Thicker than Water

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Alex Chambers stood on the helicopter landing pad his fingers pressed to his forehead to block out the morning sun. He was dancing from one foot to the other, unable to hide his excitement.
"I see them!" He shouted back to his mother, who was standing near the entrance with a medical team. None of them knew what kind of shape their heroes would return to them in but Alex didn't seem to care. Already he was hopping up and down waving at the chopper as it drew closer. He cheered when Chris Redfield waved to him and repeated the action when Jill Valentine did the same. But as the helicopter touched down his smile began to fade. Not everyone he'd hoped to see was stepping out.
"What happened?" Rebecca Chambers soon came to stand beside her son, her lips set in a thin line as she looked from Chris to Jill. "Where is Parker?" She'd done her best to keep herself from saying this man's name first but she couldn't seem to help herself. "Where's Jessica?" She added, hoping this would make for a decent cover up.

"It's been long enough, Jill. I should have grown up and gotten over it a long time ago." Rebecca whispered, getting to her feet. "I'm sorry you had to find out this way. I was hoping you never had to carry this burden."

"Mr. Spencer told me once that it's part of the mating ritual. If the female isn't upset at one point or other..." Alex paused, trying to remember the whole thing. "Then she isn't worth mounting..."

"Rebecca, you are my friend, and I love Alex regardless of who his father is. It just... Hurts that you either didn't trust me enough... Or not think me capable of carrying this knowledge." Jill replied. "You should take Alex home. He needs to spend time with his mother."

Parker was, obviously, surprised to hear this phrase coming from the small boy. "Who is Mr. spencer? He and I shall be having words if he says thing like that to you!"

"I thought..." Rebecca's eyes watered painfully. "I thought you would be ashamed of me for not being brave." She whispered, for the first time revealing just how highly she revered her friend. "After a while...I didn't even try to fight him. I just...pretended to enjoy it...it didn't hurt so much but...god it was so cowardly of me."

"Why? Is it a bad word?" Alex sniffled, wiping at his nose with his dirty sleeve. "Mr. Spencer is nice. I'm helping him look for his son. Jill said she'll help too! Hey...maybe you can help. You're good at finding people!"

"Don't ever say that!" Jill suddenly hissed. "You are not the coward, Rebecca! It was him, all him! He preyed on you when you were unable to defend yourself!"

Parked smiled and pushed the closet door open with his foot. "You know I'd do anything for you, Alex, so long as you were safe."

Both Rebecca and Chris gave Jill a shocked look. Chris narrowed his eyes, knowing then that there was more behind her passionate words than she was saying.
"I don't want to talk about it." Rebecca said, closing up tight. "I'm taking Parker and Alex back home. I'll call you later."

That said she went into Jill's room and returned with Parker, Alex trotting behind them with a grin.

Jill had seen the way Chris looked at her when she had told Rebecca she was far from a coward, and now that it was just the two of them, she could all but feel the questions he was about to fire at her.

Parker was doing his best not to lean too much of his weight on Rebecca as they headed out to the taxi. "So, that was a pretty neat model Alex made for me, huh?"

Chris said nothing for a long moment as he moved about the room, pacing like a caged tiger. "So...what does this mean for us?" He asked, choosing another route of questioning. Jill obviously didn't want to tell him and he wasn't going to make her. Yet. "I mean...I want to take this further than just a kiss but I don't know if you do. I don't want to push myself into something that you don't want. I mean, you've never really seemed that interested in me." He went on, feeling as if he were rambling.

"It was...very detailed." Rebecca said quietly, her thoughts far away from them in that moment. "He really put some thought into that." She added, bumping Parker with her hip to force him to give her a bit more of his weight. "I may be small, but I'm not fragile." She whispered, trying to reassure him.

"You never seemed interested in me, either." Jill replied quietly from where she sat on the couch, her blue eyes following Chris as he paced. "It always felt like you only ever saw me as 'one of the guys', not worth the flirtatious to threw at every other woman you met." She added honestly.

"I know... But I have my pride." Parker replied with a smirk. "I gotta be the man, right Alex?"

"Maybe that was because I thought you'd punch me if I tried anything." Chris muttered. "You're the one who kept telling my how disgusting it all was."

Once they arrived at the base there were plenty of people willing to help Parker. But instead of taking him to Rebecca's apartment he was taken to the main medical wing, much to Alex's protests.

"Of course I said that... I was jealous!" Jill replied in exasperation. "You had a girlfriend when I first met you... Then after that... I guess I just figured we were too deep in 'friend' territory."

Parker had been expecting this. He told all to be strong, he was the man now, and had to look after his mother.

"I didn't know that couldn't make for a better relationship." Chris said evenly, making a show of looking over the Vatican legos. "I'm sorry I never told you about Alex. I was just worried. And you seemed to really love him. I thought that might change if you knew."

Rebecca came into Parker's room well after midnight. Thinking him asleep she made sure he was tucked in and warm before she sat down to read his charts. There was so much she wanted to say to him. To explain...but she knew that wouldn't make things any better.

"Well it hasn't changed." Jill assured Chris. "I see the way you and Rebecca look at him... He sees it to." She breathed. "It really upsets him Chris." it was then that she remembered Alex's 'friend'.

"Where's the kid?" Parker asked after some omens of letting Rebecca think he was sleeping.

"Yeah well...I can't believe you don't see just how much he looks like Wesker. Those looks he gives. I hate it." Chris admitted.

Rebecca jumped hard, having truly believed that Parker was sleeping. After calming herself down, she gave a soft sigh. "He can't sleep. He's up playing games on his computer."

"Chris... He's still just a child, no matter who he looks like." Jill replied, kicking her shoes off and laying down on the couch. "He gets so lonely. He doesn't have any kids his own age, and Rebecca... She's always working."

"You sure it's games he's playing?" Parker asked. "Alex said someone about helping someone find their son?"

"She's avoiding him." Chris whispered. "She scares me sometimes. I keep hoping that maybe Parker can pull her out of this but...I'm not so sure."

"Sounds like a game to me." Rebecca said distractedly.

"He's really got it bad for her..." Jill remarked, reaching for another cigarette. "And Alex thinks the world of him."

"You didn't check?" Parker asked. "He could be looking at all kinds of sick stuff on that computer."

"Yeah. Maybe we should intervine." Chris suggested. "is there a way to force them together? Maybe make them spend time alone?" he held out a hand and gestured for a cigarette. "give me one and I won't make the observation that you give me hell over these."

"Parker, you have enough to worry about without worrying about what a seven year old does on his computer. You must think I'm a really bad mother. Let me guess, you know I am. Right?"

Jill lit the cigarette she had placed between her lips, then held it out to Chris. "We could infect with them with something? You know... Just something mild, but also something that would force them to be quarantined?" She suggested, showing her more devious side.

"I think you're a wonderful mother, Aelx is a testament to that." Parker replied honestly. "I just think... Sometimes it's like you look for reasons not to spend time with him."

Chris couldnt help but laugh at this. "what about locking them in an elevator? Seems a bit less extreme." he teased her. "did I ever tell you how hot I think you are when you have evil thoughts like that?"

" you wouldn't understand." rebecca whispered, making a show of burying her nose in the chart. " your stats are up to near normal. But you need more time to recuperate. I was serious when I said you could come stay with us. But I wanted the chance to talk to you alone before we made any firm decisions."

Jill smiled slightly, having pulled another cigarette form the pack, but not yet lit it. "What if I told you I'd had thoughts about being locked in an elevator with you?"

Parker didn't like where this was heading. "Let me guess... I'm going to get the 'don't get any ideas. It's only until I heal.' speech?"

"What if I told you we didn't have to be locked anywhere?" Chris breathed. "What if I told you I wanted to take you back to your bed and show you just how much I want you?"

"actually I was going to ask you to.... Consider..." rebecca didn't finish instead she sighed. "never mind. You and I really don't mesh like you seem to think. It was stupid of me..."

Jill was stunned to hear this, though not put off by it. In fact, she couldn't help the grin that suddenly spread across her full lips. "Do I have to say anything at all?" She asked, wondering if Chris could hear her pulse racing.

"Rebecca... Wait..." Parker reached out and caught hold of her hand. "Don't do this, please... Don't keep me at a distance again."

"You have to tell me you won't hate me in the morning." Chris whispered, suddenly terrified that she would do that very thing. "I don't want anything to change what we already have."

"I was going to ask if maybe we could make some kind of partnership of this. I think you're right. Alex needs a father and I need..." She paused, a tiny smile on her lips. "someone to open a pickle jar."

"If you promise you'll still be there in the morning?" Jill breathed, confessing her own fear that Chris would take what he wanted, then leave as so many men in her life often did.

Parker couldn't help but chuckle. "Pickles? Oh I don't know..." He replied, though was already grinning. "I have one amendment... At least once a week you me and Alex go out for a family dinner?"

"have I ever left you before?" Chris breathed, getting to his feet and crossing the distance between them in little more than a step. "you can trust me, Jill. I will never leave. I'd go to hell and back to stay with you." That said, he pressed his lips to hers and tanked her hard against him.

"are you sure you don't want time to think it over?" Rebecca asked uncertainly. "I'm talking marriage here. You get that part right?"

Jill's fingers slid under Chris' shirt as they kissed, no one to interrupt this time. She had the irresistible urge to giggle, feeling like a teenager all over again.

Parker continued to grin. "Good, then we can get a priest in here and make it official!" He declared. "Where's Alex? He'll want to see this!"

Chris did giggle. He couldn't help himself. He felt like the nerd getting a date with a hot cheerleader. He stopped kissing Jill only long enough to lift her up and slide her long legs around his waist. "I've wanted you for so long." He confessed, carrying her toward the bedroom.

Rebecca felt rather lost and flabbergasted. "I...I..." She had so much she was prepared to lay on the table, like how he was a man and she understood he had needs. "I won't stop you from being sexy." She blurted out instead.

Jill had never spoken one word about her past, so Chris wasn't to know he was indeed about to make love to a former cheerleader. "You had me a long time ago, Redfield." Jill breathed against her partner's lips.

The look on Parker's face was that of comical bewilderment. "Huh?" He managed to utter. "Babe... This kind of sexy isn't somethingn I can ever turn off." He added a moment later, in his usual manner of using humour to disuse the situation. Of course, he had misunderstood what Rebecca had meant by 'sexy'.

"I wish you would have told me." Chris murmured, tossing their clothes along the hall as until he finally made it to the bedroom. Here he laid Jill down as if she were nothing more than a fragile doll. Slowly he began to make love to her as he'd dreamed about doing from the very moment he'd met her.

"Sex!" Rebecca shouted, her cheeks now flaming red. "I meant sex! I meant..." It was clear where Alex got his rambling from. "I meant that you are a man and I'm...no...You are a man and you have needs and I won't stop you from going out and taking care of...it...no you...taking care of yourself." Rebecca now wished there were a hole to crawl into. Unfortunately, she didn't see anything good enough.

Jill had waited a long time for this night. She had been just as insatiable as Chris, leading to them both wearing earth other down to an exhausted heap upon her bed. Jill's long legs were still entwined with Chris' as she lay against his chest, her eye lids heavy as she simply listened to the steady thump of his heart.

Parker let Rebecca ramble on until finally he simply tipped her chin upwards and kissed her gently. "Until I have proven just how much you can trust me, there will be no sex." Parker assured her. "If we really are to be married, I wholly believe in fidelity."