Means to an End

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Parker smiled at Chris slightly, patting him on the shoulder. "For what it's worth... I'm sorry too. I was so obsessed with finding Alex... I didn't stop to see the signs. I should have found out Jill was pregnant... Had I known that..." He paused and ran his fingers through his hair. "I do blame myself for what happened to her."

Chris never responded to this. As soon as they were inside the building he muttered something about needing to get Parker certified and left the other man to navigate the holding cells alone.
Jessica, it seemed, had been waiting all day and half the night for him. She visibly brightened when he was let into her cell. "Parker!" She gushed, leaping to her feet to throw her arms around him. "I knew you wouldn't let me down!"

"I know that." Chris' tone was rather gentle. "I just want to talk to her. I don't know why but I do. Claire, I swear I won't yell at her. Please, just let me talk to her."

Claire hesitated slightly, then nodded. "I want to help her Chris. I don't want to lose her the way I did Sherry." She whispered as they walked.
In the room she was being held, Violet was simply lay on the bed, her eyes closed though she wasn't sleeping. Claire hadn't been kidding about her condition. The small girl had been suffering from dehydration and malnutrition when TerraSave brought her here.

"Violet?" Chris entered the room and closed the door softly behind him. "Hey, kiddo. My name is Chris Redfield and I was hoping you could help me with something." He knelt beside her bed, offering her a gentle smile.

"No." Violet replied, her voice hoarse with infrequent use. "You don't want help, just information." She added, opening her eyes to fix Chris with a gaze the same shade of blue as his own.

Because they were his eyes, he didn't notice this. Instead he simply shook his head. "No. I'm no good with info. Actually I was just hoping that you'd help me put a dent in a pancake breakfast place. I've been dying to go there but there's no one that can keep up with me."

There was a sadness in Violet's eyes that no little girl should have when offered all the pancakes she could eat. The look Alex had given her when finding out what she really was... That was something she would never get over. How did she let anyone else in after that? "I'm not hungry." She lied, turning her gaze from Chris to simply stare up at the ceiling.

Chris sighed, seating himself against the wall beside the bed. "Well that sucks. My sister won't even hear of it and my best friend is...he's sick...and he can't go with me." He whispered, sadness creeping into his own voice. "I've been going places alone for so long...I just don't want to be alone anymore. Does that sound...creepy?"

"Being alone is... Preferable." Violet replied without tearing her gaze from the ceiling, whilst also demonstrating how little she spoke like an eleven year old girl. "Only one person to hurt you... No getting soft, weak, by depending on others."

"Getting soft is eating a dozen jelly donuts and then not going for a run." Chris muttered, leaning his head back and closing his eyes. "But jelly donuts are so good. I haven't tasted a single one I don't like. All those jellies...just sitting there...calling my name. It's almost as bad as pancakes!"

"I've never eaten one." Chris had succeeded in at least keeping the conversation with Violet going a little longer. "I like cookies. But..." She stopped herself there, hating that everything reminded her of Alex."

"What's your favorite kind?" Chris asked her, sounding excited at the mere thought. "I love those kinds with jelly on the top. Jill makes them great. When she wakes up I'll beg her to cook some. You've never had cookies that melt in your mouth like these." He went on, his stomach growling at the thought.

"Who's Jill?" Violet asked, not sure why she was so curious, simply at the mention of this name. Truthfully, her stomach was indeed rolling at the thought of cookies. But more than that, she thought about the while hood fantasy she and Alex had had of running away together.

"Jill is going to be my wife." Chris explained. "Someday." He added, his voice barely above a whisper. "You'd like her." His voice regained its light tone. "She's alot of fun, a great cook...oh man...you've never had fun playing a game until you played with her."

"Why isn't she you're wife now?" Violet asked, getting straight to the point. "Is something wrong with you? Or her?" she pulled her gaze from Chris once more to look up at the ceiling. "Games are for babies." Clearly, Chris had his work cut out.

"We've put our work first." Chris answered as if it were that simple. "And you give me one baby that could play Call of Duty and Risk. Give me one."

Violet didn't answer right away. Alex had always gone on about how much he loved call of duty. "Why pretend to be at war, when there is a real one all around us?" She asked sadly.

"What do you know about war, sweetie?" Chris asked her, leaning his head up so that he could look at the slender little girl next to him. "Want to tell me about it over pancakes?"

"You wouldn't believe me. You would say what all the other adults said... That I have an over active imagination." Violet replied, though now she finally sat up. "But they're wrong. Why would I imagine myself a monster?"

"If you promise to eat at least a plate of pancakes, I promise to believe anything you tell me." Chris said gently, now turning to where he was facing the little girl. "I've seen lots of things other people don't believe either. I won't laugh."

Violet wanted to make Chris promise he wouldn't laugh, but she didn't. Alex had made many promises... But that didn't stop him from looking at her like the monster she already felt. As she had been thinking about theism Violet's big blue eyes had simply been staring up at Chris. "Why are you being nice to me?" She asked finally. "People who are nice to me... Get hurt."

"I've been hurt plenty, kiddo. It's nothing I wouldn't be used to." Chris said softly. "Besides," He reached out and ruffled her black hair gently. "You look like you need a friend as much as I do."

Violet pouted slightly and attempted to smooth down her ebony hair. "Friends betray you." She told Chris, a darkness in her sapphire eyes that should never have been there.

"Sometimes." Chris agreed. "But, kiddo..." He sighed softly. "If you don't let me take you to get something to eat, they're going to put you in a cage. This might be your only chance. Understand?"

"I've escaped a cage before." Violet declared, seeming almost proud of this fact. "I can do it again. These people... They're too soft."

"I wish that were true." Chris sighed. "Being a little girl doesn't mean anything these days. Not to people who have seen little girls turn into monstrous things."

"You haven't seen monstrous." Violet replied. She seemed almost adult like, if not for the contrary way she folded her arms across her chest.

Chris chuckled at this and again ruffled her hair. "I'm afraid I'd have to argue that one." He said lightly. "Now, kiddo. This is your last chance. I'm afraid I'm about to starve to death. So, I'm going to get up." He paused so he could do just that. "And then I'm going to head to the door...when I open it you're either with me or not. All I can say is I tried." That finished he moved to the door and knocked on it once. "It was nice to meet you, girlie."

Violet was every inch her father's daughter; stubborn to the end. "You smell like the woman who brought me here." She declared as she watched Chris' back. "She tried to be my friend too... But she was too sad. I'm tired of sad."

"Claire tries to be everyone's friend." Chris snorted, still angry with his sister. "It's bit her in the butt more times than even I can count. Sad is sad, Violet. You can't get away from it these days. But...for the last time...pancakes make me happy. So if you go with me, we'll both be happy."

"She's in love with someone who doesn't love her. Don't be too hard on her." Violet whispered, beside Chris, her tiny hand holding his own before he could even register that the little girl had moved.