Five years later.

In that very same spot, Chun-Li sat and typed away on her laptop, concluding what was to be her longest report in close to a decade. As she worked, she took a moment to adjust her glasses; whether it was age catching up with her or the consequences of extended screen use, she noticed that her eyesight wasn't as sharp as it used to be. Thankfully, she only required reading glasses for the moment, but she figured it was only a matter of time until she couldn't go without them.

This reminder of her mortality compelled her to resume her efforts, intending to file this report away as soon as she could. Chun-Li had been thorough as always, but after this most recent investigation, she was more than ready to relax.

"Chun-Li, come have a look at this!" came a voice from her living room. Her husband's voice.

Dropping what she was doing, Chun-Li made her way over to her sofa, where she found Owen watching the news. Strange, she thought. He never watched the news.

Regardless of that, he turned to her the moment he heard her coming, flashing her a proud smile. "Look!" he said, pointing towards the screen, which was displaying a news report in Cantonese. Upon closer inspection, she found that it read "Ken Masters cleared of all charges in suspected terrorism investigation.", with the news anchor providing further details that were all but lost on Chun-Li's ears.

Of all the things she'd expected to come of a money-laundering investigation in a fledgling country, this had not been one of them. When she learned of Ken's involvement in Nayshall's accelerated development, she knew that she needed to keep an eye on him. That said, she never once suspected him of foul play - at best, he had been an unwitting accomplice to what was going on behind the scenes. So the moment he was supposedly revealed to have been financing terrorist forces in the country, her focus immediately shifted to clearing his name and assuring his safety.

"Hey," Owen said as he nudged her with his shoulder, finally taking her attention away from the screen. "Nicely done."

"It definitely could've gone smoother," she said with a small sigh.

Owen took a moment to chuckle. "So I hear. How did you say you lost him again?"

"I…had to make a quick call."

A brief silence settled over the room, which eventually ended when Owen nodded his head and turned back to the screen. "Right," he uttered as he turned off the television, continuing to stare at the blank screen for a few more moments before taking a deep breath and looking back towards her. "Well, it's good that everything seems to have worked out, then."

"On this front, it did," said Chun-Li. "We haven't been able to make much progress on what I was actually there to investigate. Wouldn't be surprised if this was all one big smoke-screen to draw attention away from what's happening behind the scenes."

And in this case, there was a lot that she still didn't know, all of them to do with the only suspect of note in this entire debacle. Johan Petrovich, assuming that was even his real name. Pretty much all of his past business dealings could be found with minimal investigation and all of them seemed perfectly legitimate. However, it's the trail of chaos he seemed to leave in his wake that raised eyebrows: civil wars, ethnic conflicts; all coinciding with his presence and investments, before he washes his hands clean of the mess and moves on. It could all have been a set of bizarre coincidences… or maybe it wasn't. If so, what was his endgame?

"So you have more work to do?" Owen asked her. He sounded as calm and understanding as he always did, but Chun-Li wouldn't have blamed him if he was frustrated. She was always getting work piled on her, taking up time that she could've been spending with him.

"Not this time," she eventually answered. "I've done my part."

Owen didn't look entirely convinced, no doubt thinking she was telling him what he wanted to hear. "Look, love, if you don't want to leave loose ends, I get it. I can wait a little…"

"No," she cut him off, though she did not raise her voice. "It's date night. I promised."

It looked like he wanted to say something more, probably to reiterate what he'd already told her, but after a while, he just smiled at her. "How's that report coming along?"

"Just need to check for typos."

"Do you want to do that or should I?" he offered only half-seriously.

"I want neither of us to get in trouble."

To this, Owen started laughing. "Alright, alright, I'll leave you to it. I'll go get everything ready."

"Don't forget the candy!" "I won't."

With that, the two of them split up, with Chun-Li returning to her laptop to iron out her report while Owen went through their pantry and took out just about every snack they had: pretzels, gem biscuits and just for her, lots and lots of candy. They didn't usually pig out like this, but everyone had cheat days. And besides, today was special.

"Done!" Chun-Li announced once her report was safely filed away.

"Which means you're home free?" Owen called to her from the kitchen, where he was filling a jug with soda.

"Yep," she said as she took off her glasses. "And not a moment too soon."

"Well, after this, I think you've more than earned yourself a break. A really long break."

After stretching her arms out, Chun-Li sunk back into her chair. "I am so ready," she exclaimed.

"I'm sure," he acknowledged. "For once, you'll be the one with all the free time in the summer."

At first, she was confused by what he meant, until she remembered something they'd been talking about over the past few weeks. "That community college job. You got it?!"

"I got it," he proudly confirmed.

Soon after hearing this, Chun-Li got up from her seat and went over to give him a hug. "Oh my God, congratulations!" she exclaimed as she happily embraced him.

"Thank you, thank you," he said amidst a bout of laughter. "Shame you're going to have to build your break around me now, though."

"So what?! I'm not about to pull you down the ladder, you eejit!"

"What?"

"Nothing!" Realizing her little slip-up, Chun-Li immediately pulled away from him and took a step back, smiling awkwardly. Owen had sounded more amused than offended at the word she'd used, which was further proved by the smirk he now had on his face. She'd say it was a sign she'd been living with him too long, but that felt wrong to even think.

"So, when do you start?" Chun-Li asked to shift the focus elsewhere.

"In three weeks," he answered. "That enough time for you?"

"More than enough. All I really need to do is tell my usual class I'll be going away for a while…again."

"Aww, but you were looking forward to going back to teaching."

"I was," Chun-Li acknowledged. "But from what I hear about Metro City, finding new students shouldn't be too difficult."

As much as she appreciated her current batch of students, Chun-Li had become interested in "branching out", as it were - traveling and teaching in different parts of the world. And Metro City felt like a natural place to start. She'd already been there a couple of times and although it wasn't the crime-infested hellscape it used to be, its citizens still practiced vigilance and more importantly, self-defense. It was practically ingrained into the local culture.

"Can't sit still, can you?"

"You know me," Chun-Li said with a wink.

"That's why I love you."

"Oh, stop it, you…" "Eejit?"

"Now, I would never call you that." Chun-Li pointed her finger at him as she spoke, turning to walk away mid-sentence. Judging from the "mm-hmm" she heard behind her, he wasn't quite convinced.

"Anyway, I'm about set here," Owen said as he picked up a tray carrying their snacks and drinks. "Think we need anything else?"

"I'll go grab a blanket," she announced as she closed her laptop. "Oh, and uh…tie up one more loose end."

Again, Owen's smile fell ever so slightly, but she could still tell he understood. "You do that," he said. "I'll be waiting."

There was a bit of an awkward pause where Chun-Li just stood there, staring back at him almost without blinking. When no words came to her, she finally dropped her gaze and turned to leave, though she didn't hear Owen doing the same. What she did hear was a quiet sigh as she knocked on the door to Li-Fen's room.

"Come in!"

With this invitation, Chun-Li opened the door and stepped inside, finding her ward sitting in front of her monitor doing who knows what. "Just a sec, Lian." After a few rapid clicks of her mouse, Li-Fen took off her Bluetooth over-ear headphones and spun around in her chair to face her. "Hi, Jiejie," she chirped. "What's up?"

"I just wrapped up on my end," Chun-Li replied. "What're you up to?"

"Taking a break." Li-Fen rolled her chair a bit to the side to show her monitor, which displayed some sort of pause screen. "Lian pulled me into some MOBA, so we're running a few games."

Chun-Li wasn't going to pretend to know what a MOBA was. She'd never gotten into gaming and to be honest, how Li-Fen could devote as many hours as she did to it was beyond her; if Owen didn't stick up for her on that front, she probably wouldn't be doing it at all. But she wasn't here to hound her on her computer habits.

"No luck, then?" "Nooope," Li-Fen replied, turning back to her screen and quickly pulling up a new tab. "I'm pretty sure I got played. Whoever was trying to keep me in the dark managed to screw up my computer a few days ago and wiped all the info I gathered. I managed to fix it, but I'm essentially back to square one; I dunno how long it'll take me to get it all back or if it's even possible."

As Chun-Li listened to her explanation, she couldn't help but think back to the details of their investigation. The fact that Li-Fen started running into interference just as she tried to dig deeper into this "Petrovich" character couldn't have been a coincidence and if they were able to sabotage herself to this extent, who knows what else they were capable of. Well, she had one idea.

During her investigation, Ken's son, Mel Masters, had gone missing despite their efforts to track him. By now, he'd been recovered safe and sound, but with all the shady things that were going on in Nayshall, she could only think of one explanation for what could've happened. And as she did, memories she'd tried her hardest to bury came roaring back - her frantic search to find Li-Fen after she was kidnapped right under her nose.

They'd done their best to move past that incident; Li-Fen was older now and more than capable of handling herself…in most cases. And it was those uncertainties that kept Chun-Li from fully burying her fears. And right now, she was feeling very uncertain.

"Hellooo? Are you listening?" Li-Fen's somewhat annoyed voice finally snapped her out of her thoughts, reminding her of the matter at hand.

"Yeah, yeah," she uttered, brushing off her daze. The truth was she wasn't sure whether Li-Fen had added on to her statement or not, but she wasn't about to let that show. "So, what're you thinking?"

Her little sister raised a confused brow, no doubt sensing that she wasn't all there, but similarly didn't draw attention to it. "I don't know," Li-Fen admitted. "What do you want me to do?"

This was a question that Chun-Li wasn't immediately sure how to answer. That lost information could prove instrumental in cracking this case wide open, but the dangers involved were clear and very immediate. Furthermore, there was no telling where else this rabbit hole would lead them and a part of her didn't want to find out.

"Nothing," she ultimately declared. "You've already done more than I could ask."

This clearly hadn't been the answer Li-Fen had been expecting. "What? But I can…!"

"I'm sure you can," Chun-Li interrupted. "But there are other people who can get to the bottom of this. They can use your work as a stepping stone."

She was choosing her words as carefully as she could and still Li-Fen didn't look pleased. "So, what, I should just give up?"

"Remember the deal, Li-Fen. I didn't give you a blank check." Chun-Li spoke more sternly now, knowing that she wasn't going to sway her otherwise. She was prepared to list every single rule she was breaking by allowing her to help, as well as all the danger she was and would be placing herself in. Putting her skills to help in legitimate investigations was one thing, but right now, she was bordering on vigilantism and Chun-Li wouldn't stand for that.

Thankfully, she didn't need to do any of that. "Alright, fine," Li-Fen agreed, even if reluctantly. "But if you ever change your mind…"

"I'll let you know," Chun-Li assured her, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder. "You did a great job, Li-Fen. I appreciate your help." She said this sincerely. As risky as this whole arrangement was, she'd proven to be incredibly useful, not to mention reliable. And she'd done it all without expecting anything in return…well, almost.

"And yes, I'll get you that new mouse," she added on, which immediately seemed to lift Li-Fen's mood.

"And the other thing?" "Maybe when Owen's out of the house." Chun-Li whispered this bit, even though there was little chance of him hearing them or really any chance of him caring even if he had.

"Speaking of whom, what're your plans for tonight?" Li-Fen asked.

"Just a stay-in watching party. We're binging one of those sitcoms of his - something about a priest, I think."

"Oh, God…" she muttered, sinking back into her chair and rolling her eyes.

"Guess that means you don't want to join us," Chun-Li said with a chuckle.

"What, did you want me to?" "Well, we certainly wouldn't mind if you did," was how she replied. "Feels like forever since we did something all together."

"Yeah, it has," Li-Fen acknowledged. For a moment, she looked like she was seriously considering her offer, stroking her chin with her finger. "Hmm…nah. We'll have plenty of opportunities for a get-together. Besides, I wouldn't want to intrude on your 'quality time'."

Chun-Li couldn't help but scoff. Five years of marriage and she was still teasing her like she was a schoolgirl with a crush. Then again, given how they met, she supposed Li-Fen had more than earned the right. "Thanks, I guess," she said.

"You're quite welcome," she replied in that same teasing tone. "Now, go on. I'll see you in the morning."

"Don't stay up too long," she instructed as she turned to leave.

"Come on, don't you trust me?" Upon receiving this question, Chun-Li simply turned her head back and smirked at her, a message that Li-Fen received loud and clear. "I promise to stop at 10."

"Make it 11, just for today. Good night, Li-Fen."

"Good night, Jiejie."

Satisfied, Chun-Li continued on her way, closing the door to Li-Fen's room and leaving her to her business for now. Sometimes, it astounded her how much she'd grown and how quickly it all seemed to happen. Long gone was the quiet, nervous girl she'd taken in; in her place was a confident, spunky young lady, undeterred by her traumatic past. She might give her grief every now and then, but Chun-Li could not be more proud of her. And she knew she wasn't the only one who felt this way.

After retrieving a blanket from their shared bedroom, Chun-Li finally joined Owen on their sofa, finding that he had finished setting up their little buffet and had found the show they were planning on watching. "All good?" he asked her as she got close and plopped down beside him.

"All good."

After sharing a simple glance and smile, Owen started playing the first episode; while the opening credits rolled, Chun-Li draped the blanket she'd brought over them, kicking off her rather cheap panda-themed slippers and snuggling against him, relaxing as Owen put an arm around her. Before he did so, Owen took two glasses of soda off the table and handed one to her, after which the two of them clinked their glasses together before they turned their attention to the show.

Past this point, their silence was only broken by periodic laughter and the occasional comment about what they were watching, mostly Owen pointing out his favorite scenes. When they moved, it was to reach for a bowl on the coffee table, the contents of which they shared before swapping it out for the next. And they stayed like that for hours on end, holding each-other close as episode after episode went by.

It was far from the most glamorous date in the world. They could've gone out to dinner or the opera or any number of things…but Chun-Li doubted they could've compared to this. She'd been away in Nayshall for weeks, leaving them to communicate through nightly phone calls as she de-stressed for the day. And after such a long time apart, simply being with him without having to worry about anything else was all she could ask for.

And this? This was perfect.

…

Author's Notes: Hi, everyone!

As promised, we're moving onto SF6. Luckily for me, Capcom gave me just enough leeway that I can go ahead without contradicting what happens in the game so far. I'm not going to provide any concrete details for what I have planned, but I will say that I don't plan to deviate from the events of World Tour too much. I've been sitting on this chapter for a while now, but finally decided to go ahead and publish it to tide you over until I finish the next one (which should happen pretty soon, hopefully).

Thank you for reading! I look forward to continuing this!