So slow to catch on

"I did. But not you." Chris breathed, the grief of it all taking hold of him as it hadn't done in some time. "Wesker uses you to get to me. He's always hated me. One day...I'm going to have to stop being a coward and face him head on... No one should have to suffer for me."

"If he uses me to hurt you... Maybe I should go away, far away?" Jill suggested quietly, thought her voice quivered slightly, as though the thought of doing such a thing terrified her.

"What?" Chris lifted his head to look at Jill, the raw emotion in his eyes almost unbearable. "No. No. Never leave me. It was hell the last time. I never want to go through that again. I'll do anything. Just....stay. I'll even beg."

Jill reached out and gently took Chris' face between her hands. "I only wanted to keep you safe, is that so bad of me?" She breathed before touching her lips lightly to his own.

Chris couldn't speak. The kiss was something that brought back memories that were both painful and wonderful. He missed her so much. He missed the life they had.
"Take off your shoes." He breathed after a long moment. "You've always wanted to sink your toes in the sand. Remember?"

"That does sound like me." Jill mused, grinning as she playfully rubbed the tip of her nose against Chris'. This was a different Jill than the one Rebecca had attacked, and killed, in the parking lot. This Jill didn't yet have the weight of painful memories and lost comrades pressing down upon her shoulders. She was already kicking her shoes off before she even thought about anything else.

Chris saw this as he watched her running towards the water. He wished he could keep her this way. He wished he never had to tell her anything. A small part of him was whispering that he do just that as he took off after her, kicking sand up in his wake.

Jill was sprinting as fast as she was able as she headed across the sand. It felt good to run like this, to feel the soft grainy sand between her toes, the spray of the ocean in her face. It was a far cry from the icy snowfields of Russia. That last thought surprised her, not sure why she would think she had ever been to Russia.

It was near sunset when Chris and Jill returned to Ark's house. Chris was a bit frustrated when Sherry was again the one to answer the door. It didn't help when she tried to slam the door in their face.

Jill's temper was wearing thin with the other woman, even if she still didn't really know why she disliked her so much. "It's been hours! Ark cannot possibly still be sleeping!" She snapped, attempting to run her fingers through her hair, though it was tangled with dried seawater now.

"You should take a shower and come back." Sherry suggested, trying to close the door again.

"And where exactly are we supposed to shower?" Jill asked thinly, jamming her foot in the doorway. "You're hiding something, and all current information would seem to suggest that you have done something to Ark!"

"I did not!" Sherry protested, her cheeks turning a violent red. "Shower with the hose for all I care, but do it outside!" She shouted, now using her painfully thin frame to try and push Jill back out the door.

Had they both been merely human, Jill would have easily been stronger than sherry anyway. As it was her conscience caused her to pull her foot back and look up at Chris. "Well?" She asked as they door slammed shut. "Tell me you don't think this is suspicious!"

Chris wasn't sure what to say. The last person he expected to see at Ark's place was Sherry. Never mind that she was now keeping them at arm's length. After a long moment he nodded. "We need to find another way into the house..."

Jill nodded, for a second thinking Chris had been about to tell her she was imagining things. "If only to get into the bathroom..." She muttered, again trying to untangle her hair.

"Not so keen on the garden hose?" Chris asked as he looked toward the second floor with a grin. "It's not like we haven't done that one either." He teased.

Jill wrinkled her Jose at this thought. "Do I dare even ask what we were doing that required use to hose each other down?' She asked, a smirk pulling at her lips. A moment later her gaze was following Chris' to the window. "If you give me a boost, I could probably reach the over hang on the porch roof."

Chris nodded at this idea and lifted her up, remembering the many times they'd done this before. "We were...mud wrestling...for lack of a better way to put it." He told her as she climbed.

Jill glanced down at Chris over her shoulder as he listed her up. "Mud wrestling... Right." She replied with a grin. "You know... I can totally see why I couldn't keep my hands off you, but what was your excuse?" She asked, though was up on the porch roof before Chris could assure her she was just as desirable as he was.

Chris waited patiently for Jill to find a way in. He saw a shadow pass along the stairs in the window near him but he didn't pay much attention to it. His thoughts were completely with his partner.

None of the windows were open, so Jill resorted to smashing one. It didn't enter her head that there could be something foul waiting for her inside. Without her memories, she had no idea how dangerous even Sherry herself actually was.

Sherry was what was waiting on the other side of the window. The now red eyed young woman grabbed Jill's fist and snarled loudly. "I thought I told you to hose off first!" She roared, shoving Jill backward out the window.

Jill lost her footing and went plummeting to the ground below, something she also didn't remember having done before. The brunette landed with a hard thud, and was instantly all but certain something had broken as pain shot through her.

"Jill!" Chris was by her side in an instant, checking her over though he had yet to really touch her. "Babe...are you all right? Say something."

Sherry sighed at the broken window, not sure how she was going to explain this one to Ark. Once he knew why she'd done it, he'd never forgive her. But...something inside her was completely against Jill entering the house again. Her entire body protested it.

Jill groaned quietly as she opened her eyes. "The little bitch pushed me!" She exclaimed when her eyes met Chris', not really registering that she should have more injuries than she had just sustained.

Ark knew nothing of what was going on in and around his home right then. For some reason he had been more than just tired of late.

This didn't seem to surprise Chris at all. He looked her over one more time and helped her to her feet. "Should we try again?"

Sherry pushed a heavy dresser in front of the window and returned to Ark, sitting down beside the bed. She didn't know how to help him. She didn't know how to do much of anything really.

"How about you get your ass pushed out a window this time?" Jill grumbled, rubbing at the back of her head as she sat up.

"Sherry?" Ark was awake now, but sounded somewhat distant. "What was that noise?"

"maybe things would end better for you if I did." Chris whispered, looking back up toward the windows. "I'm worried about Ark. Even he should have heard that."

"I pushed Jill Valentine out the window." Sherry confessed, drawing her thin knees close to her chest.

"End better? What does that mean?" Jill asked thinly as she watched Chris.

"You pushed her?!" Ark gasped, though his voice wasn't as forceful as it should have been. "Why would you do that? She's already pissed at you for shooting Chris."