And I'm back! So. a few things. The poll link didn't work for some reason. Sorry about that. OTL, but thank you for the kinds words of support and motivation. Speaking of motivation. The world kinda decided to burn a little bit more since my last post. This lit a fire under my rear to get back to work and post another chapter for you guys that may want some time to relax. It took a bit longer than I would have liked but, here is a very nice, fluffy chapter of good news.
Fair warning, this chapter has medical talk in it. if you want to skip that, skip to the second scene divider and pick up from there :)
Song Suggestion: Good Fucking Music by Solence
Disclaimer: I own nothing, Capcom owns Resident Evil and the characters associated with it. I'm just traumatizing them more.
Emma sat alone at the dining room table of her home staring at her phone while Piers was busy playing with his toys. Two weeks had passed since Chris and Rose were whisked away for work. Yet she only just got a text from him a few hours earlier.
Friday August 2nd, 7:15pm
[Chris] We just got released from Quarantine (12:01 pm)
[Chris] We still have to go through a debrief, but we should be home later tonight (12:01pm)
[Chris] Just. When you see Rose. Try and stay calm, okay? (12:05pm)
[Chris] I can't talk about it now, but she's safe. (12:05pm)
[Chris] I have good news too (12:38pm)
"Dang it all Chris what does that even mean?" She grumbled as she read the messages over and over again, then sighed as she put her phone down on the table to try and get herself to stop. It's fine. Everything's fine, they're both safe and coming home. This is fine.
Anxious sitting turned to anxious pacing, then sitting on the floor by Piers to distract herself. After about 20 minutes of this, the creaking of the garage door got her attention.
"We're home!" Chris called, which caused Piers to abandon his toys and quickly toddle over to the door.
"Ooo-seee" he happily cheered as he made his way over with Emma close behind him. As he hurried over he didn't seem to notice anything different and gave his sister a hug.
"... That was me," Chris grumbled as he was second fiddle and next to receive a hug.
"Da-dah!"
"Yeah yeah, I see how it is," he quietly complained as he reached down to pick up the child while keeping an eye on Emma who froze after seeing them.
"Well I suppose it's my turn then. Welcome home you two," Emma said as she managed to get herself to move and hug her daughter who had aged significantly, and grown 3 inches taller in the short 2 weeks that she was away.
"Hey mom," Rose replied and returned the hug briefly.
Once Emma let go, she moved to give Chris a quick peck. "You're both right on time," She said and motioned for them to follow her.
To Rose's surprise, the living space had been decorated in typical birthday fashion with balloons, streamers and a home printed happy birthday banner on printer paper taped to extra streamers. There were even a few small gifts on the table that had been set for 3.
"Tadah," Emma pushed herself to smile. "Sorry, I didn't have time to make a cake this year. So, it's store bought, but I was able to keep dinner warm. Are you hungry?"
Rose continued to stare at the setup. She'd figured there would be no way she'd even have a birthday this year. At least not on the right day. It took a second longer, but Rose looked at Emma with an appreciative grin. "Starving."
"We'll have to fix that. Go wash your hands, both of you. I'll get dinner moved over to the table," Emma instructed as she took Piers from Chris.
"Dibs on the powder room," Chris quickly spoke.
"Uuuugh fine," Rose grumbled and started making her way up the stairs to the other bathroom to wash her hands.
As soon as Rose was up the stairs the panic that Emma had been suppressing welled up. "What happened?" She quickly whispered while looking at Chris who knew well enough to stay put.
"She aged," He wasn't sure how else to answer that. "The doctors are saying physically she's more inline with a 16-year-old. She didn't have time for cognitive development, though. They're suspecting she'll have a rapid mentality shift over the next few months to catch up based on her previous advanced cognitive growth since a good portion of mental development at this age is hormonal..."
"What does that mean?"
"I don't know," Chris motioned for Emma to follow him as he made his way to the kitchen to wash his hands. "They were talking in chemical abbreviations. I could barely keep up,"
"You have good news?" Emma asks as she put Piers down in his high chair then went to gather the main dish.
"Yeah. Most likely. Just wait until she's asleep."
The request caused her to pause as she tried to hide her disappointment. Most likely good news could also be potentially bad news. "Okay." It wasn't, but She'd try to pretend it was for Rose's sake.
Emma had just finished setting the main dish on the table when Rose made her way back down the stairs and over to her seat. "What's for dinner?"
"I made Enchiladas. Top row has roast beef in it. The bottom row is just cheese," Emma placed a bowl of mixed vegetables down on the table as well. Knowing Rose, the vegetables were going to be ignored, and she was only going to eat the Cheese enchiladas because the beef once had some vegetables mixed in too, heaven forbid she eats onions and peppers.
"Sweet," Rose happily placed two cheese enchiladas on her plate and ignored the bowl of vegetables while Chris and Emma took their seats.
"Vegetables," Chris warned.
"It's my birthday though," Rose pouted.
"If you're going to grow to be healthy and strong, you need to eat your vegetables," His warning remained as he scooped a good mounding spoonful onto his own plate. "Like me." He added with a joking smirk.
Rose tried to imagine what she'd even look like. "... I'll pass."
Chris rolled his eyes at that and waited for Emma to serve herself before he served himself from the main dish as well. "What about Piers?"
"He had a cheese Tortilla and some unseasoned beef earlier." Emma explained as she put a few vegetable chunks on the high chair counter for Piers to pick at. "I didn't think that it would be right to make him wait to eat, and it might be too spicy for him."
"But it's not even spicy," Rose countered with a deadpan stare as she ate the cheese enchiladas that were naturally less spicy thanks to the abundance of dairy.
Chris shook his head "well if you want it to be hotter, Em, do we still have that jar of jalapeƱo slices in the fridge?"
"It's fine how it is," Rose quickly corrected her comment.
"There's some left," Emma confirmed through a quiet chuckle.
Dinner went on as peacefully as it started, the family continued to talk about everything and nothing at the same time. Cake was served with a large candle in the shape of a number 4 and the kids were put to bed shortly after the late dinner.
Emma washed the dishes and cleaned up the table to try and distract herself a bit longer while Chris was out walking Duke for the night. Emma's cleaning and tidying up eventually led her back up the stairs to start getting ready for bed. As she did so, she found herself glancing at the door of the room every so often as her anxious worrying was filled with thoughts of the teen that was hopefully falling asleep just down the hall.
She should be going to bed too but. "It'll just be a second," Emma reasoned as she walked out of the master bedroom and gently tip toed over to Rose's room. She opened the door as quietly as possible, only enough to peek in and see if she was sleeping, to find that she was out like a light. "... What happened?" She understood, kind of. She aged drastically, but why?
"Hey,"
The quiet whisper caused Emma to jolt as she looked over to find that Chris had returned and was now standing by the stairs. As she looked over, he silently gestured over towards their room. Emma checked on Rose once more to make sure she was asleep before nodding and closing the door as carefully as she opened it.
Once the two were safely in their room Chris pondered over what to say first. "Well... good news or bad news first?"
"Good news. Please, I need anything positive about all of this first," Emma replied as she started to pace.
As quickly as that started Chris reached out to hold her closer to him to get her to stop. That was just going to get her more worked up. "...Rebecca might have something."
"Really?"
"She might," Chris repeated. He wanted to be excited too but, after going this long with nothing. He didn't want either of them to be too hopeful. It would just hurt more. "I found a voicemail from while I was gone. She wants to stop by and have rose try it while she's around to make sure there aren't immediate side effects."
"How soon can she be here?" Emma asks as the 'might' still went in one ear and out the other until something clicked. "Wait... what's the bad news?" Could she not fly over? Did it have illegal components? Someone else beat her too it and patented it?
"It's not related to the good news, Not completely," Chris gave Emma a gentle nudge to try and get her to move to sit down on the bed and sat down next to her after she did so.
"However," Emma continued the sentence, still expecting a some sort of catch.
"The mission didn't go well... at all. We barely made it out of there," Chris hesitantly admits. While he hated the idea of making Emma worry more, She did deserve some answers for what caused Rose's change. "The outbreak was a trap. Rose was able to get us out, but using her abilities while under that much stress had a cost, so she aged... While It's the same people who sent that thing to the house, It's hard to say if it was set specifically for Hound Wolf or for the BSAA in general."
"They attacked the house. I don't think it's that hard to tell. Someone is targeting Rose."
"That's why it is... They know where we are. If they wanted to, they could just attack here again," As frustrating as it was, it was hard to ignore that truth. "Luckily I don't think they're willing to send whatever that thing was out into the open. Not yet at least." Chris paused to think it over. He really shouldn't be telling her any of this. As far as BSAA rules go. But it wasn't protecting her to hide it from her. Not anymore. The last time she got kidnapped proved that well enough. Even if she didn't know anything, she was close enough to be exploited as a target. He might as well give her the truth if she was going to be in the same amount of danger either way. "In hindsight, It seemed like they didn't know how to keep it under control. The room that creature was locked in was likely a makeshift cage to keep it in check until we got there."
Thing? It? That creature? Oh gosh, he meant there was another one of those weird flying mutant zombie lizard things that attacked the house. "It's gone though, right? The situation was taken care of? That's why you're back."
"Sort of," He winced.
"Sort of?"
"It was looking pretty bad. We retreated. I left Rose at the European headquarters after that and came back with a few other teams, by the time we got back it was gone." Chris admitted with a sense of defeat. "We spent a good week hunting for it, but never found it. After that, we came back. Standard quarantine and debrief. You know the routine at this point..."
".. So when is Rebecca going to be here?" Emma asked once more. She needed to focus on the positives. She couldn't change what happened, and she couldn't go back in time. At least they're both still alive. For now.
"She should be here as soon as Sunday. She said she'd let me know once she had a flight scheduled,"
"Okay," Emma shifted to lean against Chris. "Please let it work." she quietly whispered. If Rose had to keep going on trips like this. That meant this could happen again. Her heart couldn't take much more of this.
Chris gently ran his hand along her back and silently hoped for the same. "She said there's a good chance."
'*'*'*'*'
A phone call came the next morning confirming that Rebecca was on her way. The two parents were left to wait on pins and needles as Saturday turned to Sunday. The two tried and failed to keep themselves busy with various tasks around the house, training and DIY repairs that were suddenly absolutely necessary. It was all they could do to keep from driving over to the airport and spend their time pacing and waiting there.
When the doorbell finally rang, it was hard to tell who got there first. Duke, Emma or Chris.
Rebecca tried not to laugh as she watched the rather comical collection of shadows through the frosted glass of the door as the 3 tried to get out of each other's way and figure out who was actually going to open the door. Eventually, Chris opened the door while Emma held back Duke and waited close by.
"Hey" Chris greeted with a nervous grin.
"Hey yourself," Rebecca replied with continued amusement as she shifted her hold on the bag in her hand. "Mind if I come in?"
"Please, by all means," Chris moved out of the way and once Rebecca was inside, he closed the door.
"It's good to see you two again," Rebecca stated as she made her way into the open living space of the home with Chris and Emma. "At this point, I'm not sure if I should say I'm bringing Rose a late birthday present or an early wedding gift for you two. That's still late next month, right?" Maybe a bit of small tall would help the two relax a little.
Chris and Emma took a seat at the dining table and allowed Rebecca to sit at the head of the table. "Yep, that's still a thing, assuming the BSAA doesn't decide to send someone to walk up the isle and tell me I need to pack up." He definitely wasn't still salty about getting called in during his vacation for a mission that almost got him and his team killed. Yep. Nope, no, he was still salty about that.
"Oh I wouldn't worry too much about that," Rebecca chuckled. "There's plenty of people looking forward to this that would tackle anyone who tried."
"Oh so you talked to my mother," Emma replied while laughing at the idea of her mother doing exactly that. The retired wedding and event planner had been asking about this a couple... a lot of times.
Rebecca shook her head while trying to control any further giggling. Small talk seemed to be helping a little, she could already see their shoulders loosing tension. Drawing this out wouldn't be kind to either of them, though. "I'll have to make sure I meet her during the wedding. Speaking of meeting. Is Rose available for this gathering to get started?"
"I told her to come down while I was hurrying down the stairs," Emma admits while leaning slightly to see if Rose was around. She wasn't. "She must have had her earbuds in. One second." With that Emma got up and made her way back up the stairs giving Chris and Rebecca more time to chat.
"So... How do we know if it works?" Chris asks while watching Rebecca dig through the bag she brought, so she could set various pieces of equipment on the table.
"Well, there are a few options." She placed the bottle of pills down next to a microscope. "What we're going to need to do is take a before and after shot using blood samples. After that, we have her take the medicine and wait about 30 minutes before doing the second blood draw. We compare the before and after results, and so long as the after results match what I was able to create in my lab. She should be fine. I'll need to check in and still do tests for some time to make sure it's continuing to work, but other than that she'll go on to life the rest of her life at a normal pace."
"And the worst-case scenario?" He asked with a raised eyebrow as he crossed his arms.
The question caused Rebecca to wince. "Well, worst-case scenario, and the reason I'm here for this in person. She has a poor reaction to it because there was no way for me to test it on a living subject before giving it to her. So, I keep her stable, and we rush her to the BSAA so we can get it out of her system."
"What are the chances of that?" Chris asked in wide-eyed horror while trying to keep a calm and even tone.
"Um. Well, divide 1 by the total number of possible outcomes and all variants of those outcomes," Rebecca replied in an attempt to skirt around providing some random guess in case she was wrong.
The answer caused him to roll his eyes. "Great. Thanks."
"It's not much, but it's not impossible. We'll just be ready for whatever happens," Rebecca says as Rose and Emma enter the room.
"Hello?" Rose asked, as she didn't recognize the new person in the house.
"Hey, good to see you again. you've matured quite a bit since we last met," Rebecca greeted in return as Rose sat down across from Chris, and Emma sat down next to him.
"Thanks, I guess," Rose warily replied. "So you're going to help me?"
"I'm going to try," Rebecca confirmed. "If you're alright with that. We can get started."
Rose paused to think it over before nodding. "Okay."
And so the initial blood draw was taken and put into a tiny centrifuge to spin. Rose took her first dose of the medication. 15 minutes passed before the centrifuge slowed to a stop allowing Rebecca the remaining 15 minutes to look at the before results.
"Well, good news. It looks like gray cells haven't mutated in any way. There is definitely more of them, but they still match what I have recorded from your earlier samples." Rebecca says before reaching out and turning off a timer that announced the end of the 30 minute wait. "And it looks like you're not having any strong reactions to the medicine so far, so that's good too."
Emma breathed a sigh of relief. Good news was appreciated.
"Just to be safe, I'll still spend the night. That way if something suddenly changes, or it's a slow reaction, I'm still available," She confirmed while getting reading for the next blood draw. "Are you ready to see if this worked?"
"Yeah," Rose nervously replied, and once more allowed Rebecca to take another sample. The new vial was added to the Centrifuge. Watching it spin for 15 minutes felt like torture, but it was the difference between being normal or not.
Sure enough, the laws of time remained and the 15 minutes passed in due time. the sample was retrieved and set on a slide. Rebecca Hummed and Huhed as she looked at it. "Fascinating."
"Did it work?" Rose quietly asks.
It took a moment longer, but Rebecca moved away from the microscope. "I think it did." She admits with a smile. "do you want to take a look?"
Rose thought it over before nodding and waited until the microscope was placed in front of her to look at the slide. "What am I looking at?"
"Well. The grey cells of yours have a habit of clinging on to red and White cells even after being separated. After a few tests, that seemed to be the main source of your unique aging." Rebecca explained as she switched the slide to show her before sample. "See to the left there those are the white blood cells and on the right you have the red cells. some of them have this tiny little bubbles attached to them. those are the gray cells." Rebecca moved to pick up one of the viles. "It's a little hard to see but if you look closely for both, there is a little layer up here at the top of gray cells that either haven't attached yet or they just let go during their time in the centrifuge." with that she put the vile down and swapped the slide back. "I can't remove them completely since I can't tell what's making them. So, we eventually got to this. I found a way to confuse them, so they can't grab on to anything."
Rose looked at the slide and sure enough the little 'bubbles' were no longer present in the second slide. "So I'll be normal now?"
"You'll age normally," Rebecca confirmed once more. "You'll have to see if it affects your abilities in any way."
Hearing this caused Rose to smile. "I gotta go tell summer." and with that, she quickly hurried away from the table and back to her room.
"How much more is there?" Emma asks, which caused Rebecca to look over.
"Well, I brought enough for 3 months just in case, but I can send you refills any time. Just let me know and I'll make more. I'd just need you to cover the cost of the materials."
"How long does it take to make more?" Emma asks, which caused Chris to look at her with mild confusion. It was a reasonable question but something felt off.
"About a month? so if you can give me that much notice, that would be great," with that she nudged the bottle of medication a bit closer for Emma to look at.
Emma picked up the bottle and stared at it for a moment before looking back at Rebecca. "... Can you start making more now?" She quietly requested. "There's someone else that needs it..."
"What?" Chris quickly turned to look at her. What does that mean? Who? what? Emma remained quiet. "Is something wrong with Piers? Are you okay?"
"Piers and I are fine," Emma shifted in her seat. "Charlotte gave birth to a little girl..."
And queue the internal screaming. "When." Chris asked while trying to keep from shouting. She knew about this and didn't tell him? The actual hell! He should have been told the second Emma knew that was a possibility. The moment Rose was born was the moment people started targeting her. This would be no different.
"June,"
So for two to three months now there was a baby bioweapon not on the BSAAs radar. Emma knew the whole time, and probably longer than that. "Why the hell didn't you tell me?"
"Because no one deserves to go through the hell we've gone through," Emma snapped back with an expression of terrified guilt. "Look at what they've done to Rose. We said we were going to protect her, but she's still being forced to be a soldier."
The words stung his ears. He was mad but, the fresh memories of the nightmarish mission that Rose was forced to experience was sobering. They weren't able to keep Rose from being used as a weapon.
"She was in tears when she told me. She was terrified that they'd take her child away, and you know they would," Emma quietly explained as she gently put the medicine back on the table. "So. I agreed to be quiet... But she has just as much of a right to the medicine as we do. We wouldn't have this if she didn't pay for it, and she wouldn't have had to beg me not to tell you if it weren't for the contract she signed to allow for us to have that money." She had been avoiding eye contact, but she mustered up the will power to look Chris in the eyes. "So, I'm going to help them. Even if it means being their cover for getting the medicine from Rebecca to keep them off the books... I guess it's up to you if you're going to let me."
The room was quiet While Chris processed this, still forcing down the anger, frustration and guilt that the conversation brought. but the silence was eventually broke. "I can have more made and provided to you by the end of the month," Rebecca chimed in. "As far as I know, part of the agreement was that anyone who needed it would be allowed to have access. I'd just need the money for the supplies, and I'd need to confirm that she does need the medicine. It could be dangerous if it gets into the wrong hands." With that, she looked at Chris. "As a medical professional, it's not my place to deny treatment to someone who needs it."
Chris remained silent for some time before eventually shifting to get his phone out of his pocket. "A month earlier I would have called this in...," He poked at the screen to bring up the app for the home security system and started sifting through the files. He couldn't let this cycle continue. He rebelled over less before. "I still wish you would have told me, But I get it." It hurt, he was pissed off, and he was going to be cranky about this for a while... but He did kind of cause all of this in the first place by kidnapping a baby. That was his idea, not the BSAAs. So, he'd have to deal with the consequences of that.
"No one will say a word. Agreed?" Chris asks as he looked from Emma to Rebecca.
"agreed." "agreed."
And so the footage was deleted.
'*'*'*'*'
Monday arrived after this, and work came with it. Chris was sitting at his desk trying to work while, admittedly, still cranky about the night before. Emma was hiding things from him, she was ready to fight him. Chris stopped typing away at a report to rub his temple. He knew that wasn't it. She was mad at the BSAA and frankly so was he. He just work for the BSAA and built the BSAA. So it felt like she was fighting him.
He continued to sit there and glare at the report he'd been working on until a pop-up in the corner of his screen caught his attention.
[Reminder] Meeting with Director and Rose
Monday, August 8th 11:30am - 12:00pm
Right. that was in ten minutes. Chris quietly grumbled complaints to himself as he moved to get up while closing his laptop. His steps echoed in the halls as he made his way through the building to the director's door and knocked. He'd be a bit early, but he didn't particularly care if that would be rude or polite.
"Come in,"
Chris opened the door to find that Rose was already inside as well and sitting in one of two chairs that were set up in front of the director's desk. Just like last time, the director's desk was practically clean aside from one file. There were no other projects in view or distractions available to take her attention away from the conversation she sheduled.
"There you are Captain. Good to have you join us. Please close the door and take a seat," She requested with a patient smile as she waited for Chris to do so before speaking again. "Since we're all here, let's go ahead and get started." She moved to pick up the folder. "First and foremost, I understand some congratulations are in order. The medical team just reached out to me regarding the new medication that has been added to Rose's records."
No thanks to the BSAA. "It took a bit of time but, Rebecca has her reputation for a reason."
"No doubt. first the vaccine, the edited strain to cover the modified variants and now a cure for one of the larger side effects of the mold infections. It's a shame we didn't fight harder to keep her in our ranks," the director admits.
"Well she's said she's much happier away from all of this," Chris replied through a forced smile.
"I see, well we can't argue with that," The director turned a few pages of the file. "I understand that I also owe Rose my most sincere gratitude for the safe return of Hound Wolf squad."
Rose looked from the director to Chris with some level of surprise before a hesitant smile began to form.
"My understanding from your report Captain, is that Rose here was responsible for quick thinking that resulted in a faster response time from your unit and actively participated in protecting the team from a particularly terrifying bioweapon by thwarting it's attempts to confuse the team." The director continued her praise before looking at Rose. "All things considered, I think it would be appropriate for me to make good on my promise a bit early. Starting next month you'll be granted permission to attend public school instead of reporting to the BSAA with Captain Redfield. Naturally because of this, Emergency missions will be off the table for you going forward, but we do still expect that you'll go on the scheduled missions."
Rose's jaw slowly dropped as she heard this. She'd get to go to school? Now? "Really?"
"Really," The director replied with content amusement. "I was already in the process of making those arrangements for next year. I'll just let the school know that you'll actually be starting your Junior year this year."
"I get to go for two years?" Rose was ready to jump out of her chair in her excitement as she saw the director nod. Holy hell! Yes! This was amazing! She needed to hurry home and tell Emma so she could get clothes and a backpack. Thank you, Aunt Claire!
"That's all I needed to discuss with you Rosemary. You're free to go now," The director continued to patiently wait for the excited child to hurry out of the room before looking over to Chris who was still actively glaring.
"You're bribing her," Chris accused.
"Not a bribe," the director countered as she closed the file. "Reparations... I owe you my apologies, Captain. Rose was not supposed to go with on that mission and she did due to poor communication on my part. When I instructed that Hound Wolf Squad should be sent to the active site, I should have clarified that Rose should stay behind. I thought that would be self-evident since she was still in training as a member of the group, but the two sent to pick you up, did not get that memo. I'll take full responsibility for that mistake." As she finished speaking, she put the file down. "With this adjustment to her schedule, I believe it will help prevent any future miss understandings. As additional compensation for this mistake, the BSAA will make sure that Rose's medication is paid for, for as long as she needs it. Just provide us with the receipts and we'll reimburse you."
"I don't want the money," Chris replied in a low tone. "We needed the BSAAs help with that years ago. She could have been helped before it ever got this out of hand," As he said this he thought of Emma's anger the night before and his frustration with her silence lessened. "The only reason the BSAA wants to keep her healthy now is because she's proven that she's useful."
"That's completely incorrect. I can't speak for the decisions of the director who came before me, but I'm trying to do what's right, Now," She started to argue only for Chris to get up.
"We did this without the BSAA's help and we'll continue to do so."
The director's annoyance remained as she folded her hands together and silently thought for a moment before speaking. "Very well. That is your choice to make after all. I understand some level of distrust on the matter." With that, the director stood as well to put them both back on the same level. "Due to your unique situation, you and your team have experienced the brunt of the BSAA's past shortcomings. I would thank you to remember that I am not my predecessor. Know this is an open offer to help should you change your mind. Hopefully, with time you'll learn your assertions aren't as true as you believe them to be and that trust can be repaired," she paused to gesture to the door behind Chris. "For now you're dismissed, but my door is always open if you decide you'd like to talk."
'*'*'*'*'
The week continued on from there. Chris was eventually able to calm down and Rose was none the wiser to the real reason behind her early access to school. She was far to excited about it to question anything about it. Instead she focused on getting new clothes and talking with Summer about the concert. As each day counted down to the weekend Rose grew that much more excited until the day of the concert arrived.
Rose dug through the small pile of new clothes she'd picked out during the week. Putting on and taking off various pieces to try and put together an outfit she deemed cool enough. Pinstagram board of pictures and PNG filed of outfits Rose's phone as she tried to put something together that vaguely matched them with varying success.
The young teen looked herself over in the mirror. A simple black shirt and red plaid skirt had been paired with long dark socks with a printed rose pattern along the side, black converse and the sleeveless aged red leather jacket that Claire gave her. "Almost perfect." She comments while looking between her outfit vision board and herself. The pictures all showed women with black lipstick. Something she didn't own.
Rose grumbled as she looked through her small stash, as if that would suddenly make the desired object materialize. instead, her eyeshadow pallet caught her attention. It had the perfect color, it was just the wrong product. "Hmm. Maybe..." she quickly opened a new tab and typed in a new question.
How to use eyeshadow as lipstick?
Google was more than happy to provide at least 7 videos offering the exact tutorial that rose was looking for. A chunk of lip balm was sacrificed and the dark circle of eye shadow was scraped at until enough powder was added to the mixture, which was stirred together with a q-tip. just like that, the 'lipstick' was born and rose got to work on her final touches.
She had just gotten started when she heard Emma calling from downstairs. "Rose! Rose, Summer is going to be here soon. Can you come downstairs please?"
"In a minute!" Rose shouted back and quickly rushed to finish up. Okay, she had her bag and her money, she was dressed. That should be everything, so she hurried down the stairs to find Emma waiting for her.
Emma watched while trying to keep a neutral expression. All the mistakes she made as a teenager seemed to flash in front of her eyes. "Are you sure that's what you want to wear?" Emma squeaked out as the question only reminded her of her mother asking the same thing.
"Yep," Rose replied without a second of hesitation. "It looks neat right? I found a tutorial on the internet."
"I see. It's very creative," Emma says while trying to figure out how to react.
"Hey Em I think I see Jack's ca-" Chris stopped mid-sentence as he walks over. He looked from Rose to Emma with a matching expression of concern as the two silently tried to agree on what to do. Communicating through glances and a shrug Chris eventually looked back at Rose. "are you ready to head out?"
"Yep," Rose confirmed once more, as knocking could be heard at the door. "I'll get it!"
As Rose did this Chris looked at Emma. "Well. It could always be worse."
"Don't tempt karma," Emma quietly replied through a stifled chuckle.
"Fair enough," Chris agreed before giving Emma a quick peck. "We'll be back before midnight."
"Have a good time," Emma returned the affection before he made his way over to the coat closet.
"We'll see," He didn't have much hope for that but, if this was a rock concert, it seemed like a good enough time to break in his old jacket.
"Hi Auntie Emmy Hi Uncle Chris," Summer greeted as she walked over with Rose. Summer was similarly decked out in a loose dress, sleeveless denim jacket and combat boots all of which were likely quick purchases from the local thrift store to fit within the pre-teen's allowance. Just like Rose Her make was one the excessive side with a little too much eyeliner.
Emma tried to hide her smile. It was like staring at a tiny version of herself and Chel back in the day. "Okay let's get a picture before you two head out." She had to send this to Chelsea. "Scoot together."
The two girls did as they were told and posed in a goofy manner for the picture. "Cheese!" Summer said with a wise smile.
"Perfect," Emma smiled at the picture and quickly sent that to Chelsea. "Have a good time, stay safe."
"Mom it's just a concert," Rose pointed out. She was being so fussy all of a sudden.
"We'll be fine Auntie Emmy," Summer chimed in before pulling on Rose's arm. "Come on, let's go."
Chris watched as the two girls hurried out to the garage. "They realize they need me to drive. Right?"
"You might need to remind them," Emma chuckled.
Chris shook his head and made his way out to the garage to find that Rose and Summer were already buckled in to the back seat of the car and happily talking at a mile a minute about how excited they were. He got in as well and filled his role as the silent chauffeur. Other than a quick stop at the drive through to pick up dinner, the drive to the concert center was uneventful.
The drive was full of stop and go traffic and that only got worse the closer they got to the parking lot. Eventually a parking spot was found and the 3 made their way towards the building.
"If you want a T-shirt or anything like that, you're going to want to grab that now. They'll run out of stock by the end of it," Chris said more so to avoid having to wait in a line for an extra hour after the concert.
"But it's about to start," Summer pointed out while reading her ticket.
"You'll be fine, the opening act usually takes about 30 minutes, and it's rarely anything worth watching," He adds with some level of experience.
"I do kinda want a t shirt," Rose admits.
"hmm. Okay. maybe the line will be short," Summer reluctantly agrees as she follows along side Chris and Rose.
The wait wasn't horrible but it was still present as it took a good 20 minutes to get to the table. the blaring screams of so called music made it difficult to hear anyone that wasn't shouting.
"What can I get you!" the roadie asked from behind the booth.
"What are those!" Rose shouted back while pointing at the display wall that showed various knick-knacks and clothing with the band's logo on it along with the tour information.
"Boom sticks you hit them together, and they make noise," The roadie explained before walking away to grab a set. Once she came back she wacked the two sticks together which made a thundering boom that barely sounded like a clap thanks to how noisy the area was. "It's fifteen bucks for the pair."
"Can I get those and one of those shirts?" Rose asked as she pointed at the design she wanted that had a large white print of the band's logo on a black shirt.
"Sure kid, that's 60 bucks total. You want a small, right?" The roadie asked in return.
"Can I get the same shirt?" Summer chimed in and the Roadie nodded before walking away.
When they came back, the put the two shirts on the table along with the two boom sticks. "Okay, 45 for you and 60 from you."
Both girls quickly shuffled through their pockets to get their money out and counted it out on the table. Once the money was accepted, they both took their items from the table.
"Here!" Rose said, and happily offered one of the inflated plastic tubes to Summer.
Chris watched as the two walked towards the concert, occasionally battling with their wacky tubes. Oh gosh, that was going to be trouble, and he knew it. They were having fun though, so that's what mattered, as long as they stayed out of trouble. the three made it to the standing room section of the concert hall and after a bit longer the concert began.
He kept a close eye on Rose and Summer as they happily cheered and sang along while jumping around. However, Chris remained less than impressed with the band. Just screaming over a pop melody doesn't make it rock music. He'd have to make sure to introduce them to better music after giving their ears some time to recover from all this noise.
"All you need is just some good fucking music that you headbang to" the Lead singer loudly sang as a new song began.
What the shit. There are fucking kids here, goddammit. Watch your language dumbasses, He thought in complete and utter disgust before the realization set in that he was honestly much worse about that than the song. Maybe he should work on that. He glanced back at Rose and Summer to see that they were still just as happy singing and dancing along. They were having a good time. Maybe he could tone down his grouchiness a notch and relax a little.
As soon as he managed to do that, the once irritating nose became more enjoyable to listen to. Only slightly, but enough that it wasn't as torturous to be there. An hour had passed then two. The closer the concert got to its conclusion, the more tricks and effects were pulled out by the band, which excited the increasingly inebriated crowd who jumped around to the beat.
"Yikes!" Summer stumbled back as one of the other guest bumped into her.
"Hey watch where you're going, brat," the clearly drunk patron accused with a scowl.
"Hey, you watch it!" Rose shouted back as she stepped in to get between Summer and the unruly fan. "You bumped into her. Apologize now."
The demand was met with a scoff, before the drunk patron noticed Chris looming behind the two girls and glaring while gesturing to ask if there was going to be a problem.
"Sorry," The patron said only just loud enough for the girls to hear before quickly slinking further into the crowd to get away.
Rose Proudly puffed up as he put her hands on her hips. "That's right and stay away." She said to no one in general as her confidence increase. Seeing that she was still capable of being brave even after that flubbed mission helped boost her recovering ego. She was still capable of being strong.
"Don't push it," Chris warned.
"We could take um," Summer chimed in.
"Not you too," he whispered, though the words were eaten by the noise of the grand finale.
Rose and Summer happily cheered and waved their boom sticks in the air as the band bowed out and left. "This was so much fun!" Summer cheered as Chris started to coral the two towards the exit.
"Yeah! I got so many awesome pictures," Rose shouted over the ringing in her ears now that the music had finally stopped.
"Same! I'll make sure to tag you in them," Summer happily offered as they slowly but surely made their way out of the building.
"Just wait to do that until we're in the car," Chris chimed in, since the two were quickly becoming distracted by looking through their pictures as if they hadn't just finished watching the show.
"Fine" the two relented and finally worked with Chris on getting back to the car. While the two initially were talking just as much as they had on the ride to the concert, to Chris's relief, the talking slowed over time and turned to sweet glorious silence.
The peaceful lack of sound gave him time to focus on navigating the poorly lit road back to get the sleeping duo back to the cozy neighborhood they called home.
Tadah~ Good news, just like I promised. Rose gets to go to school starting next chapter. The medicine works, and they got to go to the concert U Hopefully Rose Keeps that boom stick away from Piers or he will be a little monster and try to hit everything with it haha.
I have the week off so I'm going to try and get a bit of extra writing done. I have a One shot I've been meaning to write, I want to finish that 4 part special I completely dropped off and I want to try and get a few extra chapters finished so I can post consistently going forward. it's a lot of goals though, So we'll see how many I manage to get done in 6 days lol.
