emma asks as she lifts her heels to stand on the pad of her foot again as an example. Rose struggles with it at first but eventually manages to copy the action, though significantly more wobbly. "You're doing great, now you need to stick one leg out just a little bit like this."
Rose's expression became more strained as she struggled to stay on her toes on one leg. Upon seeing this Emma realizes she should probably give instructions a bit quicker before the child fell over. "Okay now bring your leg back then force it around like this." Emma says, and the action causes her to spin in a tight circle. It was certainly a much easier task for the ice skater who was much more familiar with fighting friction and gravity to get that exact result.
Rose tried to follow along, but the motion only caused her to fall over like Charlie Brown when trying to kick a football. The beginning whines that threatened tears could be heard and Emma quickly moved to help the child back on her free. "Why don't we try a different way of doing spinnies," Emma suggests hoping to cut off the tantrum before it started.
Roses pouting face remained but the child nods.
"Try and stand on your toe again but hold on to my hand okay?" Emma requests and the child does as she's told. With the instructions followed Emma gentle lifts Rose's hand over her head to help her spin on her toes. The whines and pouts were quickly replaced with smiles and giggles. After a few spins Emma stops to try and keep the child from getting too dizzy.
"Again again again!" Rose cheers while still smiling.
"You're going to get dizzy and fall over," Emma warns.
"Yes~" Rose replies happily.
"Okay only a few more, I don't want you to get sick," Emma says but keeps her word and helps the child spin a few more times before stopping again.
While initially the noise was kind of annoying it Caused Chris to shift in his seat, so he could try and see what was going on. In the end he found himself watching curiously with a slight smile. While the kid was being a bit of a brat since she wasn't exactly saying please and thank you at all, the scene was still oddly endearing to watch.
The soft violin music of the song faded away and was rather unceremoniously replaced with harsh drum and loud guitars as vocals sang out a catchy nonsense string of Doo do doo to the tune. Hearing the song caused Emma to smile widely as she remembered the song from her late high school years causing her to sing along to the chorus that lacked lyrics and playing an air guitar along with the song.
Seeing this caused Rose to laugh at her guardian's silly antics before hurrying over to the broom and picking that up to play as a pretend guitar.
A short quiet chuckle escaped Chris as he watched the childish display, while silly, it was hard for him not to notice that the woman's smile seemed happy again like the ones he saw in his memories. It was kinda nice. It took him a moment longer, but he eventually grabbed one of his crutches to help him get up. There was a guitar off in the corner of the room that was collecting dust. Seemed a shame for it not to be used. With that thought, he walked over to it and picked it up with his free hand then hobbled his way over to the two, so he could offer it to Rose.
Rose stared in silent awe at the offered instrument. That was Chris's guitar, it always had been, and she wasn't supposed to touch it, but he was gonna let her play with it? Feeling proud and grown up thanks to the offer she put the broom back against the table to accept the instrument and started to pretend to play along with the music.
Another round of the nonsensical Chorus began, and the two continued to sing along. Rose giggled while jumping around in a circle and continued to 'play' the guitar.
Emma found herself clapping along to the song instead as she enjoyed the antics of the little girl but found herself occasionally glancing back over to the man standing next to her as her smile remained. He was still in there and this proved it to her, she just needed to get him to remember...
"And then I bumped up, I took the hit that I was given" the vocalist sang. Knowing what lines came next caused an idea to enter Emma's mind.
"Then I bumped again" The vocalist continued and to Chris's confusion he felt a nudge from his side causing him to look over.
"Then I bumped again" the line repeated, and once more Emma used her hip to gently nudge Chris while playfully smiling to herself and avoiding eye contact as she went back to singing along to the song with the radio.
Chris could feel himself smiling as well before rolling his eyes. it took a few seconds, but he eventually used his free hand to nudge her back, avoiding eye contact as well and whistled along to the song.
The silent game continued between the two as the song progressed every once in a while one would nudge the other and after a bit of time the action was returned. This was, actually kind of fun. Chris thought amused as he broke the rule of the game and allowed himself to peek at Emma to see that she was still smiling. once more it was different from the ones he remembered. Where the one in the hospital was sorrowful and the ones he remembered seemed happy, this was playful and loving and, intoxicating.
"And I want something else to get me through this life," the vocalist laments which managed to get Chris to stop staring and become still and quiet as he realized, hearing Emma sing along, and that those words in particular had got him to silently begin to hope for something... someone he couldn't have.
"Baby, I want something else," the song continued though now it felt more like it was mocking him for thinking that she'd pick him over whoever this no name asshole husband was.
"Not listening when you say," Emma happily sang along unaware of the current turmoil occurring in the mind next to her. "Goodbye."
he was going to have to leave.
"Goodbyyyye," the song repeats.
he couldn't stay here. It was going to drive him insane.
"Goodbyyyyeeeee," The song said further taunting him.
He let his guard down for a few minutes, god-damn it.
"Goodbye!" the singer says once more but with more force.
The song hadn't quite finished, but that was as good of a reason to exit stage right as any and with that Chris moved to head back to the couch. That pretty well solidified his resolve, He needed to leave. Tonight. Before he did anything stupid. Good lord, he'd kill for a drink right now...
Chris's silent annoyance with himself persisted as he remained quiet for the rest of the evening, mentally reviewing what he'd need to do in order to leave. He was determined that if he had to hobble his way to a main road and get a taxi anywhere else so he could leave, then that was what he would do. He'd just need to find a duffle bag and pack as much as he could in it. With his urge to leave, came a sense of shame and guilt that he tried to push down and ignore.
Dinner was made and consumed, but he barely remembered tasting it, and before he knew it the house was quiet, and its occupants were all asleep except him. Feeling confident that they were all asleep he made his way over to the stairs that lead to the basement then down to his small room and study. Right he needed to find a bag first. Drawers and doors were opened and closed as the search commenced. he eventually found what he needed in the form of an olive drab bag that looked like it could hold a person if they curled up. Perfect. the more space the better. It might even work as a sleeping bag if times got desperate. into the bag went a few sets of clothes, the laptop from his study along with its charger and a phone charger, a warm-looking blanket, plenty of socks and a spare set of boots. There was still a bit of space left, so he made his way upstairs again and started rummaging through the kitchen. anything that could be eaten without having to be cooked would be useful. there was a good collection of protein bars which he was more than happy to empty into the bag. some pop tarts, bags of mixed nuts and other snack food were added to fill the spaces, so he wouldn't go hungry while looking for a new place to stay.
Chris nods at his stash before closing up the bag and putting it over his shoulder. Time to go. With that thought, he started to make his way over to the front door. As he was unlocking the door the soft wails of an upset infant came to the ear causing him to freeze in place. Don't move, don't breathe, if she sees you she's going to ask questions and try to get you to stay...
He continued to wait as he heard footsteps move from the master bedroom, across the hall and into the nursery It took a few moments but the crying eventually stopped. Chris continued to wait as he started at the door hoping to hear footsteps going back to the master bedroom and the door closing. Instead, this gave him time for something he dreaded. time to think. he stared at his hand that was holding the doorknob. Where was he going to go? it was cold out there. was he really going to sleep on the streets? he'd find a hotel. okay, for how long? hotels are expensive and finding an apartment can take months. Did it matter? he needed to get out of here.
The sound of the child's crying picked up again though it seemed more like a cry for attention compared to the more distressed wail from before. She was doing this alone... Frustrated with himself he leaned forward enough to rest his head against the door while trying to convince himself not to be stupid and to follow through with his plan. he was right there he just needed to open the door and walk away.
Yet as much as he tried to will himself to take those last few steps his feet would not cooperate. She was doing this alone. she watched after him and never once complained about it. So who was taking care of her... She fed him, got him out of that hellhole of a hospital and kept a roof over his head and helped him recover. Meanwhile, he was going to thank her by stealing half of her pantry and leaving without a word? Leaving her to clean up his mess of everything he'd be leaving behind.
Annoyed with himself and the guilt this revelation brought, he finally let go of the handle and locked the door while giving a defeated sigh. he walked back to the kitchen and started putting the food he stole back in its proper place. He wasn't going to leave, not like this... He'd stay long enough to meet whoever it was that left her alone like this, Deck them for it and pray that would be enough for her to evict him. Until then, he'd try to be a bit more useful.
'*'*'*'*'
The morning came and went as the usual routine took place. Emma was particularly tired. Piers was getting to where he could sleep though the night but for some reason he was really cranky last night. All the same she woke up before the rest of the house, took care of duke, woke up rose, made breakfast and managed to get everyone in to the car to head to work. Work which resulted in another conversation from her boss about how Rose was getting to be too old to bring into the office and how she should be in school or day care at the least. The whole office had seen her grow and age rapidly at this point, so it wasn't really a secret that something was different about her and that she was technically younger than she looked. However, whether she was 2 and a half, or 7 she shouldn't be in the office every day like this. It was one thing to bring Piers since he was physically dependent on Emma, but the final straw had been placed. After giving this allowance to Emma for over half a year, Rose was no longer welcome Effective immediately.
Emma made it home and trudged inside, carrying Piers in one arm as Rose happily walked ahead of her. What on earth was she going to do... It's not like they'd be homeless if she lost her job, that was the silver lining, but her income paid for food and the utilities. she couldn't risk loosing it right now. She couldn't take rose to daycare and even if she wasn't a bioweapon, it was far too expensive.
As she made it to the shared living space of the home she stopped and looked around confused. to her surprise the toys that had been strewn across the floor were picked up, lines in the carpet suggested it had been vacuumed, the dishes from last night's dinner and breakfast were no longer in the sink. How? Emma looked at Chris who was sitting on the couch in his usual place while tuning the guitar since rose messed with it while playing with it.
"Did... Did you clean the house?" Emma asks surprised and bewildered. Chris never cleaned the house. Well. Granted she usually took care of that before he really ever had a chance to help since she'd get home before him... and it wasn't like he didn't clean his own apartment before so. maybe. she should have been a bit more willing to rely on him...
"I vacuumed a bit... Figured I didn't have anything else to do," Chris admits while focusing on the guitar.
"Thank you," Emma says with a touched smile. He didn't know she was having a rough day, but he did this anyways, and it meant all the more because of it. Wow, she really wished he remembered her. it had only been a month, and they said it could take longer than that but. Maybe she could jog his memory somehow...
"How was work?" Chris asks as standard small talk.
"It," Emma winced a bit as she spoke but was cut off by an excited rose who hurried over to jump on the couch, so she could sit next to him.
"I get to stay home now," Rose happily announced.
"No, That. I," Emma didn't know what to say. It was complicated. "I don't know what we're going to yet Rosey. Give me a bit more time to figure that out." Not like she had time. She had two days. She had to figure something out.
"Did something happen?" Chris asks as he watches Emma walk over to the swing to put Piers down.
"Yeah," she replies with a tired frown as she got the child set up to rock in place before moving to head back to the kitchen. She should be focusing on dinner right now or looking for a babysitter. maybe she could call Gary and- no no he's not a school bus to take her to and from the BSAA... maybe if she just woke up earlier she could drop off Rose herself. That would give Rose the chance to take her tests and get new workbooks. Emma knew that wouldn't work as a long-term fix. She was already running on empty. Honestly, she didn't really even want to cook, the day had been awful enough that she just wanted to go upstairs curl up in a ball in her bed and pretend it didn't happen.
The short answer was concerning, but he had a feeling he knew why the answer was so short. He glanced from the child sitting next to him then over his shoulder to try and see Emma. She didn't seem to want to talk about it so for now, he'd respect that.
Emma looked around the pantry to try and find something quick and easy to make. Mac n' cheese was usually a fan favorite and that didn't really take much effort. that's a side though not a meal. um. She continued to look around before finding a can of spam. Seeing it caused her to pause. While Chris had been particularly helpful by cleaning, and she wanted to make a nicer meal, part of her was still tempted to go with the canned meat since he had such a strong reaction to it the last time she made it. Maybe it would help him get a few memories back... She'd make it up to him by making something nicer tomorrow.
With that determined, she collected the can and got to work. While water boiled and the oven preheated, Emma set up her laptop at the kitchen Island and started to look around at daycares. Sure enough none of them would enroll a child overnight like this. It was a multi week process with plenty of paperwork which required, guess what, the child's medical record. Which was confidential in Rose's case.
A defeated sigh crosses her lips before closing the laptop and getting back to work making the family meal that would likely be met with protest. The meat slab went into the oven with a bit of clove and brown sugar glaze and by the time it was done baking the mac and cheese was ready as well. A quick veggie was prepared as a bowl holding Frozen corn, water and a small slice of butter was nuked in the microwave. At least that was remotely healthy and Rose would probably eat that.
Once the table was set Emma walked over to collect Piers from the swing. "Time for dinner," Emma announced to let Chris and Rose know the meal was ready. Rose hurried over as Chris pushed himself to get up using his crutch and made his way over to the table as well.
Chris took a seat and stared at the meal with a raised eyebrow. It was certainly unique looking... "What is it?" He asks skeptically.
It looks her hunch that he would have a deep-rooted reaction to the meal was correct. "Try it first then I'll tell you," Emma says repeating her father's usual reply with a slight smile as she remembers asking the same question when she thought she might not like dinner.
"That's comforting," He says with a quiet sarcastic tone but serves himself all the same.
Emma watched with mild curiosity as he picked around the plate avoiding the slab of processed meat but focused on eating her own meal with one hand while the other held Piers who was pulling on her shirt in annoyance that he was not getting fed.
Chris watched as Emma and Rose ate without any issues. Come on man if a seven-year-old could stomach it how bad could it be? Emma's a pretty decent cook, so it probably tastes fine even if it looks weird. It took a bit of convincing, but he eventually cut a healthy portion off of the slice on his plate and put that into his mouth. He managed to chew for a few seconds before realizing that whatever this was, it was a god-damn fuuucking disgusting abomination. A sharp inhale from shock caused a bit to go down the wrong pipe. He covered his mouth with one hand as he coughed, while the other tapped the table a few times as a distraction from the pain and disgust the offensive piece of meat caused him. The tapping stopped as soon as it started as his free hand decided to be more useful and grab his glass of water which he very quickly drank.
"That's a reaction," Emma says while trying not to smile. It wasn't nice to laugh, she knew he didn't like this, don't torment him.
"What the hell did you make me eat?" Chris wheezed out once he managed to choke down the bite of food he regretted. How on earth was that child eating this with no reaction whatsoever. Both of them for that matter, did they have iron stomachs? Flashes of memories came to mind. Days without rest where meals came out of a plastic bag. Foil packets cooked in a chemically treated pouch that activated with water. Constant vigilance knowing any second action may be needed while bantering with others to see if they'd trade two hot sauce packets for a small pack of M&Ms. Coveting different plastic bags that held meals that were decently palatable compared to others that you'd rather starve than eat unless you were just that desperate. This. This was the meal he'd starve rather than eat.
"Spam? Seriously?" Chris asks annoyed with a frown.
"Mhm, it's good," Emma says while eating her food and trying to avoid looking at him to keep from chuckling.
Bullshit. The flashes eventually stopped as a more detailed memory came into focus. A more recent one? One just like this where he was sitting at a table with Emma, but there were three kids? Three little girls. The oldest one didn't want to eat dinner either. They both slide their food to the dog... He remembered getting away from the table and a subtle high five for team work.
"We've had this meal before..." Chris says quietly as he started to understand a bit more. She knew he had a strong opinion about this that he forgot. She was still trying to help him remember even when there was something wrong...
"Yes we have," Emma confirms as a small sense of hope started to form in the back of her mind.
"There were other children last time. Three of them... What happened?" Chris asks confused. None of them looked like Rose.
"I was babysitting my friend's kids," Emma answers, please keep remembering. The only reason she even remembered that as well as she did was because, that was the same day Summer asked Chris for a brother. It made her laugh so hard and she kept giggling about it for days after every time the memory came to mind.
That made sense, "Oh, right," He says while thinking a bit more on the matter. It was a reasonable answer but, why was he there then?
He continued to ponder this while picking at the rest of his meal, not to be out done by a small child he managed to stomach the rest of the spam without a complaint. while the initial shock of the taste had him reeling, at least now he knew what to prepare for. Even then, he didn't eat much else before getting up and taking his dishes with him.
"Thanks for the meal," He says all the same as he gets up then uses his free hand to pick up his utensils and plate, so he could take it over to the sink. The rest of the evening went by rather quickly and Chris couldn't shake the fact that he was still hungry.
Restaurants come to you. Delicious at your door, Download Door Dash. First order? One dollar delivery fee.
The catchy jingle from the commercial he heard the other night played in his mind. maybe. with that thought, he shuffled his way over to the basement door, down to his room and over to his night stand where he left his phone. he didn't really have much of a use for it but that just might change if spam was a regular meal in this dug around through the app store patiently waited for it to download and opened the app to start looking around.
His expression shifted to one of disbelief and excitement when he noticed something he wasn't expecting on the menu. Alcohol. Yep. This app was a blessing. he started to poke around a bit more and eventually settled on a beer and some Chinese food as a test to see if the app actually worked. It was surprising how in depth it was. you could pick an exact delivery time and leave instructions like don't knock or ring the doorbell. So, long as they followed those instructions he could wait until the perfect time to go outside and pick up the sneaky snack.
With that plan in mind he ordered the meal and scheduled an 8 pm arrival since Emma would be busy with the kids and usually went to bed shortly after anyways, and honestly, he didn't want to wait that long because he was starving. Besides, it's not like he'd have a better chance to try this until Monday, and he wanted beer now. While the recent memory he regained about Emma was confusing, the other memories made him anxious and stressed and fueled his desire to forget.
Chris finished typing in the last of the instructions before looking over the screen. Do not knock or ring the doorbell. Aggressive dog inside. While it wasn't true, it would hopefully be a decent motivator for the delivery person to follow the instructions. 25 bucks for a 12 dollar meal but hey, miracles weren't cheap. All that was left to do was wait.
The agent made his way back upstairs with his phone in hand and patiently waited for the delivery time. Sure enough 8pm Rolled around and Emma got up. "Okay Rosey, it's bedtime."
"5 more minutes" Rose whines with a hopeful pouty face.
It was the weekend... maybe she could let rose stay up a bit later. Emma thought it over and Rose was all but certain she'd get another 30 minutes if she was lucky but sure enough that was dashed.
"Listen to your mother," Chris says with a slight frown while trying to pretend to read the book he'd been occasionally flipping through.
Rose puffed out her cheeks in defiance but stomped away to the stairs. he was no fun. it's not fair.
Emma was surprised by the assistance but smiles and follows Rose. Maybe he was remembering? Honestly, it didn't seem like it. He was still as distant as he had been for the last month. The spam didn't seem to work how she hoped it would, considering he didn't seem to remember Summer asking him for a brother. If he did, that should have raised several questions that never came.
Emma had just started to tuck Rose in to bed when she heard the sound of the front door opening and closing. That was weird... "I'll be right back," Emma says and gives Rose a peck on the forehead before getting up and heading down the stairs. Sure enough there was Chris sitting on the couch. The coffee table now had a brown paper bag on it, a few containers of Chinese take out and, to her dismay, one clear bottle of golden amber beer.
Her expression turns from confusion to deadpan disbelief. "Seriously?" Emma asks with an annoyed tone which causes Chris to jolt before looking over as he realized he'd been caught. "You know the doctor said you're not allowed to have that," she says while gesturing to the bottle on the table.
Damn it all he got this close. He was not giving up that easily. "I bought it, There for it's mine and not your business." Chris replies while making a shooing motion to try and get her to go away.
Uh-huh. Cool. No. A tired sigh crossed her lips. If only she could get the darn thing away from him and dump it some ho- He didn't remember her. Haha, this might work to her advantage. "Fine, I'll leave it be if you let me have the first drink each time you order alcohol." This could at least buy her enough time to call in an assist from the BSAA. As much as she didn't want to owe them or ask them for help, since they didn't seem keen to help in the first place, they might actually step in for this.
Chris looks between the bottle and Emma. It was an odd offer but, it seemed like the easiest way to get her off his back. "...Deal," he hesitantly agrees.
Emma nods upon hearing that and walks over. it had been about 20 years since she last had to do this but hey here's hoping she still had some of her older 'talents'. She took a seat next to him and picked up the bottle.
To Chris's surprise she bare hand opened the bottle that should have otherwise needed a bottle opener. He watched in a mixture of horror and awe as she put the bottle to her lips and in one go, managed to drink all of it.
The woman winced a bit before handing the empty bottle to Chris. "Next time you try and pull that shit, get better beer. That tasted like piss," She pats his chest then moves to get up. Mission accomplished.
Chris looked between the empty bottle in his hand and the woman. "W-... Now hold on a second, what the actual fuck?" Chris asks bewildered as he gets up as well and uses his free hand to catch her wrist and keep her from retreating. There were a lot of feeling screaming at him, but he couldn't tell which was screaming louder, it seemed like a tie at the moment between impressed and concerned with a couple of other thoughts not far behind that.
"Are you okay?" Chris asks as he puts the bottle down. He wanted to drink himself into a coma, and even he was concerned by that stunt she just pulled. She pretty clearly had a rough day.
"I'm fine," Emma replies though mentally she was preparing to not feel so spectacular in the morning, it had been way too long since she last drank. period. let alone an entire beer in what, 10 seconds?
Seriously? "Cut the shit, you've been out of it ever since you got home," Chris says with a frown. "What happened?"
Emma paused as she remembered her thoughts from earlier. she should have been a bit more willing to rely on him... "I might lose my job..." Emma admits quietly. "I've been taking Rose and Piers with me for months now and my boss just said I can't bring rose anymore... she can't go to day care so. I don't know what to do..."
Months?! Months. What is her husband doing? He should be helping her with this. How long had she been alone? "Shouldn't Rose be in school?"
"Rose is chronically ill so, she doesn't go to school," Emma replies, she wasn't sure how much to say to answer that question, but it seemed reasonable enough. "She's actual two and a half, not seven."
Oh... maybe he can cut the kid a little slack on her manners then. She hadn't has as much time to learn as he thought...
"Claire's not going to be here for another two weeks, so I can't ask her for help..." Emma adds and shakes her head. "At this point my only option is to resign..."
Who's Claire? whatever that didn't matter right now. This was the first time he'd heard her admit to struggling since he woke up and something said this was really unusual... he said he wanted to be more useful if he was going to stay... "I'll watch her." he says in return. Sure he was kinda cranky still that she stole his beer but, after hearing that. she kinda needed more than him. He'd just try again on Monday.
"No, thank you but, Chris you're still recovering," Emma replies though it seemed a bit weak as far as a sincere rejection goes.
"It's not like I have anything else to do," Chris points out in return. "besides, if you lose your job, I don't exactly have anywhere else I can go," He adds to convince her.
He really still didn't remember... "Alright," Emma relents. Maybe spending time with Rose would be good for him. "If you're sure then, Thank you."
"Don't mention it," he replies finally letting go of her arm to ruffle her hair a bit before moving to sit back down and enjoy what was left of his second dinner.
'*'*'*'*'
And so, the weekend came to a close and Monday arrived. Much to Chris's chagrin, Emma was still one step ahead of him. He tried ordering lunch and a drink with the blessed food delivery app only to find that she taped a note to the front door that explained Chris was being a little shit and trying to order alcohol while he was recovering from major surgery. It included instructions to not leave any drinks, and it apparently had a bribe of $20 to comply which was accepted by the driver since the plastic bag taped to the door was empty. Tuesday brought another attempt after making sure there was no sign on the door. This time it was foiled by his card being rejected.
While Emma wasn't thrilled to ask for help from the BSAA, desperate times called for desperate measures and their idea of helping was to make sure all of his cards were canceled. He can't buy anything now so in their eyes the problem was solved. The only way he'd be able to reactivate the cards would be to remember his social security number, which he didn't know anymore, or remember the answers to his security questions since he didn't remember his passwords.
Even then, Chris kept his word and watched after Rose while Emma went to work. It was actually kind of easy all things considered, she kept to herself mostly and played with her toys or watched TV after showing Chris that she finished her workbooks which seemed to be her replacement for school. Days went by another weekend passed and time crawled along as days were crossed off on the calendar before reach the 14th of February.
Chris woke up with a slight jolt as his phone alerted him that it was time to get up and start the day. the man grumbled and reached for the device from the bed to turn it off. While he had hoped to get 5 more minutes of sleep the alarm went off again. "What the hell..." He grumbled in sleepy annoyance. did he hit snooze by mistake? He picked up the phone this time and looked at it. a separate alarm had been set, a calendar event labeled 'Valentines day'. Chris raised an eyebrow and poked around at the screen to open the internet and search to figure out what the alarm was talking about. The answer only confused him a bit further.
Valentine's Day, also called Saint Valentine's Day or the Feast of Saint Valentine is celebrated annually on February 14th.
Significance: Feast day of Saint Valentine; The celebration of love and affection
Observance: sending greeting cards and gifts, dating, church services, novenas
Why on earth did he have an alarm for that? He was single. That he knew of. If he had been seeing someone he certainly wasn't now. It would be rather horrid of them to not visit him at all after being out of the hospital for 2 months.
"Chris," Emma calls from the top of the stairs to the basement.
"Yeah," he replies, loud enough for her to hear him.
"Breakfast is ready, are you joining us?" Emma asks with a curious tone.
"I'll be right there," he says in return before closing out the search on his phone and the query had been forgotten just like that. Moving around was getting a bit easier and with that, it meant getting ready in the morning was easier too. The sooner he could be rid of these crutches the better.
Chris made his way upstairs after that and the new routine picked up as it always did. Emma made breakfast, the 4 of them ate together before Emma would leave with the baby and Chris would stay home to watch Rose. The beginning of the day was always rather quiet as Rose sat at the table to finish a few more pages of her workbooks while Chris would either read or fiddle around with the guitar. For today, he'd taken to reading one of the books from his study. He figured if he kept at it, he'd eventually remember something or find a journal? So far, this one just seemed like a tips and tricks book for wilderness survival.
"Chris," Rose whines, "I don't get it," she says while resting her chin on the table and glaring at the workbook.
"What don't you get?" He asks though he didn't shift his focus away from his book.
"my math," She grumbles while continuing to glare at the unmarked page in front of her.
That wasn't particularly helpful. a quiet sigh crosses his lips before he moved to get up and shuffle over to the table. "Which one are you having trouble with?"
"this one..." She says pointing at the first one on the page.
She didn't make it very far today... "okay, 77 plus 16," he reads off.
"the numbers are too big," Rose complains.
"Then take the big problem and make it smaller problems that are easier to manage," he explains. "What's 7 plus 6," he asks.
"Thirteen," Roses replies and writes down 13 as the answer.
"yes but that's not quite how you'd write that down. put the 3 here and the 1 there," he says while pointing to the different parts of the equation.
"why?" Rose asks confused.
I donno, 'cause you're supposed to? he wasn't really sure how to explain it, it was just the process and you followed it. "because that's how it works," he ends up saying which wasn't too far off from his initial thought.
"What's 1 plus 7?" he asks.
"8," Rose says confidently
"and 8 plus 1" Chris ask while pointing at the last part of the equation.
"9" Rose chirps back. these were easy.
"Good so put a 9 there and that's your answer, what number is that?" he asks to make sure she could read the answer after breaking out the equation like that.
"Ninty three," Rose says with a slight nod. "That was hard... can't I just use a calculator?"
For some reason, he had a feeling he said the same thing as a kid. "Just keep practicing, and you won't need out," Chris says. He spent another hour or so helping her with that when there was a knock at the door and duke started to bark.
That's odd... they weren't expecting a guest. unless. His mind wandered back to that alert on his phone earlier in the morning. A day to celebrate affection if there was ever a time for this mystery man to show up, that would be today. Who knocks at the door of their own home though? Chris made his way over to the door and found no one there except for a long thin rectangular box.
"Duke shush, go away," Chris says while trying to shoo the dog back with his crutch before opening the door to retrieve the box which he carried over to the kitchen island. the decorative white green and purple box was odd looking, but the label said it was for Emma so that was enough for him to leave it alone. While he was somewhat curious, he'd be patient and wait for Emma to get home.
And so he waited. Rose had finished her workbooks, they both got their lunch from the fridge that Emma left for them and Rose went on to watch yet another Spider-Man movie about an alternate universe where Gwen was Spider-Man. It wasn't long after that when a tired Emma entered the home for the evening carrying Piers.
"Hey guys, how was your day?" Emma asks as she moves to set out a blanket so she could put Piers down.
"Good," Rose replies while continuing to play with her toys.
"You got a package," Chris says and points over his shoulder to the box on the kitchen island.
"Huh. Weird, I didn't order anything," Emma admits before making her way over to check it out. Emma carefully opened the box to find a bouquet of bright yellow flowers. small sunflowers and yellow tulips were mixed with babies breath and daises. Emma smiles at this and gently takes them out of the box to find a card hidden under them. "Aw," Emma happily cooed before going to get a vase to put the flowers. once they were happily set up in their new home she opened the card and smiled a bit more setting it up before picking up the box. "I'll be right back I need to make a phone call," Emma says as she goes to head to the garage, so she could multitask putting the box in the recycling and get a bit of privacy for her phone call.
Once the box was broken down and put into the bin, Emma took her phone out of her pocket and set it to dial. "Hey Chel it's Emma," Emma greets.
"Oh hello, I've been expecting you my darling," Chelsea jokingly replies.
"So it was you, thank you so much, they're beautiful," Emma says with a laugh.
"Of course! If Chris gets salty about it after he remembers, then he can just pay me back and say they were a proxy gift from him," Chelsea says in a joking tone. "Joking aside, I couldn't have my bestie not get flowers on Valentine's Day." Chelsea admits. "I know things are a bit rough right now, I'm not sure what I can do to help but if anything comes up let me know okay? You've always been there for me."
"You're the best, thank you," Emma says with a soft smile. "This made my day," Emma adds and continued to express her appreciation of the gift. "I'm sorry to ask for more from you but, do you still have the girl's baby clothes? As much as I'd prefer to get Piers his own cloths... not having to worry about buying the next size up would cut some stress..."
"Girl don't even worry about it, it's all unisex at that age anyways. footie pajamas are footie pajamas," Chelsea replies with a nod. "I'll try and drop off what I can over the weekend."
While Emma continued to talk to Chelsea, Curiosity got the better of Chris who made his way over to the kitchen island and took a seat. Flowers, huh? Should have guess. he thought as he moved to pick up the card and look it over.
'My darling, Happy Valentine's Day. With love, Your secret admirer'
This. This was familiar. Images came to mind of the same small apartment. He was sitting at the kitchen island then too. on the island was the same metal hut and a bouquet of brightly colored flowers with a card that read 'Happy Valentine's Day, your secret admirer.' He remembered being annoyed reading that message then too. All the same, the memory continued. He remembered being upset and Emma noticing. He remembered the two going out with no destination in mind. That they stopped for dinner, and saw a movie after only for them to fall asleep because the movie was boring. A date? He remembered walking back with her, feeling at peace only to stop at the doorway of the building as he got a call. work.
So, there was interest, and she chose someone else... her secret admirer... Cool, well, that solved that, he thought while glaring at the card.
'*'*'*'*'
Time continued to pass and while he wasn't sure if he appreciated all the memories he was getting back he was remembering more than before and each day he felt a bit more, normal. He wasn't really sure what normal was yet but pieces were falling into place, and he could tell as much. As always, the routine continued and Chris watched after Rose during the day. Before long Friday rolled around and the usual homely scene was in motion. Emma was making dinner while Piers was laying on a blanket. The infant was becoming more and more active. Attempts at babbling were starting to form as he was making progress with being able to hold his head up on his own. He'd started to push himself up, so he can look around at his surroundings a bit more though that rarely lasted longer than a few seconds.
While Emma was tired as usual, she pushed her self a bit more to make a nicer dinner since they were expecting a guest. She'd just about finished up when knocking and barking announced the presence of a figure on the other side of the main door.
"On my way," Emma says while cleaning her hands off on a towel before making her way over to the door to open it. Sure enough there was Claire.
"Hey," Claire greets using her free hand to give a slight wave since the other was holding a shoebox against her hip.
"It's good to see you, come in," Emma says while getting out of the way.
"How's he holding up?" Claire asks with a concerned expression.
"He's giving me a run for my money but, he's Chris," Emma says with a half-hearted laugh.
"Sorry I wasn't able to get here sooner. I'm still working on getting the others out here, it's not as easy for them. Missions and such," Claire explains as Emma closed the door behind her.
"It's fine, I appreciate the help," Emma admits. "Dinner should be ready in a few minutes Chris is in the living room. Do you want me to take the kids upstairs?"
"It should be fine," Claire replies. "If he starts looking rough just be ready to jump in."
"I can do that," The tired woman agrees.
With that, the two walked back into the shared living space of the home and split off. Emma went back to preparing the meal while Claire walked over to the living room.
"Hey Chris, mind if I take a seat?" Claire asks as she looks at her brother.
"Sure," he replied though his expression remained skeptical.
Claire accepts the answer all the same and sits down on the couch. "I brought you a gift," she says and offers him the box she brought with her.
Chris looks it over before going back to his book "that's alright," he says in return and tries to ignore the offer. He knew why people visited at this point and after the last time he was hesitant to go through a similar experience again.
"You're sure you don't want it?" Claire asks as she's not really sure what to do. she hadn't considered him rejecting the chance to remember.
"Yeah well. the last 'gift' I got from a stranger wasn't so great," Chris points out while frowning as he thought back on the panicking that the memories returned by the last visitors caused him.
"This one won't be as bad, I promise,"Claire says while patiently waiting for him to take the offered box.
oh, as bad. great. he rolled his eyes at that and cautiously accepts the shoebox to open it. Inside was a rather random collection of items. he shifted through them before two stood out among the others. a knife and a lighter. both were engraved with the same logo that read. S.T.A.R.S. He remembered the large building that was at one point used as a museum and a library before eventually being converted to a police station for the expansive city. He remembered the competitions that would go on to motivate the officers to be the best of the best and constantly train. Competitions that he won a few of and got items like this as a reward. So why did this person have them?
"I won theses... years ago," Chris says while looking them over. they were worn but well cared for. he tried to think over the woman's face and why she might have these items. He remembered a young girl maybe 19 years old who would come to visit him from time to time. He'd teach her what he learned to make sure she'd be able to protect herself. the world was a dangerous place, and he wanted his sister to be safe. wait, "Claire?" he asks curiously while looking at her. How on earth did he manage to forget his own sister? Seeing her nod in response caused him to reach out and pull her into a hug.
"Hey, welcome back," Claire says with a slight laugh. "I thought I lost you again for a second there."
A half-hearted laugh could be heard from Chris. The action brought about other memories, ones that were not as happy as the training montage from before. Memories where one or the other would be in danger or lost, while the other was trying to find them. Memories that would usually end in the two hugging, kind of like this. One of these instances were rather confusing though, causing him to let go of Claire so he could look at her.
"Crazy question but. Were we ever in Antarctica?" Chris asks, though he felt foolish even asking.
hearing that got her to smile a bit and nod. "We've had very adventurous lives."
"Yeah, I guess so," he agrees before going back to the box and looking through the various items that were starting to slowly make more sense.
A little silly extra and kind of a late FanNatic Lore segment. Something I noticed in the bonus ending for RE 8 was Rose wearing wireless earbuds while she was on the bus. Another thing that stood out to me the focus they put on her shoes and the way she landed when jumping off the last step of the bus. She lands with the pad of her foot rather than the heel which tends to suggest a more nimble/graceful movement. And the logo is a girl dancing in the moonlight. I thought it would be a fun little plot point to add in and explain by Emma's presence. Rose grew up with a guardian who has a strong love for music and for Rose that translated to a love of dancing. Since I'm already reading far too much into a throw away scene and using that for context of how Rose grew up, let's dive deeper. Rose landed with one pointed foot and a flat foot. To me, it suggests an interest in dance but no formal training. IE she wanted dance lessons but was never allowed to attend, so she had to teach herself. It's definitely a 'blink, and you'll miss it' detail, so I doubt CapCom meant anything by it.
The Paris thing is a guess based on the fact Chris did go to Europe and there's some lore that mentioned how after the fall of umbrella the company focused on its European division which had a lab in Paris. Take that one with a grain of salt. I found that while web diving for lore, and it didn't have an in game source listed.
Also credit where credit is due, I did directly quote a DoorDash ad. I looked them up, and now I'm probably going to get spammed with them. The things I do in the name of research lol.
