So slow to catch on

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Jill gave Leon a little push, then smiled. "Believe me, these things can last days." She assured him. "Besides, I want the chance to grill you myself."
"You doubt my suitability as a mother?" Claire asked thinly, folding her arms across her chest.

Jill didn't react as a woman in her situation should have done. In her memory, Chris was still a stranger, one who was in a sense forcing himself on her. Instead her full lips returned his kiss, his strong hands on her hips a great comfort as her own slender fingers sank against the hard muscle of his chest where they been crushed up between their bodies.

Chris moaned softly, allowing his tongue to slip past her lips. This was his Jill. He found himself wishing that he'd been able to do this the last time she'd forgotten him. He wondered if it would have changed anything.

Jill's arms had slid upwards and were now around Chris' neck, her fingers curling lightly into the hair at the nape of his neck. The dark haired woman could barely feel the ground beneath her feet in that moment, and she found herself longing for more than a kiss. "I was right then..." Jill finally murmured against Chris' warm lips. "You are a good kisser..."

Chris couldn't help but smile as he rested his forehead against hers. "You just don't remember being kissed by anyone else, babe. Trust me. You used to tell me that Wesker was ten times better than me."

"Wesker?" As Jill said that name a sharp pain rippled across her head, causing her fingers to reach up and press to her temples. "Maybe you should kiss me again, just to make sure it wasn't a fluke?" She asked, trying to pass the pain off as nothing.

"No...no...what was that?" Chris asked, leaning back from her to look her over. "Jill, you're scaring me the way you keep holding your head. What is it?"

"It's nothing..." Jill insisted. "Really, you always worry too much, Chris." She didn't even notice her own choice of words that time.

Chris laughed softly at this and pulled her to him for another deep kiss. He put everything into this one, all his emotions. It was something rare that even if Jill remembered, wouldn't have known to happen often.

Jill didn't even know she was crying until her tears mingled in to their kiss. If nothing else, she knew Chris truly did love the woman she had been, simply from that one kiss. "Is... There someplace else we can go?" She breathed, though paused to kiss her lover again before he could answer.

"Yeah. We can get in the car and head to Florida like we said." Chris whispered, stealing another kiss. He couldn't help himself.

Jill smiled, most likely surprising both of them as she squeezed Chris behind as she headed back to the car. "It's a long drive, right? You can tell me more about 'us' on the way."

Chris spent the night talking about them. He kept it as close to simply them as he could. For the moment he left out alot about Wesker and the people they'd known in Raccoon City. He was sure that just getting her to remember everything was better than having her despair for people she no longer knew.

Jill hung on Chris' every word as he divulged more about their past. "So let me get this straight... I used to kick your ass, and then have you beg me for sex?" She teased as one of his stories came to its conclusion.

Chris was grinning all over again. It had been a long time since he'd reminisced about their past. Especially all the really juicy things as his sister would have said.
His sister...for the first time that night his stomach churned. He'd forgotten about her leaving. And Leon...he'd selfishly left the other man to deal with all of it alone.

Jill saw the way Chris' smile had faded, and reached out to rest her hand over his on the wheel. "I don't know if I ever said this... But you can tell me anything." She assured him gently. "What's bothering you?"

"You wouldn't understand and I...I don't want to talk about it." Chris confessed, nearly choking on the words. "It won't help you remember. It will only make you sad."

"If I remember only one thing, I know it would be that anything that makes you sad... Makes me sad." Jill replied firmly. "And if I wouldn't understand... That just makes me a pretty shitty human being."

Chris shook his head. "I'm not saying that, babe. I didn't mean it like that. I just..." He blew out a heavy sigh and turned off the road. "I need to take a break."

Chris would get no argument from Jill on this decision. "You've been driving non stop, a rest is way past due." She assured him.

Chris got out of the car the moment he'd pulled it to a stop. He didn't bother to turn the car off as he got out, taking in several deep breaths of the warmer air. He was horrified to realize that he was about to start crying.

Jill was quick to exit the car soon after and move around the car to where Chris stood. "What is it?" She asked softly, remaining behind Chris as her arms circled around him and she rest her head against his back. It seemed like the most natural thing in the world to be doing when he was upset like this.

Chris could barely catch his breath, his chest and back heaving violently. "I can't keep this up. I'm so tired." He confessed. "My sister just left...she left a note and abandoned Leon and their baby...she didn't even wait for Sarah's funeral."

There was a long pause before Jill spoke. She didn't know anything about Claire, or her family, other than their names, but she knew now wasn't the time to dwell on that fact. "And then you get stuck with me..." She breathed, her arms hugging Chris all the tighter. "You can't keep pushing yourself for the sake of others. You need time too, you need to mourn and to heal."

"No time." Chris whispered, swallowing hard. "There's no time to feel sorry for myself. I have to keep going. You guys need me."

"No, not like this we don't." Jill assured him. "You're a proud man, I get that... But it's okay to fall apart sometimes. How else do we get stronger, if not by learning from our weakest moments?"

"I can't afford to be weak. I lost you the last time that happened." Chris told her, trying to pull himself together. "I swore it would never happen again and as long as you've been with me, I haven't let it. I won't drop my guard again."

"Then... I guess this isn't the real you I'm getting to know right now, is it?" Jill asked sadly.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Chris muttered, admonishing himself for telling her something he should have just kept to himself.

"If your guard is always up... How am I to really know you?" Jill asked, almost feeling a fool for falling so quickly for this man. "I have no basis for comparison..."

"I didn't mean with you." Chris sighed, feeling as if he couldn't take another step. His body was crying for him to just lay down where he was. "I meant in order to keep you. I can't be anything but myself with you. You won't let me."