A double post week didn't happen, but oh well. Time for Piers' first birthday and a longer chapter! The mole draws ever closer, drama awaits! I'm too excited, so I have not much else to say besides you're amazing, and I hope you're having a fantastic day! Okay, into the story now.

Song Suggestion: Enemy by Imagine Dragons and JID

Disclaimer: I own nothing, CapCom, please don't sue ovq


Halloween passed without much fanfare after family movie night. Everyone went to bed and the rise of the sun marked the beginning of November. What could have otherwise been another day of routine was dashed by Chris waking up ready for a fight. While he was calm and collected for the more part when it came to getting Rose out of that lab, if he was going to have to continue bringing her back there, ground rules would be set.

This irritation showed in everything he did, from brushing his teeth, to eating his breakfast and grumbling to himself the whole drive to work as he mentally mapped out the argument he was about to have. The events of the day before still burned fresh in his mind.

His sour mood was not lost on Rose either. The little girl quietly listened to the radio as they drove around the parking lot, looking for a space. She'd occasionally glance at the rearview mirror to see his concentrated glare at the road ahead of him. While she wanted to ask if he was okay or if she did something wrong, she remained quiet.

Eventually, the car was parked and the two wordlessly made their way into the expansive building. Rose had to walk at a brisker pace to try and keep up with the fatherly figure on a war path. Concern and confusion grew as she noticed they didn't go to the break room like they usually do, and instead were heading directly towards the labs. The one she was in before had a piece of paper tapped to it that read 'Moved to lab 14 while under repair.' Rose winced a bit as she read that, but followed behind Chris all the same.

The door of the replacement lab came into view, causing Chris to stop and turn to look at Rose. "Stay out here for now. I'll be right back." He instructs. The agent waits to see Rose nod and move to stand along the wall before heading into the lab. Inside, the same scientists from before were busily working to get set up for another day.

"Captain Redfield," one of the scientists says in greeting with a slight nod. "Thank you for your assistance yesterday. We were able to salvage the more of our equipment." They appreciatively announce with a smile.

Unfortunately for them, Chris rather quickly recognized that they were the one who called Rose, Eveline. "Do you like having a job," Chris asks an irritated, forced smile.

"Pardon me," The scientist asks, stunned by the response to their thanks.

"Your job. Do you enjoy it and appreciate the fact that you have an income," Chris replies by rephrasing the question.

"...Yes sir," the scientist quietly replies.

"Then maybe don't piss off one of the founders of the place you work at," Chris advises as his trademark scowl set in. "I might not be the director, and I might not be HR but if I find out that you're pulling rank like that to torment a god-damn three-year-old I will be making sure that you find the door, and can't find anything better than being stuck synthesizing proteins for shampoo in a factory for the rest of your life," The agent openly threaten causing the scientist to shrink back before Chris looked around the room to the other workers. "That goes for all of you. Do I make myself clear?"

He heard some quiet murmuring, but nothing truly seemed like a response.

"I expect a yes sir or no sir," Chris says while continuing to keep an eye on everyone in the room.

"Yes sir," they reply in unison.

"Good. Each of you can expect a more formal warning of misconduct by the end of the day, which will be added to your records," He says in a more even tone as his anger slowly starts to subside.

"But I didn't-"

"Complacence with misconduct is misconduct," Chris shut down the attempt at argument while glaring at the one who spoke out of turn. "Pray I don't hear or see mistreatment of anyone under our protection again," He says as he turns to leave, if that wasn't a clear enough line in the sand for them, even praying wouldn't save them from his wrath.

He closed the door behind him before looking over to find that Rose had stayed and waited like she was told. Chris walked over and lowered himself enough to be at eye level with her. "Alright, you can go in. If they're treating you poorly, what do you do?" He asks quietly.

"Tell um that they can talk to you and see how it goes," Rose repeats what she was told before.

"Good," he says before gently ruffling her hair. "If it gets to be too much, you have my permission to leave and find me or do something else until it's time to go."

"Okay," Rose says as a slight smile starts to form.

Chris got up and offered his hand. "Here, I'll take your lunch to the break room."

"Thanks," Rose replies as she offers the little box.

'*'*'*'*'

Chris breathed a tired sigh as he sat at the desk in his home office. A file was open in front of him, holding a good 15 pages of print on both sides. He had finished reviewing two more files over the last few days, Canine and Night Howl's files. Like Umber Eye, they seemed clean, nothing particular unusual so that was three out of five cleared. While he had hoped to make that four out of five, Tundra had a report four times the size of the others. Each file before this took a day, maybe two to review and so far, he was 3 days in, and he wasn't even halfway through it.

"Damn it," he quietly whispered under his breath. The report felt erratic; she had requested so many different files, and none of them seemed to correlate. His frustrated scowl remained as he closed the file and moved to rub his face as he rested his elbows on his desk. She did say before that she was going to try and dig for the mole. If it weren't for the master key that the director gave him, his report would look the same, if not worse...

She was the only one with a locker he couldn't check...

"Complacence with misconduct is misconduct,"

After a few moments of thought, he moved his hands away from his face and took his phone out of his pocket. Chris clicked away at the screen to unlock it and bring up a contact he knew he could always trust before holding the phone to his ear.

A few rings later, the line picked up. "Hello?"

"Hey Jill," Chris replied as a weak smile crossed his face. "I need a favor. Do you think you can help save my ass one more time?" He meekly requested.

"Well, I figured we stopped keeping score of that," Jill replied with a chuckle to try and hide her concern. "What happened?"

"We have a mole. I think it might be a member of my team," he reluctantly admits. He'd been suspicious for some time now, but verbalizing that stung his tongue.

"How can I help?" she replies with a gentle but determined tone as the gravity of the situation set in.

"I'm probably just being paranoid, but can you run a full scrub on Tundra? I need a contact history of everyone she's spoken to in and out of the BSAA. Ideally, every phone number and email address she's reached out to for the last year and a half," Chris answered in return. "Have them check her purchase records too for any sort of phone. If she has a burner, I want to know about it."

"That's it?" Jill asks with a slight smile. "Easy enough, but it will probably take about a month to get all of that down to a manageable report... I'm guessing you want me to do that so you don't spook the mole?" she asks, even though she was confident that she knew the answer.

"Pretty much," Chris confirmed.

"Should we have someone tail her?" Jill hesitantly suggests.

"Not yet," Chris replies and leans back to relax in his chair again. "Let's see what the report says... I want to give her the benefit of the doubt for now, but," Chris trailed off and breathed another tired sigh.

"But too many coincidences are lining up?" Jill says to fill in the blank.

"Yeah," he says as the defeated tone returned.

"I'll look into it and send you a condensed report. Try not to get into trouble in the meantime, okay?" Jill replied, and Chris could hear her trying to smile in her voice.

"Well, I have a 50/50 track record so far," he joked in response with dead pan monotony in his voice, which earned him a more genuine laugh.

"That's being generous," she says through her laugh.

Chris could hear the beginning of a commotion from the floor above him. "I gotta go," he says as excited steps and barking announced a new arrival. "If anything comes up, let me know?"

"You'll be the first person I call," Jill replies.

"Thanks," He replies as he felt some of the weight on his shoulders lift, even slightly. "Next time I call, I'll try and make sure it's about going to visit you or something not work related at least,"

"You're going to fly to South America with two kids? Sure." Jill teased with open amusement. "And I own a sandwich shop."

"It could happen," Chris replies with a shrug.

"I look forward to the phone call that's not about work," Jill says all the same. "Stay safe."

"Thank, you too," Chris replies before hanging up. Once the screen returned to his regular set up, he checked the screen for the time which read Tuesday, November 7th, 8:37PM in bold white font. The addition of new voices and happy chattering got him to push himself out of his chair and start cleaning up for the evening. Looks like they managed to catch an earlier flight.

The pages were safely locked away in his safe before he made his way upstairs to find Emma's parents with suitcases by the door with the rest of the family close by. Rose was talking to Emma's father and gently pulling at his hand to try and show him around. Emma was smiling while standing next to her mother, who was happily cooing at the baby in her arms.

"Oh my goodness he's grown so much, yes you have," she says as the child giggles at the happy, loving tone of her voice.

"Try not to spoil the kids too much," Emma jokingly requests with a laugh.

"Well, I'm grandma; That's what grandma's do. Isn't that right," she says, while remaining ever focused on the smallest member of the family. As they spoke, Chris made his way over from the basement door to join the others. "Chris dear, It's so good to see you," Her mother greets as he walks over.

"Good to see you too," He replies.

"Just who we were hoping to talk to as well," Emma's father adds, which was concerning to hear for all of 5 seconds until he spoke again. "Since we're talking about spoiling grandkids, I was thinking maybe we could spend a day with little Rosemary while we're here. The weather should be nice on Saturday and If I remember correctly, there's an amusement park not to far away from here."

"Really?" Rose asks with an excited smile before looking to Chris. "Can we go? Please?!"

Emma's shoulders dropped upon hearing that. When she suggested they spend time with Rose she mean something like, getting ice cream or going out for lunch not a day at the park. "Dad, isn't that a bit much?"

"I used to have daddy daughter and daddy son time with you and your siblings, I don't see why your mother and I shouldn't do the same for the grandkids," Eugene answers with a slight shrug. "Gran-dates could be fun. And we don't get to see your kids as often as Eric's."

Emma was ready to put up a bit more of a fight to lower expectations, but Chris spoke first. "If's Emma's alright with it, then that's fine with me," Chris calmly answers with a nod.

The answer surprised her, but a gentle smile replaced the shock as she heard Rose excitedly squeal. "I guess that's settled then," She agrees as well.

Rose could hardly believe her ears. Chris was going to let her go out on her own? Well, kind of. She'd be with grandma and grandpa, but normally the rule was that Chris or Emma had to go with her. Emma broke that rule for day camp, but he never let her do that. He was really going to let her go off on her own without an escort that knew about her 'condition'?

"I'm gonna go get ready," Rose quickly says as she hurries up the stair.

"It's not until saturda-and she's gone," Emma says with a dead pan, yet amused expression.

"Kids will be kids, let her be excited," Emma's mother replies quietly. "It's a good chance for us to get our bags unpacked while she's busy."

"I can take those down for you," Chris offers and picks up one of the larger suitcases. "Relax, catch up a bit, I'll be right back."

"Are you sure?" Emma's mother asks with a concerned frown, though she wasn't exactly handing Emma the baby back to help.

"I can help," Eugene offers as he picks up one of the suitcases.

Chris nods and leads the way after picking up the remaining suitcase. He'd rather do this in one trip if he was going to have an extra hand. This made the stairs a bit more perilous, but they managed to make it down in one peace and without missing a step. "How was the flight out? Chris asked as curious small talk once he put the bags down in the spare room.

"Fine, a bit quicker than we thought it would be," the man says with a laugh.

"Yeah, you got in early," Chris asks to voice his surprise.

"We sort of forgot to adjust for time zones when figuring out when we'd arrive," Emma's father admits with a sheepish smile. "Sorry about that. We didn't want to bother you guys, so we just got a taxi here instead."

"It's not a bother, if that happens again in the future, just give us a call," Chris replies with a slight nod.

"Noted," The grandfather replies with a more genuine smile. "It's good to see you again, son. How are you holding up?"

"Tired," Chris admits with a meek smile. The familial gesture provided appreciated reassurance that he was still seen as family.

Hearing Chris's answer caused the older man to laugh. "Well, two kids tends to do that to you. It only gets worse with three."

"Three?" Chris asks with wide-eyed panic. Was he missing something?

"Sorry, sorry, I meant from my own experience," Eugene clarified.

"Oh," Chris replies as he feels himself relax from the rigidness the unexpected heart attack caused.

Seeing Chris's shoulders gently lower causes His father-in-law to chuckle. "Thanks for the help," He says before moving to head back to the stairs so they could rejoin the others. Once they were back on the main floor of the house, it didn't take them very long to find their wives. They were both sitting in the living room, and Emma was smiling from ear to ear as she continued to watch her mother fawn over Piers.

"So what did we miss?" Eugene asks as he walks over with Chris and takes a seat next to his wife.

"Not much," Emma admits, still amused by the games of peekaboo that were occurring next to her. As Chris moved to sit down on the other couch, Emma got up and moved to sit next to him. "We were about to go over plans for the visit, but Piers wanted to play." She explained as they watched Piers cover his eyes and move them away. As he did so, Emma's mother responded with a high-pitched 'peekaboo' which caused the baby to giggle.

"Honestly, we don't really have much in the way of plans," Eugene admits as a smile pulls at his face thanks to the child's antics. "We figured we'd just spend the week being available as needed, and try to make sure we work in some time with the babies," He adds with a slight shrug. "We can at least give the two of you a week where you don't have to worry about taking the kids with you to work."

"You don't have to do that dad, you're on vacation. You should try and see a few museums or see some sights," Emma replies with a note of guilt in her tone. They flew all the way out here just to offer to be babysitters for a week?

"Well, at the least we want to try and spend some time with Piers to go and pick up a few gifts for him for his birthday," Emma's mother chimes in between rounds of pat-a-cakes.

Emma bobs her head a bit upon hearing this. "Well, maybe his birthday would be a good day for that?" She suggests in return. "I was already planning on working from home that day anyways since I was going to try and make a cake and decorate a bit." Emma explains a bit further. It would help to not have to keep an eye on him for an hour or two, when her attention would already be divided.

Chris nods while thinking it over... "I think I might take the day off," He admits quietly.

"Oh?" Emma asks, surprised since it was so rare for him to just take a day off like that.

The memory of Rose's tantrum played in his mind. Having to go back so quickly after that was probably stressful for the young girl. Giving her an extra day away from that wouldn't hurt. Chris looks over to his in laws and makes a vague gesture to them before speaking. "If you're leaving the day after, then having everyone at home would be a good way to make sure that everyone gets some time together."

"True, that would be nice," Emma's father agrees with a nod.

"That's a lovely idea," Emma's mother says as well, with an appreciative smile.

"I'll text the team and let them know umber eye will be in charge for the drills that day," Chris says before digging out his phone. He could use a bit of a break anyways. The mole hunt was taking its toll...

"Suppose that's settled then," Eugene agrees while Chris types up his message. "Dear, we should probably give them back the baby and work on unpacking our bags." He adds as he gently places a hand on his wife's back.

Emma's mother pouted at this but nods. "Oh I suppose," she reluctantly agreed. "We'll have plenty of time to spend with everyone," The woman adds as she moves to get up and hand Piers over to Emma.

"We should probably get some rest as well. We still have work in the morning," Emma says as she accepts the child and moves to stand up as well.

Chris had just pressed send on his message as Emma said this. He nods in agreement before getting up as well. "Yeah. If you guys need anything, just let us know."

"Will do, See you both in the morning," Emma's mother says in response before both parties went their separate ways for the night.

'*'*'*'*'

Having Grandma and Grandpa visit was the best thing ever! They brought chocolate cereal with them and by the power of Grandma, the house rule of no chocolate for breakfast was over turn for the foreseeable future. The cereal even had marshmallows in it! Each morning was that much better as the days counted down to Saturday.

To say Rose was excited was the understatement of the century. She could barely sleep the night before and spent an excruciating amount of time before bed digging through her closet to find what she wanted to wear for her first ever, parent approved, BSAA chaperone free, adventure. She settled on a cute long sleeve shirt, a nice warm pair of jeans, and her father's coat, which always kept her that much warmer. It was still far too big on her, but she enjoyed the enveloping fabric, it felt like a great big hug.

Once morning arrived and sunlight peeked through her window, Rose quickly threw the covers off her, so she could hurry out of bed. Today's the day! She happily thought as she changed into the outfit she so carefully curated. She packed her backpack with the essentials, Her Angie doll, some of her allowance and her phone before putting that on her back. Once she was properly dressed, she rushed to the bathroom to brush her hair and teeth, then made her way down the stairs and took a seat at the dining room table. She smiled as she looked around, only to find she was the first person awake. She looked over to the microwave to find that it's clock read 6:17 AM.

The child pouted as she rested her chin on the table. She'd just wait for everyone to wake up...

6:19 AM

This was so boring! Rose got up from her seat and started walking around the kitchen to start gathering supplies to make her own breakfast. A bowl and spoon, her box of chocolate marshmallow cereal and a half full gallon of milk. The child happily hummed to herself as she put together her messy meal on the kitchen counter before carrying the precariously full bowl over to the table to eat it.

Duke was rather excited with the child independence as he got to enjoy cleaning up the mess she left behind.

6:30 rolled around, and her breakfast was done. She left the bowl of leftover cereal milk on the table before heading to the couch to turn on the TV to try and find something to watch.

7:00 arrived. Still no parents. She flopped over to lay on the couch while she continued to stare at the TV with a bored pout.

7:30 tolled and only then did she hear rapid footsteps hurrying down the stairs and Emma looked around in a panic. Seeing the TV on and the mess the child made caused her to relax. She didn't run off again, thank god.

"You're awake!" Rose happily greets as she perks up and hurries to get off the couch.

"Rose, what are you doing?" Emma asks as she looks over to the counter to find a knocked over open box of cereal and an open gallon of milk that had been sitting out for over an hour.

"Waitin' for you guys," Rose answers in return. "No one else was awake, so I made myself breakfast," she adds with a proud smile.

"I can see that," Emma admits as she heads over to the kitchen to start cleaning up the mess. "Next time, if you take something out of the fridge, put it back when you're done." The motherly figure instructs.

"Okay," Rose replies as she moves to sit on the couch again. "When are grandma and grandpa gonna wake up?"

"I think they wake up around 8," Emma answers as she put the milk away in the fridge.

Hearing that caused the child to grumble and flop over again. Waiting was the worst... In her attempt to watch TV to pass the time, her early start to the day caught up with her. Instead, she ended up falling asleep for a quick nap.

"Rosey,"

Rose heard a quiet voice whisper her name as she grumbles and rubbed her face against the couch. It took a moment before she realized that the voice belonged to her grandmother. One that realization was made, her eyes quickly opened and she moved to sit up. how long did she fall asleep for? She looked around to try and find a clock, only to see the microwave again that read 8:47.

Seeing Rose's reaction caused Emma's mother to chuckle. "Are you ready to go?" She asks even though she had a solid guess what the child's answer would be.

Rose adamantly nods and moves to get up. "Yeah I'm ready."

"Okay, Your grandfather is getting the car started," She says and offers rose a hand, which was accepted. as the two walk out of the living room, they pass Emma, who was taking Piers out of his highchair. "Thanks for letting us borrow your car for the day sweetie," The grandmother says with a smile.

"Not a problem, you guys have fun," Emma says in return. "If you need anything, just call and we'll be right there."

"You worry too much, everything will be great," Emma's mother confirms.

"Bye mom!" Rose says as she gives her grandmother's hand a gentle tug. She was ready to go three hours ago. She wanted to see what an amusement park was like!

"Bye," Emma replies as the two walk out the door.

Rose smiles from ear to ear as she finds that the car had already been pulled out of the garage as her grandfather was waiting for them. The little girl hurried over to the car door to open it and climb into the back seat, while her grandmother took the passenger seat.

"Welcome aboard kiddo," Eugene says enthusiastically. "Who's ready for a day of fun?"

"ME!" Rose excitedly answers.

"Well let's get going then, adventure awaits," The grandfather says, and once he was sure the doors were closed he put the car into gear so he could follow the directions of the GPS.

Another hour and a half went by as they drove to their destination. Just as boredom was about to set in again, colorful flags and banners that showed various cartoon drawings of mascots renewed her anticipation. The place looked like a mid-70's attempt to cash in on the opening of Disney world while doing it's best to avoid looking too similar. The castle motif remained, as the outer wall that separated the parking lot from the amusement park was designed to look like aged stone. and further into the park a mountainous castle could be seen, surrounded by rides and shops.

Wide-eyed wonder caused Rose to stare and giggle as she tried to take it all in while waiting for the car to be parked. The second the car was turned off Rose quickly undid her seat belt and rocketed out the door so she could look around.

"Welcome to Maxie's wonderland!" said a cartoonish voice through the loudspeaker system of the parking lot as it looped through directions and instructions to tell guests where to go to enter the park.

"Easy now kiddo, you got to be careful in parking lots," Eugene warns though an amused chuckle. "Stay close to us, and we'll go together."

Rose nods and walks with her grandparents toward a rather short line to enter the park. It was cold out, nothing a jacket couldn't fix, but it was enough that the park was running optimally. The wait times for the rides were short, and it wasn't so crowded that you could barely hear the person next to you speak.

Once Eugene paid the woman running the ticket counter, she leaned forward enough to stamp each of their hands with a cute Ink logo of a smiling dragon that was winking while giving a thumbs up.

"So, where do you want to go first?" asks Rose's grandmother as the three walk further into the main entry of the park.

"Umm," Rose looked around, trying to take in all the options she could see before noticing a large round building with no walls that had statues of horses in it. "there," Rose announced as she pointed at the Merry-go-round.

"Lead the way," Eugene says and gesture that it's okay for Rose to run ahead now if she wanted.

Seeing this caused Rose to smile, and she happily obliged and ran ahead. "Hurry hurry!" she says as she made her way over to the very short line. the three of them more or less had their pick of any seat on the ride. as she made her way around to look at her options, she stops in front of a proudly posed dark horse that looked kind of like the one in her storybook. She smiled at it before working to climb onto the wooden statue. The grandfolks found their own steeds to ride not far away from her and shortly after the ride began. Up and down and around they went as the circus music played.

This was the best day ever! Rose happily thought as she giggled and smiled through the whole ride. Once the ride came to a stop, Rose got off her horse and spun around on her heels in an exaggerated display.

"Are you feeling dizzy?" Her grandmother asked with amusement.

"yeah," Rose admits.

"Do you want to try another spiny ride?" Her grandfather offers as he gently places a hand on her back to be ready to catch the child in case her playful antics resulted in a more serious tumble.

"Are there more?" Rose asks curiously.

"There's a bunch of different rides, if you see one you want to try, just say so," Her grandmother confirms.

The silly over done wobbling steps of the child were quickly put to rest as she return to walking normally. "Let's go find um," Rose says as her game became less interesting than the idea of more new things to try.

Spinning swings, were followed by swirling cups and a ride that looked like a silly dizzy octopus. The sign above it read tilt-a-whirl. The now common sound of laughter openly flowed from the child as they got off the latest ride. "Again, again" she cheered, though her grandparents were starting to slow down.

"Oh, I think maybe we need a little break from spinning," Her grandfather replied with a hand over his stomach while he checked the watch on his other wrist. "It's almost time for lunch. why don't we take a break to find something to eat." the elderly man offered.

Rose bobbed her head. She did kind of want to ride the ride again, but the tempting smell of warm sugar and greasy junk food had been tempting her since they entered the park. "Hmmm. Okay," she agreed all the same.

Her grandfather pulled a park map from his back pocket and opened that up to try and get an idea of where to go. "Looks like the castle is a food court, we'll want to go there."

"Got it," Rose says as she hurries ahead once more.

"Make sure you stay in sight," She heard her grandmother call.

The request was obeyed, and Rose did her best not to go too far away from them. It was just so hard to relax when everything around her was so new and happy and amazing. Even the food, which tasted cheap and overpriced to any sane adult, felt like a fantastic rare treat to the child.

To her grandparent's relief, the day went on a bit slower after that. Tiny train rides, bumper cars, and stage shows hosted by the park's mascot filled the afternoon until large steel aerial rails caught the little girl's attention. The ground began to shake as a cart of people rocketed around on the tracks.

"It's been a minute since we went on a more exciting ride," Her grandfather mused as he caught her staring at the nearby roller coaster. "Did you want to try riding that?"

Rose stares at but gives an uncertain nod. The other rides had been a lot of fun. Maybe that one would be too.

"Well, it's two people per cart so, I think I'll go ahead and sit this one out," Her grandmother replies with a nervous smile.

The grandfather chuckles under his breath. "Alright my dear. Well Rosey, it's just the two of us it seems," He says and walks with Rose over to the line. Unlike the other rides, this one actually took a few minutes to get through the line.

"Welcome to Maxie's wild ride. Please stand over by the height cart for a moment, so I can confirm you're tall enough to ride," the worker says once Rose and Eugene made it to the front of the line.

Rose stands as straight as possible to make sure she was tall enough. The worker nods. "Alright, you can go through. No running by the tracks."

The child happily complied as she waited for her grandfather to join her. once they got buckled in, a sense of nervousness began to build in her gut. The cart ever so slowly crawled forward and up. Higher and higher they went at the pace of a snail, making the child all the more anxious until suddenly, they were falling and spinning and shaking around on the track. Rose held on to her seat with a death grip. Just as quickly as it started, it ended, and she was grateful for that. She felt like she had to peel herself off the seat, but Rose made sure to get out as quickly as possible to avoid having to experience that again.

"I don't think I like that one," Rose admits, while still trying to process the terror she just felt. Spinning was fun. Falling, not so much.

Her grandfather gives her a pat on the back before leading her to the exit. "No worries. You don't have to ride that again if you don't like it." He replies. "Your grandmother doesn't like roller coasters very much either. Maybe we can try playing at a few of the games booths instead for a bit."

Hearing that made her feel better. She wasn't the only one that didn't like roller coasters. "Okay," Rose chirps in response to the kind offer.

Her smile returned shortly after as games were played. There were somewhere you spray water at ducks and others where you throw baseballs at metal milk cartons. It turns out she was actually pretty good at darts. Definitely not because she had the option to cheat and control where the metal tip went without anyone knowing. That definitely had nothing to do with it.

The booth worker scratched their head in confusion as rose managed to hit the center target time after time. She'd played 3 rounds with 5 darts each, and each time she hit the center. Even when they activated the magnet behind the bullseye to deflect darts to prevent a major win. "Well, it seems we have a natural on our hands," the worker remarks all the same while trying to play it off. Maybe the equipment was just broken.

"That's our granddaughter," Eugene says with confident pride that caused Rose's heart to swell with happiness.

"well, for 15 bull eyes you can have one of the giant prizes," the worker explains as he gestures to stuff animals that were roughly 3 feet tall. "One of the large prizes," He says while gesturing to still rather decently large 2 foot tall stuffed animals. "Or you can have two Medium prizes." Rose stared with wide starry eyes at the giant teddy bear that was almost as big as she was. Even then, her eyes drifted a bit to the medium prizes. they were maybe half the size of the giant teddy bear, but she could have two of them...

"I want those two," Rose says as she points at two pastel colored teddy bears. One purple, and one blue with cute markings over their left eye. The blue one sported a cute cloud with a sun peaking out from behind it, while the purple one had a flower like detail stitched around its eye.

"Coming right up," The worker replies, and he walks over to collect the selected prizes. Rose happily accepted both and hugged them.

"I think there's some cotton candy over this way," Her grandmother states while looking at the map.

For some reason, Rose felt like that was familiar, but she wasn't sure why. "What's that?"

"You'll love it, it's like cloud candy," Her grandmother explained.

cloud candy sounded weird but, curiosity got the better of her. "Okay," Rose agrees, and follows the grandparent's lead this time. The sticky sweet scent of sugar filled the air again as they made their way back towards the main entry area of the park. a stand-alone booth had a rather short line for the soft treat, which was served on a thin paper cone. Rose watch in awe as the worker dipped the cone into this weird metal contraption and spun it a round a few times only to take out a genuine cloud just like grandma said. What sort of sorcery was this?

The 10-year-old equivalent quickly moved to take her backpack off, so she could put the blue bear away and free up a hand. as she did so, she noticed her phone and smiled. She took the device out as well before closing up the bag to put it on her back once more. She should send a picture to Chris and Emma to let them know she was having fun. She smiled at that thought and shuffled her goodies around in her hands to try and figure out how to go about doing this. She ended up holding her purple bear to her chest with her left arm while her left hand held her cotton candy leaving her right hand and arm free to work her phone she activated the camera set it to selfie mode and...

The child squinted while staring at the screen as her smile fell. The lack of a crowd made it all the easier to see. There was Gary standing a good distance away and trying to keep out of sight... She didn't get to go on a chaperone free adventure. They still didn't trust her. Rose Adjusts her position to make sure Gary was not in the picture before forcing a smile and taking the picture anyways.

As she ate her cotton cloud of sugar, she sent the picture to Chris and Emma. She was having a good day whether there was a chaperone or not, darn it. She wasn't going to let any BSAA meanies take that away from her.

The rest of the day went in the same, though that small extra bit of excitement that came from the sense of true freedom was lost. More rides, games, and treats were followed up by dinner at the castle food court. Her legs hurt from walking around all day, so she was more than happy to finally sit down in the car, where she conked out for the car ride home.

She felt a gentle nudge on her right which was a bit confusing. Wasn't that where the car door was?

"Rose, time to wake up," She heard her grandfather gently say as she groggily opened her eyes. the hour and a half ride home went by in a flash as she realized they were parked in the garage of the house now.

The little girl yawned and nodded to show she heard him, while rubbing her face to try and get herself to wake up. She undid her seat belt and collected the pastel purple teddy bear that fell on the floor of the car while she slept. Her legs still hurt, but she made her way into the house while her grandparents closed the car doors.

"We're hooome," Rose called into the house as she made her way over to the shelves of shoes.

"Welcome home," She heard her mother call in response. "I saw your picture. did you have a good time?" Emma asked from the other room as she worked on picking up Piers so she could make her way over to the garage entryway.

"Yeah," Rose replies with a nod.

Steps could be heard from the basement as the door opened shortly after. "Hey, I thought I heard you," Chris says and closes the door behind him.

"Oo-sey," Piers happily says while reaching and grabbing for his sister.

Hearing this caused Emma and Chris to pause and look at the infant, who was still kicking and squirming. While Rose was bone dead tire before, the greeting gave her a new rush of energy.

"OOOSEEEY" He called a bit louder with more frustration as he wasn't able to get to his sister.

Curious with Peir's babbling, Emma put Piers down, and he immediately crawled over as quickly as his hands and knees could carry him.

"That's right, Rosey~" Rose cheered in return as the baby shifted to sit in front of his sister and clap. "Rosey, Rosey~"

"oo-sey" Piers parrots back.

Emma's parents smile widely as they watched the two children interact. Rose quickly moved to take off her backpack and retrieved the extra bear.

"Look, I got you one too, so now we match," Rose explains as she hands over the light blue bear, which Piers instantly grabs and starts chewing on its face.

"Well," Chris says as he stares at the infant, who was now wrestling with the stuff animal that was bigger than he was. "I guess that means his first word is Rosey." While part of him wanted to be disappointed, it was hard to feel that way when both kids were pretty happy.

"I guess so," Emma agrees before giving him a consolation peck on the cheek.

'*'*'*'*'

Having her parents around proved to be more nostalgic than Emma thought was possible. There was something so heart-warming about seeing her parents and kids play together. Piggyback rides, pat-a-cake, Hide and seek between family meals. All of it was restorative in its own right. The days went by, and before they knew it, the big day arrived. November 15th.

Piers was officially 1 year old now.

"Oosey, oosey, oooseey," the baby happily babbled, his first and word in a singsong tone while ever so strategically turning his face away to avoid the spoon full of yuck mushy breakfast veggies.

"Piers, you need to eat your breakfast," Emma says in a tired tone as she received what could only be described as a defiant side eyed glare as the child quickly turned to face the other way to get away from the spoon. A defeated sigh crossed her lips as she used her free hand to gently smoosh the baby's cheeks, causing his mouth to open enough for her to pop the spoon full of food in.

A disgusted expression of utter betrayal crossed the child's face as he smacked his lips while pushing the food around his mouth with his tongue in an attempt to spit it back out.

"... What did I do to get such rebellious children..." Emma quietly asks, which causes Chris to chuckle.

While he'd been sitting next to her, minding his business while scrolling through his phone, he couldn't help but chime in on the rhetorical question. "I'm pretty sure there are two scars on your lower back that answer that question."

"Uggh. One for each kid... dang it," Emma grumbles to herself. "Alright, I give up," She says as she puts the cap back on the baby food. She'd just pack it in case he got hungry while he was out for the day. She wasn't going to be able to force him to eat like this.

"Sweetie, don't you need to log in to work soon?" Emma's mother asks with a concerned tone as she walks into the dining room while carrying the diaper bag.

"I still have a few minutes but, yeah; I need to start getting ready," Emma admits with a slight frown.

"You focus on that then, I'll get Piers ready for his little adventure with grammy and grappy," Her mother replies as she moves to take the child out of his high chair.

Sweet victory! he was free of the accused chair and gross mushy green beans! Piers happily smiled as he was held on his grandmother's hip.

"Alright," Emma agrees as she moves to get up as well, so she can go and collect her laptop from her work bag and start getting set up at the table. It would be nice to have a few hours to focus...

"We are going to have so much fun," Emma's mother cooed to the child as she carried him away.

Wait, no. This is unacceptable. Madam, we're moving away from mother. Put me down! The baby began to cry and sob as he realized that he was being separated from his parents.

"Oooh big tears. It's okay little one, we're going to be right back," Emma's mother says, making an effort to gently bounce as she walked to the door to try and calm the screaming child.

It was heart-wrenching to hear her baby cry like that, but Emma managed to let it go as her mother walked out the front door with the infant. Emma let go of a breath she held to keep from hurrying after and taking the child to comfort him.

"They'll be fine," Chris says with a hint of amusement in his voice. "If anything, it will be good for Piers to have some time away from us to get used to it. He'll have a hard life if he develops separation anxiety and doesn't learn how to handle it."

"I know," Emma admits, though she didn't seem particularly convinced.

Chris moves to get up and leans over to give Emma a peck on the forehead. "Try not to worry about it too much," He says before walking away to head to the basement. He took the day off, but he still had reports to review for the mole hunt.

The gesture causes a weak smile to form on Emma face. Okay. She could do this, she just needed to focus for at least an hour, then she could start on the cake. She put in her ear buds and after clicking at her keyboard, she was able to hop in to her first meeting of the day.

"Hi everyone," Emma greets and waves at the webcam. "what's wrong?" she asks while ever so slightly tilting her head. "What do you mean, 'they printed the books backwards'?" Emma asks as an expression of belief and horror quickly replaced her curiosity. "Yeah, no. I understand what you mean by backwards. I mean, how did that happen?" She asks. As she listens to the answer, she moves to hold her face. "Oh gosh... Okay, The signing even is in two weeks. Are they able to redo the print in time?" Emma asks, and the meeting continues on as such. The team worked over various strategies for how to get around the rather serious mistake that the printing company didn't catch.

Rose listened to her motherly guardian talk in the dining room as she played in the living room with some of her toys under the watchful supervision of Duke. Quiet games of pretend were enjoyed, as Rose created the dialog for her toys by attempting to talk in a different silly voice while picking them up and moving them around.

"I love you Angie," Rose says while bouncing around a stuffed monkey toy.

"I love you too Lenny," She has Angie reply.

"Marry me Angie~" She has the toy ask as she has her toys play out a silly scene from a show she liked to watch.

"...No," she has Angie reply while moving the doll, so it was looking away from the plush monkey.

"Why," she has the monkey ask in her best attempt at a heartbroken tone.

"I do not love you. I love another," She has the doll admit.

"Nooooo," she dramatically shouts on behalf of the monkey.

"Rose, honey. I need you to be a little quieter if you're going to play in the living room while I'm working," Emma requests while trying very hard to keep a straight face to the point that her cheeks were starting to turn red.

"Sorry mom," Rose shouts before looking back at her toys. "Noooo," she whispers, though it was just as dramatically as before.

The three continued on with their respective tasks for the next hour, Emma in her meeting, Chris with his research and Rose with her dramatic story preformed by her dolls. Emma was the first to finish up of the three.

"Alright, that sounds like a good plan. I'll see you guys first thing tomorrow," She says, before waving at the webcam once more. "Bye for now," she adds before clicking at her trackpad to close out the meeting. Phew.

"Is it time to make cake?" Rose asks curiously as she recognized the meeting was done.

Emma looked over at the clock on the wall. it was 9:30... it had been about an hour. The motherly figure nods. "Sure, did you want to help?"

"Yeah," Rose confirms as she moves to get up and leaves her toys behind. "Chocolate cake?" Rose asks hopefully.

"Our cake will be chocolate, yes. but we're going to make a tiny cake for Piers that's a bit safer for him to eat," Emma explains as she made her way over to the kitchen.

"safer?" Rose asks confused, as she followed Emma. is chocolate dangerous?

"Yep. When you eat lots of sugar it makes you super jittery and bouncy, right?" Emma asks and rose nods. "Piers is still so little. if he ate the same amount of cake as you, and that cake would make you hyper, it could be so much sugar that it gives him a tummy ache instead."

"Ooooh," Rose replies and nods more in understanding. She didn't want her brother to have a tummy ache, but she was also glad that chocolate wasn't dangerous. That would be too sad. "So he gets a different cake that won't give him a tummy ache?"

"Yep, We're going to make him a banana cake with a very light frosting. It still has sugar in it, but not as much," Emma explains as she works on collecting up the ingredients for both cakes. "Can you set the oven to 350 degrees?"

"Got it," Rose replies as she reaches to press the buttons on the back of the oven. Similarly to the pumpkin cookies they made the month before, Emma would give rose instructions and patiently wait for the child to do what she was told. Only stepping in if she was struggling.

It took about 30 minutes to make both batters, and while Emma was sure her boss wouldn't be thrilled to find out she hadn't been focusing on work for the last half an hour, she was proud of how well Rose was doing as her little helper. into the oven when two regular cake pans and two smaller 4-inch cake pans.

20 minutes of baking time meant 20 minutes to focus on work again, and Emma tried her best to get through as many reports as possible. That time flew by quickly as the kitchen timer announced that the cakes were ready.

"The cakes are ready, the cakes are ready!" Rose happily cheered and made her way back to the kitchen to try and peek through the oven's glass door.

"Okay, okay," Emma says in response as she puts her work down again to go and assist, so Rose didn't hurt herself. "We still need to let them cool before we can decorate them," the motherly woman says, which causes Rose to pout.

"Aww, but that's the best part," Rose complained as she watched Emma take the cakes out of the oven and place them on cooling racks.

"Sorry Rosey but we have to wait at least an hour before we can decorate them or the cake will crumble if we try and put frosting on it," Emma explains, there was also the potential of melting the frosting and ruining the cake that way but, one reason was hopefully enough for the child. "I have another meeting coming up, once that's done we can ice the cakes," Emma offers

"Fiiine," Rose reluctantly replies while dramatically throwing her head back in disappointment. "I'm gonna go play in my room."

"Okay, I'll make sure to let you know when it's time," Emma says as Rose walks away.

Still somewhat disappointed by the idea of having to wait, she slowly trudged up the stairs to her room. waiting was so boring. She kicked a toy out of the way as she made her way into her room. She tilted her head slightly while squinting as a large shadow outside caught her attention... It was moving towards the house?

Chris tried to focus while reviewing the last report as the scent of warm chocolate and banana cakes started to leak through to the basement. A small twitch of a smile crossed his face. Despite the gravity of the work he had in front of him, he was genuinely excited to relax and spend time with his famil- That thought cut short as he felt the house shake.

Upon hearing Rose scream, He quickly grabbed his pistol from the safe before hurrying up to the main floor. he was about to run up the stairs to the second floor, only to stop as he saw sharp talon like claws piercing through the roof. Instead, Chris opened the front door and made his way outside, with Duke not far behind him. To his horror, he found that a large winged creature had landed on the roof and pried part of it away.

a gapping maw with several rows of teeth opened wide as stringing, steaming acidic spit could be seen. the lip-less creature seemed to have no neck, as a bowed out pouch connected from its chin to its chest like a pelican. Dozens of eyes could be seen clustered on top of the creature's head and down it's back, where thick dark tendrils flailed around between bat like wings.

Duke barked at the unwelcomed creature that was attacking their home as it pull up a clawed digit back out of the house, then turned to stare at the people and creatures below. The cowardly pup had seen enough at this point and was content with sprinting away to hide in a bush.

Rose looked around in a panic as she saw what she could only describe as a creature made from nightmares had torn open the ceiling over her room and unceremoniously plucked her out with dexterous finesse. She could barely see what was going on around her, but she knew she was in trouble. "Help!" she shouted, hoping that at least one of her parents would hear her.

Emma had just made it outside to stand by Chris when she heard Rose shouting. The meek and terrified plea for aid was enough to get both parents to rush back into the house as they realized that Rose was not with the other, and that she had not made it out at all. However, before either could make it to the door, the dragon like creature dove forward with a horrific screech as its other open paw was ready to grab Chris.

The agent leaped forward, enough to avoid being grabbed, while giving him the chance to grab onto the beast as it bounded back into the air with a strong gust of wind created by its white leathery wings.

"Chris!" Emma shouts in horror, only understanding that the beast now had a hold on half of her family. As panic set in, Emma rushed back into the remains of the house. Emma quickly made her way down into the basement and over to Chris's study, there had to be something here that could help. The first thing that stood out to her was Chris's phone on his desk, which she quickly snatched up to call for backup.

While Emma did this, the dragon circled around in the air over the home. It had 4 clawed paws and 4 targets, but it only had a hold on one...

Chris clung on for dear life while trying to make a plan. There wasn't a clear direct pat over to Rose. After a few moments, a plan came to mind. It wasn't a great plan, hell, it wasn't even a good plan, but it was the only one he had. he pressed the muzzle of his pistol against the creature's pouch like neck and fired the pain caused it to reel back and at that moment. He jumped.

Rose screamed again as she felt the creature reel back in pain. If she didn't like roller coasters, she liked this even less! "Chris, help!" she shouts as she kept her eyes tightly shut. She didn't want to see any of this.

"I'm here, I'll get you out," She heard in response, causing her to quickly ignore her fearful instinct and open her eyes to see Chris was, somehow, now standing over her while clinging on to the dragon's leg.

That was possibly the dumbest thing he's ever done, but it worked! Chris needed a second to catch his breath from the leap of faith, but hearing Rose shout for his help was hard to ignore. He had to say something. before he could say or do much else, gurgling, gagging heaving sounds could be heard from the dragon before it vomited a grotesque amount of sludgy green acid onto the house.

Emma continued to hold Chris's phone to her ear with her shoulder as she shuffled through his stash. "Okay, yeah. I found it. And how do I know it's loaded?" She asks with continued panic in her voice as the sound of sudden heavy rainfall caught her attention and just as quickly as it started it stopped. "Umber eye I'm going to have to call you back, please send help," She says as she pockets the phone and grabs the riffle from the large safe.

She hurries back to the basement stairs and through the open door to find dripping holes starting to form as popping, sizzling acid ate away at the floorboard. In what was possibly the most intense game of 'the floor is lava' that she's ever played, Emma hoped from one safe, acid free spot to another in an attempt to get back to the front door.

As each Meticulous leap was made on the ground below, Chris worked to try and pry open the clawed digits that kept rose captive, just enough for her to get free and join Chris on his precarious perch. "We can't stay down here," Chris explains as Rose clings onto him. "We have to get on it's back, it can't reach us there," He explains, it also helped if they fall then they would be less likely to end up crushed between the ground and a giant dragon but hey, one priority at a time. "Rose you need to hold on to my back okay? just pretend we're at the pool," He coached as he tried to shift and kneel enough for Rose to do what he told her to do.

"I'm scared!" She shouts in return.

Fucking hell... "I am too," Chris admits. "It's okay. We're going to get out of this. Just hold on to me," He instructs again over the loud, turbulent winds that were created with each flap of the creature's wings.

It took Rose a few moments, but she eventually did as she was told. Once more, she tightly forced her eyes to stay shut. She didn't want to see how high up they were.

With his pistol now holstered, Chris focus on carefully and patiently making his way onto the dragon's back. there was a near immediate sense of relief as they made it to a somewhat safer area. At least he could hold on better from here, even if the winds were pushing them around a bit more. He reached into his pocket to pull out his favorite knife and flicked that open before jabbing it into the creature, who barely noticed the pin prick.

Emma had just made her way back out of the house when she noticed that somehow Chris and Rose had made their way onto the creature's back. And for some reason, the creature that was still circling the well near destroyed house. While she was terrified by the idea of actually using a gun, her options were less than ideal. Either do nothing and panic while hoping that somehow this doesn't end with the death of her husband and child. OR. She could try and take a 50/50 shot at helping or hurting the situation by taking action. She didn't even know if it was loaded, and if it was loaded, she didn't know how to re-load it. She'd only get one shot.

She better make this count then. She took a deep breath and went over what umber eye went over with her on their short-lived call. "flip the tiny switch," Emma says as she turns off the safety switch and holds the rifle up to rest the butt against her shoulder. "Line up the dots. Make sure the center dot is where you want to bullet to go," She repeats the instructions under her breath while trying to keep up with the moving target. "take a deep breath," She coached before pulling the trigger, which immediately knocks her over.

Chris blinked, and suddenly, there was a small hole in the wing of the dragon where there hadn't been before. He watches as the small hole rips and tears causing the horrific creature to become unstable. Chris shifts to reach around and help move rose to cling to his chest rather than his back in hopes of keeping her safer. Once he felt more confident that Rose would be safe, he used his free hand to get his pistol and fires his remaining shots at the wing. While the eyes directly in front of him were tempting targets, he knew well enough that shooting in front of you while flying forward was a great way to end up eating your own bullet.

The shots aimed at the creature's wing, flew true and hit their marks. With each new hole added to the wing, the tear grew that much more until the wing was completely split, causing the creature to spiral out of control and crash-land into the remains of the house, more or less crushing what was left.

As the dust and rubble start to settle, Emma starts to hurry over as she sees a rather beat up Chris making his way out of the house while holding Rose, who was still fearfully clinging on to him. Once he made his way over to Emma, the two embrace for a moment and only that moment as they heard the creature start to shift to get back up.

"Trade?" Chris asks as he gestures to the riffle in Emma's hand.

Emma nods and offers him the gun after he put Rose down. While she focused on tending to their now openly sobbing child, Chris lined up the sights and pulls back the bolt to load a new bullet into the chamber.

bang. bang. bang.

Each shot met the same spot as he tried to drill through the creature's flesh. Being only an amalgamation of two lords this time, it's hid was significantly weaker and by the fourth round the creature stopped moving and began to calcify.

Emma breathed a sigh of relief before mournfully staring at the remains of what used to be their home. The BSAA showed up shortly after. No surprise there, but what she wasn't prepared for was the inevitable return of her mother and father. She saw her car pull in to the cul-de-sac and immediately stop, so they could get out. Her father hurried over first as her mother got Piers from his car seat.

"Are you okay? What happened? What's going on?" Eugene rapidly asks as he quickly made his way over to find Chris and Emma standing there while Rose clung to Chris's side. The elderly man pulled Emma into a hug. It took him a moment, but he did notice the large dragon shaped elephant in the vicinity. "Pardon my language, but what the fuck is that?"

Emma and Chris looked at each other before talking at the same time.

"It's complicated?"

"It was an act of god?"

They looked at each other again before looking back at her father.

"It was an act of god?"

"It's complicated?"

Emma held her face as the two could not seem to manage to say the same thing.

"It's a very complicated act of god," Chris says, merging the two lies together.

"Uhuh," Eugene replies, rather unimpressed with the two as his 'dad voice' became more apparent. "Make it uncomplicated, then."

"Are you alright?" Emma's mother asks as she made her way over as well.

"They were just about to explain," Eugene says as he cuts off their chance at a distraction.

Emma's mother hands Piers over to Emma, and the baby contently nuzzles into his mother's hold, contently unaware of the turmoil around him.

"Well, um... This is why I don't work from home?" Chris says with a wincing smile, which causes Emma to snicker.

"It's a pretty good reason," Emma admits all the same.

"This. You work with dragons?" her father asks while trying to process what was going on. As he asks this, one of the BSAA agents make their way over to join the group.

"Captain Redfield, Sir. The director wants a few words with you regarding the bioweapon, securing samples and locking down the area for sterilization," the agent explains rather openly since it was hard to gaslight the civilians in the area into thinking there wasn't a giant 20-foot stone bat lizard that just crushed a house. "He said it was urgent, sir."

"... I'll be right there," Chris replies after initial hesitation. Emma reaches into her back pocket and takes out Chris's phone, which she offers to him.

"Go. I'll try and let you know where we end up..." Emma says with an attempt at a smile. This was going to suck for a little while, but they made it through worse.

Emma's father watched, still not thrilled, but all the same a tired breath escaped him along with the urge to fight. "... Let find a hotel to stay at for now... You all look like you're freezing."

"Thanks dad," Emma replies with an appreciative smile.

With that, Emma, Rose, Piers and Emma's parents crammed into the 5 seater car to make their way back into town to find a hotel. To the best of their knowledge, everything had been lost. Piers was seemingly the luckiest of the bunch as he'd at least have clean clothes to change into each day thanks and a few toys to play with thanks to his time with his grandparents. His birthday cake consisted of a quick grocery store cupcake instead of the healthier option Emma and Rose worked so hard on, and Chris was unfortunately absent.

It wasn't until well after dark when the kids were both soundly asleep that Emma heard a quiet knock at the door of the hotel room her parents afforded her. She quickly shuffled over and gently opened the door, finding Chris on the other side. Chris walked in, allowing the door to close behind him. Once more, the two quietly embraced and held each other as they were now able to take the time to cope together. The home they'd worked so hard to build together had been lost.

"An act of god? Seriously?" Chris quietly asks with an amused smile to break the silence.

hearing that caused a weak smile to form on Emma's face."I was panicking," Emma she admits. "You know I'm bad at lying."

"Yeah," He admits with a quiet halfhearted huff of laughter. "I'm just glad you're both okay." He could replace a house, he couldn't replace people.

"Welcome home," She offers in response, as she wasn't sure what else to say. They were all safe, that's all that mattered.


lmao hopefully you can forgive me for making the song suggestion for the day a pun by recommending Imagine DRAGONS. heee. While I went back to re-read old chapters and clean them up, I realized I made a rather unintended reoccurring theme of Chris fighting a dragon. Chapter 3 had Summer give Chris a picture of him frowning outside of a house with Duke while a dragon was flying over the house. Chapter 52 had Chris pretending to be a knight to fight Dragon Emma to save Rose. So yeah, I couldn't not find a way to actually add a dragon, so when I remembered that Lady D's monster form was based on a dragon, it was set in stone that this would happen. All I had to do was add a bit of Moreau and boom acidic dragon breath. Another fun easter egg I should give credit for is a reference to the catbug 'marry me rebecca' dialog, which I had Rose use as inspiration for her mini toy drama.

So did you guess correctly that a dragon would smoosh the house?

Also fun aside, it was pretty much a unanimous vote between FF and AO3 that Piers' first word should be Rose in some shape or form. It turns out kids don't learn how to pronounce the 'R' sound until they're like 6 or 7 years old, though, so oo-sey is the closest we're going to get for a while.