Okay, I think after this one, we're finally back to the reasonable chapter size territory? Thank you so much for putting up with the mammoth brick that where the last few chapters. Time for more Chris confusion shenanigans! lol Sorry in advance if the pacing is not top tier on this chapter. lots of stuff to cover and I didn't want to have this end up being 20,000 words.

Song Suggestion: Better Days by NEIKED, Mae Muller & Polo G

Disclaimer: I own nothing Capcom is the all might authority on all things Resident Evil. I just like hiding in their plot holes.


February's biting cold gave way to a frozen march. The first of March went on like any other, she went to work with Piers while Chris watched Rose and yet no progress seemed to be made as far as Chris's memory of her went. Not that she was too surprised. It seemed like her days were filled with doctor's appointments, working and sleeping. Chris and Rose needed to go to the BSAA for check-ups, Piers needed regular check-ups to make sure he was healthy and growing properly, booster shots and the like, even she had a few appointments to make sure she was healing properly and doing well.

That was at least the silver lining of it all. Everyone was still, for the more part, healthy. Chris was recovering well enough. Maybe another two or three months of rehab to be safe. Rose still had occasional aches from growing quickly, but she was still happy and healthy. Piers would get a cold every now and again, but he was healthy too and Emma even got her full bill of health for recovery meaning she could start her old work-outs again.

Emma smiled a bit at that thought as she marked off the first of march on her calendar. Technically, there were still a few hours left but, it was late enough in the day that it seemed fine to mark it off. Dinner had been made and consumed. The house was clean thanks to Chris leaving Emma with some very rare free time. She'd changed into some of her old workout clothes which, was admittedly a little snugger than she remembered before heading down to the first floor where the others were relaxing for the evening. or so she thought.

"Where's Chris?" Emma asks curiously as she noticed his seat was empty.

"He said he wanted to look at books," Rose replied as she sits by Pier's blanket and watches as the child held himself up on his elbows so he could look back at her.

Well, that didn't help... "Alright, well, I'm going to go practice with the punching bag, there aren't adults up here, so Piers has to go downstairs with me," Emma explained to Rose.

"Can I go too?" Rose asks curiously. It had been a while since they did practice time. She wanted to beat up the punching bag.

"Sure," Emma agrees with a smile as she walks over to pick up Piers and his blanket.

With that, the group made their way down the stair. The blanket was set up a safe distance away from the punching bag and after removing his vise grip on a section of her hair, Emma put Piers back down.

"I wanna go first," Rose says excitedly.

"I want to go first, please," Emma gently corrects which causes Rose to pout a bit before giving a tired huff.

"I want to go first, please," Rose repeats.

"Okay, you can go first," Emma agrees as she moves to kneel by the punching bag. "Do you remember how to make a fist?" Rose thinks it over before doing so and showing Emma. "Very good," Emma praises with a slight chuckle. "Take your stance," the woman instructs and Rose does what she's told. "Ready?" Emma asks.

"Yeah," Rose says as she stared down the bag with a determined expression.

"Kick. Punch, Kick, Kick. Punch." Emma instructs in Chris's place. Each attack against the punching bag was made with a dramatic 'Oof' or 'Hyah' along with the rather loud sound of contact.

Meanwhile, not far away, Chris was scanning through the shelves of books in his study trying to find a new source of knowledge, hoping for more answers on who he was. A growing piled of finished and rejected books was forming in the corner by the safe he couldn't figure out how to open. He looked over the spines of the books and read the titles trying to find something useful. Yearbooks, gun care and instruction manuals, First aid and survival guides. Among the books a newer spine stood out to him that had no title causing him to take it off the shelf to get a better look at it. A traveler's record of Romania: a beautiful country, its people and many villages. Now why on earth did he have this?

"I guess I used to travel a lot?" Chris whispered under his breath, that kinda tracked with what he remembered so far. Paris, Several places in the states, Antarctica, and now Romania. Suppose that made sense, based on what he knew so far he was in the military at one point. He was about to sit down at his desk to start reading when he heard the soft impact sounds accompanied by the dramatic battle cries. Hearing this caused him to raise an eyebrow before he moved to leave the study and search for the source of the noise.

His search led him out of the study, through his room and over to the stairs, so he could see the other side of the basement. He paused as he found Rose and Emma by the punching bag with Piers a good distance away from the two watching from his blanket. Chris smiled to himself as he shifted to rest his crutch against the wall, so he could lean against the wall as well, allowing him to rest a bit while he watched. The kid was doing pretty well.

The shadows of a memory played in tandum. A much smaller Rose toddled over to the punching bag that was not being used only to give it an open bare hand slap. He could hear the memory of Him and Emma laughing at the rather cute action.

"Good job Rose"

"You showed it whose boss,"

He remembered Rose smiling at them for their praise before moving to shove the bag in hopes of further praise, only for it to swing just enough to come back and smack her in the face, knocking her over. He remembered her crying only to be picked up and coddled by Emma. The memory shifted to another, Rose had grown since then and was trying a bit more seriously, but her own fear was determining for her that she was going to fail before she even tried, causing her to fall over each time. He remembered helping her. Sort of like what Emma was doing now. He remembered how excited she was when she finally managed to kick the punching bag.

A sense of pride began to form as he watched her now. She was doing much better than she had in the memories. Still just as dramatic, but she was doing well for a child.

"Punch, Kick, Punch, Punch, Kick," He heard Emma continue to instruct as the memory faded away.

Chris shift to get his crutch and takes a few steps in towards the small home gym. "Watch your posture," Chris warns which causes the two to pause. Seeing them turn and look at him surprised made him feel a bit self-conscious. Relax... you used to help, or at least you did in those memories? "You want to make sure you're hitting the bag with your shin. Not your knee or your foot. You'll hurt yourself if you're not careful."

"Okay," Rose replies with a nod before trying again.

"Better," Chris confirms nodding in return before noticing Emma watching him causing him to clear his throat. "Sorry I'll go."

"No," Emma says as a gut reaction but corrects herself. "I mean, it's okay, you can stay."

The reaction was a bit odd, but it was nice to feel wanted, he looked between the book in his free hand and the child waiting for further instruction. "Maybe for a few minutes... I need to sit down."

Hearing this caused Emma's eyes to widen in realization, "Oh! By all means, please go rest, I completely forgot, I'm sorry," Emma says as she motions for him to go. He had been standing for a while if he was looking for a book this whole time.

Right... "I'll just be in my room if you need me then," He says as he moves to turn and leave. As he moved to walk past the blanket he noticed that the infant had grown rather significantly over the last two months. He was now able to hold his held up and rest on his elbows while looking around for a rather long time. This time the child leaned a bit to the side in an attempt to watch Chris only for his curious babbling to be replaced with a shocked expression as he rolled over onto his back thanks to leaning too far.

Chris chuckled to himself as the child stared at him with continued confusion as if the small child was trying to ask ', How did that happen? Why are you upside down now?'. The Agent looked over his shoulder back at Emma and Rose who had picked up training again. He didn't really want to interrupt again but... "Hey Emma, is the baby supposed to do that?" he wasn't sure if that was bad for it or not.

Hearing that got Emma's attention causing her to stop and look over and smile. "Did you roll over?" Emma cooed which caused the child to laugh and kick his legs as he recognized the tone as affectionate. A new revelation came to the infant. Those were attached to him too. Some day he would find his toes...

Hearing Piers laugh caused Rose to giggle too. "Silly baby," She remarked with a smile as Emma got up and walked over to the child to pick him up.

"Guess we're all getting our workouts in today," Emma says amused before snuggling the child for a second and putting him down, so he was laying properly again. "Thanks for letting me know, he probably would have gotten frustrated."

"Sure. So he's not supposed to do that?" Chris asks for future reference. Next time he'd just move the kid himself.

"Yes and no. He's about 4 months old now, so it's normal for him to start being able to roll onto his back, and it's good muscle development, but normally at this age it's an accident. So, it gets frustrating for them when they can't roll back over."

Chris nods at that. "So not the end of the world just fix it before he starts screaming."

"Pretty much," Emma confirms.

"Got it," he says with a nod before moving to sit down next to the blanket. While his initial plan had been to go and lay on his bed to read, this would work well enough. He didn't exactly want to have to hear a screaming infant while he was trying to relax so, this would allow for both.

Chris would read a page or two of his book, look over and check on the child while Emma and Rose trained. Every so often he would find that Piers rolled over again with a big smile on his face as he tried to grab his feet. When he noticed this Chris would simply reach over and nudge the child to roll back onto his stomach which caused Piers to giggle. One, two, three, four pages, and flip the baby. One, two, three pages, flip the baby. One Two, Flip the baby- Hold on a second why was this becoming more frequent?

"An accident, huh?" Chris asks quietly while staring down the smiling infant who was reaching for him and giggling. What a fun game they were playing! the agent shakes his head before reaching over to correct the child once more, so he'd be laying on his stomach.

"Punch, Punch, Kick, Kick, Punch," he could hear Emma instruct. Oddly in his mind he heard himself giving the same instructions in the past. Memories started to come to mind of the old apartment building again. They used to do this togeth-STOP! He forcibly caused the memory to halt, rejecting it as he pushed it back down while he pushed himself to get up.

He got it already they were close, now they're not. Just, stop... he didn't want to remember. This was difficult enough as it was. The agent mentally kicked himself for staying as he moved to go to his room as he initially planned to. The baby would be fine.

Eventually, the lessons came to an end, Emma looked over to where Chris and the baby were only to find that once more Chris was not there. Her smile fell. "... Come on Kiddo, it's time for bed," Emma says as she moves to get up and walks over to get Piers.

Once the kids were situated in bed Emma sent a quick text before heading to bed as well.

[Emma] Hey Charlotte... I'm not sure if you got my last message. I'm really sorry, but I can't make it again. Chris is still sick.

'*'*'*'*'

Morning arrived the next day and Rose woke up with a frown. She'd been having a hard time going to her dream place lately. She'd been trying for weeks with no success, and she was used to being able to visit whenever she wanted. She wanted to tell her dad about her new brother and how he actually wasn't so bad now that he wasn't crying all night. She wanted to tell him about her new dancing shoes and that she was trying to learn how to spin and how she was learning how to do harder math problems. More importantly, she wanted to talk to him about the weird dream she had on new years... It still kinda bothered her, and she didn't want to tell the doctors at the BSAA. They always had an odd expression on their face when she told them about things that were weird...

Determined to try and find answers the young girl did her best to quickly finish her breakfast and pushed herself to speed through her workbook assignments for the day. She made sure she was extra well-behaved during the day and ate her food quietly during lunch. Eventually, the last question had been answered for her school work and she looked over at the clock on the microwave. 1:45pm. That still took so long... If anything rushing made it take longer since she kept getting the answers wrong and Chris would erase it and make her redo it.

Rose moved to look over the arm of the couch curiously. "Hey Chris?" she asks earning a short 'mhm?' in response to show he was listening. "I finished my workbooks." Rose announced.

"Alright, bring them over," Chris replies in response.

Rose hurried back over to the table to grab the books and her pencil then makes her way over to the couch and sits next to Chris so she could offer him the homework.

Chris takes the books and opens them to the proper pages to review them. He remained silent and would occasionally nod. "Alright, you're done for the day. Good job," he says and closes them to offer the books back to Rose.

Phew! Rose accepts the books but remains sitting next to the man. Chris didn't seem like he was acting silly anymore, so maybe, just maybe this would work." Hey Chris... I wanna see my dad please." She requests and remembers to use her manners this time.

Chris raised an eyebrow at that. Honestly, he wanted to meet the guy too, but he wasn't sure why she was asking him. "Talk to your mother," Chris says while folding his arms and shifting to get comfortable in his seat.

Rose pouted at that, that's no fair, he promised she could go see him whenever she asked. Adults were so mean. Frustrated with this Rose got up to go and put her books back on the table. What was she going to do now? She still wanted to go see him. That dream was really scary! And it was kinda freaking her out that she couldn't reach her dream space.

The young girl continued to think this over with a frustrated frown as she played with her toys. This puzzling continued on for almost an hour until a soft sound came to ear. Rose looked over from her place on the floor to find that Chris had fallen asleep. Rose thought over some of her movies where kids go off on adventures on their own. If Chris wasn't going to take her to see her dad then she'd take herself.

Having made this determination Rose got up and quietly tiptoed up the stairs to her room to go find her piggy bank. Inside were a few folded 5 dollar bills which she put into her pocket. She got her necklace with her dad's ring on it from her night stand and put that around her neck before going to get her father's coat from the closet. All she needed now was to know where to go... Rose made her way back down the stairs as quietly as she could before peaking around the couch to make sure Chris was still asleep. Yep. Still sleeping. She looked around and gave a quiet 'yes' as she noticed his phone on the coffee table. She lowered herself down to try and crawl over to gingerly grab the device from the table before slowly backing away with it.

Objective complete, Map acquired, aw yeah. Rose smiled at the device before making her way over to the shoe shelf. She quietly debated whether or not she should take her bike out of the garage as she put on her shoes. Ultimately, she decided against it because the garage door would be too noises and taking the bike through the house would be risky. Now set with everything she needed she moved to go to the front door. She felt a gentle tug stop her which caused her to freeze up. She slowly turned to see who stopped her to find that Duke had grabbed the back of her coat with his mouth to tug on it. "Duke no, you can't come too," Rose whispers as she pulls her coat back from the dog. "Shh" she says motioning for the dog to be quiet as she undid the locks and quietly shut the door behind her.

A large grin crossed her face. She was really going on her very first adventure! It was so exciting. Rose walked away from the house along the sidewalks as she poked at the phone to try and find the cemetery by using google. "No... not that one." Rose thought while looking at different locations to see if she could find anything familiar. "Aha!" she happily cheered as she recognized the parking lot. A few more buttons were pushed, and the travel time appeared for walking. 4 hours... "that's a long time..." Rose thought with a frown before trying another button that looked like the front of a bus. The 4-hour time dropped to an hour. "Much better!" she says with a smile before starting the route. It was 3 o clock now, so it would be almost 4 by the time she got there.

Rose followed the phone's directions out of the cul-de-sac out to the streets and into town where she waited at the bus stop like that app told her too. To Rose's annoyance the bus was late, but eventually, she was able to get on and take a seat and the bus took off.

Rose watched out the window and buildings blurred by, she watched people get on and off at each stop until eventually the buss was more or less empty and started heading out of town to a less populated grassy area. The bus stopped again, and the phone chimed in.

"You have arrived at your destination," the device says before a chime like alert went off to signal no further instructions would be given.

Rose quickly got up from her seat and made her way over to the exit only to stop as the bus driver cleared his throat.

"Toll," he says while tapping a metal box with a slot.

Oh, right. Rose nods, avoiding saying anything to the stranger and put some of her allowance into the box before walking down the stairs, jumping off the last step with a smile. She made it! Now where was that rock...

Rose walked around for some time, she was getting tired from all this walking, but eventually, she found what she was looking for. While she wasn't able to read last time, she was now, and she recognized the name Ethan Winters. Winters was her last name. So, this had to be it. The little girl sat down in front of the stone. "Hi dad... I'm here." she says while staring at the rock. No response came though. A disappointed sigh crossed her lips as she curled up on the ground by the headstone and tried to fall asleep. It was going to be a long trip back...

Emma made her way into the house and closed the garage door behind her. "I'm home," Emma says with a slight yawn. What a day. Thank heaven's tomorrow is Friday.

Chris jolts awake with a snort, "Welcome back." he replies out of habit. Was that a habit? He wasn't sure he was still waking up. He groggily rubbed his face before reaching forward with the other to get his phone so he could check the time. To his confusion he didn't grab anything. He moved the hand away from his face to find his phone was not where he remembered leaving it... did he get short-term memory loss too? Where the hell was his phone?

Emma walks into the living room and puts Piers down in his swing. Weird... usually Rose loved getting to say welcome back or, I'm home. She wasn't in the living room either. "Hey Chris? Where's Rose?"

Chris looked over and sure enough Rose was not in the living room, but there were a few toys on the ground. "She's probably just in her room." He replies as he moves to get up. maybe he left his phone on the counter?

"Oh," Duh of course, silly question. Emma smiled a bit at that and went to go and check upstairs. on her way over she noticed Duke scratching at the front door and pacing around. "Hey bud, do you need to go out?" Emma asks as the dog continued to pace. "One second I'll be right there." Emma says and goes upstairs to check on Rose... only to find her room was empty as well. Emma's heart sank as she quickly went to leave the room. "ROSE?" Emma loudly called. "Rosemary where are you?" Emma asks as she hurries back downstairs. maybe she was in the basement for some reason.

"Is she not upstairs?" Chris asks as he starts feeling a pang of concern as well.

"She's not in her room," Emma answers as she moves to quickly make her way into the basement and checks all the rooms while calling for her.

"Shit," Chris says under his breath as he tries to help look around on the first floor. Chris moves as quickly as he can over to the collection of shoes so he could try and look outside for her before noticing a gap where there shouldn't be one. her shoes were gone. "Emma!" Chris shouts to get her attention and the woman nearly tripped over herself to get back up the stairs.

"What is it what happened?" Emma says as she hurries over to Chris.

"Her shoes are gone, and my phone is missing," Chris says giving her what he knows so far

"Oh my god," Emma says while entering full on panic mode "where could she have gone?"

Hey Chris... I wanna see my dad please

"She said something earlier today about wanting to see her dad, I didn't think anything of it," Chris admits as guilt starts to pile on.

"Get in the car now," Emma says as she quickly hurries back over to collect Piers from his swing. "Duke! come one bud lets go." Emma says as she corrals everyone over to the car. Duke hurries over to the car as well and hops into the back while Emma put Piers back into his car seat.

"You know where she went?" Chris asks as he gets into the car.

"I hope so," Emma replies before doing the same and setting the GPS to go to an address Chris didn't recognize.

He should have been paying better attention. but the meds he's on make him feel exhausted sometimes. She's never run off like this before. This is all his fault, she trusted him to watch Rose, and now she was missing. Round after round of guilty thoughts plagued his mind to the point he didn't really notice where they were going.

"You have arrived at your destination," The GPS announced causing Chris to finally look up. Some kind of park? He moved to get out of the car at the same times as Emma, who hurried to open the door letting Duke free while she got Piers from his seat.

As the group ran through the fields marred with stone slabs and pillars, realization set in. this wasn't a park. The deadbeat husband. He was a DEADbeat. Wait but then who sent the flowers? Okay, you know, maybe now isn't the time to be worrying about that part. Chris corrected his thoughts as he looked around for Rose hoping to see the child among the headstones, safe and sound. It was hard to keep up with Emma and Duke, but he did his best to follow behind them and not hold them back.

"And then, it was like, RAWWWWWRR!" Rose explained as she sat cross-legged across from Ethan in the expansive white void. "and then it went like this and, and... and Chris stopped moving..."

"That does sound scary," Ethan admits quietly... that would explain why Chris was able to visit but... how did Rose see it?

"Yeah... did anything like that happen when you sleep?" Rose asks curiously.

"I would have nightmares from time to time. Nothing quite that vivid but, Nightmares do happen," Ethan says in return. He didn't want to freak her out especially since there wasn't much he could do to help her from here.

"Oh..." Rose says with a slight frown. That didn't really help as much as she thought it would.

"I should probably go, I need to go home before it gets late..." Rose explains which causes Ethan's expression to immediately shift to one of concern

"You're not at home?" Ethan asks while trying to figure out what that meant.

"Chris wouldn't take me to visit you. So, I went by myself," Rose explains with a proud smile. she was so grown u-

"Rosemary that's extremely dangerous!" Ethan says as his concern turns to horror. "You need to wake up now." how long had she been asleep. Oh gosh.

"I just wanted to see you..." Rose says sadly, Why was he mad at her?

"I know, but never ever go off on your own like that you're too little," Ethan says, "Now please hurry and wake up."

"...Okay," Rose says with the same sad tone. "Bye dad... I love you."

A quiet sigh crosses his lips as he moves to give Rose a hug. "I love you too. Please be safe."

Rose Yawns as she starts to wake up. the sun was setting. how late was it? Oh no... she didn't like the dark... She flinched as she heard barking in the distance. A soft voice was caught on the wind.

"Rosemary!" She heard a woman shouting.

"Rose!" another voice joined in. "Rose where are you!"

Wait a minute she knew those voices! Rose stood up and started looking around.

"There!" Emma says as Duke started sprinting over to his small human and started to nuzzle her. Emma wasn't far behind them Emma hurried over while carrying Piers against her chest in his harness before falling to her knees and pulling Rose into a hug as she sobbed. "Oh thank god you're alright." Emma says while shaking before peppering the child in pecks and hugging her again. While she wanted to be mad at the moment, she was just relieved the little girl was safe. "Never, ever do that again you understand?" Emma says as she moves to gently hold the little girls face.

Chris was the last to make it over and stayed a bit back from the group. It was his fault this happened. As he waited his eyes wandered over to the headstone that was only just starting to age.

In Loving Memory

of

ETHAN WINTERS

A kind husband and loving father

who put family before all else.

Well, that made him feel worse. He didn't realize she was a widow... She said her husband was just busy with work. A memory started to form that only made the guilt feel that much worse... He knew this guy. They were friends... He remembered sitting here with a bottle of alcohol sharing a drink with the headstone that was brand new.

"Guess it's too late now but... Sorry I fucked up."

"You always were a trusting guy. always saw the best in everyone... even if it wasn't there to begin with."

"Ethan... I don't know what I'm doing..." "I always said you were a shit operative but, a good husband," "And she a good kid. a lot like you. You're the good dad, I'm the good soldier. She needs you... not me,"

"Yet, somehow you ended up being the soldier you never were,"

Tears started to fall from the corners of his eyes as the memory played on.

"and now I have to figure out how to be something I'm not,"

He could feel his breathing begin to labor. Shit. not here. not now. He tried to push it down as he put his hands over his ears to try and drown out the memory. Think of anything else. Think of blood, death, crying, pain, anything else. Think of

"You're not really here, and I get that. You're gone. But. Given how kind you always were... Is there any chance that you were willing to forgive me in the end?"

Forgiveness? ...Did he even deserve that? The thought caused his breathing to calm as his hands fell back to his sides.

"Chris?" Rose asks quietly as she looks over to her guardian who was staring at her father's stone with teary eyes. Hearing Rose's quiet query caused Emma to look over as well. Oh gosh, she messed up. Emma moved to get up while keeping one of Rose's hands in hers.

"Chris, it's okay we can go now," Emma coaches as she kneels to pick up the crutch and offer it to him. It took a few seconds but eventually, he blinked away the remaining tears and cleared his throat.

"Right, Sorry," He replies and accepted the crutch before turning to start making his way back to the car. the sooner they left here the better.

The reunited family made their way back to the car. the ride home was made in silence and dinner was just as quiet. No dessert and Rose was sent to her room and Chris retreated to the basement. Rose was definitely grounded, but Emma wasn't sure how grounded and what would be appropriate. it's not like she could just google 'my kid ran away from home what's an acceptable reprimanding'.

Chris watched from the door of the basement as Emma sat alone at the dinning room table seeming staring at nothing... Forgiveness... He wasn't sure if he deserved it but... He wanted to try. It was terrifying, but he pushed himself to walk over and once he made it to the table, he cleared his throat to get Emma's attention.

"hm? Oh, Chris. Sorry. How long have you been there?" Emma asks as she looked over to him.

"Not long," He replied before using his free hand to gesture to the chair next to her. "Do you mind if I take a seat?"

"I don't mind," Emma replies and gestures for him to do so.

Chris nods and moves to sit down. Okay, how hard could this be just talk. God this was terrifying and he stared down death. "look... about today... I'm Really. Really sorry. I know it's hollow to say, but I didn't mean for this to happen... and" another pause came as he understood part of asking for forgiveness was offering to repair the mistake... "And I understand if you want me to go after this."

Emma stayed quiet for a bit which just made him feel worse but eventually, she spoke. "I'm mad... but I don't hate you...Please don't go," It was going to take some effort, but she would get past this. She knew well enough he didn't say 'hey kid if it's that important then just run away' Rose chose to do that on her own, so the fault was also on Rose. It just sucked that this happened at all...

Hearing this gave him some sense of relief. She was willing to forgive him. Silent filled the air as he cautiously glanced over at the woman sitting next to him while trying to look for the words he wanted to say. "And I'm sorry about your husband," Chris says quietly.

"What?" Emma asks confused before realizing what he mean. "Oh. um. Thank you but, while Rose's Father passed away, my Husband is well and alive," for the more part...

Wow, she remarried quickly. He lost her twice? That thought was cut off as Emma continued her explanation.

"Rose is adopted," Emma adds quietly.

That made more sense. he nods quietly. This kind of explained why he stuck around. Emma adopted the daughter of his friend. A child he promised he'd look after... Things were slowly starting to make a bit more sense even if he hated it. Chances are he told Emma about her because he trusted her to raise Rose better than he could. Today kind of proved that was true.

"Chris?" Emma asks quietly to see if he was still okay with talking.

"Yeah?" He replies just as quietly.

"I'm sorry too... I shouldn't have brought you there... I was panicking..." Emma admits in return. "I know that place is hard for you to visit... I think. I just didn't want to be alone if she wasn't there..."

"It's okay," Chris replies. "I would have asked to go with anyways... I was worried too."

Emma nods quietly and went back to being quiet. It's been two months, but it felt like so much longer since he left in December... She wanted him to hold her and tell her everything was going to be okay. Instead, she took a breath and leaned enough to rest her head against his shoulder. For now, this would have to be enough.

'*'*'*'*'

The next morning arrived and Emma still felt just as drained as she was last night. To be fair, she could barely sleep as she would dream of walking into Rose's room and finding an empty bed. While she wasn't physically sick, she didn't feel capable of working, so she called in and took the day off. It was risky to do since she was already on thin ice, but she didn't really care at this point. This wouldn't have happened if they didn't say she couldn't take Rose in anymore when she didn't have anywhere else for Rose to go...

At least it wasn't a complete waste of a day. While Chris helped Rose with her homework Emma worked on catching up on laundry. It did help that Chris was doing his own laundry, but she still needed to do her own and the kids. Lunch was served, and some time later so was dinner. Being able to keep an eye on Rose for the day did help put her mind at ease. That was nice at least.

What she wasn't expecting though, was a knock at the door. Duke started to bark as well making sure everyone knew that someone was there.

"Weird I didn't think anyone was visiting for the month..." Emma said under her breath before making her way to the door. "Duke go get your stuffy please." Emma stated the usual command and Duke walked away.

Emma opened the door and to her surprise she found Charlotte staring back at her. "Charlotte! Hi. Um. What are you doing here?" Emma asks concerned as she looked around. Where was the silver haired man? She did not have the patience to deal with him right now.

"It's the first weekend of the month," Charlotte replied. "If you can't make it to New York then there's nothing left for me to do except come to you. I paid for the lessons in advance, so I'm not missing two in a row."

Right. Fuck. Shit. "Okay," Emma says hesitantly. "Are you staying somewhere?"

"There's a hotel down the road I'm staying there," Charlotte replies with a nod.

Oh thank god.

"Are you going to let me in?" Charlotte asks in return.

This was a horrible idea, but she didn't really have a choice... "Right, sorry, um yeah come on in." Emma says and moves to let Charlotte enter the house. "Chris we have a guest," Emma says with continued hesitation. Please don't remember, please don't remember. For the love of god this is the one time she's going to ask this, please don't remember.

A guest? Hearing that confused him. Usually, Emma would let him know in advance by a few weeks if someone was coming to see him. Another woman? Odd. Here he thought the next visitor she mentioned was going to be a man and that wasn't until next month... Chris pushed himself to get up and made his way over to the two that were standing by the entryway of the shared living space. The least he could do is properly greet them now that he was able to move a bit better.

"I'm sorry if we've met before, and I don't remember but, it's nice to meet you," Chris says while offering his free hand to Charlotte.

Charlotte looked at the offered hand before accepting it. a flash of an image crosses his mind. She was dangling off some sort of metal bridge, and he caught her? That what it looked like at least. They'd met before.

"We've met, My name's"

"Charlotte..." Chris finished for her as he stared confused as a sense of unease washed over him. She saved him He was knocked into a lake by a beast. She pulled him out... He would have drowned. he returned the favor and kept her from falling off a walkway. Some sort of metal gate? Why did he feel scared then?

Charlotte nods. "You can let go of my hand now," She says while watching him cautiously.

The statement fell on deaf ears as the memory continued. She'd lead them to the path. A safe passage covered in ice that was a shortcut to a large metal factory. He remembered climbing the gate and helping her up after she fell when she tried to do the same and her dress got caught. He remembered her leading the way through the factory. Walls lined with bioweapons that paid the two no mind. It was like they were invisible. She took him to a lower level of the factory and suggested working with someone. Someone he didn't trust. A bioweapon? They were dangerous. They disagreed but he still wanted to help her. but she wouldn't leave... he lied to her. Told her there was someone with supplies that could help by the church. Next he remembered. He was making his way back to a group 5 others by a helicopter, and she was there too. Her arms were tied down with zip ties. He told someone to do that... Not directly but He didn't think she'd leave without a fight. She was shouting at him. He was mad, someone died. So, he locked her in the helicopter, so he could focus on the mission...

Creatures. humans that looked like wolves, but tendrils flicked around through cracks in their heads and flesh. Biting, scratching, howling, giant hammers that broke through pillars with ease. Fire everywhere.

Emma watched as Chris's eyes dilated shortly after he quietly remembered Charlotte's name. she could see him starting to tremble in fear and his breathing began to labor signaling the beginning of a new episode. Chris stumbled back a few steps as he let go of Charlotte's hand, so he could hold the side of his head as if there was a mounting pressure, and it was about to explode. explosions. he remembered one shaking the helicopter. Charlotte was nowhere to be seen. He flinched as his crutch clattered against the wooden floor.

"Okay time for you to go," Emma says as she sees Chris very quickly devolving into a panic.

"I just got he-" Charlotte started but was cut off by Emma taking her hand and leading her to the back door which slide open with ease.

"Outside now," Emma says with little indication of an apologetic tone. probably because she didn't feel sorry. She would deal with Charlotte later. Once the woman was out the door Emma quickly shut and locked it before heading back to check on Chris.

"Hey, Can you hear me?" Emma asks while generally staying out of arm's reach. He'd just feel worse if he accidentally lashed out. "Talk me through it, what's going on," Emma coached while Rose watched from behind the couch.

God it really was his fault that Ethan died... there was a growing sense of guilt as he realized there was civilian blood on his hands. Rose's father was dead because of him and yet, the man trusted Chris enough to watch after his child. Why?

Emma frowned as he remained silent. "It's okay. Chris, Do you want to go somewhere else?"

Chris shook his head no.

"Okay," Emma replies while making sure for now she was in sight. "Did you like dinner?" Emma asks trying to give him something else to think about. Maybe that would help.

"It was fine," Chris managed to reply his breathing was still shakey, but it was starting to calm down. "Why was she here?"

"She's wants to help," Emma answers "Breath, it's okay, you're safe," she reassures once more.

Eventually, his breathing slows to a more normal rate as fear was replaced with embarrassment. He remembered who that was for the more part. She was an ass, and she just saw him at a really low weak point... "I don't like that she's here." He admits.

"It's just for now," Emma replies in return. "I made a deal with her normally this wouldn't be an issue, but we needed the help so in exchange I give her cooking lessons once a month. It's actually a pretty good deal, but I wasn't able to do that last month, so she decided to come here. instead."

He felt bad but at this point he was kind of crashing and with that, his mind was checking out. " Fine, fine just keep her away from me."

"Can do," Emma replied. Hopefully she could.

Chris nods at that before wincing as he moved to try and get his crutch from the floor. That was still rather painful to kneel down without a way to support his weight. Emma Kneeled as well to help him gather the item which he used to make his way back to the couch so he could catch his breath. That. Sucked.

Emma waited until she was sure that Chris was safely situated on the couch before heading to the back door and opening it to go outside and closed the door behind her to find Charlotte still waiting for her. "Oh, you're still here," Emma says as she leaned against it to allow herself to slowly sit down. she needed a breath as well. that was stressful.

"Is he alright," Charlotte asks with a raised eyebrow.

"He'll be okay, he just had an episode yesterday, not as bad but this was not good for him..." Emma says quietly.

there was a moment of silence before Charlotte spoke again. "... Are you okay?"

"Yeah, fine." Emma says though she was pretty clearly not fine. "I mean fine as I can be." she corrected before continuing, "My husband almost died, and I wasn't told he was at risk of dying until they told me to pick him up and take him home, and now he can't remember me, I don't know if he's ever going to remember me and if he's just going to be a stranger in his own home for the rest of his life and I don't really know if I'm ready for that possibility because no matter what I do he doesn't seem to see me and I don't know what I'm doing wrong, and I'm trying not to think about that while trying to figure out how to do everything by myself between taking care of him and two kids and working and doctors visits and"

"Yeah that is not fine," Charlotte corrects as Emma moved to hold her face to try and hide the fact that tears were starting to form again.

Stop it, you need to be the strong one for a little bit longer. He'll remember eventually you just need to keep being patient, Emma thought though she'd be lying if she said it wasn't frustrating all the same. Emma jolted a bit from surprise as she felt a hand on her back causing her to look over and find that Charlotte had moved to sit next to her.

"Okay. Let's try that again from the top but a bit slower this time. If you talk in one breath again like that you might pass out," Charlotte points out.

A tired sigh crossed Emma's lips. She never really had the chance to talk about what had been going on. sure people knew, but her friends didn't really understand the full extent of the problem since the BSAA / Bioweapons stuff was all classified, and she wasn't supposed to talk about it. Technically, she really shouldn't even talk to Charlotte about it. "Chris got pretty beat up during his last mission... 5 puncture wounds to the chest that went the whole way through, a broken arm. broken leg, the list goes on..."

"Jesus," Charlotte replies horrified.

"yeah... and I only found out after they almost lost him for good. Surgeries were done no one said anything. They just said 'Hey here he is come pick him up. By the way, he has amnesia. Good luck with that, see you in a month to take the casts off.'," Emma scoffed before pausing and thinking on what it was that was really bothering her causing her to curl up a bit more to hug her own legs. "He remembered you just fine after a few minutes. I've been around him pretty constantly for two months, and he seems more distance than when he remembered nothing... We've known each other for six years, and he can't remember hardly any of it." She says not realizing that was actually far from the truth and the majority of the issue was being created from a false memory, a phenomenon the doctors did not warn her about, and a false sense of understanding.

"So, flirt with him. You managed to get him to fall for you once, the second time should be easier since you already know what makes him tick," Charlotte points out as a solution. "If you want him to remember romance then, romance him."

"Easy for you to say, I'm not as young and energetic as I was, I'm so tired the bags under my eyes have bags, and I'm pretty sure I have Fruit loops in my hair right now," Emma lists off the reasons why she didn't feel like that wouldn't work. "Not to mention we were both so dense that it took a mutual friend setting us up on a date, twice, before we actually started making progress."

"Get up," Charlotte says shortly in response.

"Huh?" Emma replies confused.

"I said get up," Charlotte repeats as she does the same and moves to stand.

Once Emma stood up, she felt Charlotte take her hand and start leading the way back into the house.

"Where are we going?" Emma asks confused.

"Anywhere but here, and we're going to do fun shit, and you're going to enjoy yourself understood?" Charlotte says in return with a commanding presence.

Whoa, what? Hold up. Hearing that caused Chris to rather quickly check his surroundings. Danger person was dragging Emma. Nope! Not okay.

"Get off of her," Chris says as he moves to get up to try and hobble over to stop Charlotte.

Instead, Charlotte stops on her own and points at Chris. "You. When was the last time she left the house to do anything that wasn't taking care of someone else's problems?"

The question made him stop in his tracks. At least they weren't moving now too. The two remained in a silent stalemate for a moment longer giving Chris time to think. "... I don't remember," He admits.

"This really isn't necessary I'm fine I promise," Emma says nervously.

"Yeah actually it kind of is necessary, I'm just going to have to be the one that makes you take a god-damn break," Charlotte says before looking at Chris. "Now the real question is, can you manage not to screw up long enough to let her leave for 24 hours and catch her breath? She'll be right back. Scouts honor."

"Charlotte!" Emma says in a chiding tone. That was not called for. Good sentiment, very poor execution.

Chris remained quiet and thought it over. He did kinda screw up pretty badly yesterday. Guess she found out about that too... This could be a good way to redeem himself a bit. "If," He starts off making sure to pause to emphasize the word. "she wants to go, then yes. I can manage."

"Good, we'll be back tomorrow," Charlotte replies.

"I said if that's what she wants, not what you want," Chris says again as he moves to block the way. "Emma?" He asks while looking at her.

What did she want... She knew she used to watch the girls for Chelsea to let her friends have a break, but that really wasn't an option in reverse anymore... "I don't think I'd sleep well while being separated from the kids at the moment... so 24 hours, It would kind of be more stressful than helpful." Emma admits while looking over at the clock that read 7:04 PM. "But, If you want to do something and come back before it's late... I'm okay with that. A little break sounds nice..."

"Well that's not going to work, everything's going to start closing soon," Charlotte points out in return. "First thing in the morning then. Fair?" the woman asks in return as she looks between the two, which more so resulted in both Charlotte and Chris looking at Emma.

That did kind of make a bit more sense than running off now... "That's okay," Emma confirms. Was she really going to be able to relax away from the house?

"Then that's settled," Charlotte says with a nod.

"So you're leaving then right?" Chris asks with a hard stare. He was 1,000% done with this chick, and he only just remembered she existed.

"Fine," Charlotte says while rolling here eyes. " I'll be back in the morning. 9:30 sharp." Charlotte confirms as she moves to let go of Emma. "If you're not ready I'll consider it a breach of our contract."

I don't think that's how that works... "Okay," Emma agreed all the same hoping to keep the peace.

Charlotte nods in return and moves to leave. Once she was out the door Chris hurried over to lock it. "What a bitch. Are you sure you're okay with going with her?"

"Language," Emma chides. Rose was still awake and in ear shot. "I think she's just not used to communicating outside of a 'boss/hireling' scenario...," Emma admits quietly. "it was a nice sentiment, it just wasn't presented particularly well."

Chris grumbles a bit at that "Just, be careful." he says before making his way back to the couch.

The evening passed and the stressed out pair both fell asleep in their respective beds fairly quickly. Emma woke up at her normal time and got to work. Duke was taken for a walk, She took a shower, made breakfast and woke everyone up before getting ready to leave.

Sure enough at 9:30 AM sharp there was a knock at the door.

Emma took a breath before grabbing her purse from the table "Are you sure you'll be okay with both kids?" she asks as nervousness set in. She'd have to get used to leaving again, she had to go to work on Monday but at the same time it didn't change that it was difficult.

"We'll be fine, Shoo," Chris say and once more makes a shooing motion. How hard could it be? It was one extra kid that mostly just laid on the ground the whole time. He just had to avoid taking a nap during the day.

"Okay. If you need anything just call, and I'll come right back," Emma says in return. She sees a quiet nod before making her way over to the front door where Charlotte was waiting.

"Ready?" Charlotte asks with a raised eyebrow, as if she expected the door to be answered quicker.

"Yep," Emma replies as she adjusts her purse as she prepared for some window shopping and maybe lunch. "Did you drive here?" Emma asks as they walk over to a car.

"Oh no, I flew," Charlotte confirmed, "I just rented a car from the airport."

"Oh," Emma replies as she wasn't sure how to have a casual conversation with the woman. Charlotte seemed rather content with that though as the two got into the car, and she turned on the radio to fill the silence. Emma watched as the scenery passed by, it had been a while since she was a passenger, it was almost foreign, and she found herself occasionally pushing on breaks that weren't there.

She'd lost track of how long they'd been driving for, but eventually, they passed a sign that read Lotus Lodge & Spa, and entered the parking lot for a rather beautiful stone and brick building with large windows. To Emma's horror it didn't seem like this was a wrong turn as Charlotte parked, turned off the car and got out without a word.

And cue the internal panicking. She still needed to buy groceries tomorrow! With that realization Emma quickly got out of the car as well to try and catch up with the woman "Charlotte, Um. Look this place looks really nice and all but, I can't afford this, I thought you meant something more low-key," Emma admits in a quiet whisper to avoid being overheard, she didn't even know a place like this existed in the area. Maybe she could talk Charlotte out if this.

Hearing the protest did cause Charlotte to stop walking towards the building. "Who said I expected you to be able to?" Charlotte asks while looking at Emma as if she had two heads. "Relax, it's on my tab." Charlotte says as she motions for Emma to follow her and attempts to lead the way once more.

That was almost more terrifying, "That's kind of you to offer, but you really don't need to do that," Emma says still kinda hoping to talk Charlotte out of this.

An annoyed sigh escaped Charlotte before she turned to look at Emma with a hard stare. "You spent almost a full day tending to my wounds, Sure you couldn't fix them, but you made it bearable... You're starting to wilt. I can return the favor and tend to you for a bit."

The answer was not what Emma was expecting, and she honestly didn't know how to reply to that.

"Come on," Charlotte says before linking her arm with Emma's to push her to follow along. "We're going to be late, I already scheduled appointments."

This time Emma followed along, she wasn't sure if it was from surprise or if she'd been genuinely convinced to follow, but before she knew it, they were at the front desk.

"Hi, do you have an appointment," the woman behind the desk asks in a gentle whisper which fit in well with the serene environment.

"10:45 appointment for Charlotte Wiltse and Guest," Charlotte answers.

The woman behind the desk clicked away at her keyboard before nodding "Alright I have you checked in. if you'd like to follow me I'll take you back to the changing room," she says before making her way around the desk and over to a door which she opens for the two. They were led deeper into the building where modern furniture was paired with stone walls and exposed wood beam.

They were each lead to a private bathroom that was set up with a locker and large empty tub where they were able to change into robes. Once changed the woman was waiting for them outside to and lead them to a cozy, warm relaxing room with soft plush chair. A few other guests were waiting as well as another worker was tending to the guests making sure they had drinks and were comfortable.

Emma looked around curiously to take in her surroundings, as she moved to take a seat. What a strange place. Everything was so quiet that in its own way it felt deafeningly loud. Like even if you spoke you wouldn't make a sound.

As if the universe was ready to challenge that thought, a few minutes later a quiet voice could be heard. "Emma?" the worker asks from the doorway.

"Hello," Emma says just as quietly with a gentle wave.

"If you'll come with me, we're ready for you," The woman explains causing Emma to nod in response before she got up and walked over to the door to follow the worker.

She was led to another small private room with soft lighting where a massage table was set up. The worker went through what was the usual spiel for them. How to lay on the table properly and such before leaving the room to give Emma some time to do so. The worker eventually returned and started working out the various knots and sore points. While she wasn't sure about it at first she slowly began to relax. It got to where she thought she was going to fall asleep, but time proved that it moves faster when you're not watching it, and before she knew it the worker excused themselves to leave. This trend continued where she'd be led to a different part of the building and pampered. Massage, Facial and scalp massage, Manicure, Pedicure. By the end of it she was led to a private bath where she was allowed to relax and just soak in the warm water that had Hibiscus and Orange blossom petals floating on the surface. When was the last time she didn't have to rush through her morning routine and just enjoyed steam?

Okay, maybe this was actually kinda nice, Emma thought as she realized that she actually managed not to think about the daunting list of tasks she had to do each day. This definitely wasn't something she'd realistically ever be able to do again but for now, it was nice. The woman yawns once more before allowing herself to sink into the water a bit more. maybe she could try and take baths from time to time to slow down a bit. it didn't have to have flower petals in it or any of that fancy candles but taking a tiny bit more time for herself didn't seem so unreasonable. This line of thought was interrupted by a knocking at the door which had become normal throughout the course of the day as a sign that it was time to move on.

"Yes?" Emma says to return to the knocking.

"Sorry to bother," says a voice from the other side of the door, "I just wanted to remind you that you have a two o clock lunch reservation."

"Oh," she didn't know that. "Thank you, I'll be right there." Emma says as she moves to get out of the bath and change into her clothes once more. Chances are they didn't want her walking around in just a robe at a restaurant.

"Take your time," the voice replies in return.

Emma focused on getting ready all the same and made sure to leave the bathroom as clean and puddle free as possible before making her way out of the room. various signs pointed out the directions of different locations and after following a few of them she managed to find herself in the doorway of another large spacious room filled with different sized tables with white table clothes, floral centerpieces and nice clean plates with matching silverware and delicate stemware.

"Wow this place is amazing, how big is this building?"Emma mutters under her breath before a waving motion caught her attention. sure enough there was Charlotte waving for Emma to come join her. Upon recognizing the woman Emma walked over to the table to take a seat across from her.

"There you are, I was starting to think you ran off," Charlotte says, not looking up from her phone in one hand as the other held a fork that collected a bite of food from her plate of beef vegetables and rice. "I already ordered, but you are welcome to ask for whatever you want." She adds before putting the bite of food in her mouth.

"Oh, thank you," Emma says having accepted that at this point, gratitude was more proper than rejecting the offer.

Emma had started looking over the menu before hearing Charlotte speak again. "This is a nice break from the day," the younger woman said with a content tone.

"I thought today was the break," Emma says with a confused expression as she peeked over the top of the menu to look at Charlotte.

"Even breaks need breaks for food," Charlotte says in return before putting another bite of food into her mouth. "We still have a few appointments left here, quick ones, but we should be on to the next location by 4:30 or so."

Wait, they weren't going home after this? Emma didn't really want to complain, it would be pretty ungrateful to do that after all this, but she was still kinda worried about her babies. Eventually, a waiter stopped by to get Emma's order and luckily since the kitchen prepared plates in advance it only took a few minutes for the man to come back with a rather simple unoffensive turkey sandwich with leafy greens, apple slices, cheese that probably had an overly posh name and some ground walnuts. Plain by comparison to Charlotte order but filling all the same.

A quiet tsk could be heard from Charlotte clicking her tongue as she scrolled through her phone. "The shopping district here is disappointing... it's all department stores. I suppose that will have to do."

"Ah are you looking for something specific?" Emma asks curiously? as she finally got to take a bite of food. Maybe she forgot something she needed at home?

"Not really, We'll see," Charlotte says in return before scraping up the last of the food on her plate. "Let me know when you're done eating, but we do need to head out in, let's see, Ten minutes seems about right."

Oh dear. Emma nods and focused on eating instead of talking, so she could finish her food in the short allotted period of time.

"Hm. 2 minutes to spare," Charlotte says after noticing the clean plate, "Alright, might as well go now," She says as she gets up to lead the way again.

At this point Emma was starting to understand what Charlotte meant by a break from the break, she was being led around a lot today. she wouldn't mind going back to the whole soaking in the water alone part. Alas, that was not in the cards. The two walked through the halls back towards the spa down another hall into a salon filled with chairs, mirrors and sinks. Compared to the peace and quiet of the spa this place was loud and busy as the workers hurried around to get various products off shelves and talk with their clients. One of the workers who wasn't with a client eventually noticed Charlotte and Emma standing by an empty counter and hustled over.

"Hi do you have a reservation?" they asked with a smile.

"Yeah should be under Charlotte Wiltse and Guest," She says once more and once more the staff looked up the reservation. "Alight you'll be at chairs 3 and 7, take your pick and your stylists will be over shortly."

"You go ahead and take chair 3 I'll be over there," Charlotte says as she makes her way to the seat that was further away.

"Oh uh. okay," as long as this wasn't going to be a case where the stylist just walked over and did whatever they wanted it should be fine?

It took a few moments but eventually a well-dressed stylist with bright blue hair made their way over. "Hi Hi, nice to meet you I'm Gale," the stylist says in introduction.

"Emma," She replies in return to the greeting.

"Nice to meet you, Now let's see what we're working with here," before gently picking a bit at Emma's hair to try and figure out more about it. "It looks like you've already had some product applied to your hair today, it's very nice, very soft," the stylist says "so we're not going to put in more, you don't want too much of a good thing right? Right," They add and agree with themselves before laughing a bit. "So here's what we can do, now I'm assuming you don't want to just chop it all off."

"Definitely not," Emma confirms with a nervous tone.

"Figured, so if you want, we can just clean up the split ends here at the bottom, give you a nice clean trim then put a nice little braid in the side to make it look all pretty and such before we move on to make up."

"That sounds much better," Emma agrees with a nod. She usually just went to the same person every time so a new person cutting her hair was kinda scary, but it's fine it's just a trim.

To Emma's relief, despite the more outgoing and playful attitude of the stylist they were also very good at checking before doing which was a breath of fresh air compared to not knowing what the plan was all day. They would make sure Emma could see what they were doing as much as humanly possible, and made sure to talk through what she was and was not comfortable with when it came to her hair while giving Emma some time to just talk as well.

Split ends were trimmed away, her hair was brushed and styled before the stylist went on to the more sales aspect of the routine by explaining different pieces of make up they were applying to Emma's face, why they were using it and extolling the virtues of that particular brand before slipping in that they offered it at the store section of the salon. It was a tried and true routine found at any salon. All the same Emma would politely nod and agree with the stylist as they made their sales pitches all while knowing she had no intentions of buying any of it.

By the time everything was done Emma's hair was maybe an inch and a half shorter, a neat loose braid was styled along the left side and a natural face of make had been applied. She had to wait for a short while at the front of the salon, but eventually Charlotte made her way over sporting a freshly styled bun with a more noticeable amount of make up.

As Charlotte walked over, she took out her phone to check the time. "Alright, 4:38. Hm, yeah we still have time lets go," Charlotte says and starts leading the way again.

"Go where?" Emma asks while following behind the taller woman, having learned from her parking lot panic before. If it was too excessive or seemed like it was going to take a while then she could try and protest again and suggest going home. She's already been gone for 8 hours...

"Shopping," Charlotte replied as if that should have been a bit obvious. "You're nice and well pampered, now the wrappings need to match the content." She explained as the two made their way out of the building and to the parking lot.

Emma bobbed her head at this. "Okay, but I really should be going home after this." While she did appreciate the time away, Rose would want a bedtime story and 11 hours away from home was more than enough time

"Fine, that's acceptable," Charlotte says in agreement as they made their way over to the rental car.

The two got in, the car was started, and a new leg of the adventure began. Charlotte's phone provided step-by-step directions back to more familiar roads closer to home, which helped Emma feel a bit more at ease that she'd make it home at a decent hour. 4:38 turned to 5:12 and the car was parked once more in front of the Mall that Emma would usually go to.

"Okay lets just start with the basics," Charlotte says as she leads the way through the parking lot and towards the Mall.

"Start with?" Emma asks concerned. That sounded concerning for multiple reasons since it implied this would be a multi-stage process.

"Yeaaah, you're wearing a bra that's pretty clearly two sizes too small. You had a child, things changed," Charlotte says with an expression that read 'I dare you to try and argue with me'. "We're starting with the basics."

"Oh," Emma replies not really knowing what else to say. It was definitely very difficult to communicate with Charlotte. She didn't seem to like small talk, and she didn't really leave a lot of room for replying. All the same, the reason Charlotte provided for wanting to help stuck with Emma, and she didn't want to argue. If this is what Charlotte felt like she needed to do to not consider herself 'in debt' then Emma was willing to go along with it this once.

While there wasn't much to say, the two made their way into the building, through the halls and into a two-tone pink store that was filled with various styles and colors of garments.

"Go on," Charlotte says and makes a motion for Emma to look around freely "Get enough for a week." She as her tone kept it's usual disinterested melody.

Emma nods and hesitantly walks off to look around. While she wouldn't be able to convince Charlotte this was unnecessary she could at least keep the overall cost to a minimum. This went on for a few minutes where Emma would look around pick something up check the tag and put it back. She was about to check another when Charlotte swats at Emma's hand to get her to let go of the tag before she could look at it. It seemed the younger woman had caught on.

"It's rude to check the price of a gift," She chides with an annoyed expression. "Don't worry about that, worry about if it fits."

Yet another display of aggressive kindness left Emma confused and at a loss for what to do, but the trend continued with each store they visited. the two would walk in, Charlotte would give instructions on what Emma was supposed to find within the store and from there would chide Emma if she was caught worrying about things like Sales or the occasional display price on a wrack. Always curt but never truly demeaning. Before long the two amassed a good selection of bags that held a week's worth of clothes. Nicer Shirts and Jeans, for the weekends, some office clothes and even a few pairs of work out clothes.

"This was nice," Albeit a bit weird. "Thank you," Emma says with a hesitant smile. It was a bit difficult to admit, but she did need the time away from everything. She hadn't really been taking care of herself.

"Don't mention it, We've picked out enough at this point." Charlotte says as she moves to plop into a seat in a small resting area of the mall. "There's a bathroom over there, Grab an outfit from the bags, and go change." she instructs as she shifts once more to get comfortable and takes out her phone again, as if to say 'we're not leaving until you do what I say'.

Emma nods in return and moves to sit down as well, so she could look through the bags she was carrying. It took a few moments, but she eventually picked out one of the bras, a pair of dark blue jean, and a loose off-white poet sleeve shirt. A similar color thread was used to embroider a delicate floral design into the soft cotton material that was barely noticeable. once those were collected up in a neat bundle Emma made her way over to the bathroom to change.

Charlotte continued to poke at her phone until Emma came back. the movement caused her to look up. "Much better," She says with a nod before putting the device away. "Okay lets go," she says simple and moves to gather some of the bags once more and gets up.

"Thanks again," Emma says as she gathers the remaining bags after stowing away her previous outfit in one of them.

"Pretty sure I already said don't mention it," Charlotte points out in return, Even then, she waited for Emma before walking away this time.

"Right, sorry," Emma says instead as she follows alongside the taller woman.

While all of this was nice she was rather worn out after running around it was already. Once they got into the car Emma checked her phone and was in some way relieved to see there were no panicked messages asking for help. The phone announced the time as well showing 6:27pm. It will be nice to be home. Emma thought as she relaxed in the silence that had slowly managed to become somewhat comfortable over the course of the day.

Emma relaxed in the passenger's seat while watching the Roads and that soon turned to curious confusion as she realized they were not taking the right roads to get home. Charlotte was following the directions given by the GPS though, so she figured maybe it was just a route she hadn't taken before. This line of thinking was quickly dispelled as they turned into the parking lot of a rather nice-looking restaurant.

"Charlotte we're supposed to be going home," Emma points out with a concerned. She thought they agreed that the mall was the last stop.

"Will you relax," Charlotte says in return as she moves to park the car, "I put in an order for pickup. I can't exactly cook well yet so this will have to do, You want to be able to feed your family right?"

"Oh... well yeah that- Why didn't you say that earlier," Emma says with a defeated expression. Charlotte kind of marched to the beat of her own drum, so it just seemed easy to assume she ignored their agreement completely.

"Well that kind of defeats the purpose of a surprise doesn't it," Charlotte replies with a slight shrug. "You can stay there I'll be right back."

With that said, Charlotte gets out of the car to head inside leaving Emma on her own for a bit once more. At this point Emma was starting to notice a trend. They'd go somewhere and then would be pretty quickly separated. Even when shopping Charlotte mostly stayed at a distance. Honestly, it wasn't just today either. Back during new year's when Charlotte stayed up with her, she made sure a few chairs were between them too.

"Is she shy?" Emma quietly muttered the realization to herself. It was odd to consider given the woman's commanding presences and seemingly abundant confidence. Yes, she can kinda be an asshole at times, and it didn't excuse how she talked to others but, at the same time that harshness seemed almost deliberate? She said Emma's new year's tradition was stupid but stayed up with her anyways. She'd point out Emma's clothes were ratty or miss fitted before replacing them, she'd chide Emma for bringing the family over but had a crib waiting. With any kindness, there was always something to make it jarring or off-putting.

You care too much...

It didn't make it right, and Emma knew she could be interpreting this all wrong, but it was like Charlotte wanted to be the bad guy? That her circumstances taught her that caring was bad. Honestly, Her dad was some kind of crime ring leader that had both of them kidnapped then beat the crap out of his own daughter. How many opportunities did she realistically have to practice healthy communication.

"Hey," Charlotte says which causes Emma to jolt. "Seriously? Did you not hear the door open or something? I wasn't being quiet."

"Sorry," Emma says with a nervous smile.

"Would you stop saying that?" Charlotte says as she leans to put a few decent size paper bags in the back seat. "Pisses me off."

"So- uhm" Emma cut herself off. How do you reply to that?

A tired sign escaped Charlotte as she pretty clearly understood what Emma was about to say. "Anyways. I was saying I hope the ass doesn't mind Italian because that's what he's getting."

"He has a name. Could you please just call him Chris?" Emma says in return. Troubled childhood or not, the name-calling was getting old.

Charlotte rolls her eyes in return as she turns on the car. "Whatever."

Emma was about ready to just leave it at that before thinking on it a bit more. "However, I don't think Chris would mind the Italian food. One of our Neighbors was Italian," Emma explained and with a smile as she thinks back on Mr and Mrs Russo.

The remainder of the Trip home Emma tried to fill the time with attempts at conversation that she'd avoided earlier since she though that Charlotte just didn't want to talk. While she was pretty heavily carrying said conversation, it wasn't shut down completely. Eventually, the two did make it back to the quiet cul-de-sac and the car was once more parked.

"Here you go, home in one piece, and the world didn't end. It's a miracle," Charlotte says. The trend of confusion continued as Emma watched Charlotte get out of the car and start walking to the house leaving everything they got in the car without much of a word.

"I um," Emma looked between Charlotte's retreating figure and the collection of bags. Ultimately, she focused on grabbing the bags that held the food and hurried to catch up. at least she'd be able to let the others eat while she worked on getting everything else inside. She managed to make it over to the door where Charlotte was looking back at Emma with a raised eyebrow before giving another tired sigh and shaking her head.

"Can I open the door or do you want me to knock?" Charlotte asks.

"It's probably locked, let me just get my keys," Emma says while trying to juggle the bags she grabbed and her purse to get to her keys only for Charlotte to take the bags of food without a word. "thanks," Emma says in place of an apology and manages to get to her key's much easier because of the assistance. Once the door was opened the two went in side. "I'm home!" Emma says with a smile.

"Mom!" Rose says with a happy cheer and hurried over to Hug Emma's legs.

"Hey Rosie, I missed you too," Emma says with a smile as she moved to hug the child in return. "Are you hungry? Charlotte got us dinner."

"Yes!" Rose replies with a wide grin.

A Rhythmic tapping announced the movement of Chris with his Crutch as he joined the group. To his surprise Emma returned wearing a different outfit than the one she left in. "I was wondering when you were going to get back." He says while trying to ignore that she'd been dolled up.

Honestly, so was she. "Hopefully the kids were okay for you," Emma replies in return.

"They were fine," Chris says with a slight nod. She looked, different. In a good way? Not that she wasn't already pretty, much to his annoyance he already found her attractive as it was but, what was already there was refined and more readily apparent. Is it rude to tell her she looks nice? she's married. That seems inappropriate. but isn't just saying nothing kinda rude too since there was clearly a change? While this debate raged on in the back of his mind his face remained as stoic as ever.

"We went shopping,"Charlotte explained which more so sounded like stating the obvious to Chris. "there are a lot of bags, you should help us carry it in," Charlotte says in her usual bored tone as she moved to walk further into the house, so she could put the restaurant bags down on the dining room table.

"Seriously?" he asks while gesturing to his crutch. How much help was she expecting him to be.

"Right," Charlotte says though it was not particularly sympathetic. "Maybe next time you'll think twice about aspiring to be a human shish kabob."

Chris frowned at that but watched her walk past him again to head outside.

"Sorry," Emma says as she looks between the two. "I'll be right back." she adds before heading back out to help carry the bags inside.

Chris shakes his head and looks between the doorway and the car outside. it took a moment, but he moved forward to follow the two and managed to help carry some weird Pink bag that Charlotte shoved at him.

Between the three of them it only took a single trip to get everything inside and set up by the stairs for Emma to take to her room later.

Similarly to what Chris did before Emma glanced over to the bag of food on the table that Rose very patiently managed to open and take all of the containers out of to see what was in the bag."Why don't you have dinner with us?" Emma offers with a smile.

Hearing the offer was surprising to Chris. He wanted to protest, but instead he kept to himself.

"A kind offer but," Charlotte starts while looking at her watch, "I do believe, my husband is probably on fire by now and that should be heading back home," She says as an excuse. hopefully that was an excuse... "Just let me know once you're able to travel again." Charlotte says before giving a slight wave and making her way to the door.

"I'll talk to you soon then," Emma says in return.

"Yeah, yeah sure," Charlotte says while waving off the sentiment. "See you around."


Well, that was a rollercoaster, how's everyone doing? had to add in a bit of a silly but there at the end and have Charlotte pull a bit of and Edna Mode there and said, "My god, pull yourself together!" then give her a new outfit.