APRIL PROMPT:ROOMMATES/THUNDERSTORMS/ARTIST /TITANIC/CRASH/90S NOSTALGIA

OPTIONAL GENRE/THEMES:COMEDY/CRACK/TRAGEDY

Synopsis: A situation leads to a talk, a talk becomes a walk, and a walk to memory lane.

#Not Beta Read #Post-Resident Evil 7 #Post-Resident Evil 8 (VILLAGE) #Mature (Language)

Notes: Okay, I'm feeling brave so I got all the prompts in one story. This is my late entry for April's prompts. So, here we go.

Christopher Redfield Jr. was sitting on the carpeted floor in front of the flat screens, the figurines from the Toy Story movie were arranged neatly before him. The moment the intro song of the movie came to play, his cute chipper voice came alive following along with the lyrics of the iconic song. Jill who was sitting down beside him, sang along with the song. The ritual that he usually did every time he was about to watch his favorite animated movie. Claire watched the two of them with pure delight while arranging the placemats on the dining table. She also could not help to sing along to the song until Chris made a beeline to her from the bedroom with something in his hand.

With a frown on his face, he asked her skeptically, "Do I want to know how this got into mine and Jill's bedroom? "

"Huh?"

The questioning expression on her face was replaced by excitement upon seeing the item that Chris set down on the table. The building pressure on her back sought relief the moment she had seated on the nearest dining chair. She had been standing and moving around the kitchen helping Jill prepare the dinner prior. Her brother had taken her previous task while she flipped open the book.

"I remember you were a little artist back in high school. So, I know it's yours."

"Where did you find it? I've been searching for quite some time."

Interested in the conversation between the siblings, Jill advanced towards the dining area after checking the chicken roast inside the oven. Carrying with her the plates and napkins, she later passed to Chris, an inward requisition for him to continue setting up the dining table. Whilst Chris carried out the task, Jill stood behind Claire looking through together the artful contents in the sketchbook. Pages after pages of drawings and sketches of picturesque scenery, ornate inanimated things, and people's bodily characters that were only colored by either graphite or charcoal.

"You're really talented, Claire. Maybe you can draw me and Junior too."

"And me too." Chris's sudden comment invited a curve of smile on her lips, so Jill added. "And him too."

"It's nothing special-"

Her words stuck midway when the page flipped exhibiting the portrait of her husband. His eyes were gazing at her, she managed to capture how mesmerized they looked. Embodying the gleam of cheerfulness every moment he looked at her. However, she still remembered a hints of burden and sadness were still there when she drew them. The endearing wrinkles at the corner of his eyes when he smiled and the soft worry lines on his forehead were enduring through the years. His lips curved coyly almost demure with a flint glint of his perfect teeth. Just looking at it brought back the memories of how possessive she could be on kissing those ravishing lips, that sometimes her nose would clash with his high-bridged nose in doing so. His light stubble which sometimes he kept, evinced the rugged side of him that she grew attached to. She secretly caught his disheartened look every time he saw his reflection because of the damning betrayal scar that marred his cheek. Nonetheless, she made it clear that he stole her heart not just by his looks but also by his virtuous self.

Her cheeks were dusted with rose color upon hearing the sound of Jill clearing her throat, reminding her that she was gazing at the picture of her husband a bit longer than she did with other drawings earlier. Therefore, she flipped the next page in a hurry to hide his current embarrassment. Hit with another wave of bashfulness upon the naked sketch of a chest in view.

"Woah..." It perked Jill's interest as she pulled the sketchbook to her and kept flipping the pages one to another. Hence, there were sketches of hands, legs, upper abdomen, and lower abdomen all in nakedness and with no piece of modesty.

Claire recollected her calm self, her eyes trailing her brother as he walked past her toward the kitchen cabinet. A sly smirk appeared on her face and asked, "You opened the book till the end, didn't you?"

Chris who sorted the cutleries and put them at each seat placement, groaned indicating his admission to his sister's claim. That got burps of laughter from the baby sister. Jill gasped when the next page unveiled a drawing of nude Leon, laying one side on the bed with Claire's pearl necklace slithered around his wrist that rested on top of his naked pelvis.

"Oh my god, is this based on Titanic?"

Claire replied with a grin, looking at his brother's partner with her blue eyes flickering in amusement.

"Hey, I think we gonna get hit with a pretty nasty thunderstorm soon.", announced Leon who just then came in from the front door with pastry boxes in his left hand.

He made a little detour to the living room, just to greet the toddler whose eyes were glued to the TV. "Hey, buddy enjoying your movie?", asked Leon, only to ruffle Kit's hair after getting excited nods from him subsequently paved his way to the kitchen counter.

All eyes zeroed on him, including Claire. However, instead of eyeing him, she was more focused on the boxes that he carried. Boxes full of Swiss desserts and apple strudels he got from a local bakery that she was craving the moment they arrived at Chris's house. When he sensed every eye in the dining area was on him, Leon innocently asked, "What?"

"It is."

Jill barked out a laugh before walking to the oven soon after it dings. The aroma of the chicken roast permeated the air as Jill opened the oven and transferred the roast onto the serving plate. While listening to the rest of the conversation, Jill let the roast sit aside and started preparing his son's dinner with mac-n-cheese Claire brought over.

Leon flicked a nervous glance at them as he deposited the boxes on the kitchen counter except for only one box to be brought over to his wife. Claire could not help smiling upon receiving the offering from Leon, however, she was more interested in his reaction once she showed the discussed sketchbook.

Taking a seat beside Claire, Leon exclaimed, "Oh! You found it."

"Chris found it.", said Claire, taking the first bite of the apple strudel.

"What? Where?"

"Behind the nightstand in their bedroom."

This was not the first time he had seen the sketchbook content, yet he kept flipping the pages of the book. "How did it end up there?"

"Do I want to hear this?", asked Chris unimpressed now placing the glasses at each setting.

"It was one of the nights Leon and I babysitting Kit. Jill was away on a field assignment. Kit was already asleep when I doing Leon's sketches. Mind you, this happened in my bedroom. Then, in a rush, I accidentally brought over the book to your bedroom, Chris. To tend Kit who got spooked by the thunderstorm later that night."

"The last thing I remember, I put it on the nightstand after Claire showed me the finished sketches. Must fell off and forgot about it."

"We fell asleep through the night afterward.", said Claire and took another bite of the apple strudel.

"I swear we didn't do anything besides sleeping.", convinced Leon, exchanging glances with Chris now sitting by the end of the dining table.

"Remember that morning we were rushing out for work because we woke up late. Because Kit was fussing about the rain throughout the whole night." After finishing her explanation, Claire added some more, "Yeah. That answers your question about how the sketchbook got into your room."

"Aww... thank you both", chimed Jill walking towards them bringing over the mac-n-cheese to the dining table. Then she took a seat across from Claire and added, "So, seriously what's up with the Titanic pose?"

Claire replied, "Nothing special. I think that's come to discussion cause one of Leon's colleagues was ranting about the movie."

"It somehow brought to the topic of Claire dabbling in sketching especially in nude drawing during her school and college years."

Jill looked at the couple in front of her with deepened interest, "Really, cool. And you, I never pictured you as Rose. Nice modelling, Kennedy."

"It's supposed to be for my wife. Not for all of you to see.", said Leon, closing the sketchbook and settling his arms on the top rail of Claire's dining chair.

"With that hairstyle, he looks like someone from a 90s boyband wannabe pornstar."

Leon let out a chuckle upon hearing Chris's remarks. He tucked loose strands of hair behind her ear as he gazed lovingly at his wife devouring away the last bite of the apple strudel.

Whilst pursing his lips, Chris leaned back in his seat with his hand folded against his chest. His voice just now sounded a little more annoyance rather than anger. Upon noticing his sulking face, Jill leaned toward him and planted a quick peck on the lips resulting in the big man smiling sheepishly.

Witnessing the whole ordeal, Claire's silly grin came plastering her face while eating the Frangipane tart. On the other hand, Leon tossed his brother-in-law a smirk, "Hey, my hair was not as bad as the frosted tips that Claire made you wear for a whole month after your lost bet."

Chris growled, sinking in exasperation knowing exactly what the younger man implied. "Arghh, Claire!"

"Oh, yeah. I've seen your glorious hairdo with that garish blonde on the tips. It was a top-notch fashion statement.", incited Leon.

A rueful grin swept across her face as she expressed, "Sorry, Bubba. It was one of my valued mementos of you. That I like to share with my loved ones. Jill has seen it too."

"The thing that you did for your loved ones. Nothing to be embarrassed about, Chris. I have you know that was one of many reasons, for me agreeing on going a date with you.", said Jill.

"Aww... you didn't even thank me, Chris. By the way Jill, that date you refer to he dubbed to me as a usual -work call-."

"Took me a dinner, went to watch Titanic. Talked bout the sex afterward. So, Christopher, all this was still part of your -work call-?", chided Jill sardonically.

"Oh, come on. Work call or not, you were on me through the whole night. Admit it.", rebuked Chris, looking back at the night put a smug on his face.

"Okay, Golden Boy. You win. Yeah, maybe I had hot on you since back then." Jill suddenly grasped Chris's arm, displaying wild shock on her face. "Now that I remember, Leon looked like the stripper from that party, Chris! The one that you booked Claire to jail for a night."

"Wait what!? Jail? What stripper?", Leon asked eagerly, a scandalous look on his face hearing his wife's rebellious past.

"Oh yeah. The graduation party that we gatecrashed. That was the first time you met Claire. When was it... 96? 97?"

"96. Gah! What a memory. In my first year on the team, I got to know that our pointsman's sister here was a wild one."

Claire voiced her disapproval, "Definitely not gatecrashing. It was a raid."

"Somebody was running around on the street naked. And another high in a chicken suit. Not to mention the underage alcohol involved. You were lucky we didn't find any drugs that night. Which we suspect there were."

"What did you expect, it was a college graduation party. It was legal."

"No, they were at legal age. Whereas you were not. You were 17, for goodness's sake." Chris reprimanded Claire like they were back in the year 1996.

"No way, Claire." Beaming with amusing anticipation on Leon's face, Claire could only reply with a crooked grin to her husband. Leon was aware of the rebellious history of his wife during her teen years, but the story about her -sort of- jail time was considered new for him too.

"You got give me some credit. Cause I didn't take any hit of the pot and the booze that night. I wasn't in the wrong there."

"Yeah right. That's because you're interested in the stripper." Jill's statement welcomed Claire's hearty laugh.

There was no denying, between those ripples of laughter Claire contended, "In my defense, I've to say... you know... he's a fine specimen. For my project at the time."

"Like I'm gonna believe you. After you repeat the same bullshit so many times.", scoffed Chris in disdain.

"I didn't know the history but by God, Chris was so done with her that night. I still remember he was fuming when he got the call from Uniform saying they busted a Redfield at the party."

Leon listened to Claire earnestly when she retold her account of her story, "Just to make a point, Chris dumped my ass in jail for a night with a supposed pothead in waiting to be booked for killing her boyfriend while high."

"Don't be so dramatic, it just a holding cell in the station. Plus it wasn't even a real booking.", refuted Chris.

"Yup, still remember you had scheming with Kinney from Narc. It was brilliant.", added Jill.

After a while staring at his wife, Leon submitted his bafflement, "I didn't know you this bad, Redfiled. Then again, who invited strippers to a grad party? Are sure you went to the right place?"

"How would I know? I only knew someone to someone at that party. We just moved to Raccoon City. I was just trying to make some friends." Leon shook his head after hearing Claire's nonchalant reply.

"And then it got more fucked up when one of the girls was convinced that Chris was one of the strippers. It was hilarious."

"It was not hilarious. More like ridiculous."

"Hey Redfield, in my recollection, we made a bet that night." Something unspooling in her eyes, Jill indulged him with another comment. "You owe me 50 bucks."

However, Chris denied Jill without a hint of care in the world. "No, I'm not."

"Yes, you are. You said that your sister would never date a man with that kind of face. Well, look at that. Not only did she date him, they got married. Knocked her out too", claimed Jill.

Leon asked little hurt, "Hey, what's wrong with my face?"

"What kind of face?", scowled Claire, looking a little perturbed on behalf of Leon.

Jill quickly answered, "Like a cheap underwear model."

That got Leon turned to face Claire in disbelief mouthing a silent -what the fuck?- at her, inviting her to shake her in disapproval.

Snapping back at Chris, Jill added, "Lucky I said 50, it's supposed to be 100 in this economy. Pay up, Redfield."

"Right there! Face of a cheap underwear model. Not an art model. Two different things. No Valentine, I'm not paying you." Chris contested.

Jill lambasted, "It's a model. Same fucking thing."

"As fuck up as this is I have to say there is no underwear. He got his junk out, lying there thinking he's pretty."

"Now you being cheap. You lose a bet. Admit it.", said Jill, her eyes trailing Chris who retreating from the dining table. She was losing her patience and ran off trying to catch up with him.

Ignoring Jill, Chris escaped to the living room with a short reply, "No."

"Suck it up, Redfield!", exclaimed Jill as she jumped on Chris's back, yet Chris effortlessly extracted her off by hooking his hand around her waist and bringing her to his front. Jill retaliated and wrapped her legs around his waist and bucked resulting in Chris's body crashing on the soft couch.

Between laughs, Chris cheekily said "What did you say? You gonna suck me?"

They both wrestled playfully on the couch and neither of them failed to display backing off. Excited about seeing his parents, Kit joined the scuffle. Both Leon and Claire watched the three of them messing with each other from where they were sitting. Amused looks were exchanged, with giggles to follow. While Leon drew back the sketchbook, Claire gathered the emptied box to be brought to the trash can.

Studying his portrait, Leon asked, "So... I fit the requirement of becoming your muse?"

"It would be a lie if I said you are not."

"More than that stripper back in 96?"

Claire laughed, "Oh baby, it's more than you could think of. After I met you, you became the only one."

"Good. That's all I need to hear." Leon did not need an elaborate explanation. His life was complicated enough, he only needed an easy answer.

Claire situated the roast chicken in the middle of the dining table. Subsequently, she leaned down and kissed Leon wholeheartedly which he reciprocated in full fervent. He could taste the sweetness of the apple strudel that she had eaten earlier. A slight smile bunched on his lips represented the glee in him as they parted the kiss.

"Can we watch now? Cause I'm so starving right now."

Leon could not help but to laugh. Even though Claire had scarfed the pastries earlier, Leon knew it was not enough. Her swollen stomach now became more noticeable, the testament that his wife ate not for herself alone.

He nodded to answer her cute question along with, "Yeah. Let's eat."

"Dinner time guys! I eating for three now, if we wait for another second I gonna blasting wrath worse than the thunderstorm that is about to come."

"Wait what?"

Chris's head peered out from the couch looking at the dining area, looking shocked. Just last month, he was revealed that he would become an uncle but now he would become an uncle for two.

With the same expression, Jill asked, "You two will be having twins?"

"You didn't know?"

"No."

"We will be having twins. Yes. Confirmed yesterday. Come on here and let's get eating.", said Leon.

Chris scooped Kit into his arm and brought the child to his seat. Jill followed Chris to the dining area after she paused the running movie.

"Double congrats man.", said Chris to Leon at the same time squeezing Claire's hand for his appreciation of the good news.

While Jill was serving the roast to Kit's plate, the boy stabbed his blunt fork into the mac-n-cheese and asked, "Mommy, what's twins?"

"Instead of one baby, there are two babies inside Aunt Claire's stomach. That's twins."

"Really! So now I have two brothers?"

"Brother and sister, buddy", chimed Leon.

"Leon doesn't like surprises." Claire's commentary brought a thin smile from Chris, reminding him of the common trait that he shared with the younger man.

Kit's small voice chippered in, "That's cool."

"Yup. It is cool.", agreed Jill to Kit animatedly.

Regardless of the downpour descended like it had not rained in months, the news of the twins was carried throughout their dinner. Followed by the chatter about Kit's new toys and preparation for Leon and Claire's wedding that would be held next month. There was no talk about biohazards, zombies, or viruses. This became an unspoken rule for them when they got together, they tried to refrain from the topic of their work at the table. It did not come easy, but they learned gradually throughout the years.

They spend the rest of the evening watching what was left of the Toy Story movie. Up until the time Kit getting ready for bed, the weather revealed the manacing side of it with flashing lightning and roaring thunder. Ultimately, gave the 4-year-old toddler a scare.

The lights came back to life after Chris disappeared to the laundry room checking the circuit breaker tripping after a couple of lighting striking the inky night sky. By looking at the rate of rain coming down, it showed no indication of stopping in this short period of time. While he patted dry the last dish, Leon briefly took a glimpse of Claire in the living room who had her leg stretched on the couch as she quietly massaged her strained legs.

"This thunderstorm came in hard. I got a call from a neighbor of several houses from here, who said that a couple of trees fell blocking the main roads. Not sure when they gonna sort them out.", said Chris, just entering the kitchen with a phone in his hand.

"Anyone hurt?"

"None. But I guess it better you two just stay in here for the night. Go back in the morning. I got some texts saying a few places are coming in with high water. Traveling tonight could be dangerous."

"Fine by me."

"I guess we are roommates tonight... Well- Errmm... thank you for taking care of my family while I'm gone."

"It's nothing, Chris."

"And with my sister... she can be a handful sometimes."

"I love her, Chris."

"I know. I'm sorry, I doubted you before.", proffered Chris.

Their eyes locked as Leon uttered his acceptance. "Apology accepted."

"Now, she's pregnant, not to mention with twins, you will have a lot on your plate onwards."

Leon nodded expressing his advertence as Chris added, "I had a fair share during Jill's pregnancy. Just wanna say, if you need a hand let me know. Okay, I gonna check on Jill, see how Kit is doing."

Chris left Leon still in perplexity by the sink as Chris marched toward the bedroom. His brain murmured about how Chris's proclamation of his experience with Jill where the fact that he went off-grid for 4 years throughout the pregnancy.

Did they both meet without Claire and I knowing?

Endnotes: I'm still convinced that early Chris's character model has frosted tips. LOL. I'm aware that frosted tips were popularized by Nsync in the late 90s/early 00s. But just found out that the first who flaunted the frosted tips hairdo was actually Brad Pitt in 1995. Cool!

P/S: To be honest, I only watched the Titanic movie once. Not a fan.