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.

Chris wasn't sure he cared if the world suddenly stopped spinning. He was far too happy with where he was right then and there. Not even their dead Captain mattered to him now.
"I still love you." He breathed into Jill's hair, kissing the top of her head. "That didn't change. It never will."

Rebecca felt like she was missing something. She hadn't even seen Parker get up. "It's not like a real marriage." She whispered after a moment, ashamed of herself for savoring the taste of him still on her lips. "I mean...we just...I need something and I can't do it alone anymore...you're right...I do...I do owe you something in return."

One of Jill's slender fingers was idlly tracing a scar along the side of Chris' ribs as he confessed his love for her. "I'm afraid." She breathed suddenly. "What if... When people find out about us... Someone uses you to get to me? We both have many enemies, if they know I love you..." She closed her eyes, wishing she wasn't having these dark thoughts.

There was an obvious sadness in Parker's eyes as Rebecca said these things. "And you think I need something from you?" He asked quietly.

"how do you propse we go about hiding it? I don't want to. I've done enough of that to last me a lifetime." Chris said matter of factly. "We'll be fine, babe. I promise."

"you can't tell me a once a week dinner is enough. Not for what I'm asking in return." Rebecca breathed.

"Chris... You can't predict the future." Jill breathed, as though she knew her own future was dark and filled with more pain than she could imagine.

"The dinner is for Alex." Parker replied. "I want him to know I'm never going to just abandon him, or you."

"I can too." Chris purred rolling over so that she was beneath him. "I can tell that in less than a minute you will laugh so hard you will make a funny snorting noise." that said he began to tickle her mercilessly.

"I don't need a hero Parker. I need someone who will there for Alex and won't punish him for who and what he is. This really has nothing to do with me."

It was less than thirty seconds before Jill did indeed snort with laughter as she squealed and squirmed beneath Chris' fingers. "Not fair!" She gasped throug her laughter.

Parker glanced away, not wanting Rebecca to see the disappointment in his eyes. "I promised I would be there for Alex... It's insulting you think you need to whore yourself out to me to make me keep it."

"well?" Chris chuckled. "are you going to say im right or do I foresee a round two?" he asked preparing his fingers for another onslaught.

"every man has a price, Parker. I learned that the hard way." Rebecca whispered, unable to even look at him.

"You should know by now, I never surrender!" Jill declared with a grin. The BSAA agent was enjoying this rare moment of bliss far too much to let her dark thoughts bring her down. For once in her life... She was exactly where she wanted to be.

"Rebecca... What did he do to you?" Parker asked quietly, not suspecting what had been done to Rebecca when she was still practically a child.

If she had spoken this aloud, Chris would have agreed with her full heartedly. As it was he simply started tickling her all over again, laughing so hard he was sure he was going to burst.

Immediately, Rebecca shut down. She got up from the chair and put a great deal of distance between herself and Parker. "So we're agreed then? We're going to get married...have the family night...and...we'll tackle the rest as it comes, right?" She didn't look at him, the wall seemed to hold a far greater interest.

Jill was squirming so much that she ended up tipping the both of them off her bed and onto the floor with a rather loud thud. She had landed on top of Chris, and burst into fresh laughter.

"And what if Laex asks me about a brother or sister again? Do I tell him his mother can't even look at the man she married?" Parker sighed and shook his head. "I'm sorry, Rebecca. I thought I could do it... But I can't. To me... Marriage still means something."

Chris was no longer laughing. The hunger was back in his eyes and it was more than evident in the way he shifted his hips beneath her. "You're like a goddess, you know that?" He breathed.

"Yeah. You're right." Rebecca muttered, showing herself out before more could be said.
It was late in the morning when Alex came to see Parker, balancing several boxes of legos in his arms. "Hey, want to play with me?" He asked, nearly tripping over his untied shoes.

Jill smiled and gently stroked Chris' cheek. "I wish I was one." She whispered, the fear that had been in her eyes the night before when she found out Rebecca had been raped returning. Jill tried so hard to be strong, but every once in a while, she was more vulnerable than most normal women.

"Hey kiddo. Sure." Parker replied, hoping the little boy wouldn't see through his overly cheerful act. In truth... This was the about the time he would have coerced Chris into joining him in drowning his sorrows. Given that he hadn't heard from the other man all night, he assumed things had gone well with Jill.

"Why?" Chris asked, sitting up and holding Jill close to him. He kissed the top of her head. "Talk to me, babe. Nothing about talking to me has changed either."

"Mommy must be mad at you." Alex said, piling the boxes on the bed. "She gave you a new doctor and locked herself in the labs with the...weird people." He told him. "I hate it when she goes there."

Jill rested her head down against Chris' shoulder, thankful for the feel of his powerful arms around her. "I can't... If I tell you, you see me differently." She whispered, longing to have the laughter back that they had shared a moment ago.

"I guess I don't deserve the best doctor anymore..." Parker muttered, taking a great interest in one of the Lego bricks he had picked up. "What makes them weird?" He asked suddenly, having never been down into those labs.

"How could that be?" Chris asked, standing with her in his arms. He dropped his shirt over her head and grabbed for his boxers. Once he'd carried her to the kitchen and sat her down on the bar stool, he put them on and began making coffee. "Jill, I think you're the world. The rest of it doesn't matter. I can handle anything and I won't change a thing.

"Mommy took me in there before." Alex told him, taking the brick and placing it on another. "There's alot of sick people in there...one of the doctors says they won't get better. But sometimes when they give them shots...they aren't smelly anymore and stuff. They just...die..."

Jill stared over at the coffee machine as it began to bubble. She had told Rebecca that no good came from burying everything deep down inside, but that was exactly what she had been doing since a young girl. "Chris... You never really talk about your family." She commented softly. "Is there a reason?"

"Smelly?" Parker echoed. "Smelly because they were so sick no one could bathe them?" He asked, trying to understand what Alex had seen in that lab.

"They died." Chris said softly, making it clear that it still hurt him deeply. "When Claire was two years old they died. I had to raise her myself. Why do you ask?"

"No. It's like the guys from the movies with the gray skin. I think they call them undead or something..." Alex explained with a frown. "Sometimes they take my blood in there. It's kind of creepy."

"What would you think... If I told you I wish my family had died when I was two?" Jill asked, sitting on her hands when she glanced down and saw that her fingers were shaking.

"Wait... They take your blood in there?" Parker asked. "Is you mom the one who does it?"

Chris turned to her, a coffee filter in hand. "Why would you wish that? Did they do something to you?" He asked, already imagining all the terrible things he was going to do to her family if they had. Burning down their house was a starting point.

Alex nodded. "It's usually when everyone else goes home for the night. She says its safer...are you going to use that piece?" He asked, looking up from an already half built castle.

Jill's gaze rested on the coffee filter, anything to keep Chris from seeing the fear in her eyes as she confessed what had been done to her. "It was my dad... He was a drunk, he used to hit my mom and me." She breathed. "Then he suddenly started being real nice to me... Touching me, but I was too young to realise what he was doing. That went on for a few years, until the night came when he took it a step further and just forced himself on me. My mom left. She said she couldn't stand to watch it anymore. She just left Chris... She didn't even take me with her!" Jill finally broke and buried her face in her hands.

Parker shook his head and handed the piece over, frowning a little when he realised he hadn't even seen Aelx build so much of the castle. "Safer for who?" He pondered out loud. "When your mom takes your blood, is she giving it to the smelly people?"

Chris stopped what he was doing and crossed the room to her, wrapping his arms around her. "That bastard." He hissed, though he said nothing else. He waited for Jill to finish her story before he would announce how he planned to murder the man.

"Sometimes." Alex muttered, lost in his own world now. "Chris even used it one time. He was bitten by something when he was out. Mommy gave it to him and it was all better." He paused and looked up with a smile. "She said I was a hero like you."

Jill clung tightly to Chris, no longer feeling the great weight that had been pressing down on her chest all these years. "I don't know if he's even alive." She breathed after some moments of simply clinging to her partner. "When I was sixteen... I hit him across the back of the head with a tyre iron and never returned home. I enlisted in the army with a fake ID and never looked back. After all that time he made me feel weak... I had to get strong Chris, I just had to."

"Oh Alex... I'm no hero." Parker replied with a sad smile as he reached out and ruffled the little boy's blond hair. "You're the star, the little boy with the magic blood."

"I know." Chris said gruffly. "I know what that's like feeling like you have to be strong." He admitted. "I'm glad you did, babe." He told her, lifting her head up so that he could look into her eyes. "You're an amazing woman. And I'm proud of you for what you did. Never let anyone tell you it was wrong."

Rebecca appeared from nowhere, slapping Parker hard enough that his head snapped to the side. "Don't you ever say that again." She hissed, already grabbing for Alex and jerking him off the bed. "You don't know what the hell you're talking about."

"You know the worst part? I... Feel like I blame my mother the most." Jill confessed, wiping at her red rimmed eyes. "She never lifted a finger against me, but a part of me hates her for not lifting a finger to help me either, you know?"

Parker narrowed his eyes at Rebecca. "You're damn lucky I'm enough of a man to know not to hit a woman!" He hissed. "I was just talking to the kid! You know, that thing that you never do!"

"A big part of me hates her for that." Chris said softly, nodding his head. "I think we should find her and leave a zombie head in her mail box." His voice rose as his passion for the idea did.

"Don't you threaten me." Rebecca snarled, all but baring her teeth at him. "I'm not afraid of you!" She gathered her son closer to her as she headed for the door. Alex could do little more than stare between them in shock. "And stop trying to say I'm a bad mother! You don't know a fucking thing! Stay away from my son, Parker! This time I mean it!"
"No!" Alex suddenly roared, fighting to get free. "No, no, no! I love Parker! I hate you!" He succeeded in getting away, biting his mother hard on the arm. She dropped him with a cry of surprise and pain.
And then, the boy was gone as if he had never been there at all.

Jill actually managed to laugh at the thought. "And where would we find a zombie head?" She asked, jumping off the bar stool to embrace Chris properly. "Thank you... I needed to tell someone."

Parker cursed in his native tongue and was on her feet, holding his wounded chest as he sought out his clothes. His own condition be damned; Alex was worth more than his own life, and not because of what his blood could do.

"I wished I had something better to say. You something super smart to impress you." Chris confess. "But I'm glad you told me anyway. It's good to know something about you. Even if it's all the bad stuff." He added, holding onto her tightly.

"Oh no you don't." Rebecca barked, her voice cracking as she fought to keep from crying. "You get back in bed. He is my son. I will find him. This is not your business. It never should have been."

Jill laughed softly and hugged Chris all the tighter. "Well... Until I dropped out of high school... I was a cheerleader, is that something good?" She asked, hoping to lightest he heavy mood she had brought down upon them.

"As of today, you aren't my doctor. You made damn sure of that!" Parker shot back. "You can't tell me what to do! I will look for Alex, to hell ith your wishes!"

Chris chuckled, returning the tight hug. "Hell yeah it is. Oh wow. Now I'm really turned on. My high school fantasies have all come true. Now can we work on the middle school ones and you pretend to be my teacher?" He teased.

"I should shoot you." Rebecca snarled. "Parker, he is mine. He is not yours. You stay away from him or I swear to god I will shoot you and use you for zombie bait!"

Jill giggled at the thought, reaching around and squeezing Chris' bottom playfully. "Only if you tell what you were in high school?"

"That's the only way you're going to stop me!" Parker shouted. "And don't worry, I don't expect you to use Alex to cure me!"