And we're back for another chapter! I've got so much planned now, holy cheese these extra few days have been a blessing and a curse all at the same time haha. Thank you again for your patience as I work out a new writing schedule to fit my new job. Please know that my silence is not a bad thing :) my quality of life has improved so much that I'm actually starting to sleep well again and after 3 years of not sleeping hardly at all I have a lot of catch up to do. I'm also working on a few gifts for you guys too ^v^ until then, please enjoy this latest chapter!
Song Suggestion: The Pretender by Foo Fighters
Disclaimer: I own nothing ovo CapCom is the divine overlord of all things Resident Evil, and I am but a wee little fan girl.
It had been around 3 months since Tundra's betrayal and the director's misdeeds caught up to them. Things had been slow around the BSAA because of it. Trying to find someone to fill the role of the director proved to be more difficult than initially intended but, to be fair, finding someone who was willing to take on such a difficult task was a tall order for the humble HR team.
All the same, an email went out near the end of February and by the beginning of March, rumors were beginning to spread about the new leader of the BSAA. One General Colton had taken up the task of leading the reform of the BSAA. Well decorated with plenty of experience but an outsider to the organization all the same, which made for a very curious crew.
While Chris had tried to keep his nose out of it, that soon proved impossible as Lobo walked into the gym, about 30 minutes late, with a confused and stunned expression.
"The hell were you doing? Taking a nap?" Chris asks once he notices the heavy weapons expert walk into the room.
"Sorry I'm late sir. Had a meeting to attend," He replies with unusual quietness. "Director's orders," he adds which rather quickly got the attention of the rest of the team.
"Wait what?" Night howl asks as he stops running on a treadmill and gets off to head over.
"You had a meeting with the director?" Umber eye asks with a raised eyebrow. "The hell did you do now?"
"Probably got caught stealing from the fridge again," Canine says with a laugh, but to his surprise, Lobo shook his head.
"Nope. I was on my way here, and she stopped me, told me to join her in her office. Said she just wanted to chat," Lobo explains.
"Okay, so she put you through the ringer, right?" Chris asks, wondering what the director did to get Lobo to seem this lost.
"No. That's the weirdest part," Lobo says, "she actually just wanted to talk?" He explained, though his own confusion made it seem like a question. "Said she heard about the situation with Tundra. That the records said I took it the hardest and that she wanted to check on me and see how I was doing."
"Huh," Umber eye says, while the others looked at each other with matching confusion.
"She didn't shout at all. She was actually rather nice. Asked if I needed some time off since we've been working at the office ever since... It's kind of freaking me out," Lobo admits while holding the side of his head. "If that was an interrogation, that was a weird ass attempt at it. Hardly asked anything useful, just standard get to know you questions you'd hear at a pub."
"Now that's just weird," Canine says as he was trying to process this.
"I heard the UN put a lot of pressure on the BSAA to hire from outside. Made the process take longer because no one wanted to risk being associated with an organization that could trash their reputation," Night howl chimes in while the others looked to Chris.
"She's the director now and that's that. If she wants to talk to her employees, that's allowed," Chris points out as he shifts to cross his arms. "Now all of you get back to work."
"Sir yes sir!" the team replied and did just that. It was technically an excused tardiness so Lobo was spared from doing laps.
From there, the day went on as normal. Exercises were completed, and the now smaller group packed up for the day to start making their way home.
"I'm home," Chris announces as he walks in to the cramped apartment and closed the door behind him.
"You're late," Rose says while sitting upside down on the couch with her feet in the air, with Duke and her brother sitting on either side of her.
Seeing this caused Chris to frown. "I know you know how to sit on a couch properly," he says while taking his shoes off. "Emma's back already?"
"Yeah, she ran out to get groceries," Rose answers while she stayed in place while continuing to struggle with her phone game.
"Alright. And sit up, you're going to give yourself a migraine," He warns before making his way over to the kitchen to start making dinner. Hamburgers were easy enough and hardly ever complained about, so that's what he went with. As the patties browned in a warming pan, the agent pulled out his phone, shifted through his contacts and clicked dial. He held his phone to his ear with his shoulder, and heard the dial tone for a bit as he continued to work with the meal, but eventually that stopped, and a greeting was heard.
"Hello?" Jill answers with a mild sense of confusion.
"Hey, Figured I'd make good on that promise to call and just chat... Is now a good time?" Chris asks in return.
"So the world's not ending. That's a relief," Jill sarcastically replies with a smile. "In that case, Yeah, I got time."
"Cool. So, how have you been?" He hesitantly asks while trying to figure out where to start.
"Doing well. I've got a mission in a few days, but that's normal." Jill admits.
"Yeah. Is the South America Branch still treating you well, at least?" Chris asks as unbeknownst to him, Piers had started making his way off the couch in hopes to investigate the interesting new sounds coming from the kitchen.
"Yeah. They thank me every day for not being you. We keep hearing new horror stories from the North American branch," She jokes with a laugh.
"Hey, none of this was my fault," Chris says with a slight smile. "This time," He adds as a partial correction.
"So did you guys ever get a new director? Last I heard. You scared everyone off," Jill asks as she shifts to sit more comfortably at her desk.
"Yeah, I haven't met her yet but from the sounds of it she's more than qualified," Chris answers as soft patters of feet announced Pier's entry to the kitchen, which went unheard. "She scared the daylights out of Lobo too."
"Hey, if she's going to clean up the place, then good on her. Honestly, I'm just surprised they didn't offer you the job," Jill admits with a slight chuckle.
"You're joking right?" Chris asks with open amusement.
"RAWR," was the closest translation for the growling baby gurgles as Piers grabbed onto Chris's leg in an attempt to play an unspoken game.
Chris smiles at this. He'd seen Emma cook while holding the baby and talking on the phone before. He could figure it out. "They day they put me in charge of more than a few squads is the day you should check and make sure I wasn't replaced with an alien." Chris adds as he moves to scoop up Piers with one arm and shifts to try and cook with one hand while continuing to hold his phone with his shoulder.
His answer caused Jill to laugh. "There are time I have to wonder," she jokingly admits.
While he wanted to shake his head in response, that was somewhat out of the question with his current balancing act and Piers proceeded to try and pull on Chris's ear and tried to grab at his face.
"Easy kiddo," he says with a laugh. "Sorry, Piers is trying to get the phone... Little troublemaker," He says while trying to lean his face away from the child.
"Well, can't say I'm too surprised that trouble begot trouble," Jill She says with continued amusement as she can hear the child babbling in the background.
"Well, before he gets too out of hand. I'll admit I do have another reason for calling," Chris says as he tries to keep an eye on the cooking meat patties.
"Chris," Jill starts as her amusement fell. Was it too much to ask for a single call not about work?
"No work stuff," Chris clarifies.
It took a moment, but Jill replies. "... alright. What is it?"
"Well. Em and I are working on planning things for the..." He paused while leaning a bit again to keep piers from pulling on his ear again. "I donno if it's still called a wedding at this point, but. Whatever it is. Ceremony?"
"I think the word you're looking for is vow renewal," Jill answers as a twitch of a smile returns to her face.
"That still implies we managed to do that a first time," Chris says with a defeated sigh.
"You did, just on paper in a government building," Jill points out as she started to relax once more. "You always were quite the romantic," She sarcastically adds.
"Anyways. That aside... We're making progress with planning, and I'm going to need a best man," Chris explains and pauses. No reaction... "It's not exactly traditional, but. I can't think of anyone else I'd want at my side," Chris explains, figuring maybe he wasn't blunt enough with asking. Again, nothing... maybe the call dropped? "Jill?"
"... Do I get to wear a suit?" She asks as she breaks the silence.
"Do you want to wear a suit?" Chris asks with a raised eyebrow. He wasn't sure if this was a trick question thanks to her sudden pause earlier.
"Yeah, I get a plus one too, right?" Jill replies with a curious tone.
"Then yes, and also yes," Chris says as his smile slowly returns, must have just been bad signal or something.
"I'll do it," Jill agrees. "But I hope you know this means I'll expect you to be my maid of honor once I get hitched. You know that, right?" She teasingly asks.
Hearing this caused Chris to wince. "Do I have to wear a dress?" he asks with a laugh figuring she'd appreciate the joke at the least.
"I mean, fair is fair," Jill points out.
Wait hold on. "No, nono. Now hold on a second here. You asked to wear a suit," Chris counters as fear sets in that she thought he was serious.
"Fine. I'll spare you," Jill relents. "But you will be wearing pink."
"I've raised my sister and two children, there is not a single color in this world that can scare me," Chris rather confidently replies as his focus on the conversation and cooking left him distracted enough to not notice how close the flailing infant arms were getting to his phone.
"Challenge accepted," Jill says with a laugh.
"Hey remember whatever eyesore of a color you find, that's going to be in ALL the pictures," The struggling agent reminds while noticing a moment too late that piers had gotten a grip on the phone.
"Suppose that's true," Jill admits, she was about to continue speaking when she heard a sudden crash as the phone unceremoniously fell into the frying pan with the burgers.
"God damn it kid." Chris Grumbles as he tries to reach in and get the phone out. "Ow, ouch!" the hot grease burned his fingers, but he managed to get the phone out as piers tried pulling on his ear again. "Stop that. Ugh! God the grease got into the charging port..." He grumbles while holding the phone close enough that hopefully Jill would be able to hear. "Hey Jill, I'm going to need to call you back."
Unbeknownst to him, Jill heard his entire tirade and was trying not to laugh. "Okay. Hopefully you don't need a new phone." she replies while holding the phone a little way away from her ear thanks to Chris's shouting.
"I can't really put the phone to my ear right now, but I'm going to assume you said bye. So. Talk to you later once I get this sorted." Chris loudly explains.
"Okay. Bye," Jill says while shaking her head as the call ends.
Chris quickly moves to put the phone down on a paper towel before moving the food off the burner and putting Piers down, so he could immediately start trying to save his phone from an untimely demise.
As he did this, Rose was shifting to lay on the couch instead of hanging upside down. Not that she was getting a headache like Chris warned her but, she just didn't want to do that anymore. She needed to focus on this level anyway.
However, despite her best efforts to flip between the chat and her buffs and attack screen to defeat the beast, the ever frustrating screen appeared announcing the death of her character, which was sent back to the local inn to recover. Because everyone knows death is curable with a good night's sleep.
Rose let out a frustrated groan before opening the text channel as she waited for the cool down timer to reach 0 and her health to be restored.
[WinterRose_21] This is impossible.
[AzureW01f] It would be easier if we could talk instead of text.
[WinterRose_21] Yeah... With text we'd need like 5 more people to get past that boss.
Summer looked at her screen for a moment with a slight frown before quickly getting up and hurrying out of her room to try and find her mother. "Mooom."
"Whaaat?" Chelsea called back from her place on the couch with her laptop.
"Mom can we go visit Uncle Chris and Aunt Emmy again this weekend?" Summer asks as she moves to sit next to her mother with a pleading expression.
"Summer you know they're tight on space right now, maybe once they're back in their house," Chelsea replies as she looks up from her computer to see a pouting child next to her.
"Pleeeassse. Mom we have to fight the arch-lich Gelzif to save the kingdom of Kariphe from certain doom and rescue king Azaroth!" Summer explains as all of that went right over Chelsea's head. "We keep trying to do the fight with text chat, and we keep losing, we can't wait 3 more months. We have a timed side quest. We have to figure it out before the end of next Saturday..." Summer further explains while leaning against her mother in hopes for sympathy.
"Saving the king and preventing certain doom is a side quest?" Chelsea asks with a raised eyebrow.
"Mooom," Summer loudly whined.
"Okay, okay. Just let me call your Auntie and see what she thinks. If she says it's okay, I don't mind driving you over," Chelsea agrees before reaching over for her phone. It took a moment but she dialed up the number. "Hey Emma."
"Hey, how are you doing?" Emma says while enjoying a bit of time shopping without the addition of kids for the first time in almost 3 years.
"Doing good. So, Summer was wondering if she could stop by over the weekend. She's trying to fight some arch-lich gelph?"Chelsea starts only to get cut off.
"Gelzif," Summer corrects.
"Right that. Anyways she's trying to play a game with Rose, and they're apparently having a hard time without talking to each other. Would it be okay if I drop her off for a bit on Saturday?" Chelsea asks while summer waits on pins and needles for the answer.
"Ah. um. Well this coming Saturday I'll be out of town for work," Emma admits as she knew that would be the first Saturday of the month. "But we could have her over next Saturday."
"Next Saturday?" Chelsea asks so Summer can hear.
Summer nods, "Can I sleep over Friday night to Saturday?"
"Oh gosh, so the request has evolved to a sleep-over," Chelsea says with a laugh.
"She drives a hard bargain. I think we can manage that," Emma agrees with a smile. "I'll talk to Chris about getting another visitor's pass."
"I'll let her know to make sure to have her bag packed then," Chelsea agrees and Emma can hear a very excited shout in the background.
"Alright, we'll see you then. I need to call Chris and let him know," Emma replies.
"Talk to you then," Chelsea replies before the two hang up.
'*'*'*'*'
Time crawled along as the two girls tried their best to make their way through the impossible fight with no success. However, hope still remained as the ever coveted sleepover weekend approached and before long Summer found herself waiting outside of the tiny apartment. Knocking at the door resulted in a few short barks in greeting before a very excited Rosemary opened the door.
"Mooom Summer's here!" Rose announced as she let Summer into the apartment.
"Okay thanks for letting me know," Emma says from the master bedroom as she worked on folding laundry while Piers was helping undo the folding.
"Hey Summer," Chris says in greeting from his place on the couch next to Duke.
"Hi Uncle Chris," Summer replies as she closes the door behind her.
"Come on, let's go play," Rose says as she motions for Summer to follow her back to her room.
And so they did. The boss battle was still a challenge, even without having to switch between text chat and the battle screen. Dinner came and went, along with reluctant sleep. With the morning came breakfast and a few more rounds of fighting the boss.
"He's on your left," Summer says as she rapidly taps at her screen. "come oooon."
"Can you move a bit closer? I can give both of us a buff If I aim this right," Rose requests while trying to fend off the evil lich king that teleported next to her.
"On my way, remember to block," Summer reminds as she changed her focus from ranged attacks to moving closer to Rose.
"Got it," Rose agrees as she tried to reduce the amount of damage she was taking and time her spell casting ever so perfectly. "3,2,1 go!"
The two girls gave nervous shouts as they had their characters rush the boss to attack as much as possible while their stats were boosted, and sure enough the evil lich stopped moving and was replaced with a glowing white light before disappearing.
"We did it!" Summer says excitedly as the two girls shouts turned to happy triumphant cheering. Summer happily flopped over on the bed. "That was way too close," she says through a giggle.
"At least we can go finish the farmer's cow side quest and get the double EXP boost," Rose says with a smile as she focused on collecting as much loot as possible to sell to the creepy vendor man once they were back in town.
"Yeah," Summer agrees with a content smile as she shifts to continue playing. As she does so, she can hear a bit of movement from the rest of the apartment.
"Em, I'll be right back I'm going to take Duke out, he's pacing," Chris announces from his place by the door with the elderly pooch.
"Okay, thanks!" Emma replies over the sound of running water from the bathroom as splashing and happy giggle could be heard from Summer's self proclaimed little brother.
"Man I still can't get over how cool it is you get to live here," Summer admits as she thinks a bit more about where she was. There was an entire super secret spy base just around the corner. It was so close yet she was in an apartment, not exploring. "I wish we could go look around a little."
"We can do that," Rose says in return, which causes Summer to rather quickly sit up at full attention. "I walk to and from the labs all the time, so I don't see why we can't."
"Really?" Summer asks excitedly. this was waaay more exciting than some silly cow quest. they could finish that in like 5 seconds now that the lich stuff was done anyways.
"Yeah," Rose affirms before shifting to get up and lead the way for the two out of the apartment and into the main BSAA headquarters.
Without either parent knowing, the two happily ran through the halls of the BSAA making up their own little theme song as they snuck around corners and raced through different rooms. Loud laughter and jokes echoed through the halls, announcing where the girls were going through the building that was mostly empty since it was a weekend.
Their laughter and games went on for a good thirty minutes before a statuesque figure calmly rounded the corner and stood in the middle of the hallway, causing the girls to skid to a stop when they realized the uniformed woman was staring them down.
"uhoh..." Summer says as she rather quickly recognized an intimidating aura from the much older woman.
"Uh-oh indeed," Says the new director in a calm and even tone before a tired sigh crosses her lips. "Come with me." She says and while there was no anger in her voice her presence commanded respect all the same.
Summer and Rose looked at each other hesitantly as they realized they were probably going to get in trouble, but all the same they followed behind the woman. keeping some distance in case they decided to try and run for it instead.
To Rose's surprise, she wasn't led to a lab or an office or waiting room. Instead, they were led outside, down the concrete walkway and back to the second floor of the apartment building she called home. Somehow this was simultaneously better and much, much worse.
The director knocked on the door while Summer and Rose continued to debate if they should run but. where would they run? this is the one place they would have gone anyways.
Emma opened the door with Chris standing behind her. upon seeing the two, the director spoke.
"I believe these are yours?" She says in a questioning tone before moving a bit to the side so Summer and Rose were more visible.
upon seeing the two, Chris and Emma's expressions shifted tor horror as they realized that somehow the girls slipped out without them noticing.
This was bad. "my apologies," Chris started, only to stop as the director raised a hand signaling for him to be quiet.
"There's no need. Redfield correct?" The director asks instead and waits as Chris gives a quiet nod. "Walk with me," she requested, though Chris knew an order well enough when he heard one.
A string of expletives crossed his mind as this went from bad to worse in his mind. He only just got a new boss, and he was going to be dragged off and scolded. at least they had the decency not to do that in front of his family, but. still. "of course," Chris agrees before looking at Rose and Summer. "Get in the house."
"Yes sir," Summer says and quickly does what she's told with Rose following closely behind. "I'll be right back." he says to Emma before closing the door behind him.
The two walked away from the apartment down the stairs and toward the court yard before the director finally spoke. "I've heard a lot about you," she admits which causes Chris to internally wince despite his face remaining expressionless. "stubborn, a bit arrogant, and overconfident," The director lists off and with each trait listed Chris could feel a new gray hair forming. "but hardworking, and dependable." She adds as counterpoints as her tone remained even without any sense of malice. "You've had several opportunities to take the easy path, and you've rejected it each time. For that, you have my respect."
Chris's stoic expression was exchanged for stunned surprise. Did she just complement him? "Oh... um. Thank you?" He replied, still unsure how to process the turn in the conversation. He was starting to understand why Lobo felt so unnerved before. This was weird.
The director nods in return. "I'm sure you're aware of the situation I've been handed." She says while motioning that they should start walking again as they simply circle the courtyard. "The last director ran a loose ship to put it mildly. Extortion and bribery, with moles running rampant in our ranks. It's my job to restore faith in our organization. In the mission you and the other founders held dear enough to create this whole operation."
Chris nods in return and simply listens as the woman spoke.
"I respect your decision to take on the role of handler for the young bioweapon," The director says as further praise. "You have my condolence as well. I understand she was once the child of a friend of yours... Raising a child isn't easy, and I understand that I have a few of my own." The rather tall woman explains as a slight smile caused her age to be a bit more noticeable. "So, I can imagine training a bioweapon is much more difficult..."
Training? Hold on. Chris was about to speak, but the director beat him to it.
"However, if you're not able to keep control of it and keep it in line. I'm afraid my position will force my hand," The director warns. "Order must be restored, and that's not going to be seen if I allow for children and bioweapons to run rampantly and unchecked through the halls of our facility. I cannot make exceptions. Not even for you." She explains before she stopped walking to take the time to face Chris. "Is that understood?" She asks and just as before her voice held no malice or ill-intent though the warning was clear as day. If Rose continued to cause trouble. She would be taken from him and given to another.
This was more so the conversation he was expecting... The agent stopped as well, and after a moment's pause he pushed himself to agree. "Understood."
"Good. Good," She repeats with some remorse in her tone. "I don't like to do this, but I can't afford to be seen as one who chooses favorites. With that said, You're free to go."
Chris nods at that and moves to head back home... What was he going to tell Emma... They just needed to make it 3 more months, and they'd have more room to breathe.
While Chris was off having his chat with the director, Summer and Rose were quietly hiding away in Rose's room again.
"Well... this sucks," Summer admits with a quiet sigh while focusing on her game, where she and Rose's avatars were both leading comedically oversize cows down a narrow path.
"Eh. It's not that bad... Chris gets in trouble like every other week, so honestly, I doubt they'll even notice," Rose replies while trying to ignore her own sense of guilt. "they'll forget by tomorrow."
"You're sure?" Summer asks hesitantly.
"Yeah. pretty sure it's part of his job anyways," Rose admits in return. "Run off. cause trouble. come back. get in trouble. repeat from step one."
Hearing that causes Summer to chuckle. "yeah. I still kinda wish we could trade places for like. A day. You know? then I'd be allowed to explore the building like you are."
Rose thought that over before an idea came to mind. "I mean. we kinda could," She admits as a smile starts to form before getting up. Rose closed her eyes and took a deep breath as she felt her form shift and warp a bit. when she opened her eyes She saw Summer staring at her in awe.
"How do you keep getting cooler?" Summer asks as she quickly got up to check out her doppelganger. "But. Wait how do I look like you... I dont have super powers they'll figure out I'm not you pretty quickly right?"
"That's easy," Rose says in return with an over confident smile "We'll trade places for a week. you can stay here and pretend to have a cold or something and stay in my room. mom will just leave dinner on the night stand and stuff. then we'll have another sleep over and when i'm back," Rose explains as she allows herself to change form again to look like chris. "this time we'll be a bit smarter and you'll have an escort."
"This is the best plan," Summer agrees with a nod. who was she to complain. She'd get a week off school! All she'd have to do is stay in Rose's room, play video games and eat snacks all day while everyone is gone. "Okay. Lets do it."
Rose switched her form once more to look like summer. "okay, you go and get curled up in bed and i'll go tell mom that 'Rose' Isn't feeling well as you. that way she'll have to call your mom to have me get picked up as you."
Summer nods "We should switch phones. if my mom tries and calls it will end up going here and I may not be able to text you in time." Summer points out as she offers Rose her phone.
"good idea," Rose agrees and the two swap devices.
Once that was taken care of, Summer worked on getting snuggled up in bed for the day, then gave Rose a thumbs up to signal she was ready before trying a few fake coughs.
The disguised Rose made her way out of the Room and tried to think over what she was going to say... "Hey Auntie Emmy?"
"What is it Summer?" Emma asks while sitting on the couch to not so subtly guard the door.
"Rose says she's not feeling well. Something about aches and stuff?" Rose says, which results in an instant pang of guilt as she saw Emma's face shift from annoyance to immediate concern.
"Oh, okay. Thanks for letting me know," Emma says as she shifts to get up and gather some Tylenol for 'Rose'.
"Can I go home now?" Rose asks as Summer, which causes Emma to pause.
"Um. Sure sweetie, I think your mom should be here soon," Emma admits, that kind of worked out since she already called Chelsea about picking up summer early due to their little stunt.
"Thanks," Rose says as she moves to take a seat on the couch and nervously waits to see if their plan would work. She held her breath as Emma walked into her room, but sure enough she walked right back out a few moments later. Phew.
30 minutes never felt so long but sure enough as time slowly ticked away Chris returned and a new knocking at the door announced Chelsea's arrival.
"Summer get over here," Chelsea says with a clearly annoyed expression.
Rose shrank into her seat a bit, she didn't remember her aunt being so terrifying, but all the same she got up and walked over. she had to stick to the plan. she wanted to go to school and see what it was like to be normal.
"I am so sorry about this, Let me know what you guys need and I'll try and help how I can," Chelsea offers with a further apologetic tone. "She'll be getting grounded the second she's home."
Wait grounded?! "What?" Rose asks with an expression of disbelief.
"you heard me," Chelsea says with continued annoyance. "Come on, we're going home. You are in a lot of trouble."
Well this sucked. Rose thought as she waited for Chelsea to finish her string of apologies on Summer's behalf before leading her away. down the stairs and through the courtyard and over to her car.
"Summer I am very disappointed in you. I know you know better than this," She scolds while driving them home. "No more karate classes for at least a month. and I'm updating your phone setting to block your games for at least two weeks."
Oh. Oh no... this might not work how she thought it would... She was grounded for a pretty long time. How was she going to get home without either of their parents finding out... Okay, deep breath. she could do this. She just needed to take it one day at a time.
'*'*'*'*'
Sunday was stressful, as their plan to swap places seemed to be more of a chore than they initially realized. Summer had banked on the idea that she'd be able to roam the house freely while her aunt and uncle were at work. she failed to consider that she'd have a whole day when she wouldn't be able to do that. Summer would text rose pretty consistently asking if she had any snacks stashed away under her bed or in a drawer somewhere, and the answer was always no. but she made a note to start doing that in the future in case they wanted to try this again.
Monday came shortly after and it was a breath of fresh air for both girls.
"Summer! Summer, wake up you're going to be late for the bus," Chelsea calls down the hall as Rose groggily woke up.
bus? what bus-SCHOOL BUS! Rose quickly hopped out of summer's bed and changed forms so she could get ready for the day. It was the first day of school! she didnt want to be late. Rose quickly gathered everything she thought she'd need before putting on summer's book bag and hurrying out.
"whoa, hey there Speedy Gonzolas. I know I said you'd be late, but you can slow down a little," Chelsea says with a chuckle as she puts an empty bowl down on the table for Summer where a few boxes of sugary cereals and milk waited.
Summer got to eat chocolate marshmallow cereal?! This was so unfair, she only ever got pancakes and eggs, or toaster waffles or oatmeal or cereal with no marshmallows or chocolate. Emma always says stuff like 'chocolate isn't breakfast' whenever she'd try sneaking a box into the shopping cart. So not fair. All the same Rose happily ate two bowls of the Chocolatey marshmallowy goodness.
"You're just full of energy today, aren't you," Chelsea comments with a raised eyebrow.
"Yeah, I get to go to school," Rose says with a smile before remembering that Summer didn't seem to like school. "And see all my friends." she quickly adds.
"Alright well. Try to slow down or you're going to get a stomachache." Chelsea warns.
"Okay," Rose says as she does slow down a bit and a new realization came to mind. Emma always had a lunch box waiting for her... "Should I pack a lunch?" she asks as she noticed a distinct lack of lunch box.
"Are you out of lunch money already? I thought I just sent in a check..." Chelsea asks as her annoyed tone was starting to return from the other day. Seriously, did this child think they were made of money? She can't just spend all of her lunch money on morning snacks.
Right. Summer said she buys lunch at the school... Um. How does she do that? "Just testing you," Rose says with a forced smile.
Chelsea rolls her eyes at this before "Alright wise guy." she says before getting up to check on the other two siblings. "Good luck at school. Text me if you need me." Chelsea adds as she walks away.
That's it? huh. Rose happily finished her sugar rush breakfast and drank the chocolate milk left behind in the bowl before quickly putting her shoes on and making her way outside. a bight yellow bus eventually stopped in front of the house, and she was on her way to the magical institute of learning known as middle school.
Summer cautiously followed along side the other kids as they got off the bus and filed into a large room full of tables with small round seats attached to them.
"Summer, hey where are you going? over here!" she hears someone shout as a group of students waved at her.
"uh," Who were they? She decided to make her way over and the group of kids got up to greet her since she didn't seem like she was going to take a seat.
"Hello fellow students," Rose says with a nervous smile as she found herself clinging to the notebook that would likely save her from complete embarrassment since it had summer's class schedule written down inside it.
"Eww, that's such an old meme Summer," One of them says through a laugh.
"Are you ready for the science test later?" the other asks while giving the first a slight shove.
"Test?" Rose asks horrified. They did tests here too? How did they manage that with so many kids and such a small amount of space?
"Oh no... did you not study? Man, this one will be rough. It's like 10% of our grade for the quarter," the first says with a sympathetic wince.
"My mom said if I don't get an A I'm grounded for the rest of my life." another chimed in with a tired sigh.
"Isn't that a bit harsh?" Rose asks mortified.
"I know right?" they reply in agreement as the first bell rang. "Come on we should get to home room, or we'll be late for being early."
Was that even possible? Rose followed along with the other kids, though with a smile plastered on her face. This was terrifying, but she couldn't help but feel excited. she was actually getting to be normal, and so far, no one seemed to notice she was different.
Meanwhile, back at the small apartment at the BSAA Summer's stomach was loudly complaining as she smelled morning breakfast. "it's no fair," Summer quietly whined into the pillow. Rose got to eat a hot breakfast every morning?! She just got cold cereal, this was so lame! she didn't even get to enjoy it she just had to smell it. uuuughh.
Emma watched the door to Rose's room after making the girl's favorite breakfast, and yet after almost two days she still hadn't seen the girl leave the room. there was an off time when she'd hear the door open and close when rose went to the bathroom, but other than that, Rose was pretty much keeping to herself...
"Anything?" Chris asks from his place at the head of the table, and Emma shook her head as she took her seat.
"Nothing... I think I'm going to stay home today... If she's feeling this sick, someone should be watching her..." Emma offers and Chris nods.
"I could always call in," Chris offers in return. "Stay here with Piers for a day. It's not like I can't just do my paperwork from here anyways and when it comes time for drills I can just text umber eye and tell him to lead the group for today."
"No it's okay. you just got in trouble with the director, it wouldn't look good for you to take a day right now. I can handle it," Emma replies before giving him a quick peck on the side of the head.
"Alright, if you're sure," Chris says in return. "I'll keep my phone on me. Call if you need me."
"Okay," She quietly agrees, while summer is none the wiser.
Dishes were cleared, and the clock ticked as the seconds passed by. 10:30 that should be long enough right? Summer thought as she pushed herself to get up and slowly get out of bed. She peaked out of the door way and the coast was clear. the blanket wrapped 12 year old slowly tip toed her way into the kitchen to start digging around for food.
Hearing the rustling of bags and the sound of cabinets open and close was enough to get Emma's attention as she was working on the ever present never ending task of laundry back in her room with Piers. It would be good to check on the girl. So Emma pushed herself to get up and walk over to the kitchen to find the strangest sight. Summer was digging through the fridge and currently trying to get a cheese stick out of a larger bag.
Emma stared as gears slowly clicked into place and annoyance replaced her concern. "Summer!" She says with a short snappy tone which causes the girl to jolt.
"Oh. Um. Surprise!" Summer says, though a forced laugh.
This was absolutely karma for the number of times Emma snuck out of the house as a kid, but that didn't make the situation any less annoying. Instead, she quickly dialed up Chelsea. "Hey. So where's Summer?" Emma asks in greeting.
"Um. At school? Why?" Chelsea asks with growing concern.
"Can you call the school and make sure she checked in?" Emma requests while trying to force a smile. "Because I think I'm looking at her right now."
"Oh for the love of all that's holy," Chelsea says as she moves to hold her face. "Alright, I'll call you back."
"Thanks," Emma says before the two hung up, and a new call was made.
During this, Summer simply stuffed her face since she hadn't had anything to eat since 7 last night.
Chris looked down at his phone which showed an incoming call from Emma. "Hey what's up?"
"Rose learned to shape-shift," Emma says bluntly. She's been raising this kid for 4 years. When something didn't make sense, the answer was usually a new power.
Oh shit. He forgot to mention that. Um. Play dumb. "She what?"
"It's either Summer was in Rose's room the whole time and Rose went home with Chelsea or Summer somehow managed to hitchhike back to the apartment, and past several security guards just to raid our fridge," Emma says with an ever present deadpan expression of annoyance.
A tired sigh escaped him as he moved to hold his face with his free hand. "I'll be right there." Chris closed up his laptop and sent a quick text to umber eye that he was going to be taking a sick day before making his way back to the apartment where he found Emma sitting at the table with Summer who was contently eating a sandwich.
"Alright, What's going on?" Chris asks after closing the door behind him.
"I just heard back from Chelsea and the school is saying that Summer just checked in as present for her 3rd period class 15 minutes ago." Emma explains while trying to keep her frustration with the girls in check. That being said. Someone was absolutely grounded after they figure out where she is. "So either this one is Rose pretending to be Summer, or Rose is in a public school a couple of dozen miles away, still pretending to be Summer."
"Goddamnit Rose..." Chris says under his breath. Did she really not get that she could be taken away from them, even after that already almost happened before? Did she think that was a joke? "Alright. I'll call Chelsea and meet her at the school. watch this one and if she changes back, let me know."
"Can do," Emma agrees as Chris turns right back around to make his way out of the apartment and out to the parking lot to find his car.
Still blissfully unaware that her cover had been blown, Rose continued her first day of school still as happy as could be.
"Alright who can answer the following question. -1 1/2 divided by -2" the teacher asks and Rose quickly and excitedly raised her hand. "Summer?"
"Positive 0.75" Rose answers with some pride that she was able to do this in her head.
"As a fraction?" the teacher requests.
"Positive 3/4," Rose replies.
"Nerrrrrd," says one of the kids behind her which cause the others in the class to giggle as the teacher tried to get them to be quiet once more.
"Summer what are you doing?" Whispers one of her friends sitting next to her. She'd been acting weird all day.
"But the teacher asked?" Rose whispers back with a confused expression.
"Yeah but, no one volunteers. We get it, you're smart but putting a target on your back," The friend warned. "Just keep your head down, and maybe they'll for get in a few days."
"Oh," School was confusing... if she ignored one of the scientists like this then she'd get in trouble... All the same, Rose made sure to be quiet after that and sat there doing pretty much nothing. This was boring.
Or it was. 4th period rolled around. Lunch time. She managed to work her way through the line and was rewarded with sweet sweet pizza and ice cream. she took it back this was the best place ever. As she reached the end of the line a woman in an apron and hair net stared at her.
"are you paying with cash or your pin?" The lunch lady asks.
"My what?" Rose asks confused. she didn't have her allowance on her so... what does she do here?
"Your lunch ID. Put in the pin and go if you don't have cash," the lunch lady says as she's seen summer enough times to know that she wasn't new to this process.
Rose remained in place while staring at the number pad. "I don't know it."
"Last name," The woman asks
what was Summers's last name again?
"Summer Martin to the front office. Summer Martin to the front office," says the loudspeaker as the lunchroom went quiet for a bit and the chatter returned shortly after.
Oh right. "Martin," Rose says with a nervous smile.
"Alright. Summer you're all checked out to go. hurry up to the office with your lunch," the lunch lady says as Rose walked a few steps away from the line.
Where even was that? Which office? Weren't there a couple of dozen of them here? Rose moved to take an empty seat instead and started eating her lunch and treat.
"Summer Martin to the front office for early dismissal. Summer Martin." The loud speaker announced once more as a few other kids turned to stare at her. Why wasn't she leaving? Early dismissals meant no school for the rest of the day. She should be running, yet she was sitting there like a deer in the headlights.
The message was ignored once more, and a third never came. Instead, the lunchroom doors opened Allowing A woman, Summer's mother and a clearly pissed off Chris to walk into the room.
Rose tried to sink into her seat to hide bit the solid plastic stool like chair gave her little room to do so as the three made their way over to where Rose was sitting.
"There you are Summer," Chelsea says with a forced smile. "It's time to go home. Your uncle is visiting."
"Hi Uncle Chris," Rose says while hoping to keep up her facade.
"Get your stuff. We're leaving," Chris says while surprisingly keeping his temper in check.
Rose quietly nods and packs up her bag before picking up the remains of her lunch so she could throw it away on her way out of the room. The 3 drove back to the BSAA in silence, and Chris led the way back to the apartment.
Once the door was shut, the three adults looks between the two identical girls. "Alright. Which one is Rose..." Chris says with a ticked off smile.
Rose and Summer looked at each other nervously, but stayed quiet.
Chris stared them down. "Fine. I guess we're waiting then," he says as an idea came to mind. "Chelsea how much time do you have?"
"I have all day If I need it. Jack's on his way home, so he can pick up Maurie and Annie once school is done," Chelsea says while staring at the two girls. Which one was hers...
"Why don't you stick around for dinner then," Chris offers with a slight smile. He knew exactly how to tell which one was which.
"Sure, sounds great, but my Summer better realize if it takes that long that she's not going to Karate class for 3 months," Chelsea says while continuing to stare at the two, hoping to catch any sign of a reaction.
Summer, however, was willing to call her mother's bluff, knowing well enough that she'd pay for lessons well in advance. it would be a punishment for her mother more than herself.
1PM turned to 5 as the parents waited for one of the two to give, but neither one was interested in throwing the other under the bus. Around this time Chris got up and make his way over to the kitchen.
Another 30 minutes later the smell of food started to fill the air and Chris finally spoke again. "Rose can you set the table?"
Both Summer's looked at each other before nodding, and both got up to finish the requested chore. They weren't going to fall for it that easily.
And luckily for Chris that wasn't the trick he had in mind. Instead, he moved over a bowl of fresh rice with mushrooms over to the table alongside a plate of freshly baked and sliced spam. "Dinner's ready." He says as he takes a seat, and the two girls hurry over only to stare at different dishes in horror.
"Eat up," Chris says as he serves himself while Chelsea and Emma do the same.
Both girls stare at the food and refuse to move to put either dish on their play.
"Let me help you," Chris says as he puts a healthy amount of each dish on each plate.
The Summers look across the table at each other before looking at their plates. One focused more on eating the Spam while the other stuck with eating the mushroom rice.
"That one's Rose," Chris says as he points at the one eating spam, which causes her expression to shift in horror.
"How can you tell?" Summer asked mortified as, despite their best efforts, the parents broke the stalemate.
"Rose picks the mushrooms out of her food before eating it, and you won't eat spam," Chris says while pointing between each. "And both of you are in a lot of trouble."
"Dang it," they both say at the same time as Rose changes back.
tadah~ a bit of a lighter chapter in a way, but the ball has started rolling. The director has been replaced which means Missions are returning soon u Next chapter is going to be a bonus chapter though. there's going to be a few of those throughout the upcoming uploads, since this is the 'final year' before I freeze the story to wait for RE 9 to release. I'm also planning on going back and adding in an extra chapter. sort of a chapter 45.5 that shows Chris's side of the village. It made more sense to have that be an unseen event back when the story was going to be 46 chapters and I wanted to avoid spoilers, but at this point it's just jarring that it's not included. So if you see an update, and you can't tell where the chapter is. Thats what happened.
